Ebates is a great tool that I feel like is extremely underutilized by most people. It is a system where you use their app or website to make purchases online and receive a percentage back. I was leery about Ebates at first too, but after over a year of using it I don’t know why I didn’t start to use it earlier!
I’ve never used the website, but I use the app all the time. It is really simple, you just choose which store you want to make your purchase from, make your purchase like you normally would and after you pay, return to Ebates in the top left hand corner and the percentage of your purchase will be added in to your account generally in 48-72 hours.
I know you’re probably thinking this is all too good to be true, right? What do they get out of this if it is free to sign up and use their service? Ebates will look at what you are looking at and buying, what stores are most popular, that sort of information. They then sell that data to other parties who are interested in seeing what people are interested in, what kinds of things they are buying, etc. Ebates also gets paid by the companies with them to be a part of their service. None of your personal information is ever shared but it is up to you if you feel comfortable using their service.
Here are the following book stores on Ebates: Abe Books, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Outlet, Chapters-Indigo, and Better World Books. These are just a small sample of all the stores available. There are so many more stores on Ebates, that you could use this for all of your online shopping. It really does make a difference and why not save where you can? Ebates constantly has 2x events where you can earn twice the usual amount of cash back on your purchases. If you combine this offer with offers on the website itself you can end up saving a bundle!
They also have a new feature that they recently added which is if you add your credit card to your Ebates account you can load an offer for a store onto your card/account and then you can go shop in store and still earn a percentage money back. This is great if you don’t do a ton of online shopping or are doing something like clothes shopping and need to try on the clothes before purchasing them. At least this way you get a little something back.
I receive my payments to my PayPal account which is connected to my credit card instead of putting my credit card on my Ebates account. I feel like that is safer and I am more comfortable that way. You can do whatever you choose to, just do whatever you are ok with. Here is an actual screen grab of my account and how much money I’ve currently saved using eBates. I’ve been on a pretty severe buying ban (since I have to save for school and I really do need to read what I already own) so my current balance isn’t too high. But in my opinion $147 is nothing to sneeze at. That is an extra 7 books right there!
As far as I know Ebates is available to sign up for in most countries. The only problem is that all of the stores on Ebates are American or Canadian so there may be big shipping fees or duty on them. Just keep that in mind if you are signing up for Ebates from outside of North America.
So why not get a percentage back on purchases you are already going to make anyways? It can’t hurt and I personally find it funny that I am saving money buying books to buy more books!
Ready to get started? SIGN UP HERE AND EARN $5
Do you want to learn more secrets to saving money buying books? Check out the rest of my Books on a Budget Blog Series.
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