SwagShopping Bug Bites, part 2

Good Morning Swagfriends! Bright and early this time!

*wink!* 

I'll let you in on a secret if you promise not to tell anyone. I'm writing this last night :P (there's a thinker!)

Yesterday I left you wondering (maybe?) what I went and bought next. Was it more loot from the Swag Store? Did I decide to snag more Amazon cards? Did I give in and get the crayons?

I did more than that. I went on a mini shopping SPREE at Amazon! I went looking for those jumbo crayons. I found a good pack, and I could have left it at that, but here's where it all went south. Or north, since it's Christmas time. (Plus I enjoyed the ride!)

The best crayons for the price was the Crayola 8 pack....  with Free Super Saver Shipping. That's what got me folks! I figured (rationalized) that since I was ordering more Amazon cards Anyway, what would be the harm if I got some small Christmas shopping done Now? I could find some small things to add up to the $25 to get free shipping, and buy a few bigger things in early December *Laugh!*

So the hunt began. First off, I needed paper for Isaac's crayons. Not for Christmas, but because he needs bigger paper than I've got! I rejected getting a roll. Too much muss and fuss, I'm sure Isaac would be all up on me while trying to unroll, cut, tape!

First I found this pad. The price was fair - $3.35 plus free shipping. They almost got me by saying the original pad price was nearly $15. I thought I was getting a deal, though I couldn't fathom anyone paying that much for a pad of paper for a small child.

 I decided to shop around though. Just because something looks like a great deal doesn't mean it's the Best deal. Found another good pad- relatively the same size, same number of sheets, 46 cents cheaper. Also free shipping.

In the end I went with the Fisher Price Doodle Pad. It was the same size as the first, 36 cents cheaper, (though 10 cents more expensive than the other pad,) but had 10 more sheets! I'm sure the paper quality isn't up to watercolor but this is a 23 month old dinosaur *cough* I mean boy. I'm lucky if the paper ends up all in one piece!!

I put 2 of those in my cart and kept shopping. Something had caught my eye while I was looking for Isaac's pad.

My stepdaughter will LOVE this. She's all about coloring. (Quite the artistic eye too, very good use of multiple colors, and patterns!) She's all about princesses and butterflies and unicorns and flowers and basically everything shown on the cover and pages in the product image. This will make a great present! Originally priced at $17.19 (again, hard to believe.....) it is on sale for $4.94, and qualifies for free shipping. Sweet!

Now for my stepson. Newly sophisticated and world wise, no longer satisfied with the same Star Wars action figures, he has moved into the realm of strategy gaming, everything from Age of Empires to RISK! This was going to be a bit harder. Along with a more complex gift usually comes a higher price tag. However, I know him pretty well. There are ways to stay along a Basic theme, and still present the flavor of Deluxe.

After trying a few searches, feeling I was on the wrong path, I decided to see what they had for Magic: The Gathering cards. He plays with his friends in after school care, carries his deck over on the weekends to set up mock battles and plan his games, shows off any rare or interesting cards that he's acquired. It's not his main interest right now- that would be computer strategy games and map building- but it is probably number 2 on the list.

 I found a pack of cards that is a good case of being familiar, but new to him, as well as being "special" and "interesting". It's from the Shards of Alara expansion, and it is a premium deck with 15 foil cards. Apparently there's a good chance for a rare card in the deck as well. But here's the kicker! This was originally $11.99. I can believe that. I bought it at the Super Low Amazing Amazon Sale Price of $1.49! Nii-iii-iiice *laugh!* And of course it was free shipping as well.

After all of this I was still something like 50 cents shy of $25. UGH! Dang, they are gonna make me buy more stuff! Well, I really wanted to get my toddler another DVD. Most of the Sesame Street ones are short, 30 minutes. I like to close us up in the room when he wakes up at 5, lay down and take a catnap while he plays and snacks on breakfasty things and watches a DVD. Those 30 minute ones KILL me. I need at least an hour :P

So off to search I went. I have a prepaid Visa Go-Tag card that I use for free trial special offers, I figured I could tack the balance on that. I shouldn't, cause I need the card to do those offers, but I figured as long as I stayed under $10 I would be fine. Ideally, I wanted to stay under $5. It didn't Quite work out that way (but I got my money's worth!)

I was having a hard time finding a DVD that fit all our needs. It had to be an hour! It had to have lots of songs on it. And it had to be something I knew my boy would be interested in. He's picky :P I couldn't find Anything under $5 that was longer than 30 minutes. So I found this instead.

