Every week I get emails from Ebates letting me know how much money I can get back just by shopping through their site. The deals are good. The problem is, I don't usually shop online. Actually, the problem is, I just don't shop (period).
If I did... I could save a nice little chunk of change just by accessing online stores (over 800 of them) through their website.
So, Then, How Do You Save Money With Ebates?
Okay, so it's not wholly accurate to say that I never shop online. I'm just not a big shopper. For the sites that I DO shop, it is helpful to check out Ebates first to see if there are any cash back offers. I just don't always remember to do it.
If I had used Ebates to shop eBay when I bought my laptop, I could've gotten $13 back. Not a huge sum, given what I paid, but hey $13 is $13. Of course, now Ebates has a web browser add on that they call their "cash back button." This automatically searches for Ebates deals (which means I don't have to remember to visit the Ebates website first—huzzah!)
To start saving, you'll need to:
1. Set up your account.
The first order of business, is to set up your Ebates account and tell them what your favorite online stores are—that way, when there are offers, you'll see them first.
2. Load the cash back button.
Second is to load the Ebates cash back button into your web browser. This will automatically look for Ebates deals when you're on a particular website and give you a heads up.
Unless you're a big shopper, or you're shopping for big ticket items, this may not garner you a lot of cash back, but if you're looking for another way to pinch pennies this is pretty painless.
Update: since first posting this, I've been using the Ebates cash back button for a few weeks & I have some notes.
1. You have to activate the button every time it shows up.
- I made the mistake of visiting several websites to comparison shop. Every time I clicked off of one website, the rebate became inactive. Thinking that because I'd activated it once that it would stay active, I went ahead with my purchase—only to find out that I didn't get the rebate because I neglected to 'reactivate' the offer. At this point, the only thing you can do is contact the Ebates customer service, to see if they can rectify the situation. (I admit that I did not have the where-with-all to do this.)
2. That unfortunate flub (on my part) aside, I got $4.71 cash back on a purchase of $32 from one retailer. (nice).
3. Read the fine print for each offer.
- I activated a rebate for Travelocity, which was offering "up to 7% cash back" at the time. I bought a $325 ticket thinking that I might get $22 cash back, but this wasn't the case.
The fine print for Travelocity states that airplane tickets qualify for a flat $1.50 cash back (the 7% applied only to hotel stays). It also states that you get that money back 4-6 weeks after your trip.
- Since I've not taken the trip yet, it's not clear if it treats the whole trip as one ticket, or each leg of the trip as a ticket. So, my rebate will either be: $1.50, $3.00 (there and back), or $12 (4 separate legs of the trip). I guess we'll see. Has anyone else used Ebates for travel?
Note: the Ebates links above are affiliate referral links.
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