Ebates: The More I Shop, The Bigger The Check!
Written: Feb 03 '05
| Site Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
| Effort vs. Reward: |
|
|
|
| Full Review |
One thing that has come about with the advent of the Internet and online shopping is it has become easier to get the best deal. That’s what Shopping.com and other Internet sites are about. The Internet has also brought with it it’s share of scam artists in various forms. Taking all things into account, however, sometimes it’s better to shop at an established store an pay a little bit more.
To help save me money, especially when shopping at the more established Internet merchants, since 2001 I’ve turned to Ebates.
The premise of Ebates is simple. Shop click-through to shop at merchants via their site and get a percentage of your purchase back. Discounts range from 1% all the way up to 25% on some purchases of printer ink cartridges. The most common amount seems to be around 5%.
There are a few that give a flat dollar amount. These are usually sites like America Online which right now offers a $15 rebate if you sign-up with them through Ebates. Some websites that market one specific thing use this promotional tool as well. In other cases, the websites listed only offer coupons. This is the case with some major merchants like Dell and Amazon.
There are a wide range of online merchants to shop from. There are familiar names which offer percentage rebates such as Circuit City, Best Buy, Tupperware, Avon and many, many more. The line-up of merchants changes, so even if a merchant I have previously bought from wasn’t listed at that time, they could be there now. I’ve gotten in the habit of checking every time I make a purchase if the merchant is listed at Ebates. Since I first joined the number of merchants listed here has grown quite a bit.
Signing up is easy. All you need is an email address and an address for the check. If you use more than one email address, make sure the email address you sign-up with is the same one you use for your purchases. I try to keep spam to a minimum by using certain mail addresses only for sign-ups - the emails have to match.
The home-page is laid out quite nicely and it makes the site easy to navigate. I can browse by category if I have a general idea what I am looking for, or if I am looking to make a purchase from a specific merchant, I can list all the merchants and then click on the first letter of the merchant’s name and see if it’s listed at Ebates.
There’s a section on Ebates called Coupons & Specials This is really handy for finding out about any discounts the merchants offer. Sometimes I decide who to make a purchase from by comparing discounts and seeing what’s offered before clicking through (such as free shipping) is very handy. When I click through Ebates to a merchant, a pop-up will appear with any applicable coupons and/or specials as well. There is also a section titled What’s New. This shows any new information including increases in cash rebates and any new merchants added to the site in addition to the newest coupons and special offers available.
When I click-through to the merchant a pop-up appears with a tracking ticket and number on it (I keep pop-ups enabled for this site). This tracking ticket helps keep track of the discounts earned. Through my account, I can look and see what sites I’ve been tracked to over the last three months. This is a great improvement over the years. I’ve only had it happen once where I didn’t get credit for a purchase I made through Ebates (this was with Dell back when they offered a percentage back through the site) and getting the credit for the discount was an issue. Now if there’s a problem I can submit the tracking ticket number and order number to the site and resolving the issue is really easy.
Every three months I get a check from Ebates based on what I’ve purchased. The balance in my Ebatesaccount must be over $5.00 for them to mail me the check. I’ve never had a problem with the check arriving. In fact, one time I thought the check had gotten lost when in actuality I had deposited it and they researched it for me and got back to me. Recently they added the ability to receive the quarterly payment by Paypal.
There is a referral program at Ebates. If you refer a friend and they join you get $5.00. There is no pyramid in regard to the rebates added to your account. Other than this initial, one-time payment for your friend joining the site there is no additional funds deposited to your account based upon their purchasing.
Ebates is one of the main sites I use to make purchases online. I know they are reliable based on my experience with them for four years now. There are other sites out there as well that I check with when I shop to try and get the best deal. Ebates is a great tool for the savvy shopper, and for someone who’s just starting out in the world of online shopping and wants to get the best deal. It’s extremely user-friendly and covers such a vast range of merchants that everything you’ll want to purchase online you’ll find that you can probably get a discount or deal on through this site.
© 2005 Patti Aliventi
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
AliventiAsylum
|
 in Movies, Hotels & Travel |
 in Movies |
 - Top 50 |
|
Member: Patti Aliventi
Location: Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire
Reviews written: 1978
Trusted by: 678 members
About Me:
Interstate National Dealer Services from AAA is Automotive Extended Warranty hell: http://www.epinions.com/content_5328707716
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.