Ebates Review: Is it A Scam or A Legit Way To Get Paid To Shop Online?

I am always looking to find new ways to save money. One of the money saving tools I’ve been hearing a lot about lately is Ebates so I decided to write this Ebates review. So we decided to do a review and see if it is a scam or actually a legitimate site.

Those of you who like shopping and like saving money may have heard of Ebates. It is a shopping rewards program, and today I’m going to go over the pros and cons of the program to help you determine if an Ebates membership might be beneficial for you. We’ll start with an overview of how the program works.

What is Ebates?

Ebates is a reward program that gives customers cash back of between 1% and 40% on almost anything they buy when they purchase it through their Ebates account.

The cash rebates earned through the program are distributed to customers via a check mailed to their home or through a Paypal payment. Ebates also offers coupons to customers on various items so that you can stack your savings.

How It Works

1. At the outset, you have to sign up. It is free, without any charge whatsoever. Additionally, you get rewarded for signing up. On signing as a new member you are offered a gift card worth $10 for a store of your choice.

Here’s the link for signing up:

2. Using the search box, look for the store you want to buy from.
3. Having found the store, just click “Shop Now” button.
4. A tracking ticket gets created for you. Now, you are at liberty to complete your purchase from the selected store within thirty days and claim your cash back thereafter.
5. After you have completed your purchase, they automatically credit your account with the correct amount of cash.

What are the Ebates Stores?

As we mentioned above, ebates is just a middle man to you favorite stores. You don't actually buy from them. You just visit their site first and click on their affiliate links to your favorite stores. They need you to do this so they can get paid and track who they need to share their money with. That said, there are too many stores to list and they're constantly updating them. But some of the popular ones you may know are as follows:

• Amazon
• Kohls.com
• Macy's
• Walmart
• RiteAid
• Nordstrom
• Priceline
• Petco
• Orbitz
• Expedia
• Bed Bath and Beyond
• Old Navy
• Dicks (Pause)
• Many more.

How Does Ebates Pay? (+ Payment Proof)

Ebates pays out quarterly, either by check or PayPal. Here’s a handy table that shows the payout schedule:

                                      Ebates payment schedule

After you sign up, you’ll be asked to provide a mailing address. This is so they know where to send your checks.

You need to have at least $5.01 in your account in order to get paid. If you have less than $5.01, it will simply stay in your Ebates account until you reach the threshold. (Hint: if you join through this link, you’ll get $10 for free. :))

Five Tips to Maximize Earnings:

• Check Ebates for coupons before you check out. Not only do you get cash back from Ebates, they have coupons for most of the stores too. Coupons help you double down on your savings.
• I used to forget about going to Ebates before buying something. If you don’t go to Ebates first, there’s no way for Ebates to track your order and you won’t get cash back. This is where the Ebates browser extension comes in. The Ebates button will sit at the top of your window, and when you visit an eligible store, a message will pop up that says “Activate Up To __ % Cash Back”. Click on the button, and you’ve created the tracking ticket needed to track your order. You don’t even need to visit Ebates.com.
• For years, the only way to get cash back was to shop at online stores. Last year, Ebates introduced offline cash back. You go to the offline cash back page and link your credit card. After you link your credit card to your Ebates account, find a store you want to shop at and click “link offer.” When you tie the offer to your card and buy something at the store, the cash back posts to your Ebates account. This feature is fantastic!.
• If you’re using an ad blocker, you should whitelist Ebates.com. Ebates doesn’t work well with ad blockers enabled.
• Try to make your purchase within 24 hours of clicking the Ebates link. You’re normally given 30 days; but play it safe and reclick the link!.

Pros

There are a number of awesome aspects about Ebates. Some of my favorites are as follows:

• The vast quantity of stores that are available to shop at through Ebates. Some of the more popular stores that we shop at that are currently on the site’s rebate list include Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy. They currently provide cash back from purchases at over 1,800 stores.
• The ease of using the system. Using Ebates is so simple! Customers simply sign in on the Ebates website, click on the store they wish to shop at, and are redirected to the store’s website, free to shop as they wish.
• Cashback!! Even as little as 1% cash back can add up when you’re shopping, however, many stores offer 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% cash rebates.
• Ebates also boasts a referral program for members. When you refer a member who signs up using your membership referral code, you get a $25 cash bonus. The caveat with this program is that in order for you to qualify for the bonus, your referral has to actually shop using Ebates and purchase totaling $25 or more during the first year. This makes sense: I’m sure the company doesn’t want to pay referral bonuses for false customers.

Cons

There are a few things that can be considered cons when it comes to Ebates.

• The company only pays out cash back accrual checks on a quarterly basis. In other words, you shouldn’t expect a monthly payout on your shopping excursions.
• Impulse to buy things because they are “on sale.” For those not in control of their spending, it can be easy to buy things that you weren’t planning on buying because you “got it on sale”.
• Each store has some excluded products that do not qualify for cash rebates. For instance, at Walmart, there is no rebate given on cellular phone purchases, prepaid phone cards, pharmacy purchases, travel center purchases, financial center transactions, tires, optical purchases and gift cards.
• While the exclusions may be a deterrent for some, I found it great that they offer cash back on the items that we buy most at Walmart: personal toiletries and clothing.
• Because each store does have some excluded items, it might be a good idea before you shop at your favorite stores on Ebates to look through the exclusions list for the store you’re shopping at before you make your purchases.

Ebates Referral Program

Another cool thing is that Ebates is willing to pay you cold hard cash for referring your friends. Currently, they will pay you $5 per person that you refer as long as they actually use Ebates to get cash back.

Just signing up is not enough, they actually have to use Ebates at least once to buy something over $25 for you to get the commission.

Also, sometimes Ebates will run an additional promotion. For instance, they will give you $25 for each person you refer for up to 3 people. I don’t know about you, but that is motivation enough for me to start telling my friends about it. They get $10 for signing up and you get paid as well, not too shabby.

Final Thoughts

Ebates is a legit cashback site and definitely not a scam. I’ve been a user for several months and have no complaints.

While it won’t make you rich, Ebates is a great way to save money and pay less than everyone else for the same items. A penny saved is a penny earned and if you do a lot of shopping, it can add up quickly.

If you’d like to sign up, be sure to click the button below if you want the $10 bonus: