Do you buy stuff online, and do you want to get hundreds of dollars cash back on your purchases? I do, too, and over the past eight years, I’ve made almost $250 doing it — and I’m going to show you how.
Ebates: cash back for doing what you already do
Making money with Ebates couldn’t be any easier.
- Buy items the same way you buy them today.
- Use the same payment methods you use today.
- Click on one link before making the purchase.
I’ve been using Ebates for about eight years, and so far, I’ve earned $244.60. For buying stuff I was going to buy anyway. And with all those purchases, I also received my credit card cash back, and I’ve used online coupons and discounts. The Ebates cash back was on top of everything else: cash back for doing what I was doing anyway.
If you want to join me, head over to Ebates.com and sign up for an account. You’ll have to provide some personal information – but that’s understood, because they are going to be sending you a check, so you want them to know who you are.
After you sign up, there are two ways to start earning cash back.
- (The hard way) Before you go shopping online, go to the Ebates.com web site and search for your online vendor. When you find them, click on the big red SHOP NOW button.
- (The easy way, if you’re using Google Chrome) Get the Google Chrome extension for Ebates. Once installed, every time you visit a web site that has cash back available through Ebates.com, a message will pop up asking you if you want to save money. Click the big red ACTIVATE NOW button, and with one click, you’re on your way to saving money with Ebates.com.
How does Ebates earn money?
Ebates has been around since 1998, and earns money using affiliate programs with various merchants. This is essentially a referral program — when Ebates refers you to an online store, and you make a purchase, the online store gives Ebates a commission, and Ebates gives a portion of that commission to you.
Some of you may be thinking, Why can’t I just be my own affiliate and keep the full commission? If only it was so easy. Joining affiliate programs generally requires that you are a web publisher with a web site that generates money and has content, so for the average person, this isn’t an option. What Ebates does is take money that online stores are making available to web publishers, and sharing that money with people like you and me.
What’s in it for us?
I like hacking my money. I like getting a big fat check in the mail from Ebates every now and then (the biggest one I ever received was $29.03). And I like sharing ways to save with other people. All that being said, the links to Ebates in this post are referral links; if you sign up for Ebates using any link on this page (or this link: https://www.ebates.com/r/BDEMAR5), and you make a $25 or more cash back purchase in the first 90 days, two things happen:
- You get an extra $10.
- I get an extra $5.
Call me selfish. I’m OK with that, so long as it’s free money for both of us. 🙂
Travis says:
Read the small print that is store specific, there are gallons of exceptions specific to stores, especially when buying tech. However, still worth it and fun, I have $1500 on ebates and had well over $5000 on (now defunct fatwallet.com).