There is a frenzy going on across Australia. No, it’s not a frenzy of online shopping activity, purchasing heavily discounted items and ticking off Christmas gift lists. It’s a social media frenzy of angered shoppers, disappointed by retailers that failed to deliver on customer service.

An Australian-first online shopping event began at 7pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012, called Click Frenzy. News of the site going into meltdown was reported even before the sale commenced.

Click Frenzy claims to be ‘the sale that stops a nation’ but in reality, it’s a website that couldn’t handle the traffic, causing it and some of the affiliated retailers’ sites to shut down, wasting many shoppers’ valuable time.

If you haven’t guessed by now, I am one of those angry shoppers that was looking forward to checking out the sales but was disappointed to find I was locked out of the bargains. Even 14 hours later, more than half way through the 24-hour sale, it failed to load the homepage.

It’s obvious that thousands of shoppers across Australia – perhaps millions – are prepared to jump online to find a bargain and save money. But many Australians are wasting hundreds of dollars every year because they aren’t making the most of online shopping and comparing their financial products.

Take credit cards, for instance. Many card holders are drawn to cards that offer rewards points. But most programs are only worthwhile if you spend over $60,000 on your card and pay off the balance each month, otherwise the annual fees and high interest outweighs any value from rewards points earned.

You may not realise that there are 25 credit cards in RateCity’s database that don’t charge an annual fee, which is great for card holders who don’t use their card much and pay off their balance during the interest-free period.

Credit card purchase rates range from 9.5 percent up to 22.99 percent and there are 33 cards that offer introductory rates on new purchases below 2 percent for up to nine months.

Before you start your Christmas shopping, it’s worth using RateCity.com.au to help you find a good value credit card deal and save even more. It might relieve some of the disappointment when you miss out on a sale frenzy, because you’re already a step ahead of the game from the savings you’ve made on your new credit card!