You might be thinking about credit card cashback when you read the title, but that’s not what I’m going to write about today. The cashback I’m referring to is the cashback you get from shopping through a specific cashback website. Right, you’re getting cashback both from shopping through websites like Bing Cashback, and also cashback from using your credit card, in addition to any discount coupons that you use for your purchases!

If you’re not using the cashback to make your purchases these days, you’re missing out on free money (just like the 401k employer match). Companies like ‘Barnes and Noble’ and ‘Hewlett Packard’ offer 10% cashback through Bing Cashback, on top of any other discounts you’re getting. If you’re buying a HP laptop worth $1500, that’s an additional whopping $150 coming in to your pocket just by using the power of cashback!

This is how it works:

First, search for cashback deals through the website. You will see a list that shows the savings % that you’ll receive off the store price.

Secondly, click on the link and go to the store. Start shopping like you normally would, adding stuffs to the card, checking out. I would generally not hit the “Back” or “Forward” buttons so that the linkage would stay intact.

Finally, the cashback will be automatically credited to your account days later. Sometimes it takes a week or two, depending on the stores.

There are other cashback websites out there as well that give varying cashback percentage to your purchase totals, I’m going to list the most popular ones below (in no particular order):

1) BigCrumbs

2) Ebates

3) Bing Cashback

4) Fatwallet

5) Cash Back Outlet

6) Mr. Rebates

7) Cashbaq

So far, I find that Bing Cashback gives the highest Cashback % for the stores I’ve looked at so far, the latest one being Newegg. You can compare cashback % across these websites by using a tool called Cashback Comparison Tool. Just search for the store you want to visit and it will show you the% of different cashback websites. I find it outdated sometimes, but it still gives you a general sense of which website would give you the most cashback. And if you need referrals, I have a couple of them here:

a) Cashbaq Referral ($5 sign-up bonus!)

b) Ebates Referral ($25 gift card for new member after you make one purchase through Ebates! I chose Dell gift card myself.)

Even though it might not seem a lot of money if you’re only buying a book or two, the cashback will add up. Furthermore, you’ll never know when you would make a big purchase (Booking vacation through Expedia.com anyone? You get 1% cashback through Ebates). So, beginning today, make sure you remember to go to these websites first before buying anything online!

(Photo: borman818)

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