Boxing Day and Boxing Week Reminder

It’s Christmas Day here in Australia so I thought I would wish you all a Merry Christmas and to provide a quick reminder about Cashback Portals as you do your Boxing Day and Boxing Week shopping these next few days.

For those that don’t know what cashback sites are, they are essentially sites that earn a “finders fee” from retailers for encouraging you to purchase items.  The idea here is that the site entices you to make a purchase so the retailer rewards them with a cash bonus.  The cashback site then, in turn, cuts you in on the action and gives you a big chunk of that cash bonus.

For example, last year during  Black Friday, I purchased a Dell XPS13 laptop for $1,282.49 and used eBates as my cashback site.  During Black Friday and Boxing Week, there was a very high cash back of 10% back so I earned $128.50 back on my already deeply discounted purchase.  This took the cost of my laptop from $1,282.49 to $1,152.99 which was WAY cheaper than the laptop retailed for (around $2,000)!

My Favorite Cashback Sites

I use two Canadian cashback sites almost exclusively and one US site when I need to make purchases from US online stores.

The two Canadian sites are the go-to for many people because of their consistency in paying out their promised bonuses and their ease of use.

Great Canadian Rebates

Great Canadian Rebates or GCR as it is widely known as has been my standard cashback site because they have cash back for the credit card I like to churn, the MBNA Alaska World Elite Mastercard.  I also check them first because they have been very fast in notifying me of when a cash back purchase has been triggered (usually the next day) and I have never had an issue where they did not pay out my owed cashback.

You can sign up for Great Canadian Rebates here.  This is a referral link so I receive a bonus if you make a purchase but it in no way reduces the amount you earn.

eBates.ca

eBates Canada is giant in the world of cashback and I have used them for years because like GCR, they are consistent and fair.  I find that eBates is a bit quicker to have bonus cash back from retailers published on their site than GCR is so I usually check them first for big seasonal sales like Black Friday or Boxing Week.

As an added bonus, if you sign up for eBates, you get $5 deposited into your account for free to get you started!

You can sign up for eBates.ca here.  Again, this is a referral link so I receive compensation if you sign up but does in no way reduce your earning potential … by signing up through my link, you help support the blog.

eBates.com 

The US variant of eBates.ca.  I use this entirely for purchases from US retailers that aren’t registered on GCR or eBates.ca.

Here if you sign up, eBates will give you $10!  That’s a pretty great deal in my opinion!

You can sign up for eBates.com here.  Again … referral link.  I win and you win!

Why You Should Sign Up

Much like airline frequent flier programs, cashback sites are free to sign up for and only serve to help you save additional money on the purchase you already make online.  Signing up means that you are ready to go when you are about to make an online purchase and puts money back in your wallet.  Just like travel hacking, you are trying to get the best deal possible, so take the 30 seconds to sign up because you’ll be surprised at how quickly cashback can add up.

How To Use Cashback Sites

Once you sign up, all you have to do on the cashback site is find your retailer and click on the link provided.  Make sure your popup blockers are disabled for the site and you have allowed cookies to be set on your computer.  Don’t worry … if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you most likely use your browser in its default mode so you are good to go.

Conclusion

Outside of frequent flier programs, my favorite thing to use is cashback portals because they save me a ton of money.  I find it very satisfying to know that I saved more than the Average Joe simply by clicking on a link.  These sites work and pay you to shop at the stores that you were about to buy from anyways so why not get a little more cash in your jeans?