Taking advantage of online shopping portals

[disneysteve]

I'm not sure if that's the proper term. What I mean is going through one site to shop at another site in order to get a discount or special bonus. This is not something that I've traditionally done but I know there are many ways to do it that can really pay off.

I recently got a mailing from my Chase Freedom card with holiday specials. I ignored it but didn't toss it out. Then over the weekend, two things happened that converged nicely. The daily Groupon deal was for a local restaurant that I've been wanting to try and I decided to purchase the Groupon - $25 for dinner for 2. Fortunately, before doing so, I actually read the mailing from Chase. They are having a weekly special offer for a different company each Monday. The special offer for today happened to be Groupon - 20% extra cash back today only. Since I had 3 days in which to buy the Groupon I wanted, I waited until today and used the Chase bonus to place the order. So not only will we get dinner for 2 for $25 (a $31 savings), we'll also get 500 extra reward points ($5 value) on our CC account, making our actual cost only $20 for dinner, a $36 savings.

By combining the deals, I saved an extra $5 on something I was going to buy anyway. Can't beat that.

Does anyone else do this type of thing to combine savings offers?

[cooliemae]

I regularly use the ShopDiscover portal to purchase items that I'm going to purchase anyway. Most of the ShopDiscover deals are 5%, but it's better than nothing. There are some exceptions for travel and jewelry which can have upwards of 25% back.

[orenwach]

Before I make any purchase online I go through the discover website or the ultimate rewards from chase website. you can often get anywhere from an extra 2-20% off. It is especially lucrative with photo printing companies like snapfish and book companies likes barnes n noble.

Another good site is ebates. They don't usually give you as much back as the credit cards but they a more comprehensive list of companies

[LizfromtheBronx]

I use Ebates a lot because right now, I would rather get the cash back (even if it's small). I regularly combine that with discount codes from the retailers themselves (which Ebates are nice enough to collect and post on their site).

I've also used MyPoints a lot in the past to collect points for gift cards.

Sometimes I'll shop through Continental's site if I'm looking to pick up some extra miles.

[naomibatac]

This is a very practical practice for saving money. Am sure there are numerous other deals that you can combine. The only problem for some people is time to do it. Busy moms might not have the time to do the shopping. Thanks to the info in these forums, a big help indeed.

[graceful]

I always try to do this when buying on-line, other than Amazon which doesn't participate anywhere.

I check the the rebate amount through discover, ebates, and upromise and pick the largest amount. There are probably more out there, maybe some with higher rebates on some stores, but I try to limit myself and I prefer cash to points.

I got a LOT back when I shopped for rugs at HomeDepot through the discover portal.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by graceful

I always try to do this when buying on-line, other than Amazon which doesn't participate anywhere.

You can use your Discover cash back money to shop at Amazon. You don't get a discount but it's a way to spend your credit.

[graceful]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

You can use your Discover cash back money to shop at Amazon. You don't get a discount but it's a way to spend your credit.

I usually just use my Discover cash as a credit on the card (less to pay off the next month since I pay in full each month) or if there is a good deal on a gift card I will use (CVS card $45 for $50, etc.).

I have an Amazon credit card from Chase that gives me 3 points for each $1 I spend on Amazon purchases, normally 1 point for each $1 spent elsewhere (2 points for $1 for some other purchases)that I use for all my Amazon purchases. I can turn around and "cash" in 2500 points for a $25 cash or credit on the card.