Savings Sites Reviews

I've been experimenting with online Savings Sites. Before starting this blog, I was only aware of Upromise. Now, however, I realize there are all kinds of rebate sites where you can do your online shopping for cash back. Upromise is just one of those sites with a college savings twist.

I've used the following three sites in the last month or so. While I'm still waiting for offers to be credited, I thought I would do a preliminary review of what I've found.

First of all, two points that seem to be the same for all of these sites:

• Offers take a while to show up in your account. Anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.
• Once they show up in your account they are in pending status. The norm seems to be about 90 days, although some companies (like Dell) take longer.

Here are the sites I've used and my results so far:

• FatWallet FatWallet seems to be the big daddy of these sites. In addition to online coupons and rebates for online shopping, they have very active forums with deal discussions going on.
  
  FW offers a $5 bonus for signing up that you are eligible to receive after you've earned at least $5 in rebates from purchases. You can request a payout of your available funds through PayPal at any time. If you want your payment by check you must wait until you have $10 accumulated in your account.


I've made two purchases through FatWallet: A $59 purchase from 1-800-PetMeds for which I'll receive a 12% rebate or $7.08. I also made a $19.95 purchase from 123 Inkjets for which I'll receive a 20% rebate or $3.99. Add to that my $5 bonus for joining and I'm due to receive a little over $16 in July.


• InstantProfitz is an interesting site. I was introduced to it through Money Dummy who has a very profitable hobby completing trial offers through them. I have not been interested in signing up for trial offers just for the profits, but occasionally there is a product or service that I really do want to try (see below) so by going through IP I can be paid to try it.
  In addition to the trial offers and the standard cash rebates for shopping online, IP also offers cash to play games, complete surveys, etc. There is a $3 signup bonus that is credited fairly quickly. Payouts can be done a variety of ways, including PayPal, check, Prepaid Visa, and Gift Certificates. There is a $1 fee associated with cashouts ($4.95 for the Visa).

I completed 2 survey type offers for $1 and $1.10 and I have the $3 signup bonus which was credited right away. I also signed up for Netflix through IP for a $17 reward. (Note: the IP site says that the current Netflix reward is $20.) The Netflix reward has not been credited to my account but I was able to determine through the IP forums that Netflix does not usually credit until your two week free trial period is over, which mine is not.

• Mr. Rebates is a very straightforward site with coupons and rebates for online shopping. Of the three, Mr.R has the most user-friendly site and they did a great job of keeping me informed about the state of my reward. They offer a $2.50 signup bonus which is credited right away. You must have $25 available in your account to request a payout. Payouts are done by check at the first of every calendar month.
  
  I made a $45 purchase from 1-800-Flowers for some Mother's Day flowers I sent to my grandmother. I qualified for a 8% or $3.60 reward. I also used a coupon code I found at Mr. Rebates to get 15% off my order but the reward I received was applied before the coupon. That's kind of cool.

Obviously, I'll have some more reviewing to done once my rebates are fully available and I request payment from the sites. Like coupons, I plan to only use these sites for purchases I was going to make anyway. And before I make an online purchase I'll check the sites to see if there is a difference in the rebate amount. Usually they are similar but occasionally there is a difference.

And one more thing: Instant Profitz and Mr. Rebates reward you for referrals to their site. (I can't see where FatWallet does that.) So if you're planning on trying any of these and you're inclined to send a little a little referral love my way you can use these links:

InstantProfitz
Mr. Rebates