Chat Starts @ 6pm CT; Enter First Giveaway Now!

Thanks for coming to our annual chat!  We'll get started at 6pm CT but if you're here early, you can go ahead and get entered into our first giveaway: one of ten $15 prizes from TopCashBack.com!  Here's how to enter:

1.   Join TopCashBack.
2. Email comparerewardsgiveaway@topcashback.com with the following:
      (1) Your top ten favorite stores to earn cashback with
      (2) A quirky fact about the state you live in -- this is important!
      (3) The email address you used on TopCashBack.

The ten that are either most informative, or that most put a smile on the face of TopCashBack's Natasha, will be chosen to win $15 (credited to your TopCashBack account, which you can choose to immediately cash out with no purchase necessary)!  PLUS, the winners will receive a $10 bonus once they've made any purchase through TCB!

Now about that quirky fact...Natasha's from the UK, and she likes to travel and is always looking for ideas of where to go next.  Tell her something unique, fun, or particularly informative about your state -- and it has to be true -- and maybe you'll be one of the winners!

You have through 11pm CT on Sunday the 13th to enter.  Winners will be contacted by email.

Good luck, and stay tuned for the live chat, underway at 6pm CT!


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2011 Annual Chat Here, 11/12/11

Ten years ago last month, CompareRewards.com celebrated 10 years online.  With the help of my dear friend and partner in Total Internet Domination, Ginger of AttentionDealShoppers.com, we've been hosting a chat every year since 2005, with smaller chats featuring rewards program representatives going back as early as 2004.

I've been tremendously lucky to have the support of the points and cashback rewards community, both fellow users and administrators alike.  It will be hard to top last year's chat, but we're going to give it a shot this Saturday, November 12th, from 6pm to 11pm Central Time.

Attending, and providing prizes to be given away during the chat, will be:

Hal, Blogging Network Manager from Swagbucks
Annmarie Thorne, Online Product Manager from Memolink
Allison Jones, Social Media Manager from Ebates
Dmitry Beker, Founder/CEO of QuickRewards.net
Natasha Smith, Head of Communications and PR from TopCashback
Schuyler, Customer Service Director from Extrabux
Craig Cassata, Founder/CEO of MrRebates
Heather Mosty, Online Marketing Manager from ShopAtHome


And I will be giving away prizes in honor of my "birthday" during the chat as well!

• Wondering which rewards program(s) to shop through this year?
• Want to know where and how to earn free gift cards for your holiday shopping?
• Have general questions about how these programs work?
• Have specific questions about a particular program?

Then this chat is for you!  Please make plans to attend.  The chatroom, at the top of this page, can be expanded to full screen by clicking the open square icon.  You can log in as a guest or use your Facebook account.  Hope to see you Saturday!

(Want a reminder of what's in store?  Here's a recap of last year's chat!)



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Secrets of a Diehard Deal-Hunter

Whether you know what you want to buy this holiday season, or you're not sure but are hoping to happen across a deal that would make a great gift, the internet is a huge and sometimes overwhelming place and you may not know where to start. Here are some tips for where to go to find the best deals, at the holidays or at any time of year!

1. Be sure you're signed up to receive emails from your favorite cashback rewards programs. Cashback programs have a box you can click somewhere to opt out of their mailings, but during the holidays, these emails can be a tremendously helpful source of information on sales, coupon codes combineable with cashback, and limited time cashback increases. Be sure you have opted in to receive these promotional mailings during the holidays so you don't miss out! On most rewards programs, you'll find this option under My Account.

2. Several rewards programs have an option now to receive special deals from stores that you select yourself.

- Ebates: Under My Ebates, Subscriptions, click the box to opt in to Shopping Offers (beta). They'll send special deals from your favorite stores, which you can select under the Favorite Stores link (also in My Ebates).

- Upromise: Under My Account, Update Profile, page down to Communication Preferences. Click the top box, “Email me the Upromise weekly Online Shopping coupons and deals.” Then, click on My Deal Alerts (also under My Account) and you can choose your favorite stores and/or favorite categories of stores, and how frequent you'd like to receive alerts. (I choose Daily so I don't miss out on a short-term deal!)

- MrRebates: Under My Account, Newsletter, be sure you've clicked the Subscribe option. Then, at the top of the page click the Coupons tab. Select Coupon Alerts by Email and add your favorite stores!

3. Sign up for newsletters directly at the websites of your favorite merchants. Sometimes stores will offer you an exclusive discount as one of their e-newsletter subscribers. They may be a better value than any other coupon code out there, but beware: they may invalidate cash back if you try to use them at a cashback site. If cashback > coupon code discount, go with the cashback without the code. Otherwise, you can try to combine them but don't be surprised if the cashback doesn't credit.

4. Become a fan on Facebook, or a follower on Twitter, of your favorite merchants. They also sometimes provide exclusive codes, freebies, or printable coupons to their social media fans.

5. Use product price comparison websites to help you find which store has the lowest price. The drawback to these sites is that they generally don't factor in coupon codes or cashback, but at least it gives you a place to start if you know what it is that you want. Many of them have guides to help you choose a new TV, Blu-Ray player, etc., if you're not sure what to look for.

