MoneyMakingMonday

*Money Making Money is a Boston on Budget ongoing series during the holiday season to give simple ways to make money online and more. None of the suggestions will make you rich but hopefully cover a holiday gift or two. All suggestions are personally used and recommended by me.

Yes, you do need to spend money to make money with this Money Making Mondays post, but hear me out. You probably spend money online, especially during the upcoming holiday season, you mine as well get a little something back, right? When I shop online, I always check out cashback sites like Ebates and Shop At Home to see how much I can get back for my onlne purchase.

Shop At Home and Ebates are the two main cashback sites that I use. Cashback sites award you from checking out through their website and will usually give you back between 2%-8% back on purchases, but sometimes it can be more. Both sites pay quarterly and it’s great to get back a little something for doing pretty much nothing.

Ebates

Ebates is one of my favorite cashback sites mainly because it’s really easy to use, and they have a few perks. When you sign up and spend $25 online, you will get a $10 gift card in the mail. (I got one from Target about 1-2 years ago, and they are still running the promo!) Also, Ebates has a great Tell-A-Friend promotion too and constantly have great promotions for telling friends. For example, I referred my mom last holiday season and got a $25 bonus. Another feature I like about Ebates is the PayPal option, which lets you get paid quick and easy.

Shop At Home

Shop At Home is the other cashback site I use regularly and the first one I signed up for. It doesn’t have as many perks as Ebates (in my opinion) but it is just as easy to use and the cash back amount is sometimes a little better, so I always check between the two. Also, Shop At Home guarantees that you will save the most with their website and they’ll beat competitors if you find a better deal elsewhere.

If you are new to the whole cashback thing, I’d recommend choosing one site and sticking to it for awhile, and then maybe expand to another once you are comfortable and like it, but it’s up to you.

Also, don’t forget to log in through your cashback site before you make a purchase online. Sometimes I forget right until checkout, so I quickly pull up a cashback site to get redirected to my shopping cart through the site and then make my purchase. Also, they’re are so many participating retailers and more for your online purchases like Kohl’s, Target, JetBlue, Priceline, Groupon, and much more. Sometimes I find that one cashback site doesn’t have a retailer I’m looking for but another one does, so make sure to check!

Yes, you are spending money to make money but shopping through cashback sites are a great (and very easy) way to earn on everyday online purchases.

Update 11/26: After asking my husband to sign-in to my Shop At Home account before purchasing our new hardwood floor (exciting, I know) I realized I could have been a little more clear since he had a million questions for whatever reason. You simply need to upload Shop At Home or whatever site you want in your browser, and type in the website you want to purchase from. Click on the link (and it will say the cashback amount and if any promo codes are available) and it will re-direct you over to the site. Once you are there, you just make your purchase and you will get an e-mail later from the site saying the amount has been applied to your account. You don’t have to do anything once you are redirected from the cashback site, and you won’t see anything indicating the cashback at the time of checkout like a promo code, unless you are using a promo code too, which you can. You’ll get your check on a quarterly basis, but it depends on the cashback site. Very simple.

Do you shop through cashback sites and do you have a favorite?

Previous Money Making Monday Posts

Week 2: Making Money Through Freelance Gigs {Elance & Fiverr}
Week 1: Making Money Through Search Engines {Bing & Swagbucks}

*This post contains my referral links. Please see my disclosure policy here.