Using coupons in physical stores is a great way to save, but even virtual coupons can save a lot of money. Sometimes the savings are instant at the Internet checkout, and sometimes they are rebated savings for a portion of the online sale.
Whenever I make an online purchase, the first place I visit is Ebates.com. Ebates is a shopping portal, refunding a certain percentage of your purchases that are made through its site each quarter.
It's free and easy to sign up. When you are ready to make an online purchase, type the name of the online store or the name of the product you want to buy. If the store or item is a participating retailer, Ebates will provide a list of coupon codes — the virtual equivalent of a store coupon — as well as a link to shop at that store. J.C. Penney, Toys R Us, Barnes & Noble, Kohl's, Hewlett-Packard, Staples and Dell are just a few of the participating stores.
By using Ebates, you can be refunded as much as 25 percent of your purchase. Sometimes it offers daily-double deals, where the usual percentage is doubled. I have made purchases with rebate amounts as high as 56 percent. Ebates receives a fee each time someone shops through its site, and it shares this fee by rebating part of the purchase amount to the buyer.
There are no forms to fill out to receive your rebate, as long as you start your purchase at Ebates.com. Your purchase is tracked and the rebate credited. You can be sure that your purchase is being tracked if you see the "Tracking Ticket" screen before the store page loads. You also can check on your tickets on Ebates.com.
Most cash-back amounts are credited within 48 hours, but it can take as long as 30 days. Checks or PayPal payments are sent out every three months if $5.01 has accrued in the account. If not, the balance is rolled over until that amount has been met.
Once I have gone through Ebates and arrived at my online shopping destination, the next step is to search for a coupon code. Ebates offers some coupon codes directly from the stores. But there are often other coupon codes that are not advertised. To find these codes, I do an Internet search. Many times I just type in the name of the online store and "coupon codes." If that doesn't work, I try again using "promo code."
Often the first code attempted will fail. Keep trying coupon codes until one is accepted or the list of codes is exhausted.
Sometimes there isn't a valid coupon code at that time. There are many great sources for online-coupon codes. Retailmenot.com and CouponCodes.com are two sites that I have found with mostly reliable coupon codes.
Freeshipping.org is a great resource for online merchants offering coupon codes for free shipping. Shipping an item can sometimes be more expensive than the item, so be sure to calculate that into the cost.
Many coupon-code sites will provide links to the store you wish to use. Remember, in order to receive your Ebates cash rebate, you must shop through its portal and its online link. Write down the coupon code and use it at checkout once you have clicked through Ebates' shopping portal.
Since Ebates are refunded and the coupon code is instantaneous, you can combine them. The Ebates rebate will be off the final cost after the coupon code.
For the best online savings, use a coupon code on an online sale and use Ebates.com to be refunded an additional percentage of your purchase.
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