100 Items You Should Not Pay Full Price For in 2025

There are so many items that modern shoppers take at face value, paying full price when a bit of negotiation or bargain hunting could net a significant discount — or even a few freebies. 

Whether it’s waiting for Prime Day or Black Friday before purchasing some Amazon electronics, or knowing which cars aren’t worth full price, or which banking fees you can wiggle out of, there are many high prices or fees that can be cut out of your life.

Check out 100 things you don’t need to pay full freight for. Also see bills frugal people do not pay.

If all of President Donald Trump’s tariffs take effect, consumers can expect a number of products to get far more expensive in 2025.

Per Live Now From Fox, now is the time to begin purchasing backups of the following items, as you won’t want to pay the full (increased) price for them as tariffs are enacted:

• Cars and trucks
• Gas
• Produce (especially avocados)
• Imported beer, tequila and Canadian whiskey
• Smartphones and laptops
• New homes (due to increased pricing of construction materials)
• Auto repairs (due to increased costs of auto parts and materials)
• Toys and video games
• Household appliances (washing machine, dishwasher and regrigerator prices spiked due to tariffs in Trump’s first term)
• Farming products

Cars can be an incredible expense — not just to drive them off the lot, or to purchase insurance, or to secure registration. 

Some vehicles suffer from built-in mechanical flaws, glitches and other reliability issues that will cost you money down the road.

Recently, GOBankingRates found 10 such vehicles to avoid — or, at the very least, to pay less than full price for, as you’ll likely be paying auto repair fees down the road:

• Jeep Wrangler
• Jeep Grand Cherokee
• Volkswagen Jetta
• Nissan Frontier
• Jeep Grand Cherokee L
• Rivian R1T
• Volvo XC60 Plug-In Hybrid
• Ford F-150 Hybrid
• Volkswagen Taos
• Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid

As Real Simple has noted, it’s easy to be temped at a wholesale grocery store and splurge on the bulk items with low prices. The inherent problem is that many grocery items will expire long before you eat and/or cook them. 

In the end, being wowed by the low prices and impulse buying will often cost you more; stick to your shopping list for non-perishables only.

Do not overspend on these bulk items:

• Bread/baked goods
• Dried herbs and spices
• Cooking oils
• Dairy
• Fresh produce
• Condiments
• Whole grains and nuts
• Soda
• Chips
• Frozen items

As GOBankingRates has noted before, when the winter chill is replaced by warm weather, there can be a temptation to rush out and overspend on spring items to celebrate the feeling of seasonal rebirth. 

Prices on items such as outdoor furniture and warm-weather clothing all spike during this time of year; meanwhile, smart shoppers could buy these items during the fall or winter and skip paying full price:

• Patio furniture
• Spring clothing
• Activewear
• Exercise equipment
• Swimwear
• Pool floats
• Camping equipment
• Grilling equipment
• Decorative planters
• Gardening supplies

AOL has suggested skipping out on paying full price for any Amazon-made electronic product – with retail holidays such as Prime Day and Black Friday both massively slashing Amazon prices, it makes no since to pay the full retail amount:

• Amazon Alexa
• Amazon Astro
• Amazon Echo
• Amazon Luna
• Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor
• Blink security camera
• Fire tablets
• Fire TVs
• Fire TV sticks
• Kindles

As SmartAsset has reported, these seemingly disparate items (some of which are already cheap before the holidays) always have a price drop after Christmas — meaning you should never pay full price:

• Holiday decor
• Gift wrap and paper goods
• Exercise equipment
• Video games
• Digital cameras
• High-end TVs
• Boxed gift sets
• Winter coats
• Furniture
• Kitchen items

Often, when buying a new car off the lot, the price you end up paying ends up being much, much higher than the price on the car’s windshield. Why? Multiple dealership fees and markups during the purchase process. 

HowStuffWorks has laid out 10 dealership fees that can be exorbitantly expensive if paid on the lot:

• Destination fee
• Dealer preparation fee
• Vehicle registration fee
• VIN etching fee
• Advertising free
• Window tinting fee
• Sales taxes
• Extended warranty
• Dealer markup fee
• Rebates

Traveling and staying at hotels is already an expensive proposition and can become even more expensive if you accept the additional fees that can be tacked onto hotel bills. 

In fact, Kiplinger reported that hotels earn over $1 billion in surcharge fees annually. Extra charges can be avoided if you know what to look for — such as those listed below:

• Resort fees
• Early check-in fee
• Additional personal fee
• Wi-Fi fee
• Mini-bar and snack fee
• Parking fee
• Gym fee
• Housekeeping gratuity
• Spa gratuity
• Telephone surcharge

Per Kay Lynn, finance advisor for Couple Money, the following kitchen items can go wildly underused. If you can purchase them on sale or used, you should:

• Baked potato cooker
• Electric wok
• Cappuccino maker
• Ice cream maker
• Rotisserie
• Sandwich press
• Wine opener
• Ice shaver
• Egg cooker
• Quesadilla maker

Banks don’t just hold your money — they are designed to make money as well. Banks make billions yearly from tacked-on charges. Often, banks will saddle members with additional fees, many of which can be negotiated down or waived if you contact your institution.  

Here are 10 fees you shouldn’t pay in full:

• Monthly service fees
• Overdraft fees
• Nonsufficient funds (NSF) fees
• Out-of-network ATM fees
• Foreign transaction fees
• Wire transfer fees
• Excess transaction fees
• Paper statement fees
• Lost debit card replacement fees
• Account closing fees