Pay yourself

We are now in the new year and passed the most recent holiday season which is most popular with the retailers because it is a time when they can make a large percentage of their yearly sales. The holiday shopping season is usually sparked with Black Friday and ends on New Years day. During this time you can see the price of items fluctuate drastically. If you happen to be unlucky with timing and purchased an item at its greater price, there is no need to worry because there is a solution for that. As a shopper one can make sure to save money while shopping and also get money back when you overpay on certain items. Here I'll share with you some of the tips and tricks I use to save money while shopping especially during the holiday season.

One of the best tools to help save money is the price adjustment refund. There is a service by Capital One which is called Paribus with which I am not sponsored or an affiliate but the service is especially helpful to my savings including over the holiday season. I signed up for the service knowing I was granting permission for them to scan my inbox for shopping confirmation emails. The service keeps track of the price I paid for the item. During the allowed return window, Paribus monitors the price of the item at the same retailer. If the price drops within the allotted timeframe then Paribus sends an email. The email subject reads "Action Required: Paribus detected a price drop!" Once opened, the details of the purchase and the new price is included. The email even goes as far to include the phone number to call and a script to request the refund. The first time I did this it took about three minutes and I got back 12% of my original purchase price. It was definitely worth the little bit of time to get back a bit of my money. Paribus scans the prices of purchases made at certain retailers so if you do not shop at any of them or rarely do so it may not be worth the time to sign up. Over the holiday season I got back hundreds of dollars, and that is not an exaggeration. I purchased a couple of big ticket items and was able to get my money back from items that were not even on Paribus. I was so comfortable with the process that the sale emails I received from all of the retailers prompted me to view my recently purchased items. I found a couple of my own discounts and called and requested my own refund. The general rules are that it has to be the same item, at the same retailer, and you have to be within the allowed return widow of time, usually 30 days. I have not yet contacted a retailer which refused the price adjustment refund. If you happen to run in to one, there are usually perks with your credit card which will give you the refund instead. The price adjustment is just one way I save money and did so over the holiday season.

There is also a rebate service from Ibotta, Checkout 51, Rakuten, and others. I do not use Checkout 51 any longer because it was not working for me. There are rebates on Ebates/Rakuten as well but I do not earn rebates quickly enough. My checks take a while to accumulate to an amount which prompts them to send me a check so I choose only to use Ebates/Rakuten when there is not a rebate on Ibotta. I have been using Ibotta for a few years now and have cashed out several times. The premise of Ibotta is you shop, select items you will/have purchase(d), and submit your receipt or link your loyalty card for that particular store to receive the rebate credit. When I shop I am in the habit of checking Ibotta to see if there are any applicable rebates for the store where I will shop. I used to select the items first then shop, but I found that influenced my shopping and sometimes I ended up with an item I purchased just because there was a rebate for it. Ibotta can be used even if there is a coupon used for the same item so it's kind of like double dip which I enjoy. After all of the rebates have accumulated to $20 or more then it can be cashed in for cash to Paypal or for a gift card for places like Starbucks, AMC, Whole Foods, and many other retailers. I usually carry my balance for a little longer and cash it in when I want to buy something on which I really don't want to spend my money. The rebates add up for me rather quickly since I mainly stick to one rebate service. Ibotta also has bonuses and challenges which can increase the rebate amounts and help your balance accumulate more quickly.

These are just a couple of the tools I use to reduce my costs when shopping. What are a couple of tricks and tips you have found to be helpful? Feel free to share them and let me know what you think if you decide to try either of these. Happy Shopping!

If you would like to sign up for either service, their links are below:

https://paribus.co/

https://ibotta.com/r/aniaqsa or just download the app (if you want to use a referral code mine is aniaqsa)