Can you really make money with ebates?

One of the most common questions I get asked is if it is really possible to make money with ebates. The truth is, that yes you can, but it isn't an easy task to just click and have thousands of dollars roll into your lap.  If you are unfamiliar with ebates, check out my post How I Make Money Shopping Online. It will layout exactly what I do earn money using ebates and why I recommend it.I am excited to share some tips for how you can make this program work for you.Can You Really Make Money With Ebates? If you are unfamiliar with ebates, it is a program that allows you to earn cashback on purchases made online.  With so much of our shopping being done online through various websites, it is nice to be able to earn a bit of cash back.  Ebates allows you to seamlessly do this while simply browsing and shopping like normal. How do you make sure you get the cash back? To use ebates when shopping, you simply need to go to the ebates website and click on the retailer you are going to shop from.  For example, say I wanted to make a purchase at Target online today. Instead of simply going to Target’s website, I would go to ebates, search for Target, and click through to the site.  You will see the amount of cashback you will get next to each merchant.This would create a tracking cookie so ebates would be alerted that my account is shopping that website. As long as I make a purchase after clicking through the ebates website, I should receive cash back.  There will be some situations where cash back does not apply. On rare occasion there will be products that a rebate does not apply to within the ebates program. Just read details on the retailer prior to clicking through from ebates to make sure. The tracking cookie with Ebates for that site varies but I have found it typically is good for 24 hours after you click from the Ebates website.  This is subject to change, so always make sure to click through just to be safe. How much cash back is offered? The amount of cash back offered via ebates varies depending on the website you are shopping from.  While it is rarely under a 2% cash back offer, the average is around 5%-7%.  During special promotions you will see that percentage increase to 10% on select retailers.  It's important to take note of the emails you receive from ebates. Inside these emails are often special promotions.  How long does it take to reach payout?As of the time this post was written, the cash payout amount is only $5.01 or more.  That means it may only take a few purchases to reach payout.  However, Ebates only pays out once every three months.  So, you may reach payout the first day you use the program, but you'll have to wait until the next payout date to receive those funds. How quickly you reach payout really depends on how much online shopping you do, and how high the percentage of rebate is offered for the retailers you are shopping from at the time.  On average, it is easy for someone who makes a few online purchases a month to get a check or Paypal payment from Ebates every payout period.  The amount of that will vary greatly depending on your purchases.  How much can I expect to make with Ebates? Much like the question of how long it will take to reach payout with ebates, this really depends upon how much shopping you do online.  I would never encourage anyone to make purchases they aren't already going to make.  So, if you do the bulk of your shopping online, it is easy to imagine you could make $1000 or more per year back  If you only rarely make purchases, than $100 a year may be a great payout amount.How can I increase my Ebates earnings? A great way to increase your earnings is to refer your friends and family. Ebates has an awesome referral program where you can earn $5 (depending on the current promotion) for each person you refer that makes a qualifying purchase plus they offer bonuses are you refer more people.You can also consider a few of these tricks to help you increase your ebates earnings.  

• Use ebates to order items shipped direct to store for pickup.  This avoids shipping charges and makes it convenient for you.
• Don't forget to use ebates for purchases on things from Lowe's or other Home Improvement stores.
• Use ebates for any purchases made through Amazon including music, books, and Kindle purchases.
• Use the ebates App for purchases on the go.

These tips make it easy to simply increase your ebates earnings for a little extra free money that takes little to no effort outside of your normal routine. Yes, you can easily make money with ebates.  It is not a get rich quick scheme, nor can I guarantee you will make thousands of dollars per year.  However, it is easy to say that you will be able to make a consistent amount of extra cash back just using this for your online purchases. Always head over to ebates before you make an online purchase.