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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Ebates & Shop at Home...your guide to understanding what in the world they are!

If you are doing ANY online shopping this holiday season, or if you are an online shopper at all, you definitely should consider signing up for Shop at Home & Ebates. I mention both sites in pretty much every post I create with an online deal. Why? Because when you go through either site, you are basically getting free cash back!

Ebates is currently offering a free $10.00 gift card (currently the options are Macy's Walmart, Target and Kohls) to new member when they sign up and make a purchase of $25.00 or more at ANY of the available cash back retailers within the first 90 days of signing up. When you head over to Ebates.com the little box pictured above should pop up and you'll sign up through it.

Ebates:
I just recently joined Ebates. I have been using Shop at Home since last December, and decided this holiday season I wanted to use both sites since the cash back % can vary with each site. Why go though Shop at Home for 2% if I can go through Ebates for 9%? Ebates is nice in the fact that your cash out amount is $5.01. So, once you have $5.01 cash back in your account, they will mail you a check or deposit your money into Paypal. Both Shop at Home & Ebates work on a payout calender. Ebates looks like this:

Purchases Posted BetweenBig Fat Check Sent
Jan 1-Mar 31May 15
Apr 1-June 30Aug 15
July 1-Sept 30Nov 15
Oct 1-Dec 31Feb 15

So, if your cash back amount from purchases between now & December 31st is over $5.01 you can expect your check to come around February 15th. If your cash back is not have $5.01 yet, your money will just roll over to the next month and you'll receive your payout once you hit the amount needed. It seems like awhile to wait for the money, but I look at it like this. If you wouldn't have signed up for Ebates....you wouldn't have earned any cash back!

There is pretty much a % back on any store you can think of. There are also some stores that allow you to purchase gift cards and earn cash back on your gift cards!

If you have a cash back rewards credit card, you can still earn the cash back with them when you use the card. So, you'll basically be earning double cash back!

 -To get started head over here and select the gift card you would like to receive
 -To search for a store, you'll see a search box in the top right. Type in the store you want & it will show you the available cash back amount. Click the store & then click shop now on the next screen. It will open up a new window. This is the window you will need to shop through to make sure your purchase is tracked correctly.
 -You cash back will be credited within 30 days (my first purchase was credited within 3 days)

Here is a screen shot of my pending cash back amount. Like I said above...I just signed up like a week ago & I am already set for a payout! Along with my payout I am also getting a $10.00 Target gift card...whoohoo!



Shop at Home:
Shop at Home works the same as Ebates. You earn cash back at nearly any store you can think of! Really, the only difference between Ebates and Shop at Home is that you won't receive a payout with Shop at Home until you reach $20.00. Shop at Home does give each new member a $5.00 sign up credit though, so you will only really need to earn $15.00! Seems hard to get to, but each and every purchase adds up. Just from Christmas shopping the last 2 weeks I have already earned enough for a payout!:


Shop at home's payment schedule looks like this:

Cash Back Payout Schedule

Cash Back Earned ByDate Check Mailed*
8/31/201110/31/2011
9/30/201111/30/2011
10/31/201112/31/2011
11/30/20111/31/2012
12/31/20112/29/2012
1/31/20123/31/2012
2/29/20124/30/2012
3/31/20125/31/2012
4/30/20126/30/2012
5/31/20127/31/2012
6/30/20128/31/2012
7/31/20129/30/2012
*Cash Back Rewards checks are mailed on or around these dates.

So, if your cash back amount for purchases through 12/31 is at the $20.00 payout amount you can except to receive your cash back check around February 29! If not, your cash just rolls to the next month and you'll receive a payout when you do hit the $20.00

 -Head over here to sign up for Shop at Home
 -You can search for stores using the search box in the top right
 -Click on the store you want & on the next page click shop now.
 -You will see your cash back in your account within 30 days (but as you can see from my picture, it is usually much quicker)


That's it! Hopefully this goes to show just how easy it is to earn cash back at stores you are already shopping at!

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