Check out the price on that pic, if you can see it. $7.49. When I placed the order the item was Not on sale. However, when I checked my email this morning, there were shipping confirmations listing the charges. I couldn't figure out at first Why it said it has charged my credit card less than it said Yesterday when I placed the order. Checked out my order summary on Amazon- no clue there. Went to look at this DVD to get a screenshot (I forgot yesterday WOOPS) - Lo and behold! They gave me the sale price even though it went on sale after I placed and confirmed my order. Nii-ii-iice! 
 
With that DVD, my price came over the $25 needed for free shipping. Double Savings Bonus! The DVD purchase also comes with a $4 credit to Amazon's Video On Demand. I've gotten this for two other DVDs bought through Amazon. Held on to them for a while (I have Netflix) until I found a movie my husband just HAD to watch NOW, but Netflix only has available to rent by mail. This is a really nice little treat, a cool bnous that I feel increases the value of the bucks spent. If you take the $4 out of the $5.52 I spent on my prepaid card, it's like I only spent $1.52. Of course that's not Actually true, I spent that $5.52, but I like looking at it in the more positive, savings oriented light!

Time to view my cart & check out

Actual Sale Savings were $22.71 after they gave me that sale price post order!

Looks good, let's Proceed to Checkout!

Amazon is really good about going step by step. After you view your cart, before your order is summarized, they have you choose your payment method. Initially it shows the balance from your gift cards being used, but you can change that any way you wish at this screen shown above. It shows my entire gift card balance being used, and my reloadable Visa gift card, but also gives me the option to add other forms of payment instead. Thumbs up! 

Ok, it shows my order total, how much for shipping, how much credit for shipping (YAY!), and how much was taken from my gift card balance. The final amount is how much I owe (and remember, the real figure is $2.50 cents less than that! What company gives you sales price after you've already completed the order, after its packaged for shipping, but before it actually ships?? I love Amazon!)

Well, this all looks good, looks right! Confirm the order, and Voila!

Oh the afterglow! Jenny Loves Shopping, scratched into a tree :P

About 12 hours after I placed the order, I was checking around in the orders screen on Amazon (tracking down an issue I had with a vendor last week- see more in tomorrows Part 3!) and I noticed the order was already closed, unchangeable, and ready to ship in the morning.

I don't really know why they packed it in 2 shipments. Seems the pad & Magic cards should have fit in the same box with the other two pads, but who knows. They're the bosses! I didn't pay for shipping so I dun' care! It was after this point but before the packages actually shipped that they credited me the sale price. I guess they don't charge your card until the package is in the mail? Pretty good policy I think.

I'm feeling pretty good about this order. I got things my son needed, I got a couple of smaller Christmas presents for the bigger kids, and I got to see a lot of savings. The original price had nothing been on sale would have been $59.31 (with the $4 Amazon credit, total value $63.31). Plus shipping of over 8 bucks. The actual total, after the last minutes sales price was deducted, was $28.34, a savings of $30.97!  ($34.97 because I *do* count that video credit LOL). Now if you count the shipping I also didn't pay, that's a total savings of $39.79  :D  once again.. Ni-iii-iiice!  And all I actually spent of my money was $5.54.

So lets put on our rose tinted glasses and see...

I paid $5.54 for $72.13 worth of items and shipping. 

How Can You NOT LOVE Swag Bucks And Amazon.com??!!??   Just think... *starry eyes*  when the Christmas sales really kick in.. oh the savings.. and What if Swag Bucks DOES put Amazon gift cards on sale again this year?  *SWOON*  We are talking some Major Shopping High here!

Ah, I gotta go get some fresh air! All this talk of saving money, and getting stuff for next to nothing, has my heart racing :P

Check back for tomorrows blog, SwagShopping Bug Bites part 3. Tomorrows post will answer a lot of questions I have been seeing on the Swagbucks Facebook page recently about Amazon's Marketplace and the vendors that sell through Amazon.

Until then, Thanks for being patient about yesterdays lateness. Thanks for coming by for a read! And as always..

HAPPY SWAGSURFING!!

Oh, PS! Almost Forgot!!

 If anyone reading this is not yet a member of Swagbucks, but wants to get on the swagtrain and start earning the free loot, there's no time like the present! Just go to the swidget , up top on the right there, press the Sign Up button on the bottom right. Fill out a short form, confirm your email, and get 30 swagbucks to get you rolling! Then come back here and start with October's second blog post, "Beginner Tips for Swagsurfing!", for tips on how to get started!