Make Money Shopping for the Stuff You Were Going to Buy Anyway
I have a confession to make. I shop online. A lot. I hate shopping in person, unless it’s Target, The Container Store, or Costco. Those are pretty much the only 3 stores I actually enjoy shopping at.
When I walk into a mall, an invisible set of hands begins to tighten around my neck and within an hour I am gasping for air. True story. I don’t do malls. I don’t do clothing stores. I don’t do window shopping. I do onlining. Yep – I just made that a verb.
If you are like me, or even if you aren’t like me, this post is for you. I’m pretty confident that EVERYONE can make a little money off of what I am about to tell you.
The secret? Rakuten (formerly ebates).
Here’s how it works.
- Register with the magical Rakuten website.
- Every time you shop online, go to their website and search the store that you’d like to shop at (like Target), and click on that store FROM the Rakuten website
- Do your shopping as normal.
- Earn a percentage of your purchase back in COLD HARD CASH. Well, it’s actually a BIG FAT CHECK. That’s what they call it. A big fat check. No joke.
Different stores have different percentages back. And sometimes it even depends on the day. Some days there will be promotions where you can earn a bigger percentage than normal from making a purchase on a certain website.
The downside is, you have to START your online shopping experience on Rakuten. I don’t know about you, but I can’t commit to remembering to do that.
How to Earn Money if You Forget to START at Rakuten
Rakuten anticipated this, and they have an option to install an extension on your web browser. I don’t really know what that means, but what I do know, is when I clicked INSTALL, a magical little purple “R” appeared on the top bar of my web browser, and now whenever I go to a website that offers free cash back, a little box pops up in the upper right corner of my screen, and says something like, “Activate 5% cash back.” I click on the button, and then go about my shopping. I make my purchase and don’t think twice about it.
And then every 3 months, I get a BIG FAT CHECK from Rakuten in my mailbox. **Disclaimer: you’re not going to get rich off this gig. It’s just a way to put a few extra bucks in your pocket every 3 months.**
There are no cons to this program. There is no catch. I’ve been doing this for a couple years now, and it’s totally legit.
How to Earn Money Shopping In Stores
They have now started rewarding you for shopping IN STORES as well. It’s as simple as registering your credit card with them, and then selecting the stores you think you might shop at in the future. You link your card, and that’s it. So be sure to register your credit card when you sign up, and get paid to shop online AND in stores. That pretty much covers all of your shopping.
I will say, the store selection for being paid to shop in stores is pretty unimpressive. I only linked my card to a handful of stores. But hey, it certainly doesn’t hurt! I’ll take free money, even if it isn’t very much. Free money is free money.
So let me recap those instructions…
- Register with the magical Rakuten website.
- Install the Cash Back Button (web browser extension thingy – available for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge)
- Register your credit card and link your card to any stores you think you may visit in person.
- Every time you see a box pop up with a button that says “Activate _% cash back,” click on it.
- Do your shopping as normal.
- Earn a percentage of your purchase back.
- Check your mail every 3 months and deposit the free money that you earned by doing absolutely nothing.
Plus a BONUS!
So there you go. Not much else to say, really. Just go sign up now. And then don’t change a thing (other than clicking the button when it pops up to remind you that free money is available). Just watch the money roll in. You’re welcome.