(image source; Ebates.com)
Looking for a simple way to earn cash back on your online purchases? Ebates is one of the easiest ways to start shopping smarter online.
All you have to do is shop with Ebates at your favorite stores and you’ll earn cash back on your orders in the form of a check or through PayPal. There are no fees or forms for you to fill out.
Ebates’ revenue comes from affiliate network links.
Ebates is a website that acts as a portal to regular online shopping websites. Once a user logs in to Ebates.com, they can then visit any of the affiliated online shopping websites and earn cashback on their purchases.
For example, whenever an Ebates user visits one of their favorite stores online, such as Walmart.com – Walmart assumes you have only visited their website because of Ebates, and gives Ebates a 4% commission. Then, Ebates will pass the additional savings on to you and give you 3% cashback for any purchases made on Walmart’s website.
Founded in 1998, Ebates is an American-based cashback / online couponing website headquarted in San Francisco, California.
Ebates is a form of hassle-free shopping (meaning, no rebate forms to fill out or points to redeem), which offers cash back on purchases and also provides its users access to coupons, promotions, and special deals. Consumers can earn their cash back in the form of a “Big Fat Check” or through PayPal.
Ebates also owns Extrabux, ShopStyle, and Shopular.
Deciding if Ebates is “worth it” comes down to the personal decision of the individual user, and how much online shopping they plan to do. Heavy online shoppers may find that Ebates is worth their time because of the large payouts they may receive. While, moderate to less-frequent online shoppers may find that going through Ebates isn’t always worth their time and effort.
Is Ebates worth it?
According to Rosemarie of The Busy Budgeter, “Heck Yes…Thanks to Ebates, I get a percentage back on literally everything I buy to run my house! Which is cash that I can spend on treating my family to something that we otherwise couldn’t afford.”
Similarly, Laurie Blank of Well Kept Wallet states, “Ebates is a reward program that gives customers cash back of between 1% and 40% on almost anything they buy when they purchase it through their Ebates account. Another cool thing is that Ebates is willing to pay you cold hard cash for referring your friends. Currently, they will pay you $5 per person that you refer as long as they actually use Ebates to get cash back… Ebates can help you keep more cash in your pocket and save money on the things you buy every day.”
In contrast to the above reviews, The Finance Gourmet goes into further detail on the reasons that Ebates may NOT be worth the hassle. Their main points include that Ebates’ payouts have usually been portrayed as larger sums of money, but in reality may not be as big as the consumer may think. Ebates only pays out every 45 days, and the user must always remember to shop through Ebates’ portal EVERY time they shop online.
In the end, The Finance Gourmet states, “Ebates is not a scam. It’s been around for a long time and it does pay out cash back…if you buy a lot of things online, and you are consistent about shopping through Ebates, then you can really earn some cash back and make it worth your while. Otherwise, there is certainly no harm in collecting a little bit of money a couple of times a year, just don’t let those visions of thousand dollar payouts every month cloud your judgement.”
Ebates is not a scam. It is a legitimate website that has been in existence for 20+ years. It is currently free to use and pays real money to users for shopping online.
As of 2018, Ebates also has an “A+” score with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Most of the customer complaints have to do with users not feeling they received the % cashback-return they expected, slow customer service, or user-related issues with the Ebates website. However, Ebates has personally responded and/ or attempted to resolve issues and negative feedback received on BBB.com.
Here is a step-by-step on how to start saving with Ebates:
According to Ebates, they partner with over 2,500 stores to bring their users savings.
The top 10 “most popular” stores are:
The complete list of stores can be viewed here…
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