How to Earn a Commission On Your Own Purchase
Ever since I moved to America, I’ve always been on the look out for new ways to save on my spending, earning cash back or just landing good deals on stuff that I am going to purchase anyways. There are just so many great opportunities out there. Besides Travel Hacking to cut down on travel expenses and the use of various credit card cash back programs, I recently stumbled over a very interesting website called Ebates.com.
Ebates is a website that earns money by referring customers to popular online stores like Amazon, Groupon, Walmart, Banana Republic, MacMall, you name it. Whatever category of online store you can think of, Ebates most likely partnered up with them. And these stores pay Ebates a commission for every customer they bring to their site, which can be as low as a few percentage points and as high as 40% or more of the money that a customer spends. That system is called Affiliate Marketing and Ebates makes money by referring customers and earning commissions.
What’s in it for you?
The really cool part on Ebates is, that they share these commissions with you. They actually just keep a small part of it and pass on the majority to you, when you click through their links. For example you want to buy something online at Lowe’s, like I did recently. Instead of going to www.Lowes.com directly to order, you would first go to www.Ebates.com, search for Lowe’s in the search bar and just click on the link, which will lead you directly to the Lowe’s homepage – the place where you wanted to be to begin with. But there is a nice little difference with clicking through Ebates. Once you bought whatever you wanted to buy at Lowe’s (I bought a washing machine), Ebates will pay you a commission for your purchase. That’s like an additional discount on your purchase that you would have never received if you would have visited Lowes.com directly.
Check out Ebates.com and see for yourself what commissions you will get by clicking through their links. You don’t have to be a member to see the commissions for each store. It’s very interesting to see though, because you see what you’re missing out on if you buy directly from a store. They also list coupons on their site, so you can save even more plus earning a commission.
How to take this a step further
As a smart online shopper you are always looking to find the best deal to save money. Once you found that deal and the website that is selling it to you, Ebates will save you additional money on top of that great deal. And if you have a credit card like the Chase Freedom for example, you will currently get up to 5% cash back on top of your great deal and your Ebates savings. Chase currently (4th quarter 2013) has a 5% bonus on all online purchases with their card. If I can’t get 5% on Chase I usually use my Barclaycard Arrival and get 2 miles per dollar back on everything, which is better than other cards.
You see where I’m going? Finding a great deal is just the first step. Being creative with how you pay for that deal and clicking through other websites to earn a commission on your own purchase is what makes you a smart internet shopper.
I have my free Ebates account for about a month now and already earned $45 for purchases that I made. Money, that I wouldn’t have seen, if I would have bought directly. And I didn’t have to join any of the Affiliate Networks out there and deal with getting accepted for different affiliate programs, which can be a pain in the butt.
All I needed to do is to sign up once at Ebates.com and start using their links. It’s that easy!
Where to sign up?
If you would also like to get more money back on your online purchases, click here to sign up for a free Ebates account. It’s a referral link and I will earn a small commission. You don’t have to use my link, but I’m very grateful if you do.
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