Ebates Review

Website: http://www.ebates.com
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
Pro’s: Offers rebates on Ebay and totals add up quick
Con’s: Must have at least $5 before you can cash out

WHAT IT IS :
Many people don’t realize that internet retailers pay a kickback to sites that send shoppers to their site. So, for example, if you click through yahoo shopping or a coupon site to get to an internet store, that site will get some kickback, usually 2-5% of whatever you purchase. Ebates gives you a way to get some of that money back.

HOW IT WORKS :
The first thing you have to do to even access the Ebates site is to sign up for the program by entering in all of your personal information. The sign up is relatively painless. After you sign up, you can shop through the site. The site itself is pretty well organized and it is usually pretty easy to find out if a store you are interested in participates in ebates. Hundreds of stores participate in ebates so there is a good chance you will find what you are looking for. The thing to remember is that you have to click through the ebates site. If you leave the store site and come back later, they might not know you started through ebates. So, if you close the store window and come back at a later time, remember to open the ebates site first and click back through to the store again.

THE CATCH :
There are a couple of catches you should know about when using the ebates site. The first catch is that you have to accumulate $5 in your account before you are eligible for a check. If you are getting only 2% of a rebate on your purchases, you would have to spend $250 to get anything back at all. If you never earn over $5, you don’t get anything. Good news is that you only need $5 TOTAL, so it’s not $5 per store, but $5 overall. So if you spend $10 at 25 stores, you can cash out at the end of the month.

The other catch is that you can only get a check quarterly so there can be a long wait between when you earn the rebate and the check actually arrives.