The irritating world of discount codes (yandles or ffx - any working ones?)

[julianf]

Not so much FFX - ive noticed their base prices go up and down all the time according to what "discount" is currently active (ie the price might go up, but then the discount goes up, or vice versa!)

221FFX will get you 5% off currently - if anyone knows of a better code, id be interested, but i suspect it doesn't exist.

Yandles - plenty of sites full of re-directs to their website (which i guess they earn a referral fee on) but no code that ive found to work.


I wouldn't normally bother too much, but things are a little uncertain at present, coupled with the item i want keeps rising in price, and a "pseudo" discount might make me feel a bit easier!

Thank you.

 

[bourbon]

IF of course any one has any stock. There seems to be a shortage of stuff

 

[robgul]

IME the "offer codes" offered by loads of websites seldom work - they are : out of date - or very specific to obscure products that nobody wants. And of course the websites then have a mail-list that you've signed up to and bombard you with email shots from all and sundry.

 

[TheUnicorn]

Discounts always seem a bit of a scam (I use that term fairly loosely), I always think of the sofas that are advertised as 80% off, but the listed RRP has only ever been offered in one store for the minimum amount time so they don't get sued. I will of course get my head turned by something that is advertised as 50% off, but I always try and find the same item elsewhere as a reference price. Often that 50% discount is pretty much just the market price or very close to it. Also I try (not that I always succeed) to remember that if I wasn't already looking to buy an item, I'm not saving any money at all, just likely spending money on an item I didn't have a true need for.

 

[Dr Al]

For FFX, it's worth keeping an eye on the ebay general special offers. They periodically do "20% off from selected sellers" and the selected sellers often include FFX. The FFX ebay prices are higher than on the FFX website, but with the 20% off it's often the cheapest way.

FFX seem to have discounts regularly for all sorts of reasons, so I would avoid 5% discounts as I'm sure you can do better.

 

[julianf]

FFX pricing on a Triton tra001

£250 about 10 days ago. No discount codes active.

Then up to £269 currently, at the same time as a 5% code appearing (which takes it close to the former price). eBay price is 285 or somthing.

But eBay had a 10% off thing running, so, again, down to close to the former direct price.

I can't think this isn't by design.

Yandles at £259.

Screwfix at £225 or somthing but has no stock, or can't find the stock or somthing else.

I will probably just buy at ffx with their 5% code. It's not a big jump in price but for somthing that (for other reasons) I'm borderline on buying anyway, the price jump has put me on the fence more than I was previously!

 

[billw]

I've given up using those voucher code sites, they're worthless. Never found a single code that works - I think people get emailed promotions that are specific to them and distribute them not realising the company has thought of that.

 

[julianf]

The FFX221 code that i mentioned in my first mail is certainly active - just was compensated for by a price hike of over the discount amount upon its release.

In normal times i wouldn't be paying as much attention, but the loss of VAT synchronisation with the EU will mean that this months mortgage will come out of savings, so the return on investment consideration makes me much more cautious than otherwise.

 

[billw]

The FFX221 code that i mentioned in my first mail is certainly active - just was compensated for by a price hike of over the discount amount upon its release.

That's often the case, hike prices then discount them even when the discounted price is higher than the original price, Psychologically it works. It just pays to shop around these days but we live in an instant society where many don't bother.

 

[Dr Al]

That's often the case, hike prices then discount them even when the discounted price is higher than the original price, Psychologically it works. It just pays to shop around these days but we live in an instant society where many don't bother.

It also pays to keep an eye on prices for a while before you buy. I tend to watch things on a few different sites (including uk.camelcamelcamel.com as well as some more normal ones) for a while so I know what the normal price is. That way you're much less likely to get sucked in by special offers that aren't any better than the normal prices.

 

[julianf]

Have a look at this -

Ebay have a 15% off sale on selected sellers. So i thought id see if FFX were participating, and, sure enough, they were....

Price now £305. 15% off that brings it down exactly the same as yesterdays website price with their own token!

I guess a number of people would think that £45 off was a great deal, otherwise they wouldnt bother?

 

[Ollie78]

I always check ffx on ebay and at their store one is usually a tiny bit cheaper than the other but its random which one.

I always wonder about trying one of those browser extensions like "honey " that youtube people always advertise, some of them claim to have historic price checks to see if it is a real offer or a pre-inflated price discounted to normal.
Never tried one as I can`t trust it to mind its own business.


