Ways to reduce the cost on online shopping

We all know online shopping tends to be cheaper than shopping at a traditional retailer, but there are a few ways you can make it even cheaper still.

Free shipping is one of the top ways to lower your bill. In fact, free shipping has become such a given that online shoppers will abandon their carts if they see free shipping is not available.

Coupon or promotion codes are another way to shave off some of the cost. Everybody has their own strategy to do this. There are websites people will try that supply codes. But I find it also works to use Bing or Google to type in the name of the website where you're shopping along with the words "coupon code" and that may generate savings. That seems to work about 25% of the time for me.

E-sellers are making coupon codes less and less obvious, even using smaller fonts to hope you don't notice them. Don't get in the habit of only checking one website for coupon codes. It may be a hero to your wallet today, but a goat tomorrow.

Editor's note: This segment originally aired Jan. 3, 2012.