I mentioned in an early post about websites that offer you cash rebates for some of your on-line purchases and I promised a more thorough explanation. Here it is!
There are several website that will give you cash rebates for your on-line purchases. These offers are an easy, no risk way to get an additional discount when you are shopping on-line and I would encourage you to utilize them.
There are three companies that I have personally used that I can recommend (since I’ve received my rebates!). They are Cashbaq, E-bates and Mr. Rebate. They all work in a very similar manner but occasionally, one will offer better rebates than the other, so I found that it is worthwhile to have an account with each of them.
In order to access the rebates, you simply create an account — there is no cost to joining and all of the sites offer a $5 signing bonus. That means you get $5 just for signing up. You could “earn” $15 in the next 10 minutes just by setting up three accounts! Cool Beans.
Once you have registered, you use their search engine to find the store you plan to shop at. The rebate company will show you any current coupon codes that are available and you click on the link to be connected to the store’s website. It will also show you what cash-back incentive you will earn if you do this. Sometimes it may be a smaller discount, other times it can be substantial. But for the simple act of clicking a link, I think it’s a worthwhile venture.
Let me give you an example:
- pretend for a moment that you were going to buy a new coffee maker from Target.com and you wanted to try using Cashbaq.
- You would click on this link and set up an account with Cashbaq.
- Once you have an account set up, look on the left for the section called “shop by store” and select Target.
- Cashbaq will then show you that there is a “Free Shipping” offer for all kitchen items and provide the coupon code for you to use. It would also show you that you will receive an extra 5% rebate on that item if you use their link to the store.
- You would click on the link and be sent to Target’s website to do your purchase. Cashbaq will assign a tracking number to your order and then issue you the 5% rebate on your purchase.
- In addition to this 5% rebate, you would have earned a $5 bonus for creating your new account. So in total, you get free shipping, a 5% rebate AND a $5 bonus!
The process is very similar for E-bates and Mr. Rebate so it shouldn’t be confusing.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: You will notice that some of the best rebates offered are on printer cartridges — there is almost always a company offering 25 – 30% discounts. Typically there are both name brand and re-manufactured cartridges available. The re-man cartridges are significantly less expensive than the name brands, so that can translate to some nice savings. Having said that, I have had disappointing results with the re-manufactured cartridges I’ve purchased. My printer wouldn’t recognize them and I had to return them (for a full refund). You may have a different experience however, so it might be worth the try. Or play it safe and order the name brands — you can still get the discount.
How are you rebates paid? There is normally a lag time of approximately 3 months between when your place your order and when the rebates are sent out. This is to make sure that the order was completed and not returned (obviously they won’t send you a rebate if you returned the item). They will give you the option of mailing a check or they can pay you via PayPal, whichever you prefer.
Take it to the next level: I have registered with all three of these services. If I know I am going to buy something at a specific store (let’s use Target again) I will go into each site and see what rebates they are offering for Target. Most often they are the same, but every week or so you will find one site giving a bigger discount than the others. Around Christmas, one site was doubling all of their discounts! That’s when comparison shopping for rebates really paid off!
Extra Bonus: if you like using these websites, there are referral bonuses that you can earn if you recommend the sites to a friend who signs up. Full disclosure, I will get that referral credit for your registration if you use the links above or the logos in my sidebar. If you would rather not give me the benefit of being your referrer, simply go to the websites through a search engine. Either way, I think it’s a good way to save some extra money!
Here are the links for the three sites:
I hope this overview is valuable and gives you some good leads on how you can save some $$ when shopping on-line. I would welcome any insights or suggestions – just leave a comment below!
