You’ve probably heard of these services before. The question is, are you using them? EBATES and FatWallet are two sites that pay you cash back when you shop through them. Sounds like a scam, right? It’s not.

How It Works

Stores give websites a commission for any sale the site directs to them. EBATES and FatWallet take those commissions and pay them back to you (after taking a portion for themselves, I’m sure). Once you sign up, you can shop at many different stores and a certain percentage of your total is placed in you account. Then, you can get that savings in the form of a check or deposited into a PayPal account. Pretty sweet!

EBATES

The EBATES registration is super quick and easy. Browsing through the list of stores is a bit more time consuming because there are a TON of them! If you know the store you want to shop at, you can search for it–thank goodness. The percentage you receive from your purchases is listed next to the stores. When you click on the store, you are taken off of the EBATES site, but with an embedded tracking code that will record your purchases so you can get your money. When you want to cash out your account, you can request a check or have it put into your PayPal account. They only send out checks quarterly.

FatWallet

FatWallet works in pretty much the same way. It also has forums where you can discuss sales with other people. FatWallet has pretty much all of the same stores as EBATES and a few more. The pay out is also a little different because you can get checks weekly as long as you have at least $10 in your account.
The sites offer different percentages for the same stores. Sometimes EBATES has the better deal…sometimes FatWallet.

Some of the stores

Target
Steve Madden
Old Navy
American Eagle
Alloy
Banana Republic
Saks Fifth Avenue
Ralph Lauren
Bloomingdales
JCrew
Kohl’s
Macy’s
Martin & Osa
Victoria’s Secret
Urban Outfitters
Arden B.
Bluefly
Endless
Wet Seal
There are others…

Your Thoughts?

Have you ever used one of these services? What was your experience?
If you haven’t, does this sound like something you might be interested in?