@Hoffse

vlagrl29 · November 2013

Thanks for recommending Ebates for cash back. I didn't think I shop online all that much but apparently I do and have $7.50 already in my account. With the christmas season going on, I do about as much online shopping as in store. I don't know what I will do with the money yet. What do you do with the money you get back?

hoffse · November 2013

Ebates sends checks quarterly so mine are rarely more than $30. I usually just put it in my checking account and that gives me some buffer in my budget. Sometimes I add it to savings since it's a "windfall." And sometimes H and I use it to treat ourselves to a night out! Kind of depends on how much it is. My next one is going to be larger than usual because we're doing photobooks from snapfish for a bunch of family members for xmas, and ebates gives us 10% back at snapfish.

Though... H and I just did some pre-black-Friday shopping last night for office clothes for both of us and spent a small fortune (I mean, I got Banana Republic slacks for $18 each... hell of a deal, but I bought a bunch of them). So this next check might be going in to help defray some of those costs!

vlagrl29 · November 2013

I told DH about ebates too. He is about to make a big purchase on amazon so I'm glad I let him know. We may just add it to DD's savings.

brij2006 · November 2013

@hoffse Will you explain this again? I must've missed the post, but we shop online a lot. So any way to save some money, I'll take it.

hoffse · November 2013

Sure, np - ebates is awesome.

Basically, you sign up, enter your preferred payment method (I just have them mail me a check), and then before you shop online, check to see if ebates gives you cash back for shopping at that store. If it does, click the ebates link first and that credits your ebates account with whatever you spend at that store.

It sounds like a scam, but it's not. Basically ebates is a website that gets commissions for referring shoppers to online sites. They simply split their commissions with you (which means, of course, you always shop through them and they always get the credit). It's a pretty brilliant business plan, actually.

Fatwallet.com has the same thing - and sometimes they offer more cash back than ebates, depending on the store. I always try to check both before shopping.

The only difference is ebates automatically pays your quarterly if your account has more than $5 in it. Fatwallet pays you upon request, but it's not automatic. Fatwallet has a very obvious 'pay me' button, but you have to actually click it. Your check won't just show up in the mail.

I typically have fatwallet pay out once a year around the holidays. Helps defray the costs of holiday shopping a little bit.

The best part is the cash back always works, regardless of how many other coupons, sales, etc. you use when checking out. It also works if you pay by gift card. It's literally free money when you buy things online you're going to be buying anyway. And it shows up as cash instead of a statement credit or gift card, etc.

Finally, both ebates and fatwallet run "daily double" deals where you get double cash back. Macy's, Sephora, and Walmart both show up about once a month as double cash back. Bed Bath & Beyond seems to appear every other month or so. Even websites like vistaprint and certain categories from Amazon.com are on there (the Amazon categories rotate every few months). I know you and your H are having a baby soon - buybuybaby, BRU, etc. are on there. Basically, there are hundreds of stores, and dozens of very popular, legit retailers that appear. The major exceptions are pottery barn, williams sonoma, costco.com, and ebay. And Amazon sometimes (if they don't happen to have my category for a particular purchase listed when I need it). But other than those, I can almost always get cash back for online purchases.

In short, I think it's awesome.

hoffse · November 2013

**Forgot to mention - the Amazon categories rotate. There are always some categories available for cash back, but since Amazon sells so much the cash back depends on whether it's a category that "counts." They seem to rotate every couple of months or so, but I haven't really tracked it closely.

The ebay thing is sad - it used to be offered but people scammed it by "selling" their stuff and then "buying" it back through a different account to get ebates cash. So ebay stopped doing it. Can't blame them, really.

But pretty much everything else is there!

brij2006 · November 2013

Oooh awesome!

I use Mypoints.com currently, but it seems to take forever to get enough points to redeem anything. So I may switch over.

Also, I went onto their website to sign up, and there's a place to put that you were referred by a friend. Do you get anything for that? If so, I want to be sure to put you down so you can get something. You are welcome to PM me the info.

P.S. Unfortunately we lost the baby. So no BRU or Buybuy Baby ebates for a while.

vlagrl29 · November 2013

brij2006 said:

Oooh awesome!
I use Mypoints.com currently, but it seems to take forever to get enough points to redeem anything. So I may switch over.
Also, I went onto their website to sign up, and there's a place to put that you were referred by a friend. Do you get anything for that? If so, I want to be sure to put you down so you can get something. You are welcome to PM me the info.
P.S. Unfortunately we lost the baby. So no BRU or Buybuy Baby ebates for a while.

Sorry you lost the baby

That must be heartbreaking.

hoffse · November 2013

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that! And I'm sorry I brought it up!

No worries about the referral thing - I've gotten plenty of those from other folks IRL

brij2006 · November 2013

@hoffse Don't be sorry you brought it up. It's something that can happen to anyone. So I'm pretty open about it.

@Hoffse

Re: @Hoffse

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