Almost everyone buys things online these days. It’s so convenient: click a few times, review your “cart,” complete checkout, and you’re finished.
If your digital shopping is limited to Amazon, eBay or Etsy, though, you could be overlooking some excellent bargains.
We dug up several offbeat shopping websites you may not have encountered — corners of the web where good deals often hide.
Here are six worth checking out:
- GoodwillFinds, where you can sift through roughly 100,000 secondhand items donated to Goodwill’s 3,300 locations.
- Unclaimed Baggage, an online storefront for clothes, jewelry and electronics recovered from lost airline luggage.
- Temu, a marketplace that ships inexpensive goods straight from China to consumers.
- DealDash, an auction platform that puts items up for bids for pennies on the dollar.
- The online military exchange, where veterans can shop tax-free and often find special pricing.
- GovDeals, a government auction site selling everything from heavy machinery and property to artwork.
Next time you’re buying online, explore some of these lesser-known sites. You might be surprised by what turns up.
Let’s examine each one in turn.
GoodwillFinds: A Massive Online Thrift Store
Goodwill is a century-plus old nonprofit — the original thrift-shop institution. So it was a big deal among bargain hunters when Goodwill launched an online presence.
Recently it rolled out GoodwillFinds, a portal that lets shoppers peruse tens of thousands of donated items from their living rooms.
Because items ship from one of Goodwill’s 3,300 U.S. and Canadian locations, shipping charges differ by item — but you’ll always see the cost before you finish your order. Shipping options are presented at checkout based on your address.
The site includes a search box and category browsing. Need women’s apparel, men’s wear or shoes? Kitchenware, jewelry or books? Home accents? Collectibles? You’ll find it.
Donated items are inspected by store staff, who decide which pieces to list online. Goodwill aims to have a million listings on the site over the coming years.
Here’s our article on GoodwillFinds.
Unclaimed Baggage: Selling Merchandise From America’s Lost Luggage
Have you ever wondered what becomes of luggage that never finds its owner?
Most misplaced bags are reunited with travelers. Only a small portion remains unclaimed. But with billions of checked bags each year, that small slice still adds up.
Truly orphaned luggage is transported to a large retail outlet in Alabama called the Unclaimed Baggage Center, which also operates an online store at Unclaimed Baggage.
There you can discover men’s and women’s clothing, jewelry and electronics such as laptops, tablets, earbuds and headphones.
New items are typically added on Thursdays and Sundays, so those days often offer the freshest selections. Still, any day of the week you can find thousands of unclaimed items at steep discounts.
Here’s our article on Unclaimed Baggage.
Temu: Products Shipped Direct from China
Temu is a marketplace that delivers goods directly from China to customers. While Temu is an American company headquartered in Boston, its parent firm is based in China.
Rather than buying goods from third-party resellers on Amazon, you can eliminate the middleman and purchase items straight from the source.
Temu’s categories span appliances, smart-home devices, apparel, lawn and garden, health and household items, beauty, musical instruments, toys and games, electronics, and pet supplies.
Shopping on Temu is straightforward, similar to Amazon. Visit Temu’s site or install the Temu app on your iOS or Android device. Once there, you can browse and hunt for deals.
Here’s our article on Temu.
DealDash: A Well-Known Penny Auction Site
DealDash is a legitimate auction platform where users bid on items including electronics and apparel, sometimes winning them for far below retail. It’s not a fraud, but it’s crucial to understand how bidding costs add up.
Penny auctions list products and let participants increase the price by a penny with each bid. Placing a bid also extends the auction clock by a predetermined interval.
When no further bids are posted and the timer runs out, the item sells to the final bidder at the closing price. However, every bid you place costs money, and losing bidders do not get those bid fees returned.
It can be entertaining, though it resembles gambling to some extent. DealDash can yield good bargains occasionally, but it’s not a guaranteed route to regular discounts because the true cost can exceed initial expectations.
Here’s our article on DealDash.
Online Military Exchange: Tax-Free Shopping and Veteran Discounts
Today, service members and veterans can visit the PX online from a phone or computer. If you’re a veteran and don’t check out ShopMyExchange.com, you could be overlooking meaningful savings. At minimum, you’ll benefit from tax-free purchases.
On average, military exchanges offer roughly 20% savings compared with standard department stores when you combine exclusive military pricing and exemption from state and local taxes, according to outlets like Military Advantage.
The exchange lets you shop by category, including electronics, clothing, footwear, furniture, appliances, jewelry, toys and sporting goods.
If deals are what you want, the online exchange’s “Savings Center” features rotating clearance events on items from computers and TVs to bedding and kitchenware. There’s also a rotating “deal of the day.”
Here’s our article on the online military exchange.
GovDeals: A Government Surplus Auction Platform
Think of GovDeals as eBay for government agencies.
When public entities — from state universities to police departments — retire equipment, they auction it to the public.
In the past, agencies placed newspaper notices to dispose of used equipment or seized property. GovDeals moves that process online, allowing agencies to reach a much larger pool of buyers. All proceeds from sales go back to the listing agency.
You’ll find a wide variety on GovDeals: fitness machines, classroom projectors, laptops, kitchen appliances, trucks, trading cards, RVs and hunting gear — often at significant markdowns.
Here’s our article on GovDeals.
There you go: six off-the-beaten-path shopping sites to explore.
If you’re searching for a particular item, there’s a good chance one of these destinations will have it. Or simply browse and see what catches your eye.
Become a savvy online shopper and you’ll rarely pay full price again.
Jordan Hale is a senior writer at Savinly.
