Saving Money While Shopping Online Using Cash Back Sites and Credit Card Rewards

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They say that penny saved is a penny earned. If you like me and do a lot of shopping online there are few simple steps you can take to make sure you get the best deal on a products you buy. Here are the couple steps any person should take before buying anything online:

1. Sign up for a CashBack site - For people who don't know about a cash back sites here's how it works. Most advertisers pay website publishers a commission when site users click on their ads and purchase something at their site. The commission varies based on the company and the type of product purchased but it's usually between 2 and 8% of the purchase price. What cash back sites do is allow their users to benefit from this relationship by giving them a portion of the commission (~50 to 75%) they receive when they purchase products through their links. That way users are incentivized in purchasing through their website vs some other one. That way both users and cashback sites make money, creating a symbiotic relationship of sorts. When your cashback reach a certain amount, say $50 they send you a check for that amount, just like a credit card that offers rewards.

There are a lot of these types of site to choose from but the one I use the most is BigCrumbs.com. It's one of the oldest, most reliable and I have found that the percentage that you get is consistently higher than on other sites. There are other good ones as well and sometimes it's worth to shop around to get a little higher percentage, especially if you are buying an expensive product such as a brand new TV set. However, for most purchases I just stick to BigCrumbs.com since I want to earn enough to get a check as soon as possible. They also list all the current deals and coupons that particular site offer right on the page, which is very convenient during shopping.

Here're some examples of the cash back they offer for some of the more popular sites:
Best Buy - from 1.2% to 4.2% cash back depending on the product category
HP - 2.8% cash back
Dell - 2.1% cash back
Orbitz - 2.8% cash back for package, up to 5.25% for specific hotel purchases
Expedia - 2.8% cash back for package, up to 5.6% for specific hotel purchases

The biggest negative regarding cashback sites that none of them offer cashback for Amazon.com, a premier destination for online shopping. However, there are other ways to save on Amazon, which I will address in the next section and in my future posts.

Click Here to sign up for BigCrumbs.com




2. Get a Credit Card with the best rewards -Everybody knows about rewards credit cards but for some reason people don't do enough research to get the best ones out there. My advise - don't be lazy, people. Spend 10 minutes researching and you would be surprised what offers you can find. The 3 cards I would recommend the most are 2 cards from Capital One (the bank with Vikings commercials) and the one from Amazon.com.
Here are some quick highlights for those 3 cards:

a. Amazon.com Visa Card - If you shop at Amazon you get 3 points for every dollar spend on the site. That's 3% cash back which can be redeemed on your next purchase. You also get 2 points per $1 spent at gas stations, restaurants, drugstores, and office supply stores as well as one point for all other purchases. This is not my primary card for everyday purchases but I use it all the time at Amazon since you can't beat 3% cash back. Signing up is easy enough. When you get to a check out page you will see an ad for Amazon card. Just click on it and you will be redirected to their sign up page. You will also get $30 off on your next purchase as a bonus.

b. Capital One Venture One Rewards - For people who want excellent rewards card but don't want to pay an annual fee, I recommend this card. The highlights that sold this card for me are 1.25 miles per dollar on every purchase, no foreign transactions fee (very underrated and useful feature that very few cards have) and ease with which points can be redeemed. You also get 10,000 bonus miles if you sign up and spent $1,000 in the first 3 months. That's extra $100 bucks in your pocket.

c. Capital One Venture Rewards -This one has similar features to Venture One. You also have no foreign transaction fees, easy to redeem points and 10,000 miles sign up bonus. The only difference is that you 2 miles for every $1 purchased anywhere. For that Capital One charges $59 annual fee, after 1 year of use (the first year is free). If you want to take a full advantage of the promotion you can sign up for Venture Rewards get $100 bonus and 2% rewards for a year. Then cancel the card after a year and sign up for a no-fee card, AND get a second $100 bonus. However, if you do want to keep the card, there's a simple formula to figure out whether paying $59 an annual fee is worth it for you: take $59 and divide it by the difference in cash back 0.75% (2% - 1.25%). If you do that, you get $7867 (59 / .0075). That's your break even amount. If you think you are going to charge more than that in a year on your CapitalOne card it's worth it to pay $59 to get 2% rewards. Otherwise, go with the yellow card and no annual fee.

That's it for today. For further reading on the subject of credit card rewards, saving money and finding best deals visit our main site at www.DealProdigy.com