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I had a conversation with a friend recently about shopping online. “Is it true that you can earn money buying online?” she said. “My friend said she earned thousands of dollars.”
Let me say at the outset that the best way of saving money is not to spend it. That’s right: if you don’t need something, not buying it is an even better saving than buying it on sale. As part of my #joyfulgiving project, I’m giving away a lot of things that I bought on sale yet never used. It’s easy to beat myself up about the amount of saved/spent on things I’ve never used. Yep, even a die-hard frugalista like me can get caught up in the hype.
Yet earning money back really does work, and in around two years I’ve earnt just over $300. That’s not bad for a super frugalista who doesn’t spend as much as the average person online (despite succumbing to a few temptations). I’m about to show you how I do it, and how you can, too. But first …
The Click Frenzy Sale
The May Click Frenzy sale launched earlier this evening and stays open until Thursday 21 May. The main sale is in November, but now they have a second in May. This sale can sometimes lead to such, ah, frenzy that the website goes down. As I was writing this, I had trouble getting on it.
Are the sales genuine? Absolutely. There are some good deals during Click Frenzy. The risk is, as the name suggests, that given the limited time frame for the sale that it drives consumers into a frenzy. By all means, take a look, but not if you’re likely to slide into online temptation and regret the money you spend. We usually have a list of what we want and then are strategic in trying to find it.
The Click Frenzy Sale can sometimes be combined with other specials (e.g. Shop Back). Some eCommerce sites such as Kogan have their own competing Click Frenzy sale. Basically, when one big online sale is happening it’s often a good time to check out other online sales as well.
Cash Rewards
Cash Rewards is an Australian company that provides cash back to consumers. The way it works is that you first join the website, then you make a purchase through the website or app to a participating merchant. After a period of time, your cash reward becomes available and you can withdraw to your bank account and use. Cash Rewards has now enabled an instore option as well (i.e. you can link to your credit card and pay instore as well as online).
Cash Rewards has a refer a friend program – if you join using this link you will get $10 when you make your first purchase (and I will receive $10 as well).
Money earned to date: $158.38
Shop Back
Shop Back is a Singaporean founded company with over 5 million members across Asia Pacific. It is similar to Cash Rewards in function. I sometimes find they are quicker to give the cash back. I have downloaded the browser extension for both, so when I go onto a site that is running specials (e.g. eBay) I can compare the specials that both have and choose the best deal. Note: you can only choose one and not both.
Shop Back is an official cash back partner with Click Frenzy, which means you can combine deals to earn more cash back. (Note: this can get addictive – it’s important to remember the golden rule of only buying what you need and that the biggest sale of all is not spending any money!)
Shop Back also has a refer a friend program – if you join using this link you will get $5 when you make your first purchase (and I will receive $10 as well).
Money earned to date: $146.60
Total cash back earned to date – $304.98
Do you shop during Click Frenzy? If so, what have you bought? And do you use Cash Rewards or Shop Back?