How I Use Ebates to MAKE MONEY Online

Disclosure: The links in this post are affilliate links and I will get a small referral bonus if you sign up through them, at no cost to you. You also will get an extra $10 when you spend your first $25! Thanks for helping support this blog! See my Disclosure Policy for more details.

If you had to ask my husband to name 3 facts about me, I have a pretty good guess to what they would likely be.  He might tell you about my stylish good looks or how impeccably neat I keep our house and kids (Huge LOL!).  But I’d actually be willing to make a friendly wager that he would tell you that Krystin Godfrey LOVES to shop for a good deal!

Y’all seriously, I love it! I really love to save money on a good deal.  As the reigning Home Economist in the Godfrey crew (much more descriptive of my job than stay at home mom), I take great pride in doing the best that I can to research to make sure I am getting the most bang for our buck and making smart purchases. 

People always ask how I do this and the answer is loaded: I do a number of things!  But one of my favorite ways to save is by earning cash back through Ebates (newly rebranded as Rakuten, but still the same site) for all of my online shopping!  

To be honest, most times a company offers to save me money, I’m already looking for the catch.  Where is the scam?  Why do YOU want to do something for me? Haha!  But with Ebates there is no scam! It is simply an awesome way to earn cash back on your online purchases.  

What is Ebates?

Ebates is a company that has been around since 1998 and is one of the largest affiliate sites for online shopping to date. They have write-ups inn CNN, USA Today and other major publications.  They are LEGIT.   If you’re not familiar with how affiliates work, for each purchase that is made using Ebates, retailers pay them a commission for driving business to their site.  There are currently are over 2,000 stores connected to Ebates and they each have their own percentage that they pay out.  Ebates then pays its shoppers half of its commissions, which is where we come in!  You and Ebates split the money they earn.  It’s THAT simple.

How Does it Work? (I’ll use my most recent purchase as an example)

Our family is going to Disney World soon (shhh! Don’t tell our kiddos) and I want a pair of Chacos sandals for the trip.  Chacos are rather pricey, usually running right at about the $100 range.  So I definitely searched high and low for the best deal. Here comes Ebates to the rescue!  Shoes.com is typically one of the Ebates stores with the highest commission, usually 10%.  Ebates will also frequently run special sales where certain stores will have double cash back.  I actually caught one of those awesome sales on Cinco De Mayo, doubling the cash back to 20%. Getting 20% cash back on shoes I was gonna buy they find.  Shoes.com had a 25% off coupon code on their Ebates store page. Needless to say I had found my deal!

My Real-Life Example Numbers: 

My Women’s Chacos were regularly priced at $109.95.  With the 25% off code, the price came down to $82.46 before tax, and the shipping was free! Ebates’ cash back of 20% meant that I   would also get $16.49 cash back on the purchase, bringing my hundred-dollar shoes down to a mind-blowing $65.97! That is the ultimate deal for this girl, especially for something that I was already going to buy.

 How Long does Ebates take to register my purchase?

Once you click from Ebates through to the retailer you want to shop and make a purchase, the cash back will show up within 7 days.  But for me, it usually shows us within a few hours!  I’ve only had a purchase not show up one time.  I only gave it two days and emailed them and the cash back was credited to my account within 24 hours.  Other than that, I have had no issues and their customer service was impeccable!

Once your cash back has been in the account for 60 days and exceeds $5, you get paid on the following dates: February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15.  You can get your payment, called a “big fat check,” a few ways.  I opt for either mailed check or through Paypal, which is one of the reasons I love Ebates: it’s true cash back!  Lots of other cash back sites only allow you to redeem your rewards through gift cards.  While that’s fine, it doesn’t qualify as true cash back in my mind.  That is a definite benefit to using Ebates!  If you want, you do have the option to choose a gift card as well.  But show me the money! Cash for me please!

Sign Up Today!

In just a few months with Ebates, I have earned a total of $273.24 in cash back on purchases that I was already going to make!  Sign Up for FREE here:  just give them your name, e-mail address, mailing address for your checks & choose a password. Once you make your first $25 purchase, you automatically earn $10 extra just for signing up and making a purchase.  

Stop throwing away money! Use Ebates / Rakuten every time you shop online to earn unlimited cash back.  I want you to get the best deal for your money EVERY time!

Have you ever tried Ebates?  Hit me up in the comments below and let me know if you have any questions!