Sounds like a simple question, but there’s a lot that goes into making a good daily deal. Here’s the who, the what, the when and how the best daily deals happen!

—Who offers a good daily deal?

Everyone who is online! That doesn’t really narrow it down, which is equally daunting and encouraging. As you may already know, online retailers are the ones who can most often offer the best, rock-bottom daily deals because they don’t have to worry about paying the exorbitant rents of your favorite downtown stores and boutiques.

—What makes a good daily deal?

A good daily deal is something you need, first of all. Everyone likes to "window shop" online, but the danger of online shopping is you can fill your cart and go through the checkout without realizing what you’ve done. Go online looking for something you actually need and you can’t get into too much trouble!

But good daily deals are things you can’t get cheaper anywhere else. Buying online is a great way to save money because online retailers lack the high overhead of traditional stores and therefore can offer the best deals. If you know what you’re looking for, you’ll spend a lot of time searching for it at brick and mortar stores—but you’ll spend less time searching and catch a great deal online.

—When should a good daily deal be available?

Anytime between midnight and 11:59 p.m. This makes it a true daily deal, because it only happens for one 24 hour period and then it’s gone. Online shopping is a 24/7/365 enterprise. No longer do you have to crawl out of bed and get to the store first thing in the morning, or race in there after work before the store closes. Anyone anywhere can buy anything he or she wants at anytime, so it behooves online retailers to offer great deals at all times of the day and night. If you don’t see the great daily deals you want at noon, don’t worry—just log back in after midnight and you will find the selection of daily deals has changed and you might just be able to find what you were looking for.

—How do I find a good daily deal?

Old-fashioned sleuthing and word of mouth! Ask your friends where they shop online and check out those sites. Visit the powerhouse online shopping sites, of course. And use traditional retailers to figure out what you want, and the price you DON’T want to pay. Then head online to find exactly what you want at the price you want.

Good daily deals are out there for you to find. The search just requires a little bit of patience, a little bit of preparation and, sure, a little bit of luck. But the best part about hunting for daily deals is you don’t ever have to leave your couch (or your easy chair or your kitchen table or wherever it is you prefer to shop from these days)! No wasted gas on frustrating drives to and from the mall. So what are you waiting for? Go Internet shopping and start hunting for a really good daily deal right now!