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A Simple Hack I Use to Save Money When I Shop Online

By David Carlson / Last updated: November 28, 2018 / How To, Personal Finance, Save Money

We may receive compensation from companies mentioned within this post via affiliate links. Read our full advertiser disclosure. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
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If you shop online and aren't using this simple hack to save money on every online purchase, you should start. It's quick, simple, and once you are in the habit of it you won't even think twice about doing it.Today I’m excited to share with you a simple hack I use to save money when I shop online.

I use this hack with every online purchase. Once you get used to it, it takes only a few extra seconds to go through the process and save money.

This hack gives you cashback on your purchases, typically a percentage of the final purchase price. For example, you may plan on making a purchase at Macy’s. By using this hack you will get a certain percentage of your purchase price back. It’s money that you otherwise would have spent, so it’s a win. Do this hack on every purchase and you could save a significant amount of money over time.

Here’s the super simple hack I use, and you should too.

 

Go to Google

 
Google dot com

 

Type: [Store or Website name] cashback

 
hotels dot com cashback

 

Click on one of the results

 
One of the first results will typically be my personal favorite cashbackmonitor. It wasn’t always that way, but the past couple years they’ve become the gold standard for monitoring cashback bonuses.

This site essentially lists a bunch of cashback sites and compares their offerings. This is really useful since there are actually quite a few cashback sites these days, and many of them have different offers depending on the store or website.

For example I typically book hotel stays on hotels.com. Here’s what cashbackmonitor provided:

 
Cash back monitor hotels dot com

 
All you need to do is click on whichever cashback site you want to use, and then once you are on that site, click through to get to the website where you will make your ultimate purchase. It may sound like a lot of steps, but once you are used to it you can literally fly through all of this.

This does mean you may end up using a number of cashback sites over time. If you set up your account once, though, you will be set for future cashback gains. Here are a few websites I’ve ended up using regularly. You can get set up now to save you time later.

  • Ebates
  • BeFrugal
  • Mr. Rebates

 

Do This Every Time You Make a Purchase!

 
I do this every time I make an online purchase. In fact, I typically already have items in my cart when I go through this process. As long as you click through a portal (i.e. Ebates) you will get credited with cashback.

How much you can save by doing this depends how often you make purchases online, as well as how generous the store or website is when it comes to cashback. For example I ordered a couple shorts from volcom and I got over $20 cash back one time. Some larger purchases like hotel stays can add up even if the cash back percentage is relatively low, simply because it’s a larger purchase.

Use this hack on every online purchase and save money!

 
 
Have you ever used cashback rewards?
 
 

Check out some of our favorite personal finance resources:

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David Carlson

David Carlson is the founder of Young Adult Money. He is a nationally recognized speaker and the author of Student Loan Solution (2019) and Hustle Away Debt (2016). His opinions have been featured on such media outlets as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cheddar, NBC's KARE11, and more.
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Comments, responses, and other user-generated content is not provided or commissioned by this site or our advertisers. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by this website or its advertisers. It is not the responsibility of advertisers or this website to ensure that all comments and/or questions are answered. With all that being said, please comment away!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. GIULIA says

    interesting

  2. Marc says

    Cashbackmonitor is definitely an interesting site. I came across it a few months ago and I can’t believe how many different cash back programs are tracked through that site. I don’t see it mentioned very often, so I’m glad to see it here.

  3. Jason Butler says

    I’m a huge fan of ebates. I haven’t checked out cash back monitor yet,

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