Ollie

 

[shed9]

I started using Honey a few weeks back and saved a fair amount of cash and hassle. No I'm not affiliated with them in any shape or form and ordinarily I wouldn't touch a voucher browser add-on but these guys were recently bought out by Paypal so I figured if I trust Paypal secure sessions on my machine so little difference in installing Honey in Chrome. If there are known codes it automatically searches and if the codes are dud you don't see the hassle it just reports no further discounts are available. It found the FFX codes and it saved a bit on other sites as well. Certainly worth the effort in installing in my opinion.

 

[Ollie78]

Shed9
Interesting, I might give it a go, does it have a price history checker on it. And can you turn it on or off or is it always there.

Ollie

 

[billw]

Firms are there to profit maximise, you can't blame them for charging different prices on different platforms because there will be some people who are too lazy to check and just assume they're getting the best deal.

 

[jcassidy]

That's often the case, hike prices then discount them even when the discounted price is higher than the original price, Psychologically it works.

It's a common negotiating technique called 'anchoring', which is why when buying anything from a used car to a house, you should never let the seller suggest a price to start bargaining.

 

[southendwoodworker]

I find all the voucher websites complete crud, I only spend 5 minutes having a look to see if there are big discount but I have seldom found any.

I'm not a tradie, so I cant get any trade discounts anywhere.

If I am making a big purchase I will sometimes checkout the companies social media on facebook or twitter to see if there is a code on there, I think I've probably only found a couple ever that have worked.

I sign up to the companies newsletters I buy regularly from, I will search their emails to see if there is a code in there before making a purchase too.

I find that searching hotukdeals.com for a code works best. The community there is active and they are a miserly bunch - which is a good thing because when they rate deals and vouchers their opinion is pretty good. Stale vouchers get purged pretty quick.

I also check the cash back websites like quidco and topcashback. Over the years I've probably gotten £550 back that way (it adds up), and I'm not a big spender by any means. They sometimes have specific discount codes.

FFX and Ebay, here is what I have found to get the best deal. I've spent about £1100 this last year with FFX either directly of via ebay.

Firstly I have a specific thing I want, like a specific drill make and model, this doesn't really work when window shopping.

1. have a nectar card and add that to ebay
2. when ebay have their discount (generally 10, 15 or 20% - up to a maximum £60 per sale) I check the anglia tool center website and their ebay site; ffx website and their ebay site and find the best price
3. i then do a search on google shopping and manomano to see if theres better prices there and to get a sense of market rate
4. if the cheapest option is buying via the ebay stores, I will then open up a new browser window in private mode, login to quidco and topcashback, see which has the higher cashback for ebay that day, then use them to refer me to ebay.
5. I then make the purchase on ebay using the ebay discount code

Why nectar card? You can get loads of nectar points for free via ebay, sometimes they do a deal that gives 3x the value - meaning you can get 900 points off a £300 spend. This makes the wife happy.

Why compare a suppliers website against the ebay price? Because sometimes it is cheaper to go directly to them and use the standard 5% ffx discount code that floats around.

Why login and use quidco or topcashback? Because I can sometimes get about 7% back on an ebay purchase. My last big purchase was a drill and impact set for £360 from ebay ffx. I got 7% back via topcashback + 20% discount from ebay, which pulled the price down to about £40 cheaper than any other website selling the same thing.

I've found that FFX generally raises their prices when ebay does their 10/15/20% deal, I've spent about £1100 this last year with FFX on a number of purchases and have seen them do it each time. Sometimes they raise it a lot, sometimes not so much. You got to check each time. I had my eye on something cheap for £15. FFX increased their price to £17.50 for the ebay 10% off discount, which effectively meant I was only saving 1-2% off normal price

 

[CornishWoodworker]

Not always, but if you see an item you wish, put it in your basket but don't complete the purchase, just close the webpage down.
If its an intelligent website, you may well, in a day or so get an email with a " you did not complete your purchase , was everything OK, we can offer you a 5% discount if you complete now.
Not always but well worth a try unless your desperate for the item(s).

 

[julianf]

Ok, so ive just purchased one.

Currently -

Screwfix is still listing at £220, but seems uninterested in restocking
Toolstation is at £259, somtimes has stock at stores, but never for delivery
FFX £270 or somthing, but you get a £5 amazon voucher!

Just checked yandles again, who have been out of stock, but listing at £250, and they are back in stock and on offer at £239

So that's as good as its going to get i think, so I've purchased.

I need to get the cast iron table thats lurking here machined up for it now.

 

[mikej460]

I keep getting 'todays deals' from FFX Virtual Show and the prices are dearer than they were before Christmas.