Holiday Shopping via Cash Back Portals –
It’s the holiday season which means everyone needs to shop for gifts.
When I shop online, I use shopping portals that offer cash back on online purchases. I always check two different sites to see which ones offer the most cash back at that time: Ebates and TopCashBack. Generally, topcashback offers more cash back on a daily basis; however, ebates frequently runs promotions where they offer additional cash back so I always make sure to check each webpage before going to the store webpage.
The portals work because they receive a commission for the referral to the retailers webpage. So the portals give a portion of the commission to the customer.
There is generally about a one to two month delay before you can redeem the cash; but it is nice getting something back.
There are hundreds of cash back portals. Some of them earn miles and some earn cash. Even others donate the commission to charity.
The process for using them is pretty straight forward:
- Goto the portal webpage (ebates or topcashback)
- Type in the name of the store you want to shop at
- Review the cash back percentage
- Compare with the other webpage
- Click through to the store
- Make a purchase
- Watch email to see when the visit it noted
- Get cash back via paypal or direct deposit about a month or so later
This weekend, I did some online shopping. One of the stores that I was shopping at was Target.
Ebates was offering 2.0% cash back while topcashback was offering 2.38%.
A minor difference between the two sites; however, I clicked through on topcashback to earn the slightly better rate. I bought a few holiday gifts and I will earn around $4. It is not much, but every little bit helps.
I have ebates setup to automatically pay me via paypal every few months. I don’t do anything for this one and I just receive an email saying I received a payment.
For topcashback I periodically login to the account and go to my account where I view what cash back I have available. I can then decide to leave the cash accruing or to withdraw it. When you go to withdraw it on topcashback they always ask for a tip. I think that is a little crazy as they are already earning money from my sales. But of well. I guess it is a way that the company can earn a little more money.
If you have not yet signed up for Ebates or TopCashBack please consider signing up using my links. If you do, we will both earn a few dollars.
Sign up for: Ebates
<a href=’http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=umQFUyTCUKeKGnxADCEvfQ%3D%3D&eeid=28585′ target=’_blank’ rel=’nofollow’><img src=’http://www.ebates.com/referral/2012/global_files/images/ebates_logo.png’ alt=’Ebates Coupons and Cash Back’ height=’31’ width=’171′ border=’0’/></a>
Sign up for: TopCashBack
How much have you earned from your accounts? On Ebates I have earned $246.60 over the last year or so. On Topcashback I’ve earned $400.08 over the past year.