Ebates Review: Earn Rewards For Shopping


When it comes to keeping more of my money, I’m always interested in finding new ways to save. Earlier on, we’ve written a few posts on how you can save while shopping online:

• How To Buy A Digital Camera
• Shop From Home! Online vs Catalog Shopping
• Buy Electronics On Discount At These Shopping Sites
• Buying A Computer? Check Our Computer Shopping Tips First
• Let’s Go Shopping! 10 Things To Buy In This Economic Recession

The interesting thing is that you can go shopping and buy things as you normally do and ALSO have the chance to receive cash back on your purchases simply by checking out the Ebates online shopping site. Ebates is a rewards shopping portal that can help many of us save on purchases from a wide variety of places.

Ebates Review: Earn Rewards For Shopping

Since Ebates features over 1,200 stores, it’s possible to find online coupons and rebates for the items and services you need throughout the year. I follow a few deals and coupon sites each day, and I’ve found that the layout of Ebates makes it easy to find bargains.

Under the Shop All Stores column, there’s a search box so you can track down the store you want. Some of the stores on the list include the Apple Store with 1% cash back, eBay with 2% cash back, and Macy’s with 3% cash back. Several of the stores offer more than 10% cash back, though the majority seem to range from 2% to 5% cash back.

Coupons, Rebates, and/or Cash Back

When you select an individual store or service, you might find coupons, rebates, or a cash back offer. For instance, when I clicked on Babies R Us, Ebates notified me that I’d be getting 1% cash back, then took me to the Babies R Us site. Using the portal this way means that shoppers can be secure in the knowledge that their rewards are being properly tracked.

If you don’t have a specific store in mind, you can also browse by categories such as appliances and hardware, computers, food and wine, and many others. Sometimes you’ll see a store listed in several different categories. Just click to see all the store’s coupons so you don’t miss out on anything. There’s also the Ebates Daily Double, where you can see who’s offering twice the savings that day. I also liked the eco-friendly listings for the Shop Green section.

Under the Coupons section, you can browse for coupon codes and online coupons. You can sort the list alphabetically, by the most recent coupons, or by those about to expire. You can also filter by type: free shipping, money off coupons, free gifts, and other categories.

Another helpful way to filter the coupons is by category. Choosing the Home and Garden category yielded a list of over 450 coupons from retailers like Best Buy, Home Depot, and JCPenney, among many others.

When you sign in, you’ll see sections like Deals of the Week, Featured Stores, and Featured Coupons. You can also see your account information at a glance, which will tell you how much total cash back you’ve earned. Overall, the site is pretty well organized.

Under My Ebates, you’ll see more account information, a list of your favorite stores, and coupons based on what you might like. If you want the potential to earn more money, hit up the Tell-a-Friend section. There, you can send out an email to refer your friends to the site. In addition, you can add a special link to your favorite places so people can sign up for Ebates through your referral link. You’ll earn a $5 “referral fee” for each person you refer to Ebates, but you’ll only receive it if an Ebates member makes a minimum purchase of $20 within the next 90 days of joining.

If you’re on Facebook and Twitter, you can get the scoop on deals from Ebates. I saw some helpful tweets about the Daily Double on Twitter. If you need to check out some online auctions, you can use the Ebates eBay portal to earn 2% cash back. The Ebates Shopping blog has features about new stores and ways to score big savings.

Getting Cash Back Is Simple

As for the cash back, it can show up in your Ebates account within 48 hours, depending on the retailer. Some retailers might take up to 30 days to process your cash back; if it takes longer, you should contact customer service.

Every three months, Ebates will send you a cash back payment if your balance is more than $5.01. You can have them mail you a check, send it to you via PayPal, or you can elect to have your payment sent to a charity, organization, or family member. But you’ll be responsible for following up on tax matters if you send your payment to charity.

Note that in order to rack up the cash back and other benefits, you need to start your shopping trip through Ebates instead of visiting your favorite sites directly. That way, you can see the current offers and have your account properly credited.

Ebates makes it easy to save at the stores we already frequent. If you haven’t already signed up, it’s worth a look to see if your favorite stores and services offer cash back.