Free Is Fun: December 2015

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Get Up To 70% Off at Kmart & Sears-Use This Example to Save Money Anywhere Online!

There is a way to get up to 70% at Kmart & Sears. Some of the ways to save may not be available to everyone depending on the credit cards you have, the items you need and portal bonuses you may have already used but I hope this will give you an idea of the process I go through to find crazy but awesome deals.

I was browsing nightstands on Sears trying to find something of quality for not a lot of money. There are several that are solid wood starting at about $100. That's not bad for something you should be able to get several years of use out of but I want to pay as little as possible. This can get a little complicated so I am going to give an example of an item which costs $150 and this is what you would do to pay a final price of $45 before any tax.

Sign up with the cashback portal Be Frugal or Ebates You'll earn a $10 sign on bonus with Be Frugal and a $10 gift card or $5 bonus with Ebates. Read about cashback portals here.
From the cashback site, search for Sears, click the "Shop Now" button to earn 6% on your purchase.
On the Sears website you will scroll down about half way to "A Few Reasons To Be Jolly" where you'll see a link to buy a $100 gift card and get a $20 bonus. That is a savings of 16.7% right there. Note: You can earn one $20 bonus per transaction so if you are purchasing more than $100 do it separately. Also, I have read you may only be able to use one $20 bonus at at time so keep that in mind when planning your shopping.
Purchase the gift card with the best rewards credit card you have available to you. The best card to use would be a recent Discover It card that is doubling all cash back earned for one year. You would need to make sure that card is enroll in the quarterly bonus category which is 5% cashback on department stores, this doubles to 10%. If using any Discover you must purchase an e-gift card or reload to get this cashback. Physical gift cards are processed through Kmart and don't trigger the bonus.
Once you've purchased the gift card, you want to return to Be Frugal or Ebates. If you do the one you didn't do before you could earn another sign on bonus.
From the cashback site go to Sears or Kmart. Your gift card can be used at Kmart too just don't purchase it through Kmart.
Sign into your Shop Your Way account and load coupons. I'm sure most of you have heard about Shop Your Way Rewards and have an account that, like Sears/Kmart/Land's End gift cards, also works at each of those stores but in case you don't you can read this post I wrote 5 years ago when it was new to me!
I initially started out on Sears applying coupon codes to my cart and I applied all the coupons I thought may work because sometimes they stack. For example, a free shipping coupon, a % off coupon or a $$ off coupon and a points back coupon may all work on the same order. You must load the coupon then click details, copy the promo code and paste it in the Coupon Code field of the cart. Then click "View Applied Coupons" to see if it was applied. As I did this a "20% one home item coupon" did not work. I went back to the coupon details and realized it was for Kmart. I went to Kmart and found the same item selling for the same price. When I applied all the coupons and other discounts I'm expecting, Kmart is the better deal. If you switch stores, be sure to go back through the portal for the different store. You will also earn 2% back in points on your purchase, This will be reduced by any points you have that you apply to your order.
After you have followed all the steps above, pay with the gift card you purchased.

Here is the breakdown of savings if you were able to take advantage of all the discounts I outlined:

Buy $120 Sears e-gift card or reload for $100 ($20 free, a 16.7% discount) with your Discover It card ($10 cashback).
Receive 6% cash back and a $10 bonus from Be Frugal. ($16 cashback)
Item purchased is $150 in this example. Apply a 20% off coupon ($30 off) and a $10 back in points coupon. Earn an additional 2% in points ($12.40 in points) Shipping is free.
The order total is $120 if you don't use any existing points. Use the $120 gift card codes.
Receive 6% from Ebates and a $10 bonus gift card. ($17.20 back)

If I did all my math correctly, I've paid $45 after all the discounts and cashback for a savings of 70%!

This is an extreme example of savings that involves a lot of organization within my brain and/or on paper to get all the discounts but if you follow the steps I outlined it is definitely a possibility to save a huge amount of money! Additionally, you can use the information you learned here and apply it to other stores. Discounted gift cards can be purchased on-line or in grocery stores and drug stores too.

