Ebates Will Save You A Little At A Time, Especially If You Can Say No To Yourself
I’ve been meaning to blog about Ebates for awhile. They’ve been mentioned in a couple women’s magazines in the company breakroom and like most people, I do a little online shopping from time to time.
I finally made an account this morning because I have an online purchase to make. I need some new leggings. Mine are worn out from overwearing. Ebates has promised before to save me money online shopping so I went to them first. I gave them my contact information since they promised me that there is “no catch”.
Once I logged in, I could see the real discounts the 600+ stores offered. You can save between 2-10% on your online purchases at different retailers. Danskin is listed on the site with a 5% off discount. There is also a coupon with Danskin, as there are coupons with some of the retailers listed. With 5% and additional savings, I got excited… and then I wasn’t. Either Ebates or Danskin didn’t redirect though because a click on my dream leggings brought me to a page that didn’t exist. Bummer.
So I ended up going to my favorite dog store (Drs Foster and Smith) and buying Sadie some Greenies, which I’ve been meaning to buy for awhile. I did it through Ebates (at least I think so) and should I continue to shop Ebates I should get “a big fat check” of my savings quarterly. But how does Ebates know what I saved?
A tracking code pops up as you click away from Ebates to the company’s site. And sure enough under my Ebates account is a ticket for every web site I visited today. Did it register my purchase? Will I get a big fat check after three months? Only time will tell. I’ll keep you posted.
A cautionary tale to shoppers: Don’t be distracted by the ads encouraging you to buy things you don’t need. Just log on, get what you need, and get out. It is very tempting to see those 600 stores spread before you. I clicked on a few extra stores but resisted temptation. If you can’t resist it, my advice is to stay away.
Update: I returned to the Danskin site from Ebates two days after the site didn’t work and had no problem placing an order. Today, I recieved a $2.80 credit to my Ebates account for the purchase. So I guess if a redirect off Ebates doesn’t work for a retailer, try it again later.