Bargain Quest

I received my first Fat Wallet cash back check this week - $47.43, including my $5 sign-up bonus. The sizeable total is due to my pricey camera purchases back in July from Circuit City and Ritz Camera, which were shopped through Fat Wallet.

My FW experience thus far has been very positive, so I definitely recommend it. The layout is easy to navigate and my transactions have been reported accurately. I even get “just checking” emails when I occasionally shop through a Fat Wallet link and end up not purchasing anything.

At this point, I’m re-evaluating my cash back shopping strategy. So far, I’ve limited my shopping to the two cash back programs I had registered with for other reasons: Fat Wallet and Upromise. And of those two, almost all of my shopping has been through the Fat Wallet portal because the cash back rate usually beats Upromise. My new plan will be to supplement the original two with Ebates and possibly Jellyfish to expand my cash back options. Joining too many programs makes it difficult to keep track of your accounts, and dilutes payouts, which usually have to reach a threshold of $5 or $10 before a check will be issued.

I hope I’ve said it before, and I’ll definitely say it again - Always check for coupons and cash back before shopping online! If you do any amount of shopping online and aren’t yet a member of any program, I would definitely say it’s worth your while to sign up with at least one. The extra effort of shopping through reward portals is only a few seconds worth, and the seemingly small rebate percentages add up over time. To compare cash back percentages offered by one retailer through different reward programs, search for the store name on evreward.com. The programs that partner with that retailer will be listed, along with the respective amounts of payout.

If you join Ebates through my referral link, you earn $5 bonus cash after your first purchase through them. I also get $5 for the referral! Win-win, right? Yes, but… in the interest of full disclosure, I found myself offered a $10 gift card option (for Target, Starbucks, etc.) when I found my own way there to join earlier this week. Of course, now I can’t find the entrance page listing the details (probably a cookie thing because I’ve already used it), but it’s worth a shot to go directly to Ebates if a $10 gift card sounds better than $5 cash. And I might still get $5 out of the deal if you list my email (richmondbargains at hotmail.com) in the referral box.

“Win-win….win” - From what TV show?