Ebates: An Easy Way to Save Money

I’ve been using this cash back program for most of my online purchases (I forgot to use it a few times!) since the 2010 holiday season, when I first got into makeup and skin care. In total, I’ve accrued just over $200 dollars. Considering that most of the stores that I shop at offer anywhere from 3%-12% cashback, that tells you how much I’ve spent in the past two years on (mostly) personal items… It’s a lot, I know!

So I figured that I’d do a post and let you guys know about this great tool in preparation for the holiday shopping season.

Basics

Ebates is simply a shopping tool that allows for you to earn a little cash back when you make online purchases. This is what you do after you’ve created an account:

1. You search up your store name on the Ebates homepage.

2. You click store’s name, which will take directly you to the store’s website.

3. Making sure not to close the tab of the store’s website, go ahead with your purchase.

That’s it!

Here is a directory of all the FAQs about joining, using Ebates, payment methods, privacy, security, and others.

I know this looks kind of sketchy, but really there are no strings attached. It is NOT a scam. You use this and you get money back. They don’t take any of your financial information. And after an established period of time, Ebates will either pay you by check or Paypal (you can choose). You know what that means: international readers can easily use this tool too!

This cash back is possible because Ebates makes deals with various online retailers. If a consumer shops through the Ebates portal (by following the steps above), the retailers pay Ebates a “middleman” fee. And Ebates shares a part of it with the consumer.

Why I Prefer Ebates

The only other notable cash back site that I know of is Mr. Rebates. The discounts there tend to be slightly higher per store. However, the main drawback is that you cannot compound discounts together. For example, this year for the Sephora VIB sale, I entered a 20% discount code. With Ebates, I was able to get an additional 4% discount on top of that. If I were with Mr. Rebates however, I could only use the Sephora-based discount OR the Mr. Rebates discount, not both. Plus Ebates came out first and I don’t like copycats. Well, I guess Sigma brushes are the exception. 🙂

Signing Up:

Now there are two ways to sign up:

If you sign up by clicking this link, you will be taken to a Note on my Facebook page. (I have to do this because WordPress.com does not allow for these types of links). There, you will find a personalized URL that will take you to the Ebates site. If you choose to sign up through me (by clicking the above link), please note that after you make a purchase of $25+ from any store using Ebates as your cash back tool, I will get a $5 one-time compensation credited to my personal account. However, this does not affect you in any way. By signing up through me, you’re simply supporting me and what I do on this blog. However, this is absolutely no obligation, nor will I feel bad or angry if you choose to sign up the other way:

If you want to sign up directly with Ebates, just go to their homepage (the address is available on the same Facebook page linked above). By signing up directly, I will not get a $5 compensation, but that’s okay. I just want you guys to get the discounts on all future online purchases! Again, you absolutely do not have to sign up through me. There is no gain or loss for you.

Regardless of how you decide to sign up, as an act of faith, Ebates will credit your account with $5 in cash, which will be redeemable after you’ve made your first $25+ purchase.

Conclusion

If you don’t have an account already and/or you haven’t heard of Ebates before, I hope you found this information useful and that you sign up in anticipation for the holiday shopping season!

Let me know what you guys think and if you have any questions.