ebates.com Review

Ebates.com is the shopping website I visit most frequently.  Ebates has over 800 merchant partners that pay them for their business.  Ebates in turn passes savings onto us in the form of a "Big Fat Check."  My first payment totaled $45.61 which I earned mostly from purchasing Christmas gifts online.  I also had 2 Tell-A-Friend bonuses totaling $10.00 in that payment.

It is very easy to set up a free account and you can begin earning cash back the very same day you register.  The site has a feature that allows you to save your favorite stores and coupons.

I've read complaints about Ebates not having every large shopping website in their list of stores but I believe that it is the other merchants that choose not to be a part of Ebates.  I'm sure Ebates approaches every large (and small) online merchant.  Also, there are so many shopping sites on Ebates that I have never heard of and I have been pleasantly surprised by the products offered by these lesser known merchants.

I've also read complaints about Ebates requiring you to have at least $5.00 in your account before they will cut you a check.  Honestly, I don't want a check that is less than $5.00; I prefer to wait until I have a substantial amount of money in my account before I receive my "Big Fat Check."  Staying on the subject of payment, I was excited to learn that Ebates offers the option to have the payment directly deposited into your Paypal account.  I chose this option and it was very convenient.  I was able to use my money the same day it was placed in my account and use it to do more shopping online and earn cash back again from Ebates!

I usually only order online from merchants that have physical stores if I can get free shipping and I can return the item in the store if necessary.  I get the items shipped directly free to my house and then if I change my mind about the item I can easily return it at the store and not have to pay for return shipping.  The real bonus here is that even if I return the item at the store, the cash back I earned from the purchase still remains in my Ebates account.  Therefore, I'm earning money for purchasing an item I returned.  It almost feels like cheating!

They also have a link that is labeled "What's New at Ebates" that lists new features, new stores, new coupons & specials, etc.  This makes it easy for you see what new stores have been added since it can be difficult to tell just by looking at the list of over 800 merchants.

On their homepage they list the deals of the week along with top coupons and stores.  This allows you to see great deals right away without having to sift through all the stores on the site.

If I had to come up with a complaint, it would be that Ebates sends out payments only every 3 months.  As I mentioned before, I prefer to receive payments that are a significant size so this really doesn't bother me much.  However, if you are an avid online shopper and build up a sizeable amount in your Ebates account quickly, then this might be a negative attribute for you.

Overall, I highly recommend using Ebates.com.