Cashback Sites 101 - Save More Money Online

Here is the article I promised to have out by the weekend, since I was busy I did not get to finish this so here it is now since I took an unexpected day off today.

If you thought shopping online was great, wait until you hear about online Cashback sites that can help you save even more on your online purchases (which include booking travel, electronics, apparal & more). Sure we love to shop online because of the variety and convenence, but now there is another reason to do so. This article is to show you how you can save more money on top the savings you are already scoring with the discounts you can get online with Cashback sites like Ebates and BigCrumbs.

Note: Article is image heavy

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How to get started: 

If you are new to them, they are pretty easy to use. All you have to do is sign up for them, and when you need to purchase from a specific site, just browse through the cash back site and see if they have the store you are purchasing from, and they will tell you how much you can save which usually varies from 1% - 10% of your total purchase. However, you will not receive the cash back immediately, usually it takes a few days for them to confirm that you have made a purchase from said website and then they will add the amount to your account, where you can usually get back via check or paypal in about 1-3 months. Sure the process takes awhile to get your money back but when you do get that money back, it brightens up your day, I know that it brightens mines!

To the right you will see an image that you would get if you are shopping through a Cash Back site to confirm that you are getting your cash back. If you saw the page and still have not received your cash back, make sure to contact them, and be ready to email them your proof of purchase (email confirmation of order). Below is a confirmation page from Ebates, as you can see it is for American Eagle, and I will be getting 2.5% back from my purchase from the. They also listed the Tracking Ticket so they can track your order, the tracking ticket can also be found if you looked under your account to see all the links that you have clicked through.

Cashback Sites:

Big Crumbs (referral)

Big Crumbs use to be one of my favorites since they were the only site to offer cashback on Ebay purchases. Now I still use Big Crumbs alongside Ebates, I just compare which site has more cashback before I make my purchase. There are two types of memberships you can get at Big Crumbs, one is the Penny Saver which you can get more cashback, and

Notable cashback amounts from Big Crumbs:

Apple Store - 1.6%

Beauty.com - 8%

Nordstrom - 4%

Sephora - 5.6%

Shoes.com - 13.6%

Target - 5.6%

Ebates (referral)
What is great about Ebates is that they offers a $10 gift card when you join (you can choose from the retailers above, that you will receive once you obtain at make a purchase of $25 or more at any one of the sites that Ebates allows cash back on. Also what is great is they have a feature called 'Daily Double' where everyday they feature a different retailer that they are offering double cash back on, today they are featuring ModCloth.com where you can get 7% cash back as opposed to the usual 3.5%. Lastly during the holiday seasons, they usually have a day or two where you can get double cash back on all of the sites on Ebates!

Notable cashback amounts from Ebates:

Buy.com - 6%

Bloomingdale's - 3%

Drugstore.com - 12%

J.Crew - 1.5%

Victoria's Secret - 2%

Mr. Rebates

I personally have not joined this Cash Back site since the two that I am already a member of seems to offer some of the highest cash back percentages, but if you are a super shopper I would suggest joining this as you can get a $5 bonus for signing up (which I believe you need to have a certain amount before you can redeem). And you would have another option to get cashback instead of just two. If you guys are a member of this site, let me know how it is via the comments section.

Notable cashback amounts from Mr. Rebates:

Bluefly - 5%

DSW - 7%

Endless.com - 10%

Macy's - 4%

Moosejaw - 8%

Other helpful tips:

—  Another helpful site for helping you to choose which cash back site to use when you are purchasing from a retailer is Evreward. The site searchers all the cash back sites and shows how much each is offering in terms of cash back so you do not need to go to all of them to do the research yourself. Evreward also shows you how much you can get back via credit card rewards like Citi points, AA miles or anything similar.

— You can only use one Cashback site at a time if you are purchasing from one retailer, each site tracks your purchase with their unique links so you cannot use more than one (that includes getting Cashback from your credit card/bank sites).

— However, you are allowed to use coupon codes for the site you are shopping at, for example if Sephora is offering a 15% off you can use that code as long as you are still clicking through the cashback site you will get the 15% off from Sephora and the 5.6% from Big Crumbs, a total of more than 20% off your total purchase!

— If you making a return on your Cashback purchase, most of the time they take partial or all of your cash back depending if you are retuning your whole or part of your purchase.

Therefore,

Even though it may take an extra step to when you are making a purchase to save a few more bucks, but it can add up in the long run.

So,

Are you a member of a cashback site? If so, which one is your favorite? If not, has this article help you make the decision to join one?