5 reasons you overspend online

However, a couple of times, she says, she's kept an extra pair of pumps or boots because she's chased her daughter down the driveway with them, or because she just can't bear to part with them once she walks around her house in them.

They won't let you forget

Much like the local boutique owner knows your name and preferences, online retailers know your tastes and use it to keep reminding you of your wish list. Your local Target superstore couldn't tell what shirt or CD you looked at on your last visit, but Amazon can. It uses this information to make recommendations for new items and remind you that you didn't pick up that item you wanted before. Sometimes it will even knock a couple of bucks off the price if you buy two of your favorite items instead of only one.

"They're always trying to get you to buy something else," says Roger King, an art director from Los Angeles who shops Amazon.com frequently.

For many of us, these recommendations spur a purchase we had never banked on making.

Outdoor retailer Patagonia, for instance, can now recommend shirts and pants for a customer to buy that will go with that anorak you bought a few months ago. It's kind of like getting unsolicited advice from an electronics salesperson; some people hate it and some people like it.

"I like the ones that push content to me that's relevant to what I've bought before," says Amy Carr, a La Jolla, Calif., stay-at-home mother and co-owner of an Internet marketing firm. Carr says she often will make another purchase if she knows the item is something others ultimately bought after looking at the same things she did.

For other retailers, getting browsers to buy is as easy as storing their shopping cart for months on end. E-commerce analysts say many shoppers place things in their cart as a form of window shopping, only to leave them there when they run out of time or interest. Retailers like Drugstore.com remind you with e-mails that you have some unfinished business; other sites just leave the items there so you are confronted with them again when you visit the site.

"A lot of people come back months later and buy the products that are still in their carts," said Andy Kurlander, senior marketing manager for Zappos.com.

They'll throw in free shipping

Two more potent words were never spoken in the world of online shopping, experts say. The lure of free shipping is an important tool in getting customers to spend more on each visit. Even if shipping only costs $4 or $5, shoppers will put extra items in their basket that cost several times that much just to qualify.

"I think it's pretty important," Mulpuru says. "If there's a threshold, it can increase the order value."

Especially, she says, when shoppers are confronted with electronic reminders that they are only $5, $10 or $15 away from free shipping.

Shopper Carr says she often finds herself searching out other items to put in her cart, so she can meet free-shipping minimums.

"I do spend a little bit more," she says. "I'll find another book that I like, or a toy for my son," she says.

At Amazon, some customers are even willing to pay a $79 annual fee just for the privilege of getting free two-day Prime shipping on many items. While this is still a big expense for Amazon, customers who have this privilege come back more often for the almost immediate gratification and to justify the expense of the fee.

"It really makes a huge difference," says Smith, the Amazon spokeswoman. "Prime customers do shop more heavily with us." And they do it, she acknowledges, partly because "they want to get their money's worth."

They'll reward their best customers

Of course, most of the rewards that retailers shell out are just incentives thrown in to get you to buy more, such as a 20% off coupon or free upgrade to shipping.

Often, retailers will send these perks out to you right after a purchase, so if there was anything you didn't get the first time around, you're motivated to pick it up now.

Others, such as Victoria's Secret and the Gap, entice you to get one of their credit cards so you can receive regular discounts and breaks on shipping.

"When you have a private-label credit card, you are able to collect a lot of information about your customers, and understand what their preferences are and what they may be more likely to buy. Then you can make more relevant suggestions," says Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, an online retail trade group.

Some retailers are even making money off your purchases with others. Amazon, for one, has its own branded Visa card, which rewards you with points toward Amazon gift certificates when you shop.

King, who has an Amazon credit card, says the card has made him much more loyal to Amazon. He'll even order supplies from work on the card, knowing he will be reimbursed.

"I've been pretty faithful to them," he says.

How to resist

• Keep a wish list and stick to it. One frugal shopper on the Everyday Cheapskate Web site says he dates each entry on his wish list and only lets himself purchase an item when three months are up.
• Make paying for it a real hassle. Don't store your address or credit card data. Shop online but use snail mail for the actual transaction, advises Mary Hunt, founder of the EverydayCheapskate site. Stuff a check in an envelope with an order form. Wait a week before you send it and see how much the item appeals to you then.
• Stick to your budget. Don't let free-shipping minimums and one-time-only coupon codes make you spend more than you had budgeted. Write down how much you are prepared to spend and put it on a Post-it note on the side of your monitor as a reminder.
• Get off retailers' mailing lists. While you might miss out on some good deals, you will probably spend less because you're not constantly bombarded with offers.

Updated Dec. 3, 2007

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