Things to Know About Cashback Portals

Cashback portals are a great way to save money shopping on the internet and sometimes useful in making some money. There are a few things you should be aware of though. It's long so if nothing else, just read what I have bolded!

Portal payout are not guaranteed. It is recommended that you do not count on the portal when making purchasing decisions but to consider it a bonus after the fact. I don't follow this rule however. I calculate into my final cost every time because I have had great success with the portals. As long as you follow the Terms & Conditions, you will too. Always read the Terms & Conditions for the store you are shopping at to make sure you get your cash back. The Terms & Conditions are usually one paragraph long and in large type so it's real easy!

Click the link in the portal for every new transaction. Used to be that once you clicked on a store link in the portal, as long as that cookie was on your computer you would get cash back. It was a nice surprise when you forgot to go use the portal. Now you must click a new link for every transaction, even at the same store and some of those expire within hours. So if it's been a while go back to the link in the portal.

That being said. I have always liked the idea that you can fill your cart then go find the best portal payout,click the link and checkout. Never seemed like the way it should work because at that point the portal hasn't really referred you but it did work. Now, there is at least one store, Staples, where your cart must be empty when you start. It's a real pain because I like to shop there a lot and add/remove items and coupons from my cart to come up with the best deal. I end up printing my order, emptying my cart then refilling it after I click through from the portal. I don't know of any other stores that do this but it's one more reason to read the Terms & Conditions for each store on each portal.

The purchase or use of gift cards through a portal may not trigger cashback. I sound like a broken record but read the short, large type paragraph of Terms & Conditions. For example Southwest exclude purchasing of gift cards, while Shop At Home pays when you buy them but not when you use them, and Be Frugal appears to have no exclusions on the purchase or use of gift cards.

Many portals are warning that if you use a coupon code not found on their site they can not guarantee that you will receive cashback. I think this applies if you were to take a coupon code found on one portal and apply it when using another portal, not when using store coupons you receive in the mail or your store account but I can not guarantee that. Those coupons usually outweigh anything you would earn from the portal so use your coupons knowing that you will probably get paid but may not.

Make sure you are logged in. Most portals will ask you to log in before sending you to the store website but just recently I shopped through the Southwest portal, clicked through and was taken to the website, placed an order and nothing was tracked because I wasn't logged in. Very shady Southwest, but I'll let it fly, you've been so good to me.

Getting back to portals not being guaranteed, you may be wondering if these sites are legitimate or if they are going to take the money and run. There are many many portals out there, (see cashbackmonitor.com) Way back when, I had about $8 coming from a place called Cashbaq who up and quit one day and said "sorry, no money for you". Then a few weeks later a knight in shining armor showed up in my inbox and said, if you join me I will pay you what Cashbaq owes you when you make your first purchase. I can not remember what portal that was but it was very nice of them to offer this bonus and it is one of these listed below.

Ebates-I'd say this is the most legitimate of them all with there TV advertising I've seen for years and having been paid over $1000. Their referral bonuses are awesome so sign up with my link then refer all your friends!

Shop At Home-I had not used them regularly for a while but lately they have been offering bigger payout for what I am purchasing. Lifetime Cash Back $433.07. No referral link available just yet.

TopCashBack-Over $400 paid.

Be Frugal-Paid $174.67.

Mr. Rebates-One of the first portals, cashback offered has not been as good as the other portals in the last few years but every now and again they are the best. Lifetime paid $166.67.

SimplyBestCoupons-At 25-30% back, they are always the best for my Straighttalk phone purchases.

If you take a look at Cashbackmonitor.com you will see there are many portals. I would not sign up for a new one unless the cashback is much higher than the others I am already with and it looks like I will reach the payout threshold easily. Payout thresholds usually range from $5 to $25 depending on the portal and those amount do not include the bonus, it must be from spend. For example, if the payout threshold is $25 and your sign on bonus was $10, you must earn $25 from shopping, then you will be paid $35.

If you have any questions about cashback portals let me know. Please use my referral links then use yours to make money referring your friends!