Christmas shoppers can save more than 30 per cent on popular gifts if they use a combination of money-saving websites, online discount vouchers and cashback cards.

The winter sale season has already started, with many high-street stores offering “secret” discounts to select customers, who get e-mailed vouchers or online pass codes to secure a discount.

These are being sent “discreetly” to those who have signed up for loyalty cards or registered online, but anyone can get them through websites such as sendmediscounts.co.uk.

The deals are an attempt to boost revenues without having public sales, which could undermine the more public discount periods that follow Christmas.

Threshers, John Lewis and Body Shop are among retailers trying to boost takings by offering the vouchers. Many have also teamed up with cashback websites such as Quidco to offer additional moneyback offers.

Most of the discounts are for online customers, and you have to enter a pass code to get the savings. But some retailers, including Gap and Threshers, allow it instore, too. Threshers, for example, offers 40 per cent-off vouchers that can be downloaded, printed and used in off-licences.

Sendmediscounts, which has been monitoring Christmas shopping for five years, says this is a bumper year. It has seen its visitor numbers double in the past week alone, and about 50,000 customers have signed up.

“This year we are able to provide discounts for more products than ever before,” said Nick Beeny at the site. “Retailers are offering savings much earlier. Traditionally we didn’t receive Christmas discounts until December, but this year vouchers started to arrive in mid-October.”

With the average spend at £620, or £840 for households with children, according to Britannia building society, savings of up to £250 are available for the truly savvy who are prepared to search for the best discounts online. So to bag a bargain this Christmas, make sure you take advantage of all the deals available before you splash out.

Find the cheapest deal

The first thing to do is find the cheapest deal for what you want. To do this, you can use websites such as savebuckets.co.uk or pricerunner.co.uk, which scour the internet.

Electrical goods are popular this year with iPods and Playstation game consoles among the most searched-for items. A Panasonic Lumix LX digital camera costs £299 at Jessops, but is 24 per cent less at Cameras2u.com, where it is £227.49, says Savebuckets.

Bigger savings are available on a new television set. The Sony Bravia 40in HD-ready LCD TV costs £1,049 from Marks & Spencer but only £634.01 from Digital Direct – a 40 per cent saving.

A Pricerunner search for a Playstation 3 60GB found four different prices. The cheapest was from Dixons – either in store or online – at £349.99. The most expensive was from Blackstar Internet, where it is sold for £489.99 – a 29 per cent difference.

Use discount codes

Websites like sendmediscounts regularly update you with the latest offers. Most are available only for short periods, so it is important to take advantage of them as soon as possible.

“Retailers are putting a shorter shelf life on offers now in an attempt to keep the Christmas shopping period going for longer,” said Beeny.

Ted Baker, for example, has a discount of 10 per cent to online shoppers but only during this weekend. Another offer is for an Xbox 360 with three games from Woolworths. This normally costs £279.99, but if you use the code XBox20, you will get a £20 discount. Longer-term discounts include 10 per cent off any online purchase at Body Shop with the code DHAD000138. This is valid until December 31.

One of the most popular voucher codes is for a whopping £500 off a £1,200 42in LCD TV from Sharp. To get the discount, simply type the code: lc42xd1ea at the online checkout.

Some deals are bogus so it is worth checking with customer services. Gap has recently warned customers not to be fooled by fake 60%-off vouchers. These are doctored versions of genuine instore 30 per cent-off vouchers. Sendmediscounts said it vets all the vouchers posted on its website.

You can get another £6 off the aforementioned Panasonic camera if you use the code CAM2U06 at cameras2u. This will bring the discount to 26 per cent off the Jessops price.

You can get the Playstation 3 from Dixons for 5 per cent less if you use the code GIMME5 when you go to the checkout screen.

It is important to note that a voucher may not always give you the best price as another retailer may offer a better deal without a voucher.

A 50ml bottle of One perfume by Dolce & Gabbana, for example, usually retails at £43. You can get a 10 per cent discount from pharmacy2u.co.uk, bringing the price down to £40.50. However, if you searched for the best price online, you can get the product for £31.95 from Amazon.

Use a cashback site

Cashback sites reward users by refunding a percentage of what they spend at affiliated “etailers”. The size of the cashback usually varies from 1 per cent to 10 per cent.

Retailers, including John Lewis, M&S and Tesco, have joined up with cashback sites such as Greasypalm, Quidco, Rpoints and Mrscashback.

Once logged on to the sites, you click on the links to retailers and start shopping. Mrscashback, for example, pays up to 12 per cent on selected goods from Body Shop or 4 per cent from Comet.

One of the largest sites is Greasypalm. It said its members have been credited with more than £5.7m in cashbacks since it launched in 2002. It has deals with 650 online retailers, including Dixons, the AA and Carphone Warehouse.

If you bought the Panasonic camera at Cameras2u via Quidco, you would earn another 2 per cent off the Cameras2u price, bringing your total discount to about 27 per cent off the Jessops price.

You should use the cashback site first, which will then direct you to Cameras2u where you can use the discount-voucher code.

Dixons will also offer 0.5 per cent off the Playstation 3 via Quidco. This will bring the cost down to £330.74 – about 33 per cent cheaper than the dearest online deal.

It is important to note that not all discount vouchers allow you to take advantage of other offers. Check with the retailer before making the purchase.

Cashback credit cards

These are issued by banks such as Abbey and offer up to 5 per cent, making them hugely popular for Christmas shoppers. The 5 per cent from Abbey applies only to supermarket purchases and then only to the first £1,000 spent, limiting the amount you can gain to a maximum of £50. It is valid until July 31.

A better deal is the American Express Platinum Moneyback credit card, which offers 5 per cent cashback for three months up to a maximum of £4,000. After that, its standard rate is 0.5 per cent for sums up to £3,500; 1 per cent up to £10,000 and 1.5 per cent on anything more than this.

Such cards will benefit only those who pay off their balances every month, as any interest paid could soon outweigh the benefits.

Buying the Panasonic camera using the Amex card will earn you about £11.07. This means the cost of the camera would be about £205.87 – a total saving of just over 30 per cent.

You would get £16.62 if you bought the Playstation 3 with your Amex. The total cost for the console would therefore be £314, a saving of some £176.

Ensure you order in time

After working out which combination of cashback and vouchers you can use to minimise your costs, make sure you order in time for delivery before the big day. Most online retailers have a cut-off date of December 17 for a guaranteed delivery before Christmas.

VOUCHING FOR ONLINE SAVINGS

Account executive Petrina Bonnington-Evans, 23, from northwest London, does most of her shopping online and has so far saved about £100 on Christmas gifts using a combination of comparison sites and discount vouchers.

She registered with sendmediscounts.co.uk and has benefited from offers by e-mail since October.

‘I found some great online savings. HMV had 15 per cent off CDs and DVDs so that really helped with present buying,’ she said.

She also uses comparison sites, but mostly for one-off items. When she’s placing a large order, she says vouchers work out best because many offer a percentage discount. ‘Sometimes, if I make enough purchases, I get free gifts, which make great stocking fillers.’

Bonnington-Evans says this is her second year of shopping online. ‘Last year I only bought a couple of items but I decided I would be a little more sensible with my money this year – it also means I don’t get wet on the high street.’