This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.
If you’ve made it to this post, you’ve probably done a little research on Ebates, but haven’t quite jumped in yet because it sounds too good to be true. So, what’s the catch? How in the world does Ebates make money if their business model involves paying you cash back to shop with no apparent strings attached?
What is Ebates?
If you already know what Ebates is, please skip to the next section. If not, Ebates.com is a free cash back shopping site that allows you earn cash rebates up to 40% on purchases from 2500+ stores like Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Macy’s, etc.
Ebates is headquartered in San Francisco, CA and has been offering cash rebate offers to online shoppers since 1998. They have more than 10 million online members and have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
How Ebates Makes Money
Alright, back to the question at hand. How in the world can Ebates provide you free opportunities to earn cash back and still make money themselves? What’s the catch?
Ebates is an affiliate marketing business which means they refer shoppers for the stores in their network and in return receive a percentage of the sales made by those referrals.
Ebates business model revolves around attracting shoppers by returning a portion of the affiliate income to their members.
In other words, the way the Ebates makes money is you sign up for Ebates.com, you shop through the links on their site, a percentage of the sale goes to Ebates in the form of affiliate income, you receive a portion of the affiliate income in the form of a cash back rebate.
Because Ebates is so large and has so many members, the economies of scale work in their favor when it comes to negotiating affiliate partnerships and how much cash back they can offer you.
Conclusion
If you’ve been on the fence about Ebates because you thought it is too good to be true, you should feel more comfortable joining now. Ebates is not a scam and really works because when you think about it, their business model is a win for everyone.
It’s a win for the store because they generate more sales, a win for Ebates because they earn money through affiliate income (and generate more shoppers by offering a portion of their income to shoppers), and shoppers are able to take advantage of Ebates economy of scale and affiliate relationships with stores in order to earn cash back on purchases.
For a more in depth review of Ebates, please click here.
If you are interested in joining Ebates and earning cash back now, please click here.
Do you have any other concerns or questions about Ebates? What has been your experience with Ebates if you’re already signed up?