I love shopping at Costco. Costco offers high-quality products at reasonable prices. The choice of products at Costco is limited and products change often. It’s hard to keep up with new products. In addition, Costco often has clearance items, which can be bargains. But unlike other stores, Costco doesn’t advertise clearance items.
Here are a few websites that will help you keep up with new products, clearance items, and product reviews. These websites will help you find the best deals and save you time and money.
Costco97.com
The website Costco97’s name comes the fact that if a price ends in 0.97, it means that the product is on clearance. These products won’t be sold in the store again once they are sold out.
The Costco97.com breakdown the clearance items by location. Since Costco clearance sales vary from one location to another, this feature is very useful to find clearance items at your nearest Costco.
Every Monday, Costco97 publishes Markdown Monday with a list of items that are clearance that week. I always take a look at the list to see if any items on the list peek my interest.
You can also check out the clearance calendar to understand when items are likely to go on clearance. You can also find out when certain products will be coming into the store.
In addition, you will find Costco’s monthly coupon books and Black Friday ads on the site.
Costcoinsider.com
Costco Insider provides reviews on popular Costco products. It has a section with Costco tips, which allows you to get the most value from your membership. It covers a variety of products from lighting to TVs to food items. You will be able to get Costco Hot Buys, coupon books, and Black Friday ads on the site.
Slickdeals.net
Slickdeals is a general deals site. But you can set an email alert for “Costco” and get Costco-specific deals. The Slickdeals community is terrific and you will get valuable tips from the Costco veterans on the site.
Because this is a general deals site, you will not catch all the Costco deals. But the most popular deals will make it to the site. The best part about the site is the discussion that follows after a user posts a Costco deal.
Getting the most out of Costco
Buy gas at Costco
Gas at Costco is $0.20/gallon or more cheaper than the regular gas station. If you use the Costco Visa card to purchase gas at Costco, you will get 4% cash back on up to the first $7,000 per year. Your savings on gas alone will easily pay for your Costco membership.
Get a Costco credit card
If you are a Costco member, getting the Costco Visa card will help you cover the membership fee with the cash back rewards. The card offers:
- 2% cash back at the Costco warehouse and Costco.com
- 4% on eligible gas, for the first $7,000 per year and then 1% thereafter
- 3% on restaurants and eligible travel
- 1% on all other purchases
- Extended warranty – The card extends the manufacturer’s warranty for an additional two years for up to $10,000 per item
- No foreign transaction fee
- No annual fee
Note that this card pays out rewards in Costco rewards certificate. There is no option to redeem the rewards for cash. Your Costco membership fee is also automatically charged to the card every year.
Use Costco Travel
Costco Travel has fantastic deals on vacation packages. These packages (flights + hotel + car, if needed) will be much cheaper than what you can get on your own. Savings can be in the hundreds or even thousands. Some travel packages give Costco Cash cards as rewards. Costco Travel support is top-notch in case you help picking the right travel package.