Shopping online is probably costing you extra money. Here's how Rakuten can help. This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies...
Over the past year, Americans shopping habits have changed profoundly and perhaps forever.
Because of the pandemic, more of us than ever are shopping online. E-commerce has skyrocketed while in-store sales plummeted. And the great mystery is, its far from clear whether well ever fully return to our old ways.
Heres the real kicker: Youre probably overpaying. But a free tool called Rakuten has the hookup with just about every online store you shop, which means it can give you a kickback every time you buy.
Rakuten is a browser extension that automatically does three cool things:
It gets you cash back on your online purchases from more than 2,500 stores, including Target, Walmart, eBay, Kohls, Macys, Petco, Sams Club, Best Buy and Lowes. It automatically applies coupon codes at checkout. Ta-da! It alerts you when a product youre about to buy is available at a lower price somewhere else. Because really, why overpay?Then you get your cash back via PayPal or check.
We talked to Colleen Rice, who says since she started using Rakuten, its sent her checks in the mail totaling $526.44. For doing nothing. Seriously.
Rice says she uses Rakuten for things she already has to buy, like rental cars and flights.
It takes less than 60 seconds to create a Rakuten account and start shopping. All you need is an email address, then you can immediately start shopping at your go-to stores through the site.
If you join today, you get a $10 bonus when you spend $25.
Talk about money for nothing.
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He used to overpay, and now he doesnt.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.