Get paid to shop online

Get paid to shop with Live Search Cashback

I just found a cool new tool to make some extra cash for shopping online (thanks Phil!). Amazon prime has turned out to be a good investment for me, but I also love having options. Enter Live Search Cashback.

No, this isn’t one of those ridiculous email forwards that say something like, “Bill Gates wants to pay you $450 for every person you forward this to in order to do market research. I didn’t think it would work until I got my check for $45,000 signed by Bill Gates himself.” It’s not quite that ridiculous.

Per the Cashback site, here is how it works:

Step 1 - Search

Search for Cashback deals at Live Search Cashback. Each time you click a Live Search Cashback listing, you’ll find great deals on the product you chose. Your results will clearly list the Cashback savings you’ll receive off the store price, and your final bottom-line price that includes tax and shipping costs. Also look for this icon when you search for a product on Live Search to find great Cashback deals.

Step 2 - Shop

Compare and sort products by the bottom-line price. Click the best deal to go to the store. Everything you buy during that store visit will be eligible for Live Search Cashback. On your first time using Live Search Cashback, we will ask you for an email address so we can tell you how to quickly set up your free Cashback account.

Step 3 - Save

Keep saving money each time you use Live Search Cashback. Every time you make a qualifying purchase, we’ll send you an email to confirm your Live Search Cashback savings. When your Cashback account reaches a balance of at least $5, you can claim your cold, hard cash. Terms and conditions.

Searching on Live Search Cashback

I recently signed up and the process is surprisingly simple. You just go to Cashback search screen and type in whatever product you are interesting in buying (Mac Mini). It then displays all of the items that fit your search terms…

Then you just select which product matches what you were going for. It displays the prices and Cashback % for each seller.

By default it picks the best deal for you and tells you how much cash you will get back on the deal. In this case we would get $30 cash back for buying this Mac…

Apparently, Microsoft is desperately trying to get shoppers to use Live Search rather than Google. Well, as far as an everyday search engine goes, it doesn’t even compare to Google, but for price comparison shopping it looks like a decent competitor to Google. I mean hey, they are paying you to use it - what’s not to love?

I have seen percentages ranging from 2%-12%. The funds are paid:

• after 60 days once you accrue at least $5.00 in Cashback rewards
• via paypal, direct deposit to your bank account, or a snail-mailed paper check

It seems simple enough, I am going to try it out for a while - not much to lose I guess. I haven’t got a check yet, but come to think of it Bill Gates never sent me a check for that email I forwarded to 100 people either.

(Added later: Also, check out Ebates - they offer a similar service that allows you to get paid to shop online at just about any merchant and get a percentage cash back.)

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