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Shopping online is convenient and easy which makes it great, but can also make it a hazard if you're not careful. The enticing advertisements and sales landing in your inbox, minimal clicks to purchase a shopping cart, and more make the risk of overspending even greater. The average online transaction is as much as 15% more than that average brick-and-mortar purchase, according to Forrester Research. To stop you from falling off the budget wagon, here are a few of the tactics that an online retailer may use and tips to help you stick to your budget when confronted with them.

Few Clicks
The time to think about your purchase is much less compared to shopping at a brick-and-mortar store. At a brick-and-mortar store you have a different purchase process that takes longer and includes browsing, trying it on, making your way to the register, standing in line, swiping your card and signing or handing over cash. Online, you can purchase a shopping cart in a minimum of one to three clicks, which is much faster. 

Plastic vs. Cash
Paying with credit card can cause consumers to spend more than they intended, as opposed to paying with cash. The reason is that the consumer is distanced from what they're spending when they use credit cards and it's even easier when card information is saved in a site's account. If you have an account on the site that stores payment information or use PayPal, or another similar payment service, makes the distance even greater. Not having to physically take your credit card out of your wallet or enter the numbers makes it extremely easy to overspend. A BIGresearch/Shop.org study found that on average online back to school shoppers were expected to spend 40% more than offline shoppers.

While Supplies Last
Retailers that list how many of an item is left or that an item is in someone else's cart do so because they know that it makes us want it to more. In addition to a limited supply, limited time to buy also makes us want the item more because of the fear that we'll miss out on the opportunity. Both of these tactics activate our flight-or-fight mechanism and cause us to make irrational discussions.

Comparing Prices
Online retailers know our online shopping habits. They know that if they compare two similar items with different price points that you'll more often than not purchase the less expensive version. However, when the retailer adds a third item that's more expensive then the previous two items, it makes the mid-priced item (higher priced item from the first two items) more desirable. Thus, enticing you to buy the item that you probably wouldn't have originally purchased and potentially getting you to spend more than you budgeted.

How can you avoid these hazards? Here are several tips to help you stick to your budget when confronted with an online shopping hazard:

1. Stick to your budget or if you don't have a budget, create one in your Alliant Online Banking PFM account and stick to it. 
2. Create a coupon inbox for retailer emails only to reduce temptation. 
3. Make a list and follow it when clicking through a site. 
4. Limit your shopping time to a designated amount of time to reduce browsing and impulse. 
5. Ask a friend for advice before you buy to eliminate the urge to splurge. 
6. Sleep on it for two nights. If you still want it, only then purchase it. 
7. Focus on the right price of an item during a sale, the purchase price, and not the savings.

Sources: LearnVest.com, BigResearch/Shop.org, MSNMoney.com