Prepare for Cyber Monday...Ebates Tutorial

If you’ve been reading my blog for some time, you will have noticed that typically when I post an online deal, I will mention that you should go through Ebates or Shop At Home to earn cash back on your online purchases. So, with Cyber Monday soon approaching, I thought I’d go into detail on what Ebates is, and how to use it to earn money on online purchases you’re already making! (Shop At Home tutorial coming next)

With Ebates, you can earn cash back at any of over 1,200 stores any time you start your shopping trip at Ebates.com. There are no points to redeem, no forms to mail in, and no fees. Stores pay Ebates a sales commission for sending shoppers their way, and Ebates uses the commission to pay you cash back.

Here’s a brief walk-through that will hopefully give you a better understanding as to how this site works.

First of all, you’ll need to Register with Ebates and create an account. (It’s completely FREE!)
Everytime you shop online, you’ll want to first login to your Ebates account.
Search for the online store you are shopping with. For example, if you want to shop at TheChildrensPlace.com, you will first go to Ebates, then search “The Children’s Place”. Your search results are shown below.
Click “Shop Now” and a tracking ticket will be created. You will then be linked to TheChildrensPlace.com where you just shop as you normally would. You can even use coupon codes. The only difference is, Ebates is tracking your purchases so you can earn cash back.

If you notice, each store has a different cash back percentage. In this case, The Children’s Place currently yeilds 3% cash back. It takes anywhere from 3-5 days to see your cash back deposited to your Ebates account after your purchases have been completed. Here is a screen shot of my Cash Pending (from a couple Ebay purchases I made).

Here’s the awesome thing about Ebates…Provided you have at least $5.01 in your account, they send you a check every quarter! I just received mine last week. Plus, you receive a $5.00 cash bonus just for signing up! If you do not have at least $5.01 in your account (not counting your bonus), your balance just carries over to the next quarter.

I cannot say enough good things about Ebates. Let’s review: earn cash back for online purchases you were already going to make? That’s a no-brainer.