Bonanza is a huge marketplace with millions of products for sale by thousands of merchants. Most people open their wallets as soon as they find what they’re looking for, but cost-conscious shoppers know there are certain tricks to finding the very best deals.
These tips and tricks are worth far more than their weight in gold, because once you learn just a few of them, you could save hundreds of dollars on Bonanza every year.
Don’t pay more than it’s worth
When you’re shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, it’s difficult to compare prices - you’d have to drive all over town to see which store is offering the best deal.
But when you shop on Bonanza, you can compare prices from dozens of merchants, simply by doing a search and looking at the various prices in the search results page.
Compare prices between multiple merchants
If many different merchants on Bonanza are selling the item you’re looking for, be sure to compare prices to see who’s offering the best deal. But keep in mind that the merchant with the lowest price isn’t always the best one to buy from - make sure it’s a reputable merchant by using the tips in the “Find the best merchants” section below.
Factor in the shipping costs
Some merchants charge a shipping and handling fee on each sale. While that’s normal and usually very reasonable, don’t be fooled by merchants that try to lure you in with the lowest price but then gouge you with an exorbitant shipping charge. When you’re comparing prices, be sure to add the price of the item plus any shipping fees to get the total cost you’ll pay from each merchant.
Make an offer
Many sellers are flexible on their prices, as long as you’re proactive enough to ask them for a discount. If you see the letters “OBO” next to an item’s price, that means “or best offer.” When you click the “Ask seller a question” button, there will be an option to “Make an offer” - that’s your opportunity to ask the seller if they’ll sell you the product for a lower price.
When you make an offer, it’s important to keep in mind that the best way to get a “yes” is to offer a price that’s reasonable. Remember that the seller is in business to make a profit, and most sellers don’t mark up their products by very much in the first place. If you ask for more than 5 or 10 percent off, you’re likely to hear “no” more often than “yes.”
Use coupons and discounts
Bonanza is a great place to shop and save, and a big part of that is thanks to the thousands of coupons and other discounts offered by most merchants. You can almost always get a discount if you know where to look. Here’s how:
Booth coupons
The most common kind of coupon is a “Booth coupon,” so called because it can apply to any item in the merchant’s Bonanza booth. Your choice.
Whenever you find an item that you might like to purchase, be sure to look for the “Coupon available” banner on the item listing. (It will be a giant banner at the top of the page - very hard to miss!). Booth coupons are offered in conjunction with any other coupons and dicounts offered by the seller, and the savings will automatically be applied to your order. It’s that easy.
You can even shop by booths that are offering discounts. Point your mouse over the "Shop by" link in the upper right-hand corner of any Bonanza page and select "Coupons & deals" from the drop-down to view booths with current discounts available.
Combined item discounts
Many sellers offer a discount to shoppers who buy multiple items from them in a single order, called a “combined item discount.” Often times, these discounts are large - sometimes 30% or more. There is a catch, though: the discount is only available if you spend a minimum dollar amount when you purchase. But if you like the merchant’s products and wouldn’t mind adding one or two more items to your order, it can be well worth it to access those big savings.
Shipping discounts
Similar to the combined item discounts, some merchants will offer a discount on your shipping fees if you buy multiple items all in the same order. The discounts usually aren’t as big as the combined item discounts, but it’s worth considering whether to put a couple more items in your cart to save bucks on shipping fees.
Get it before it’s gone
Are you looking for rare or hard-to-find items, but you don’t want to re-type your detailed search every 2 hours to see if a new one has been added for sale?
Then you’re in luck: Bonanza lets you save any product search, no matter how complex or specific it might be, so you can instantly re-do the search later on. You can even subscribe to get emails whenever new items match your search.
Saved searches
To save a search, just do the search like you normally would from the Bonanza home page. But once you get the results you want, this time click “save this search” under the “Narrow your results” box on the left-hand side of the search results page. Your search will be instantly saved.
To re-do the search later on, go to your Account page and scroll down to the Saved searches section. You’ll see a list of all your saved searches. Just click the one you want, and your search results will appear, instantly, with all the same settings you used when you saved it.
If you want even more control over your saved search, click “Edit saved search” to access more options. For example, you can tell the search to ignore items that don’t ship to your country, and even limit the results to only sellers that have a lot of feedback on Bonanza.
Saved search notifications
Saving your searches is a quick way to re-do your favorite searches whenever you want. But they become even more powerful when you turn on search notifications.
When you turn on saved search notifications, Bonanza will run the search for you and then email you if any new matching items are posted for sale. It’s like having your own personal assistant keeping a lookout for new items you’re interested in, and then letting you know when something new turns up. You don’t have to lift a finger.
To turn on notifications for any saved search, just click “Edit saved search” on your Account page > See all saved searches page and make sure the box is checked next to your preferred notification timeline (daily or weekly) under the “How often should we notify you?" section.
Ask a seller for help
If you’re really having trouble finding that rare, special item, then there’s an “advanced” technique you can try: Find a merchant that deals in items similar to the one you’re looking for, and then ask them to help you find it.
Does it really work? Well, that depends. Many merchants are specialists in their particular product category, so if you build a customer relationship with a merchant that deals in the category you want, they may try to source the inventory you’re looking for so they can sell it to you. And, if you’re lucky, they might even give you the first shot at purchasing it before anybody else.
To contact a seller, use the “Ask seller a question” button on any item listing page. Or, you can use the “Send message” link on the seller’s profile page. An example message might be like this: “Hi there, I notice that you’re somewhat of an expert in selling vintage tableware. I’m looking to buy a silver ice cream spoon by Kidney & Johnson, so I’d love to hear from you if you ever post one for sale on Bonanza. Thank you so much!”
