Cash Back at EBATES

Instant discounts are always welcome and appreciated, but post purchase rebates are where it's at. The main draw of post purchase rebates is the ability to hit reward credit card spending thresholds for points/miles/cash-back and then get part of your purchase cost returned in cash by the seller/promoter afterward. Enter EBATES, an affiliate marketing website and mobile app that pays you when you to shop with select merchants. Please note that the optimization here only occurs when you were already planning to spend your money with one of these merchants; buying something you were not already planning to buy with the purpose of getting nominal cash back is a waste of money. The merchants covered by EBATES range from discount coupon vendors such as Groupon and Livingsocial to lodging hosts such as Marriott and IHG. They are even currently offering cash back for completed rides on Lyft as well as in-store cash back for select merchants.

The key to EBATES is that it is a shopping portal that you pass through via their app or web browser to make your purchase(s) on the merchant's site. When you complete your purchase on the merchant's site through the portal, EBATES will share a portion of their affiliate marketing income with you as cash back in your EBATES account. From there they transfer your cashback funds to PayPal once quarterly (that is if you meet the minimum cash back threshold which is $5.01 or more as of the time this article is published). The payments are sent a month and 15 days from the end a purchase posting period. The posting periods are January-March, April-June, July-September, October-December so payments are sent on May 15th, August 15, November 15th and February 15. You can also have checks mailed to you, but there is a great deal of convenience in having funds directly deposited into your PayPal account.

If you read my article on Caviar, then you would be pleased to know that Caviar is actually a merchant on EBATES. When I place my orders on Caviar, I can do it through the EBATES portal and get a percentage of the purchase returned. It is one extra step that yields worthwhile returns on a delicious mealtime investment. In addition to Caviar, I book my Lyft rides through EBATES to get a $1/ride return. This is a substantial savings when I hail a shared Lyft ride! You may be surprised by the merchants affiliated with EBATES. I was pleasantly surprised when some of my Amazon purchases qualified for cash back. Experience being the best teacher, I suggest you give EBATES a try. If you signup through this promotional link, you will be able to support my efforts and be rewarded with your own cash back credit(s). If you happen to try EBATES through my link, please leave a comment below and let me know what you think of it!