Paid to Shop!

"Paid to shop"?  Yes!  And even better, you don't even have to leave your comfy desk chair to do it. 

I mentioned Swagbucks.com in a previous post, but I'd like to introduce two websites in which some percentage of the purchase you were already going to make gets credited back to you in the form of CASH (my husband would be happy that I emphasized the italicized words!).

There are numerous sites similar to these out on the web, but I've found these are the two most referenced and the only ones I've used.

www.ebates.com
www.shopathome.com

The concept is the same for both sites.  You have a purchase in mind, but prior to heading directly to the site where the purchase will be made, you access your site via these webpages.  Confused already?  Let me try and explain through an example.

Currently, ebates.com is offering 10% back on all online purchases made at gap.com. 
You've decided to get an early jump on Christmas shopping (we can pretend, right?) and The Gap is having a huge online sale.
To take advantage of getting 10% CASH back on your purchase, you would

1. FIRST go to www.ebates.com
2. Type in "Gap" in the search bar.
3. Click "Shop Now"
4. Add items to your cart and checkout!

NOTE: If you leave the site for any reason, you will need to access it again through ebates or shopathome.

Once your purchase is made, 10% of your purchase price will be added to your account.  Every 3 months (for ebates.com) a check is issued to you (assuming your cash back is greater than $5.01) via mail. 

ShopAtHome.com works the same way, so if you know of a purchase you will be making and ebates.com does not carry that merchant, you could check the shopathome.com webpage.  In ALL cases, you should check at least these two sites to see which is offering the most cash back percentage.

In addition, each site sometimes offers their own specials.  Today, shopathome.com is offering a 1-year subscription to the All You magazine for $19.96.  Price is pretty steep until you consider that they are offering 56% cash back on this purchase!  That equates to $11.18 back to you, making the subscription only $8.78 for one year.  If this is your first purchase through shopathome.com, they will credit an additional $5 to your account. 

If you can program your mind to check these sites before making ANY online purchase (Groupon, Walmart, Shutterfly, etc.), it can really add up to cash in your pocket.

Note: The links in this post are my referral links.