Ebates employs an interesting business model for budget-conscience consumers looking to save money through online shopping.
Available at Ebates.com, Ebates is an affiliate marketplace that publicly incorporates an open-ended affiliate commission exchange for consumers who shop with their supported retailers by first going through their site and link.
These links serve as tracking links, which are used by affiliates to receive compensation for their efforts in exchange for the referral.
These referrals in this instance would be consumers who shop through Ebates.
To find out more information regarding Ebates we invite you to read our honest review.
About Ebates
Ebates enables consumers to save money with online shopping but as an after fact.
You see, due to Ebates functioning as an open-ended affiliate marketplace that supports a vast sum of common and reputable retailers, consumers who use their platform to save money with online shopping get their “savings” back as commission payments.
These commission payments are rendered after the purchase as cash back earnings, which is where your savings start to build up.
You need a minimum balance of atleast $5.00 in cash back earnings to cash out your earnings.
We’ll discuss more regarding the functionality of Ebates further below but now atleast you have a general idea of how Ebates operates.
Ebates Origin
A couple of Deputy District Attorneys founded Ebates in 1998.
According to research, before these two district attorneys founded Ebates they use to prosecute online fraud and identity theft.
Fast track several years to 2014, where Rakuten (one of Japan’s largest e-commerce firms) acquired Ebates for $1 billion.
Today Ebates is well-known as a Rakuten owned business that still offers the same valuable service they rendered long ago for consumers.
How does Ebates Work?
Ebates works as an affiliate marketplace, so naturally affiliate links are involved to conduct consumer tracking which is how Ebates is able to offer cash back earnings for their consumers.
Since Ebates receives a commission through your purchases conducted through common retailers such as Nike, Old Macy, Kohls, Amazon, and Walmart to name a few, they share some of that commission with you.
So essentially Ebates is incentivizing their online platform for consumers who are looking to save money by shopping online.
Since most consumers browse online to see where they can acquire the best deal for a consumer products or goods, Ebates renders this desire into their business model.
When consumers purchase goods through one of their retailers after first going through their site, they will share the commission with you.
As as mentioned earlier, a minimum cash back earning sum of $5 is required while cash back earnings can be redeemed through PayPal or checks.
Usual cash back values fluctuate between 1.0% to 8.0% while their platform can be utilized through Ebates.com or through their app available for iOS and Android devices.
Reputable Retailers Supported
Clothing & Accessories
- Guess, 4%, cash back
- Macys, 8%, cash back
- Talbots, 2% cash back
- Urban Outfitters, 1% cash back
- Barnes New York, 6% cash back
Travel & Vacations
- Expedia, 8% cash back
- Holiday Inn, 4% cash back
- Booking.com, 2% cash back
- Go City Card, 3.0% cash back
- Marriott.com, 3.25% cash back
Health & Beauty
- Macys, 8.0%
- CVS , 2% cash back
- philosophy, 2.5% cash back
- Lancome.com, 4% cash back
- bareMinerals.com, 8% cash back
Shoes & Handbags
- Macys, 8.0%
- NuMe, 4% cash back
- Shoes.com, 6% cash back
- ShoeMall, 7.5% cash back
- Michael Kors, 6% cash back
Electronics & Office
- Lenovo, 6% cash back
- Best Buy, 1% cash back
- GearBest, 1% cash back
- TracFone, 11% cash back
- Total Wireless, 11% cash back
Home, Auto & Pets
- Macys, 8.0%
- Kohls, 3% cash back
- Walmart, up to 10% cash back
- Kathy Kuo Home, 2% cash back
- eLuxurySupply.com, 5.5% cash back
Baby, Kids & Toys
- Zulily, 5% cash back
- Macys, 8.0% cash back
- Baby Aspen, 6% cash back
- busboy BABY, 2% cash back
- The Honest Company, 4% cash back
Sports & Outdoors
- Skis.com, 4% cash back
- TRX Training, 4% cash back
- Rakuten.com, 4% cash back
- Power Systems, 5% cash back
- Blackcountry.com, 8% cash back
Food & Entertainment
- HelloFresh, $10 cash back
- Blue Apron, $20 cash back
- Drizly Alcohol, 1.5% cash back
- Bake Me A Wish, 6% cash back
- Restaurant , up to 10% cash back
Books & Media
- Coursera, 10% cash back
- Bookbyte, 2.5% cash back
- Book Outlet, 5% cash back
- BooksAMillion, 2% cash back
- |See Me Personalized| Books, 5% cash back
Gifts, Flowers & Occasions
- Flowers Fast, 10% cash back
- Teleflora Flowers, 5% cash back
- Personal Creations, 15% cash back
- The Bouqs Company, 12% cash back
- Flowers by Florists.com, 25% cash back
Community Feedback
Ebates reflects a rather positive vibe amongst consumer reviews.
At the Better Business Bureau, Ebates reflects roughly a 4.4 out of 5 star rating out of 313 customer reviews while they reflect an A+ BBB rating and have been an accredited business since September 22nd, 2016.
Below are some relevant reviews regarding Ebates:
“Always rectifys any problem promptly”
“I have been ordering through Ebates for over 3 years and it has been fantastic. I have earned over 2 thousand dollars and I have NEVER had a situation where I didn’t recieve my cash back. Customer service is stellar. I am not a fan of having to communicate questions via email, but I can honestly say whenever I have emailed a question, I have received an answer in less than an hour. Most times responses are within a few minutes. I am truly a fan of Ebates and will continue to make this my first choice when shopping!”
“Excellent customer service. One of my bigger purchases was lost and ebates customer service did not fail in fixing and resolving the issue quickly!! Amazing.”
According to most online review portals, Ebates is a reputable online platform that enables consumers to accumulate cash back earnings.
Popularity
Ebates could be considered as a thriving online marketplace for consumers to receive respectable sums of cash back earnings.
According to SimilarWeb, Ebates.com reflects a global rank of 933, a US rank of 194 and is currently ranked as the 3rd most popular coupon-oriented platform.
Seasons holidays coming around the corner could be part of the cause for such an increase in traffic flow streaming through ebates.com.
A market intelligence report will go on to detail that Ebates received roughly 31.9 million visitors in October 2018 and one month later they had an increase in their incoming visitor traffic by 86.53% to roughly 59.42 million visitors.
So as you can indicate from the market report shared below, it appears that Ebates is experiencing prosperity and growth.
Can Ebates really save you money?
Ebates cannot save you money in the immediate sense.
However, they can in the after math of conducting online purchases since you receive a portion of their commission payments in the form of cash back earnings.
These cash back earnings can be later redeemed once a minimum cash back earning balance of $5 has been amassed where they can be withdrawn via PayPal or a check.
So in the long-term, yes Ebates can save you money – just not prior to making purchases.
Ebates Review Conclusion
Ebates appears to be a rather reputable and highly relied upon marketplace for consumers looking to save money through online shopping.
As you can gather from the information disclosed above, Ebates supports many of the reputable and widely-shopped retailers so the ideology behind using their platform would be that you might as well save money by using their platform.
That little bit of extra can go a long way, as some consumer reviews are excellent at pointing out.
With these facts in mind we are going to bring this Ebates review to a close but we believe our stance regarding Ebates for the time being is evident.
Outcome: Ebates appears Legitimate!
Site: Ebates.com
We invite you to share any insight or feedback you may have below!