I am sure by now you have seen that there are many web sites out there that offer you cashback from various online retailers when you shop through them. Basically you go the company site, use their link to click through to Amazon or Best Buy, do your shopping, and get a cashback reward. Essentially these sites are affiliates for all these online retailers and when you go through their site to do your shopping they split the affiliate commission with you, usually 50% of the total commission. It is a nice way to earn a little money back on purchases you already planned to make.
I use some of these sites myself when I do my online shopping because every penny that goes back into my pocket furthers my monetary goals. Why not get a rebate of sorts on my Christmas, birthday, and home purchases?? I already comparison shop and look for online coupon codes so earning a commission on my own purchase just makes good “cents”. Plus those coupon codes can be elusive for some stores so getting something back instead of nothing is always good.
A new-to-me site offering this great service is Giving Assistant. It offers some high cashback rates and and they do claim that 100% of the affiliate commission goes to their users. Other comparable sites only offer 50%. It is free to join as well. Another cool aspect, that their name hints at, is the fact that you can donate some or all of your earnings to any charity of your choice. Also a small donation is made to Feeding America to give one meal every time cash back is earned.
So far I find it to be really user friendly. You click on the name of the retailer you want to shop, check their list of coupons codes you may want to use, and then make the final click over to the retailer to do your shopping. Within a day or two you see your cashback earnings in your Giving Assistant account. You get paid direct to your secure debit card in days. No months of waiting for a check in the mail like other cash back sites. The minimum payout is just $5.01, not $25 like the other guys.
Some of my favorite places to shop include:
Etsy (2% cashback)
Honest Company (5% cashback)
Tom’s Shoes (7% cashback)
I used Giving Assistant just a couple days ago to buy my daughter some Harry Potter laptop decals and with two days I saw my cashback go into my account. Pretty nifty! I know that this Christmas I will likely make this a regular stop. Try via my referral link and get $5 for signing up!
