Ebates

Gigi

In Shiny's recent thread on online shopping, Gryffin mentioned that she always checks the Ebates site before making a purchase. For those of you who use Ebates, what are your impressions? I hadn't heard of this site before. Are there any drawbacks?

12 years ago

Shopping

10 replies

Latest reply was from Gigi

Kristin SF

Veteran

I haven't noticed any drawbacks. I mainly shop online so it's nice to get a check a few times a year.

Some more details:
http://www.wardrobeoxygen.com/.....bates.html

12 years ago

Liz A.

Veteran

No drawbacks unless you consider it a hassle to go through their site. They also have a toolbar, but I found it spotty and didn't always list the correct rate. Speaking of rates, some rebate sites are higher on average than ebates IME.

12 years ago

kkards

Veteran

only other drawback is giving one site access to all your shopping habits.

12 years ago

Claudia

Veteran

I use it, I like it, and have had no negative issues. You can use other codes along with whatever ebate promo is running, so it's a win - win.

12 years ago

carter

Veteran

I love it. The only trick is remembering to use it.

12 years ago

Gigi

Veteran

Thanks for the info!

Kristin, I saw the Wardrobe Oxygen site. It made Ebates look like a really good thing, so I'm doing my due diligence by asking fabbers. :^)

I think you have to sign up with an e-mail, correct? Is there a lot of advertising, sales alerts, etc.? I need to decide whether to sign up with my junk e-mail or my real e-mail.

How do they make their money? (This info may be on the Ebates site, but I have a bit of a disability that makes navigating new sites very difficult.)

12 years ago

rabbit

Veteran

I found ebates somewhat frustrating because of all of the popups and toolbars, so I just use fatwallet to get cash back rebates (it has worked fine for me so far, and they follow up quickly when a transaction doesn't post and I let them know, also it usually pays out within a few weeks, not quarterly). Liz, what rebate site do you use?

I use retailmenot to search for coupon codes for specific stores. Retailmenot has a red/yellow/green indicator on coupon codes that lets you know if they are working for people, and users leave comments that are sometimes helpful. I use different sites when I'm looking for food/drugstore coupons, since that's a whole different thing.

Generally I think these sites are all fairly similar, so it's kind of whatever works for you, unless one has better cash back percentages.

I would use a filter or sign up with junk mail, because they do email you pretty much daily or more often.

ETA: It looks like these sites will compare the rebates from various sites for a particular store: http://www.cashbackmonitor.com/ or http://www.cashreporter.com/ . I might need to venture on from FatWallet as they don't appear to be the highest for some places I shop often hmm....

12 years ago

Anonymous

I use Ebates and it's pretty painless. The quarterly checks aren't huge for me, but I have a deal with myself where I always deposit them right into my savings account, so it's nice to have little extra bonuses there without feeling like I'm giving up something I could be spending.

The emails are kind of frequent, but no more frequent than places I've signed up for that have lots of sales, like Gap or AT. I always assumed that the places themselves give Ebates a certain amount of kickback (the rebate amounts at the places I regularly browse online vary a lot and always seem highest at places that aren't having sales at the moment, so I'd guess there's some kind of coordination), but I actually have no clue.

12 years ago

Isabel

Veteran

gigi, I shop for my stuff almost exclusively online now. I always do a coupon search before placing an order. So I will google , for example, Land's End coupon. It has really, really worked out well for me. I haven't had any drawback with what I do.

12 years ago

Gigi

Veteran

Thanks for the extra info, rabbit. I hadn't imagined that there were sites that would compare the rates! My head is spinning, argh.

I do see on the cashreporter site that one of the highest-paying rebate sites (Shop at Home) doesn't get great reviews for its customer service. So maybe you'll find it's better to stick with fatwallet? Who knows!

Aubergine, I'm glad you have good experience with Ebates. And thanks for the info on the e-mail frequency. I HATE all those e-mails for sales from AT, Gap, etc. So I'll definitely be signing up with my junk mail account.

Isabel, I do almost all my shopping online too, so these kinds of things are a big deal to me. :^) I did have a rebate plan through my credit card company that functioned just like Ebates, but they're going to be discontinuing it soon. So I'm glad that I'll have other options when it goes. The nice thing about the credit card company version was that the rebates posted right to my account, and I didn't receive any e-mails. I haven't gone in search of coupon codes yet; I just wait until there's a sale at a retailer I like. There are sales so often that it's usually not a problem.

12 years ago

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