How does the idea of getting paid for shopping at specific sites sound to you? Cool, right? Go through the Ebates review to find out how this affiliate revenue-sharing websites can be your way to earn some extra dollars next time you have to shop.
Note! “In 2014 Rakuten purchased Ebates. Since they took over Ebates, they have slowly changed the look, feel and even the name Ebates to Rakuten. However, until we are officially ready to stop calling them Ebates and adopt the name Rakuten, this is still an Ebates review.”
Is Ebates A Go-To Place For Everyone?
Currently Ebates is affiliated with 2,000+ online companies which means Ebates will refer you to buy something from them and when Ebates gets the thank-you (in form of cash) from the company, it will split the earnings with you. Pretty simple!
The bottom line in this review for Ebates? YOU need to be a frequent online shopper or Ebates is NO for you. There isn’t much you will be making if you don’t often shop online. Keep in mind, you need to spend some money to ultimately score a cash back.
However, that does not mean you go ahead buying things you did not need at the first place. Be sure to buy stuff you had to buy anyways so then you can actually be happy about the cash back!
Did you know? “Ebates is currently affiliated with Ebay, Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy, just to name a few.” How To Save Money With Ebates In 3 Simple Steps
Does saving money and redeeming cash-backs seem like a huge ordeal to you? That is NOT true!
With Ebates you can get the cash back in 3 easy steps. Here’s what the website will do for you!
1. Recommend an online retailer and help it get more sales.
2. Receive a thank-you referral from them in exchange of its services (obviously after their sales go up!)
3. Split the commission with you! It’s a win-win for everyone.
Did you know? “With Ebates you can earn between 1% – 40% CASH BACK at over 2,000 online stores. Also, the Cash Back is truly Cash Back, meaning you will either receive a check in the mail or your money will be deposited into your PayPal account. ACTUAL MONEY!” The very first thing you need to do is create an account with Ebates.
We know what you are thinking. “Here come’s the part where they will ask you for a fortune just so that you can win a bit cash back?”
Not at all! Ebates is completely FREE. You just need an Email address. A Facebook or Google account will work fine too. As soon as you are done creating the account, you are free to shop away!
There’s More! You can also refer your friends and family to their website and earn $10 bonus as a thank-you referral.
Shop And Save With Ebates Without Any Hassle!
Although most of the companies affiliates with Ebates function online but there are also specific store that are offering in-store cash backs.
Let’s talk about the online retailers first.
Ebates is definitely for those who love to shop online and it wouldn’t come as a surprise when we tell you there are millions of people who would prefer online purchase over in-store any day, everyday!
Did you know? “According to a recent study that reviewed Ebates, millennial do 60% of their shopping online.” First thing first, go to the Ebates website and search for the available retailers. If you find the ones you are interested in, simply click on the their button to get started.
Furthermore, you have to select the cash back offer and the notification that the offer has been activated will pop-up automatically. After this you will be directed back to the page of the retailer you had selected before. Time to shop!
What are the chances that you will forget to go to Ebates when ordering online in a hurry? Pretty thick! We are just humans, after all!
Chill! Ebates has you covered in this case too. What a friend!
The website has introduced a button that can added to Google chrome browser. With this option you don’t need to always remember to go to Ebates first. Instead, you will automatically get the reminder if you land at an online store which is in partnership with Ebates.
Now, What About In-Store Shopping?
Although the feature is new to Ebates but the demand was pretty high!
For this, you need to own a debit or a credit card and link it with you Ebates account. The rest will work much like online cash-back. Before buying anything in-store, check if there are any on-going offers that you can avail.
If you find one, click on Link Offer and use the same credit/debit card you have linked to the account to make the payment.
Ebates has also made in-store shopping easier! How?
It will let you search, area-wise, if there are any locations near you that are giving in-store cash back.
More For You! “With Ebates you can also use Promo Codes to get an even further discount. Plus this will saves the time of looking around the web for coupon codes before you buy something online! Ebates makes it quick and simple.” What’s The Downside?
Just because we are writing this review about Ebates does not mean we can sugarcoat the fact that it does have some sloppy sides. One of the major drawback is that Ebates is currently missing affiliation with a handful of major brands such as Apple. This means it does not have any cash back offer when it comes to their product.
Also, you need to carefully go through the terms and conditions as there are some retailers that give cash back when you shop from specific departments only. Deals also come and go. It’s not a hard and fast rule that the 6% cash back offer you found a week back would still be there.
Attention! “It’s your responsibility to make sure you’re getting your cash back. 99.9% of the time your account will be credited within 48 hours. If you don’t see it in your account, it’s your responsibility to notify them about it via a form on their site.”
Some other questions you need to consider before becoming a committed Ebates user are:
Are You Ready For A Long Wait?
There are no instant cash back with Ebates. You can only withdraw your earning 4 times a year and the payments are spaced out such that you have to wait at least for 60 days after your purchase to get the cash back.
Some users have also reported issues at the time of payment. However, in most cases that have been because they have not reached the payout threshold (fortunately!)
Attention! If you have any such issues with Ebates, try their customer support service. It’s pretty good and they will be quick to look in to and resolve your issues withing 24 hours.
Are You Good At Dealing With Technical Glitches?
Do you know your way around the web browser and how blocking or unblocking advertisements work? This is important because Ebates might not work if you have any addon to your browser that shuts down advertisements.