Stay on the lookout for bargains
There are thousands of new products being listed on Bonanza every day. If you’re looking for a whole lot of different things (not just for one specific item), Bonanza offers several ways to keep an eye on the latest postings so you can keep an eye out for your next bargain.
Browse the newest listings
It’s easy to view a list of all the products posted to Bonanza. Under the “Shop by” menu at the top of any page, click on “New items.” You’ll see a long, scrollable list of all the latest products that are up for sale. It’s like a treasure hunt - who knows what you might find.
Subscribe to your favorite merchants
Whenever you find a merchant that specializes in items you’re interested in, you should consider “following” them to stay up-to-date on their latest merchandise. When you follow a seller, Bonanza will periodically send you an email about that seller’s newest items, coupons, and discounts.
To follow a seller, just click the “Follow seller” link from any item listing page in the seller’s booth. You can un-follow them any time by clicking the same link, or from clicking un-follow in any follower email you receive from them.
Shop on your smartphone
What if you want to keep up with all the newest items on Bonanza, but you’re not at your computer all the time?
It may be a pain in the neck (and a strain on the eyes) to make purchases on a tiny little phone screen. But savvy Bonanza shoppers know a few tricks for shopping on their phone, and then making the purchase once they get back to their computer.
How do they do it? It’s easy if you’ve created a user account on Bonanza. Because when you shop while logged into your Bonanza account, you can share a shopping cart between your smartphone and your computer. So it’s easy to shop for products on your phone, add them to your cart, and then complete your purchase on your computer later on.
If you find an item you like but don’t want to put into your cart just yet, you can save it for later by adding it to your wishlist. To add an item to your wishlist, just click the “Add to wishlist” button on any item detail page. You can view all the items in your wishlist by visiting your Account page and scrolling down to the Wishlist area.
Tip: Got a birthday or other gift-giving holiday coming up soon? Send your gift-givers a link to your Wishlist page as a gentle hint of which items you might like to receive. :)
Find the best merchants
Bonanza is a marketplace where nearly 40,000 merchants sell their products. And, like any marketplace - either online or offline - some merchants are better than others. So, how can you tell the difference between a great seller, and a stinker?
Bonanza provides several tools to help you easily decide who you want to buy from, based on their reputation online and their customer service skills (or lack thereof).
Do they have a good feedback score?
The first thing you should consider before buying from any online seller, is their reputation. On Bonanza, each seller’s reputation is called their “feedback score.” It’s a measure of how many positive, neutral, or negative reviews the seller has received from customers on Bonanza and elsewhere online. Bonanza also shows you how many transactions the merchant has made on the platform, which can give additional information about their trustworthiness as a seller.
You can view a seller’s feedback score from any of their item listings. Just look for the area that says something like “79 Bonanza transactions, 99.5% positive rating.” If you want even more detail, just click on the feedback score to get a detailed view of their individual ratings, along with any comments that were left by past customers.
If you find an item that you like but you see that the seller has a low feedback score - or no score at all - think twice about whether you really want to purchase from a stranger with no reputation.
Are they responsive to your questions?
Whether or not any given seller has established a feedback score, another great way to make sure they’re trustworthy is to send them a message and ask a question about the product you’re interested in.
Does the seller return your message in a timely manner? Are they professional and courteous in their response? Did they do a good job of answering your question? The way they choose to respond to your message can be a clue as to whether they’re somebody you’d like to do business with.
You can send any seller a message using the “Ask seller a question” button from any item listing. When they respond, you’ll get an email and it will also show up as a notification on your Account page.
Are they acting shady or suspicious?
If a seller ever contacts you and asks you to pay for an item outside of Bonanza, for example to send them a check or give them your credit card, don’t do it! That’s called “circumventing checkout,” and it’s not only against Bonanza’s policies - it’s also a good sign that the seller is trying to rip you off.
99.9% of merchants on Bonanza are honest and trustworthy, so it doesn’t happen often. But if you do find a merchant that is trying to circumvent checkout, or doing anything else that you feel seems shady or suspicious, refuse to do business with them - and then immediately report them to support@bonanza.com for investigation.
Find deals by refining your search
When you search for a product on Bonanza, it’s best to start with the big ol’ search bar at the top of any page. But most searches are likely to return hundreds or thousands of results, far too many to sort through. You can refine your search to be more specific, using the “Narrow your results” area on the left side of the search results page.
There are many options in for refining your search, and they’ll change to adapt to the type of items you’re searching for. But there are a few refinements that price-conscious shoppers pay special attention to. Here they are.
- Condition. Bonanza has both new and used products, and often the used versions are the best deal. Use the “Condition” refinement to specify only used or only new.
- Price. Possibly the most useful refinement is to narrow down how much you’re willing to pay. the “Price” refinement offers sliders that let you narrow your search down to a minimum price or, even better, a maximum price.
- Advanced show options. By default, each search shows the prices of the items themselves but does not include shipping costs in the price. If you want to see the “total cost” of the items in your search, locate the “Advanced show options” refinement and turn on “Combine shipping in price.”
Bonus tip: Get stuff for free!
What if we told you that Bonanza has thousands of items you can get for free? Sounds hard to believe, right?
Bonanza merchants are allowed to offer freebies to their customers, and many of them do just that. Some freebies are truly free with no strings attached, while some are only free when you purchase a full-priced item. Either way, it’s a fun treasure hunt and a great way to save money on Bonanza.
To see a list of free items, use the “Browse Categories” menu at the top of any page and click on “Freebies.” It’s under the “More ways to shop” section. And if you find some freebies that a friend might like, be sure to tell them about it!
Who’s the savvy shopper now?
If you’ve made it all the way through this article, you’re probably super excited about your newly-discovered bargain-hunting superpowers. With over 15 million items for sale on Bonanza, what bargains will you find next?
It’s time to find out. Happy hunting!