SAVE BIG! Everything You Need to Know - Cash Back Shopping Portals

Rule #2 in our eight rules of points and miles: Never, ever buy anything online without getting a discount or rebate. It might just be a few dollars, but something’s better than nothing, right? And it may be a lot more. This post will show you how to take advantage of cash back shopping portals and their affiliates.

While almost every airline and hotel company will offer you miles to search through their online mall, you usually get significantly more value through cash back shopping portals.

Cash Back Shopping Portals

How Affiliate Relationships Work

Shopping portals, essentially online malls, use affiliate relationships. When you access a store through the site and make a purchase, the merchant gives the portal owner a rebate, which they share with you.

While almost every airline and hotel company will offer you miles to search through their online mall, you usually get significantly more value through cash-back sites. The only time that I use a mileage/point mall is when I need activity in my account to extend expiration.

Helpful Hint: Clear your browser’s cookies and cache before shopping. It will help your discounts track. If you’re not sure how to do that, it’s a simple process described here.

Here’s An Example – Cash Back Shopping

Let’s say it’s time to buy those new lululemon stretch pants that I’ve been dying for. If I go straight to lulu’s site, I’ll pay $128 to make my legs look . Or, I could access the store through a shopping portal like my personal favorite, Mr. Rebates, which will give me 8% cash back on all lululemon purchases. That’s just over $10 for an couple of extra clicks.

It’s easy: After you go to Mr. Rebates, type “lululemon” into the search engine, and it will show you the rebate percentage. Click on the link and you’ll get the following message:

And then you’re done. Shop like you normally would and the portal will track your purchases and automatically credit your account.

Important: Most major hotel companies (not including Hyatt), rental car agencies and international airlines participate. Yes, you do get your points, miles and elite benefits. Remember, you’re still using the official site. You’re just getting there differently. Your best bet is Mr. Rebates for hotels and car rentals. I’d use Ebates for international airlines.

Which Portal Should I Use?

Cash back shopping portals are like frequent flyer programs: There are a million of them and each one has its own idiosyncrasies. I’ve narrowed them down to what I think are the four best:

Mr. Rebates is my favorite. It’s easy to use and serves as a good one-stop-shop: It doesn’t always pay the single highest commission, but it’s usually in the top quartile. More importantly, though, I never have problems with them. They offer the best rebates for travel. Everything tracks correctly. I get paid on time. I never have to chase after them for my money.

Another good site is Coupon Cactus. They frequently have among the highest rebates, decent customer service and a fair number of site exclusives. They offer a $3 sign-up bonus.

Rakuten, formerly known as Ebates, is the best-known of the shopping portals. They pay decently overall and have really been ramping up spending to win market share.

TopCashBack is often one of the highest paying, but I’ve had all kinds of trouble getting several of my rebates credited. They usually respond to support tickets, but it can take several weeks and lots of emails to get problems sorted out. I don’t think that the occasional extra percent or two is worth it, but you might.

What About Amazon?

Being the 800-lb gorilla of the internet, Amazon generally doesn’t have to participate in these rebate programs, although it does so in certain categories where it is trying to gain share. Instead, you may want to consider Amazon Smile, which donates 0.5% of your purchase price to your choice of charities.