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Cash Back is the King
By Gaurav & Brook Bhagat
Why, you ask? Cash back can be a significant source of your income if you use it wisely. Suppose you buy $500 worth of items per month—clothes, electronics, household goods, etc. As long as these things are available to purchase online and pick in store or are eligible for free shipping, you should always use one of these cash back options.
Again, why? So, here is the math behind it. If you are spending $6,000 per year, for example, on everyday items, and you average out 5-10% cash back, then that adds up to $300 - $400 or even more. Also, the promotions on some of these cash back sites can lead to additional thousands of dollars if used wisely and timely.
The way these sites work is that you sign up for a free account, and then search for your desired retailer in their search bar (make sure you are logged in to your account). Once the desired retailer’s page opens on the cash back site, click on the proper cash back link and the retailer’s website will open in a new window or tab depending on your browser settings. Do your shopping as you normally would, and then check back for cash back on the cash back site within a few days, which you will be able to cash out as a gift card (ecard), a physical check in the mail, or even in your PayPal account.
Here is a list of some of the best I’ve found and used:
CouponCabin
When it comes to cash back, CouponCabin is my number one choice. They have over 3000 retailers on their list, so you will find most of the common stores, like Walmart, Target, Home Depot, etc. Apart from the normal cash back for every purchase you make via CouponCabin, they offer coupons like $50 off $50 for many big retailers. Most retailers offer free shipping when you spend $50 or sometimes less, which means if you claim these coupons then you can end up making $50 for free. Currently, you can claim four such offers every 30 days. That alone amounts to almost $2400 per year. Make sure you read the fine print on these offers, though, to make sure your purchase qualifies.
Of course, you can find many valuable coupons on the site which you can use for your purchases and end up paying less for your purchased items as well as score some cash back. They do not have a sign-up bonus at this time, but they have in the past.
You can sign up by clicking here
BeFrugal
BeFrugal has to be my number two choice. Generally, they have more cash back than many other cash back sites. The best way to save some green dollars is to sign up for all these cash back sites and then, whenever you make an online purchase, check which cash back site offers the most cash back at that time. Cash back offers change from time to time on these sites depending on the promotions they are running at any given moment. You can find lots of valuable coupons there too, which will further reduce your tab on any order you make.
Ebates
Next in line is Ebates. Quite often I find the best cash back here for certain stores during their promotions. Ebates has an in-store cash back option too, which makes it worthwhile to sign up. A wide variety of stores, quite often good cash back, and lots of money-saving coupons make Ebates a great cash back site to sign up on. For a limited time Ebates is offering $10 sign up bonus which gets credited to your cash back account once when you spend $25 in any store via Ebates.
MyPoints
MyPoints also makes my list. Apart from offering cash back, you can earn lots of free points by watching videos or clicking on the links in their promotional emails and many other ways. Their search and earn promotion has regularly given me steady amount of free points which I have been able to cash out. They run many promotions from time to time, which add up to points you can cash out later.
UPromise
Upromise was one of the first of these money-saving sites I ever used. From time to time, I find this to be the best cash back site for certain stores. The nice thing about UPromise is that you can register your credit cards for restaurant cash back, and whenever you eat out, you get a few percent of your dollars back in your UPromise account. They have a wide variety of other ways to earn cash back. UPromise is owned by Sallie Mae, so they have nice option of using your cash back to pay off your student loans. You can transfer your cash back to someone in your family who is trying to pay back their student loans or even transfer your cash back to a linked savings account and earn some extra interest on it.
Click here to sign up with UPromise
iConsumer
iConsumer is the new kid on the block. It has the unique concept of letting you earn shares and become a part owner of the company. They offer decent cash back for most common stores and would be a great addition for comparision shopping, but my interest in iConsumer is due to earning the free shares while shopping. They are not listed on any index yet, but they are planning to get listed in the near future. Once they are registered and listed in the stock market, you can transfer your shares in your money market account and sell your shares in the stock market or hold them for future appreciation in share price. Stock-based cash back as well as cash back dollars make iConsumer a great service to use during your normal shopping. For a limited time, iConsumer is offereing 100 free shares of their company as a sign-up bonus.
Click here to sign up with iConsumer
Honey
In the end, there have been a bunch of tools available lately to find discount coupons for purchases made online. You can download the Honey browser extension, and whenever you purchase something online, it will prompt you to use Honey to find discount codes automatically. If you allow it, Honey will try to use the best coupon for your purchase. It has been a great tool to find discount codes mostly, but sometimes I have found better codes on other sites too. So, use them but don’t think that it will always find you the best coupon code available on the internet.
Piggy
Piggy is another cash back site which offers automatic discount coupon-finding for orders, like Honey. You can download their browser extention or cell phone app to use the service. Piggy has recently launched their android app. Piggy is newer than some of the other cash back sites, but it has been featured in Time Magazine and some other big publications. Apart from discount coupon-finding, Piggy offers cash back for most common stores as well as choice in claiming your cash back as dollars or freebies, not just rewards. It is worth using for general purchases and for comparision shopping, so you can find the most cash back and save money using a discount code.
Most of these cash-back sites have smartphone apps as well, which let you earn cash back if you use your phone to shop. You can find these apps at the respective websites or in your phone’s app store.
Once you get in the habit of saving money by using these rewarding cash back websites, you will think twice before paying full price in a store for anything other than groceries. Cash-back sites don’t just save you money, they save you gas, time and energy as well. Shopping from home, you can compare prices more easily, and end up saving hundreds or thousands of dollars by getting a better value—and then getting a cash reward for it. And don’t forget the most important benefit of shopping online—you don’t change out of those sexy pajamas!
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