Save Money on Online Shopping for Christmas

This post may contain affiliate links.

For the next few weeks on Tuesdays I’m going to bring you some tips for the Christmas season instead of homemaking tips.  My Tips for Tuesday series will return in 2012. 

Last week I encouraged you to consider buying gently used toys for your kids’ Christmas presents.  You’ll most likely be taking them out of the packages before you put them under the tree anyway right?  But that probably isn’t the best idea for gifts for your older kids, electronics, or purchases for adults in your family.

As you’re doing your Christmas shopping, don’t forget to take advantage of cashback sites for all of your online shopping.  There are numerous programs that will give you a percentage of your purchase back when you shop through their site. Most will even allow you to use coupon codes in combination with your purchase. All 3 of our credit cards have programs too.  Every dollar counts so be sure to take advantage of them.  I figure if you’re going to be buying something online you might as well get a little something back!

Probably the largest site around is Ebates.  Cashback ranges from 1-50% with special double cashback promotions!  If you are a new Ebates member you can get a $10 gift card after you make your first $25 purchase.  That makes it nearly half off with the gift card and cashback! I don’t make a lot of online purchases, but there are a many items I can order online and ship to the store for free. My favorite retailer to do this with is Walmart. The minimum to cash out of Ebates is $5.01.

Some other shopping cash back sites that I have had recommended to me but never used are:
Mr Rebates: up to 30% cashback, $5 sign up bonus, $10 minimum cashout.
ShopatHome: Up to 70% cashback, $20 minimum cashout.  There is a $5 signup bonus only if you sign up through a referral link. (that’s mine)

Paid to read e-mail programs like Mypoints and InboxDollars have cashback shopping areas on their sites too. I’ve used both of these as well.  Sometimes the cashback from the paid to read e-mail programs is higher than the other programs, so if I’m making a larger purchase it pays to check several before ordering.

This isn’t cashback for online purchases, but you can load coupons to your store shopping cards and get cashback for purchasing those products through SavingStar.  For local readers you can load coupons to your Brookshire’s and CVS cards.  They ARE combinable with manufacturer coupons because these are actually rewards coupons and not cents off coupons.  Does that make sense?  If not, please read the details at SavingStar.  The minimum cashback is $5.

Even if you’re like me and don’t make a lot of online purchases, the money you earn will stay in your account until you reach payout. With special higher percentage back days, it doesn’t take long to hit payout with some of the companies. For a few seconds of extra time before making a purchase, consider it a little tip to get your $5 or $10 check in the mail every year.

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