Frugal Friday--Ebates--Shop Online and Earn Cash Back

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies


• She looketh well to the ways of her household
  

In today's economy, and with gasoline prices rising exponentially, one of the ways I try to save a little money is to shop on line. I can compare prices and find items that aren't always available in my small hometown. And a way to make it even better is to shop online and earn money back while I'm doing it.

I've been shopping online using the Ebates program for a couple of years now, and while I certainly haven't gotten rich doing it, the program has helped me to save a little, and these days, every little bit helps.

The way Ebates works is, you sign up online for an Ebates account, usually through a referral link. Once you get your account set up, anytime you want to shop online, go to Ebates first and see if the merchant is one of the thousands of Ebates participants. If so, your screen will display any coupon codes available (free shipping, % discounts, etc) as well the rebate percentage from that merchant. Click through to the merchant's site through the Ebate link; shop as usual; if you make a purchase, your rebate amount will be credited to your Ebate account within a day or two of confirmation from the merchant; then once a quarter (four times a year) Ebate will send you your rebate total for the previous quarter. I have mine credited to my paypal account, but you can have an actual check mailed to you if prefer--you can even have your rebate sent directly to a favorite charity if you so choose.

Sound complicated? Let me break it down for you. Earlier this week my son asked me if I had ever heard of a certain men's cologne. He had received a sample of it inside a gift pack of cologne that he'd gotten for Christmas and he liked it. Instead of running all over town looking for this cologne, I went to Ebates, and from there to FragranceNet.com. Found the cologne, and some for me, and qualified for free shipping because of the dollar amount I spent. That particular day, FragranceNet.com had a 12% rebate rate with Ebates. This morning I had an email telling me that 12% of my purchase had been credited to my Ebates account. This will accrue during the quarter, and later this summer I will get this money in my paypal account, or, as Ebates says in their advertising, I can get "a big, fat check".

The percentage you receive varies according to the merchant. 12% is a high rate, usually the places I shop credit 2-3%, but there are specials each week--sometimes double rebates, sometimes certain merchants run a rebate "special". You can subscribe to emails from Ebates so that they will notify you if your favorite merchants are running a special. Or not, it's up to you.

I know that this is legit. I've used them in the past, and received my "big fat check" (via paypal). Right now, Ebates is running a deal, if you sign up through my referral link (by clicking on the words "referral link", or clicking on the icon at the top of the post, or the one on the top right sidebar), I will receive a $5.00 referral fee credited to my account, once you have your account set up and actually make a purchase through Ebates. And once you do that, you can refer your friends and get promotional referral fees for yourself.

At any rate, Ebates is one more small way that I can "get my frugal on".

Until next time...

This post is linked to:

Frugal Friday at Life as Mom