What is Ebates and Why You Should Use It

posted in: Finance, Travel, Travel Tips | 7


Ebates Coupons and Cash Back
The bottom line is Ebates gives you cash back on purchases you make online when shopping or booking a trip and it is 100% free to you!!

What is Ebates?

Ebates is the middle man that provides you with cash back when you click through their site first when making online purchases. At no additional charge to you! For example, if you were to purchase a trip on Groupon Getaways by first clicking on Ebates, you could earn an extra 6% cash back.

Sounds like a scam, right? That’s what we thought too. It’s not!  We have been using it for almost two years now and have received a significant amount of cash back. Every time we shop online or book trips, we use Ebates to accrue a hefty sum. And we think you should too!
Groupon Deals on Ebates

 

Ebates has been around since 1998. We couldn’t believe we had not heard of them before. They are an affiliate which means they make a commission themselves to refer people to certain businesses. There are over 1,800 companies on their site including Walmart, Bass Pro, and Ulta (to name a few) and also different travel websites including various hotels, airlines and car rental companies.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ON EBATES

Why Use Ebates

Money in your pocket. Who doesn’t like getting a refund for shopping or booking a trip? Something you are doing any way.

It’s Easy. As a consumer, once you join, all you have to do is make one extra step at the beginning of your purchase. You just start at their website instead of the store you are buying from. That’s it! You go on either your phone app or the desktop version and find the store you are shopping on. Once you click the store, everything else looks the same.

No more Searching for Coupon Codes. Ebates also provides you with all the current coupon codes available at that particular store or website.

Great Customer Service. We have had two separate issues where our purchase did not get registered, but once we contacted customer support we had no issues getting it added to our account.

How to Begin

Click here to sign up for an account and you can get a sign up bonus. Right now the bonus is either a $10 gift card for a few different stores like Target, Kohls, or Home Depot or a $5 Ebates card.

Once you have signed up, you have to click on the drop-box in upper right-hand corner by your name and select Big Fat Payment Settings. It is here that you can set up your address if you choose to receive checks or your PayPal account information. You are now ready to make your first purchase!

How to Make Purchases

Once you sign up with an account, the next step is to make your first purchase. You can search for any store by either the department drop down in the top left corner or by the store name in the search box at the top middle section. Select Shop Now and a new window will pop with the store of your choice and it looks exactly the same as if you were shopping on their website. Happy Shopping!!

A list of Ebates Stores

When do You Get Cash Back?

Once you make the purchase it takes a few days to show up in your account. It has a holding period to make sure no returns take place. Then a check is mailed out or the money is directly deposited into your PayPal account four times a year: February 15th, May 15th, August 15th, and November 15th.

Best Travel Sites on Ebates

  • Hotwire – up to 4.0% Cash Back
  • Tickets Now – 5.0% Cash Back
  • Hotels.com – 6.0% Cash Back
  • Groupon Getaways – 6.0% Cash Back
  • Travelocity – up to 7.0% Cash Back
  • Priceline – up to 7.2% Cash Back
  • CitySights NY – 7.5%
  • Orbitz – up to 8.1% Cash Back
  • Restaurant.com – up to 10.0% Cash Back

Tips for Ebates

  • You can purchase gift cards for yourself to get a percentage back (make sure to check Gift Cards category on the left and look at the exclusions for each store on their Coupons page to see which stores allow this).
  • Set up favorites to make shopping even easier. On the left side of the name of the store there is a grayed out heart symbol. If you would like to make a store a favorite just click that heart coloring it in red. This way when you go back to the website later all you have to do is click on your account and it will bring you to the Dashboard which will have all your favorites listed.
  • Refer your friends like we are doing and you can earn cash back. Once you start earning money, you will be just as excited as us to spread the word!
  • Sign up to receive email notifications for the double cash back store alert under Account – Email Subscriptions. Right now they started the Holiday Kickoff section which lists all the stores currently offering double cash back. For example:
    • Marriott 5.0% Cash Back
    • Avon 8.0% Cash Back
    • JC Penney 6.0% Cash Back
    • ShoeBuy 12.0% Cash Back
    • Go Daddy 14.0% Cash Back
If you are not using Ebates, SIGN UP NOW!! It is a no-brainer!

 

 

*Full Disclosure: if you sign up through our link we do get a referral fee. We fully endorse this program and have been telling our friends and family ever since we discovered it ourselves.*

Other Travel Tips

Are you an Ebates user? How has your experience gone?

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What is Ebates?

Follow Angela:

Angela E. is a travel writer from the Chicagoland area who has visited all 50 states in the US and has traveled extensively around the world. She is passionate about exploring the great outdoors and hiking in particular. Her love for nature has taken her to some of the most beautiful locations on the planet. She has written extensively about her travels on her own website, Dang Travelers, and has been published in collaboration with other travel websites and multiple visitor bureaus around the country.

7 Responses

  1. Chris travels

    I appreciated the detailed, yet simple instructions you’ve posted to get started on Ebates. Everyone loves ways to save money and this one appears to be a winner!

    • Dang Travelers

      Money in your pocket for only one extra step…we will take it! The only problem we have with Ebates is that we wish we knew about it sooner!

      • Dang Travelers

        Thanks Sarah. It’s a great program. We are waiting for our Feb 15th check of $200 yay!

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