Also, you need to use this site while shopping instead of the original store. Otherwise, there will be no cash back for you! You need to be a little technical to make the best of Ebates.
Did You Fall For 5% Cash-Back?
Red flag! Just because they said you will get up to 5% cash-back does not mean you will get exactly 5% cash back. There are specific terms and conditions you have to satisfy in every case of purchase. Same goes for Ebates.
Also, just because you are making a “huge” purchase does not mean you will get a “huge” cash back. Sometimes spending on $100 will just get you 1% cash back ($1). On your lucky days, Spending $50 will get you 10% cash back. And you can do the math of how much that would be.
What can we say, you can never out run your luck.
Here’s How Shopaholics Review Ebates
Has Ebates been the website it promised to be? Let’s see what different users have to review about Ebates.
Adam Viener comments on Quora:
“Ebates is a great site, they have been around for a long time, have a great reputation and have a lot of partnerships with major companies like Amazon (not many cash back sites have Amazon). The only problem I have with Ebates is that there revenue model is to share the cash back rewards, so the member gets a portion and Ebates keeps a portion for themselves.”
Well, obviously they are making something out from it for themselves Adam! That’s plain business.
Furthermore, here’s what Nathan Beers has to add:
“Ebates is a highly reputable and well established cash back site which has been around since 1998. It is certainly a legitimate business, one that you can trust implicitly. Shopping online via Ebates is a lot of fun and very convenient. It can be done from the privacy of your home. Also, just in case you were wondering if they actually pay you, I can prove with payment to me in PayPal.”
That’s a trust-building comment. Thanks Nathan!
However, not all that glitters is gold. Here’s a comment that would highlight some of the issues associated with use of Ebates:
“The only place I’ve had issues is since I started running an ad blocker all my transactions don’t get credited consistently any longer. They put out some type of fix a while back but it is less than effective. So if you use ad block you’ll want to visit the Ebates site and make sure your cash back was recorded each time.”
Ebates Review’s Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is it safe to use Ebates website?
Ans. One thing is for sure; this website is NOT a scam.
Ebates works just like other advertisers, such as Swagbucks, by thanking you for your services in terms of cash. The website is completely safe and legitimate. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that you have to shop through Ebates to get the cash back.
2. Does Ebates always make you wait long before actually getting paid?
Ans. Ebates makes the payment either in the form of check or through PayPal account. However, don’t get all carried away because Ebates won’t be sending out check every time you make a purchase.
Payment schedule
| Purchase Period | Paid On |
| Jan 1 – March 31 | May 15th |
| Apr 1 – Jun 30 | Aug 15th |
| Jul 1 – Sep 30 | Nov 15th |
| Oct 1 – Dec 31st | Feb 15th |
3. Is there a way to maximize your earnings with Ebates?
Ans. Fortunately, yes! Ebates will be very thankful to you if you lend a hand in extending their services to other users. Once you have created an Ebates account you can invite other friends and family members and enjoy a referral bonus as soon as they join.
Sharing Ebates is easy! Simply do it via Gmail account or by sharing though Facebook. You can also add the referral link on any website or a blog if you own one.
Fun-fact! “Referral means when someone shops via Ebates and spends $10 or more, you will get $25!” 4. What if you buy something with Ebates and then return it?
Ans. In such a scenario, your cash back would be reversed. However, if you are merely exchanging it for some other item then you will have to go back through the whole procedure of activating cash back offer if you wish you capture the reward.
5. How long will it take cash back to show up in your account?
Ans. The credit shows up in less than 2 days. However, if it doesn’t then it is your responsibility to contact the customer support services by Ebates before their 30-day return period runs out.
You can also click on Help link and fill a form with store name, date and order number in case your cash back does not show up.
6. Can you use Ebates outside the US and Canada?
Ans. Yes! However, you need to make sure that the retailers from which you are buying are either located in the US or Canada. You can then choose the currency in which you want to receive the cash back.
In Closing
So how handy can Ebates be? The bottom line of Ebates review is that this depends on how often you shop online!
The trends in shopping have changed immensely in the past few years. Now everybody prefers the ease of having the products delivered to their doorsteps. That’s where Ebates can help you a lot!
With a FREE sign up, so many shops to get the money back from and an easy payment option of in-person or through PayPal, Ebates can be a great way to save some dollars on shopping you were going to do anyway.
Now for the disclaimer: Please don’t expect high cash back on purchases. Nobody said that you will get half the money back. However, multiple purchases and a number of cash backs can sum up to a hefty amount that you will save up in the end.
On a final note of our Ebates review we can conclude that the website is for all those who love online shopping especially if you a frequent user of a company the site is affiliated with. Furthermore, some technical tricks can make your experience much better and prevent Ebates from causing any trouble.
Curious to see how the website works yet? Hopefully, the article has done its part! Sign up for their free account today, find your favorite stores and let’s get our hands on oh-so-good cash backs. Happy shopping, folks!
Pro-tip before you leave our Ebates review!
Are you interested in a hack when it comes to Ebates? Here’s something you should consider.
“Try Ebates out for a few weeks first before you tell anyone else about it. You will find a lot of value with Ebates because your friends, family, and others will save money by literally doing the exact same things you’re already doing – shopping online.”
