I’ve been experimenting with online Savings Sites and I’ve become an avid user. 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.
Here is my experience with my favorite cash back rebate site, along with some information about others I have used.
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.
Mr. Rebates is my favorite site and the one I have used most often. I have used Mr. Rebates to get cash back rebates on my shopping at Ballard Designs, Apple, and Barnes and Noble among others.
The Site
The Mr. Rebates site is well-organized and user-friendly. You can find rebates by browsing or searching through stores or products. There are thousands of stores to choose from, including many you probably already shop at like Target.com, Walmart.com, Overstock.com, and many more. Once you’ve selected a store, Mr. Rebates will also show you what online coupons are available for that store which will help you save even more money.
The Rebates
Cash back rebates from Mr. Rebates range from 1% to 30%. Examples of stores where you can receive some of the higher rebates are
- Carbonite (30% – this is one I have taken advantage of)
- The Wall Street Journal (20%)
- Snapfish (12%)
- Hooked on Phonics (10%)
- Birthday Express (10%)
- Magazines.com (25%0
- FTD (15%)
- Restaurant.com (25%)
- Symantec (15%)
- McAfee (12%)
- Gurney’s Seed and Nursery (10%)
- Entertainment Book (30%)
- ShoeBuy (12%)
- GNC (10%)
- Nutrisystem (10%)
- OxiClean and OrangeGlo (15%)
- PetCareRX (12%)
- 1800PetMeds (10%)
So you can see you can save significantly by visiting these sites via Mr. Rebates. And once you’ve linked to the site through Mr. Rebates, the rest of your shopping experience is exactly the same as if you had visited the site directly.
Signup Bonus
Mr. Rebates offers a $5.00 signup bonus just for registering at their site. Signup is free and the bonus is credited to your account right away so you start with some free money.
Payout
You must have $10 available in your account to request a payout. Payouts are done by check or Paypal at the first of every calendar month. I have received several payouts from Mr. Rebates using both methods and both times the payments came on time without a hitch. Mr. Rebates has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau so my experience can be considered the norm.
Mr. Rebates for Canadian residents and international customers.
Mr. Rebates is available to both Canadian residents and international customers. Canadian residents can be paid via check in US dollars or by Paypal which will be converted to Canadian currency. International residents can only be paid via Paypal and the payment will be converted to the international currency.
Customer Referrals
If you refer a new customer to Mr. Rebates, you will receive a referral commission of 20% of their rebate on any purchase they make. This is at absolutely no cost to them. Mr. Rebates pays your the commission as a thank you for referring a customer to them. The links in this blog post are referral links and a significant amount of my rebates at Mr. Rebates have come by referring others to the service.
Store Reviews
Another way to make money at Mr. Rebates is by reviewing the stores where you have shopped. Mr. Rebates will pay you 50 cents for each review you do. The reviews consist of rating a few items on a scale of 1-10 and writing at least three sentences about the store. It can easily be done in a minute or two.
Other sites I’ve used and can recommend:
- $5 signup bonus and a payout by check or Paypal when your account reaches $10.
- Signup is free.
- Referral plan pays you a % of rebates for referrals, down three generations.
- No Better Business Bureau rating that I could find.
- I have used and been paid by Cashbaq.
Ebates
- $5 signup bonus.
- Payout is made quarterly provided your account balance is $5.01 or more. If no, it rolls over to the next quarter. Payment methods include check or Paypal.
- Signup is free.
- Referral plan pays you $5 for each customer your refer who earns $5.01 in cashback rebates within 90 days of joining.
- Better Business Bureau rating of A+
- I have used and been paid by Ebates.
Related Info:
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey, thanks for the info.
Check out evreward.com. This site allows you to search across all the rewards sites to see which one gives the best kickback for a particular merchant. So if you’re planning to make a purchase at, say, Barnes and Noble, you can use evreward.com and quickly see which reward site has the best B and N rebate.
Let me know if you decide to sign up for MyPoints or Ebates. I’ve got referrals for both of them. I’m going to use your referral links for the two you mentioned. I haven’t joined them yet.
I like Mypoints myself. I just get the emails, open the link to the advertiser site, then close it. 5 points! (and you don’t have to even buy anything) Of course it can take a while to add up that way, but I don’t buy online much. When I do buy online I try to remember to route it through the Mypoints site (or at least to check and see if the company I am ordering from can be run through Mypoints)
I’m probably an e-advertisers nightmare because I almost never buy anything through those ads
Another MyPoints fan here. I drink Starbucks for free thanks to their site!
Check out Little Grad. (www.littlegrad.com) Very easy to sign up, great percentages back, money goes into any savings account, 529, checking whatever.
Best part, so easy to use, grandparents/aunts signed up!
awesome site, thanks for the advice.
Personally, I like to use Extrabux (www.extrabux.com). It’s a new site with a really simple layout. I don’t get a ton of emails from them like I did from MyPoints. It’s really good to shop at if you know what store you’re looking to buy from. I like the idea of Upromise though, as you mentioned in your article. I’ve actually never heard of that but will definitely pass it on to friends with kids going to college.
Very nicce!
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