Become A Smarter Shopper

With the tough economy, each of us is looking for ways to perform our normal shopping while spending less of our money. With the continued increase in online shopping over the years, it is important for smart shoppers to shop smarter using promo codes, coupons and cash back incentives by finding the websites that offer these opportunities. It makes no sense to not take advantage.

A lot of people myself included, prefer online shopping as opposed to going to a conventional store and have to deal with the crowds or the stores not carrying what you need. Most of my clothing purchases are made online and I am slowly getting into purchasing my organic food for a healthier lifestyle online.

Other people purchase most of their new electronics or refurbished electronics online. Many others even purchase cars online. Ebay's auto division is their most profitable provision. This simply shows that you can perform any kind of shopping securely from millions of stores online.

Online shopping trumps conventional shopping because of the greater amounts of promo codes, coupons and cash back incentives that are available to the smart online shopper, leading to more bang for the buck! Not shopping this way is simply a crime. There is no need to spend full price when there are discounts offered by millions of well known stores.

Instead of going to your favorite stores' websites one at time to find these incentives which can become a time consuming endeavor, there are several websites that feature many of your favorite stores and show the various promo codes and discounts offered by each. Another plus about these websites are that they offer various cash back opportunities to online shoppers.

I had the good fortune of coming across this website as I was online shopping that offers the best cash back deals on online shopping and also features some of the best known and popular online merchants. Online shopping is the best and I hardly ever go into regular store anymore. There is just more selection online, I don't have to deal with the crowds and being a 5'10" female, it is so much easier to get what I want online.

Anyway, when I came across this website, I discovered that I can make normal online purchases from my favorite stores and receive cash back on my purchases of up to 26%. Most of the cash back however is between 1% and 10%. During holidays or other special occasions, the stores listed usually increase and sometimes double the cash back offered.

Not only do you get this cash back on your purchases, but several stores also offer coupons or promo codes that further save you money on what you buy. In this economy, they less I spend on an item I want, the better!

There are currently over 1,200 stores listed on ebates and this number continues to increase on a daily basis. You will find Nordstrom. Saks, Macy's, HP, Bliss, L'Occitane, Shoes.com, Karmaloop (my personal fav.), and so on and so forth.

It does not matter what you are shopping for. If you are looking for cheap electronics or refurbished electronics, there are several stores listed on Ebates.com offering cash back as well as coupon and promos. Find car electronics and receive cash back in addition to any addition coupons and promo codes. This means that you purchase shall end up being at a discount and on top of this, you shall get cash back up to 25% on your purchase amount.

The various stores listed on the Ebates.com pay ebates a sales commission for sending shoppers to their websites and ebates uses part of the commission to pay you.

How To Join

Anyone can join for free. There are no membership fees and mail in rebate forms are not required. All you need to provide is your contact information and an email address so that you can be contacted when cash back is reflected in your account and when payment is on its way to you. The sign-up procedure is as easy as can be. You can start shopping and earning cash back as soon as you sign-up.

It is important to note that you only receive cash back when you use your favorite store's link at ebates. For instance, I saw some fabulous Jeffrey Campbell shoes at Karmaloop that I absolutely had to have. I could have gone directly to www.karmaloop.com and bought the shoes and I would not have received any cash back. Since I do not want to leave any cash on the table, I usually go the the ebates website, find the karmaloop listing and follow the link from ebates to www.karmaloop.com. Usually there is an additional promo such as free shipping so I make a note of this promo code and use it when I check out at karmaloop.com.

When Is Cash Back Recorded In Your Account

Purchases you make at Ebates stores will only be credited to your account if you start your shopping session at Ebates.com or another Ebates service (like the Ebates toolbar) and click to a store via an Ebates link. If you do not do this, ebates has no way of proving that you are a member to the store without your click.

Most cash back rewards are credited within 48 hours. Some stores, however, cannot confirm your purchase until the return period has elapsed and may take up to thirty days to confirm your cash back. If cash has not been credited, you may contact customer service. Since I joined ebates, I have not had to contact customer service. The cash back has usually been recorded in my account within two to three days.

To monitor the cash back pending, all you need to do is log into your account and click on the pending cash back tab and it will show you a detail of your purchases including the store, amount spent and the cash back related to the purchase.

When And How Do You Receive The Cash?

When you accumulate at least $5 in your account, payments are made on a quarterly basis - February 15 (purchases made from October 1 to December 31), May 15 (January 1 to March 31 purchases), August 15 (April 1 to June 30 purchases) and November 15 (July 1 to September 31 purchases).

This quarterly payment is important in order to accommodate the various return policies of the various merchants. You can return the purchases you make at the merchant's website that are subject to the merchant's normal return policy and the cash back originally credited by Ebates.com to your account shall be returned.

Ebates offers several ways to receive payment and is constantly working on ways to pay you faster. You will need to designate how you would like to receive your payment when you log into your account. Currently Ebates.com offers 3 ways to receive payment.

1) Check: The check is sent directly to you with the fees paid by ebates. You can change your personal settings (including your address) on the Address, Email & Password page. Be sure your settings are updated before we send out a payment.

2) PayPal: I personally use Paypal for my cash back payments. Your cash back is deposited into your account with the sender's fees paid by ebates. Just enter your full name and mailing address into your Address, Email & Password page for verification purposes. Your PayPal account must also be verified.

3) Charity/Organization/Family Member: If you think cash back is all gravy, why not send it to your favorite charity, organization or family member? It's free and mailing fees are on ebates.

Note: Ebates does not validate the tax-deductibility of donations that you send to charities. It is your sole responsibility to document donations and to determine that donations to an organization are tax-deductible.