Using our experience in online shopping at US online stores that we’ve accumulated over the years, we put together some helpful shopping tips & tricks in one simple but helpful article. Many of the solutions here are for issues that we’ve heard from our customers throughout the years. This article will make shopping easier, faster, and more fun.

- Do not place orders using your Fishisfast address as the billing address. It should be used only for shipping. If you use it as the billing address, the store may flag your order and put your account on hold.

- Some stores will give 5-10% off of your first order if you sign up for their newsletter.

- If you are planning to buy frequently from a specific store, you may want to register an account and sign up for their newsletter. Most stores send unique discount offers and inform their members about new products, or give their members the right of early purchase for limited edition items.

- Some stores offer reward programs. Do yourself a favor and sign up when you come across one of those. After each purchase the customer gets points that can be used later to receive free items or samples. Here are some websites that have reward programs: Footlocker, Finishline, Guess, Nordstrom Rack, Aldo.

- Want to get paid for shopping? Here are some top sites for cash back service:

www.ebates.com

www.befrugal.com

- You can get great discounts, promo codes, coupons, and other good deals from the following websites:

www.retailmenot.com

www.couponcabin.com

www.rewards.com

Most stores offer discounts and coupons throughout the year. You will usually find available discounts and coupons at the top of the main page.

- It is always a good idea to follow stores on social media to stay informed about news and promotions, or to get in contact with store representatives quickly.

- If you leave the items in your shopping cart, the store may send you a reminder later, and even offer a discount if you are a member!

- If you are having trouble paying with your credit card at a store, try using PayPal. Many stores accept PayPal as a form of payment.

- If you need to check your order status, most stores have the online chat option available. It is an easy and convenient way to get in touch with the customer service without having to call the store.

- Many customers have have reported an issue when entering their phone number on eBay. All you need to do is enter the number without brackets and it should be approved. You can also enter any number you want that their system will accept, the number is not really important as it is usually not used for contacting the buyer.

- Michael Kors: this store usually ships orders with a crucial part of the shipping address missing - your “FFID” number, which usually goes in “address line 2” and is used to identify the owner of the shipment when we receive it. A solution for this is to precede the FF number with “#” (example: #22222), and the package should be shipped with complete address.

- When you shop at Zulily, the store saves your address automatically if you use the Internet Explorer browser.

- 6PM: If you are a new customer, the store may put your first order on hold and your account under review. They send you an email requesting to verify some information within 3 days. We cannot contact them on your behalf in this case and our mediation service won’t help either! You have to fax the documents requested by the store. All our customers who followed the store’s instructions and cooperated to verify their accounts received their orders successfully and continued online shopping at 6PM happily ever after.

- Aliexpress; always use their mobile application when shopping at Aliexpress, you will get a 5-10% discount automatically.

- Be aware of scam websites, such as fake MK, Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, etc.

Here are some simple steps to spot such websites: