(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, February 4, 2022) The "Honey" price comparison plugin developed by PayPal. (Photo taken from Honey Twitter)

Inflation in the United States is intensifying, and Chinese people are anxious under the double attack of high prices and high taxes. If wages are difficult to expect in a special period, the thrifty family style of the older generation can indeed be carried forward at this moment; if they know how to use it wisely price comparison plug-ins, check cashback, Taobao transshipment and second-hand sales, saving thousands of dollars every month is not a problem at all.

★Price comparison plugin for cheaper shopping

The "Honey" price comparison plug-in developed by PayPal, an American online payment giant, can be automatically loaded in the user's browser after free download, so that when you open any shopping website page to browse products, a "Honey" will be generated in the upper right corner of the screen. The price analysis automatically displays the price range of the product on the entire network, that is, which stage the price of the current page the user is staying at.

The "Honey" price comparison plugin helps consumers save daily expenses. (Photo taken from Honey Facebook)

For example, if you query the SONY ZV-1 camera on the B&H electrical website, the website shows that the price is $748, and the interval map automatically generated by "Honey" on the right will inform that the current price you are looking at is the average level of the entire network, and the lowest price that can be found. The price is $529.95, and the highest is $887; then users can click the lowest price to enter the cheaper website identified by "Honey" to buy.

"Honey" download website: https://www.joinhoney.com/.

"Rakuten" is committed to working with merchants to provide consumers with cash back, price comparison plugins and shopping rewards. (Photo taken from Rakuten Facebook)

★Cheque cashback, many cooperative merchants

"Rakuten", a financial technology company founded in the Bay Area in 1997, is committed to working with merchants to provide consumers with cash back, price comparison plugins and shopping rewards. In the past 24 years, it has 12 million regular users in the United States, helping them in popular brand stores. Earned more than $1 billion in revenue.

The Rakuten website has thousands of cooperative brands, providing users with discounts at different prices. (Screenshot from Rakuten website).

In addition to having a price comparison plug-in like "Honey", "Rakuten’s trump card business is to cooperate with various merchants to fight for cash rebates for buyers. For example, users who plan to shop at Nike can log in to the "Rakuten" page to search for Nike, and they will find that the page shows that Nike offers 6% cash back. If successful, the generated rebate amount will be found in the "Rakuten" personal account. The user can enter the address in the personal account, and after three to five working days, he will receive the rebate amount check sent by "Rakuten".

In addition to online consumption, users who intend to purchase in-store can also activate the "In-Store" rebate code of the target purchase brand on the "Rakuten" website in advance, to show it to the salesperson when paying for the discount.

"Rakuten" download website: https://www.rakuten.com/.

Rakuten” is also partnering with premium hotels to offer cash back to travelers. (Photo taken from Rakuten Facebook)

★Taobao transshipment with price advantage

Many Chinese living in the United States have always had the experience of being scared off by Amazon's prices, while the products on Taobao in mainland China have a rare price advantage because they are directly connected to the production factory. However, because Taobao's international transshipment service does not currently provide direct services to other countries and regions except Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau, Australia, and New Zealand, many Chinese students and office workers in the United States, Start using a third-party forwarder to ship your treasures from China to the United States.

The specific operation process is that the user contacts the third-party forwarding company, and directly sets the delivery address of the order placed on Taobao as the Chinese warehouse of the forwarding company. Then, after the goods arrive at the warehouse, they are uniformly weighed and packaged, and shipped by international logistics company DHL., air freight to the United States, can be directly sent to consumers' homes or company stores.

At present, there are many logistics companies used by Chinese in New York, such as "New York Paopao" (website: http://m.nypaopao.com/), "AAE Global Express" (website: http://cn.aaeweb.com/), etc.

★Second-hand sale and trade of idle items

There are second-hand trading and exchange platforms in the Chinese-swarming "one acre of three-point land" and "North American Micro Forum". Every day, hundreds of users post their idle items on the Internet, ranging from textbooks to cars and other large and small items. Interested users can ask for purchase by private message.

Website of "One Acre Three Points Flea Market": https://www.1point3acres.com/bbs/forum-225-1.html; "North American Micro Forum Second-hand Market" website: https://www.moonbbs.com/ forum-46-1.html.

(Source: Compiled from Online Information)