*Referral links included within this post.

Now with so many point earning sites offering up actual PayPal cash in exchange for points you’ve earned, it’s becoming more of a “thing” for me to head online and shop with my own credit cards. The cash is socked away for our spending, and used at whatever stores I love to shop at, along with where I can find the best value for my money. Kind of cool, and of course, a chance to earn even more cash, right??!!!

Online shopping is a fantastic way to shop for what you need, and Ebates is where it pays to shop online! I use a few sites, I’m introducing them to you. Yesterday was Mr. Rebates, today is Ebates, and tomorrow and the next few days there will be more to come. Each one is fantastic, some better than others, and when I start my shopping online, I check out all of them to find the best percentages of cash back, combined with the best coupons offered through the sites, at the stores I love to shop at. Do you have to do that? Nope. Just pick one that you love, and earn and shop and refer to your heart’s content.

As for me? I have to share all of them, show you what they’re about, because it’s what I do! And it’s why you love my blog!

Let’s get into Ebates right now……..

Sign Up

Signing up is totally free. A great part about referring people to Ebates is earning extra cash! You can earn $5 for every new referral you send over to Ebates! Right now, for every FOUR new referrals you refer, they will add an extra $40 bonus to your account. So you will make $60 for referring four people. A referral to them is someone who signs up, and makes a $25 or more purchase through one of their partner sites, so they start to earn cash back! This little bonus deal is happening  now through March 31st, so take advantage and sign up, start referring, and tell your friends to SHOP TILL THEY DROP!

Here’s my Ebates referral link, please get started before you continue reading……..

Okay, so you’re signed up, you’ve filled out your profile, hooked yourself up to Facebook so it’s easier to share your link and start getting referrals, right? (If not, head to My Account page, on the right there’s Facebook Settings, click on that and set yourself up.) PERFECT. Head to the right side of the My Account page, you’ll see a little list of goodies. Head for Subscriptions. In there you can subscribe to some great emails. Site-wide sales, which will email you when Ebates increases cash back, or special sales at stores. There’s Personal Shopping Offers, which will send you special deals form all the stores you shop at. The very cool Personal Coupon Reminder, which reminds you when you have a saved coupon that’s about to expire! The Daily Double Email, which will send you the fantastic alert of which store will be doing DOUBLE cash back each day. There’s one store each day that does it, so you’ll definitely want to have that email! Finally, the Hot Deals Daily Newsletter. You can sign up to get the hot deals that are happening daily, or you can get them targeted for relevant stores that you like. It’s up to you!

Shop

Once you’ve signed up, and filled out your profile, it’s time to get into the shopping!!! The first thing I would suggest, head to the Shop All Stores tab and favorite your most loved stores. They will be saved for you in My Favorites on your My Ebates/My Account page.

Once you’ve browsed in there, go and check out the Coupons area. You can search through all the coupons on the site, ones with Free Shipping, Money Off Coupons, and more. You can also filter them by category. Whatever blows your hair back, just go, check them out, and save the ones you love. They’ll be located in the My Ebates/My Account page under Saved Coupons. SWEET.

Shopping is fairly simple. You can shop by the store, look for a specific product, or hunt through a category. Find the store you want to shop at, click on it through the site, and SHOP! It is that simple, I promise.

When you’re done shopping, I would check your My Ebates page. Check the list on the right side of the page, you’ll see Tracking Tickets. You can make sure that your shopping trip was tracked! If it wasn’t, contact customer care and find out why.

Additional fun stuff? You can purchase Groupon through Ebates. They have a little tab at the top left of the home page, says Groupon. Buy your Groupon through there, and it has it’s very own slogan: Where it PAYS to Get Your GROUPON. Cheesy, I know, but if you love Groupon, it’s the place to shop for them!

Amazon.com is also offering cash back with Ebates.com. Head to the little Amazon link at the top left of the home page, and you can see what departments are offering cash back, and how much that cash back is! Even AmazonLocal daily deals are worth cash back, too!

If you’re big on travel, you’ll love how they now have a whole TRAVEL page. Again, head to the top left of the home page, click on Travel. It’s got EVERYTHING having to do with traveling, vacations, car rentals, luggage, you name it, it’s there. Very cool.

Get Paid

You’ve shopped, you’ve referred, they’ve shopped, so now you’ve earned some serious cash back. Time to GET PAID! Head into your My Ebates/My Account page. Your Account Summary lists out how much cash you’ll be paid, how much cash is pending, which means it’s on hold until it clears, or until the referral makes a purchase, etc. Then it will show you Total Cash Back, which is just a lifetime total. It will then show you when the next cash back payment will happen, and how it will be paid. You can be paid by check, or through PayPal.

In this little box, you can also see the total qualified referrals you have associated with your account. Nice to see, and to keep track of!

All of these totals, and info, can be clicked on. It will lead you to a page that explains much of what the payment process is. Basically, you have to have more than $5.01 in your account when the payments are being processed. If not, you will have your balance rolled into the next payment period. The checks/Payments are sent four times a year. I know, that’s one of the main reasons I kind of don’t use Ebates as much as I use to. However, it’s still money you have earned, so be patient! They send the monies out on May 15th, August 15th, November 15th, and February 15th.

Which means, hustle a little bit, get signed up, share a little bit, get them making purchases for Valentine’s Day, and you could get a check, or PayPal payment on the 15th if you earn enough! Good timing on my part, right??!!!

SIDE NOTE: You can download their toolbar. It can help keep you earning, because it will remind you that you could be earning cash back while you shop. The toolbar can be set up to automatically use Ebates when you start shopping, or you can have it work with a one click type of thing. I prefer not to use this toolbar, because I like to shop around and see which rebates site is the best for my purchase at the time I wish to purchase. HOWEVER, if you’re new to the whole scene, I recommend signing up, and installing the toolbar. This way, you won’t miss out on earning cash, even if it isn’t the “best percentage.” I’d rather see you earning cash back from SOMEWHERE, rather than NO CASH BACK. Make sense?

You can always adjust the settings, or remove the toolbar, after you’ve become more apt at shopping through cash rebate sites. We all have to start to change our habits in some way, it took me a long time to develop my methods. Once you find your groove, it’s just like riding a bike, you never forget! Trust me.

What are you still reading for? We’re done here, GO SIGN UP before you start shopping for Valentine’s Day gifts. Shoo! Scat!