Once you use the tool to find the lowest price, DON'T CLICK THROUGH THEIR LINK TO THE STORE! Doing so might place a cookie on your machine that would override your cashback reward. Just use the comparison site to find the lowest price...then clear your cookies and go to your cashback site to click through to the merchant's website. Examples of some of these comparison sites:

- MagazinePriceSearch.com: Exactly what the name suggests. Many of the magazine stores listed do participate in cashback programs. Use the coupon codes listed on the rewards program instead of any you find on this site, otherwise you may not get cashback credit.

- AllBookStores.com: Pretty self-explanatory again. You'll want to click the Total Cost column to sort by lowest price. Also, note that they include used book prices.

- PriceWatch.com: Computers and computer components is their primary niche, though they've expanded to include other consumer electronics. Their results will include some smaller companies that don't participate in cashback rewards programs. If you've never heard of the seller, be sure you check ResellerRatings.com to find out if they're a reputable company.

- Google Products, Pricegrabber, Shopzilla: These are general purpose price comparison tools that contain a huge variety of products. They may index different merchants, though, so it's worthwhile to check pricing at each one.

6. Try out Extrabux.com, the only site with a price comparison tool that not only factors in tax and shipping, but also figures in any applicable savings from available coupons and cashback. If you don't have a lot of time but you know exactly what product you want to buy, Extrabux does it all, something really unique that not even Microsoft was able to do with their recently-closed cashback site.

7. Sign up for deal-a-day sites and sample sale sites. They'll send you an email every day, or every few days (as new sales go live). You'll want to check out:

- Groupon, LivingSocial, PlumDistrict, and BargainBee. These are a one-local-deal-per-day sites. Get discounted local gift certificates to give as gifts or use to buy gifts yourself, usually at half price.

- DailySteals and Dillyeo. These are one-product-per-day sites with cheap daily deals on closeouts and discontinued items.  Unsold products stay on the site until sold out.  Similar is Woot, which only offers one deal a day until it sells out...except during their Woot-Off marathon sales events.  Read the fine print, though:  some Woot products are refurbs.

- BeyondTheRack, Zulily, Ideeli, Totsi, and RueLaLa. These are more designer brand products, at deeply discounted prices.  Zulily and Totsi focus more on kids, maternity, and new baby items.These sample sales sites usually run designer boutiques for a few days at a time.

8. Monitor the deal forums. There are some hard-core deal scouts out there on sites like FatWallet.com and SlickDeals.net. They post about ridiculously cheap finds so others can take advantage, but don't wait: these sites have millions of active members who jump on the bandwagon fast; deals often sell out fast once they hit these forums. You should also keep an eye out for early scans of Black Friday ads available on sites like BlackFriday.GottaDeal.com and BFads. Sometimes Black Friday prices will go live online ahead of schedule and you can swoop in to get them before they sell out.

These are my tried-and-true methods of finding deals online...if you have others, please share them in a comment!  Note: Links in this post are affiliate links where available.

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Make Sure You Receive Cashback For Shopping - Don't Make These Newbie Mistakes

Hopefully during the course of this chat you'll learn about how much you can benefit from shopping through cashback programs. Any time you go directly to your favorite retailer by typing their URL into your browser, you're THROWING AWAY up to 30% of your money, which you could have received in the form of cash back!

But when you do decide to start using cashback programs, there are some newbie mistakes that can interfere with your receiving cash back on your purchases. Here are some things to avoid:


1. DO NOT use a coupon code you obtained elsewhere, whether it came from a big coupon code site, a competing rewards program, a random Google search, a catalog, or an email directly from the merchant. Using an outside coupon code can send the commission for your sale to the originator of the code. If the cashback site doesn't get commission for your sale, they have nothing to pay your cashback out of.

Most rewards programs have pretty substantial databases of valid coupon codes that CAN be combined with cashback. If you find a code elsewhere that your favorite rewards program doesn't have, send them an email and ask if you can use it first...or ask if they have access to a similar code.

If you don't have time to wait on an email reply, compare the cashback rate and the coupon code's value. If cashback is higher than the coupon savings, don't try to use the coupon. If the coupon would give you a better savings, you CAN use it at the cashback site for the immediate coupon savings, but don't be surprised if the cashback doesn't show up.

2. DO NOT click through any link to the store other than the one at your favorite rewards program. Any time you click through a banner ad to a store, a link from an email that the store sends you as a frequent shopper, or a results link from a price comparison search (like through PriceGrabber or MySimon), it will fire off a cookie that resides on your computer to claim your sale as THEIR commission. Although credit for your purchase should go to the last link to the store that you clicked through (ideally the rewards program's), sometimes it doesn't work that way.

If you searched around for low prices, maybe clicked through a deal site's link to your desired store on accident, and now you're ready to buy and want to get cashback, the best thing to do is STOP WHERE YOU ARE, clear your cookies, then go to the cashback site and click through their link to the store. That makes them (in your computer's eyes) the ONLY one who can claim your commission.

Don't know how to clear your cookies?  This video is on clearing your Firefox cookies, and this one is for clearing your Internet Explorer cookies.

3. DO NOT install a toolbar unless that rewards program is the only one you intend to use.  I would ordinarily say, “do not install a toolbar at all,” because I have concerns about the data collected on your browsing and shopping habits...but there are people who will simply forget to shop through a cashback program without a toolbar reminder that will pop up and prompt you to shop through the rewards program's link.

If you don't mind having your every click reported back to the rewards program, and you feel that the cashback you might otherwise miss out on is worth giving up your privacy, by all means, install the toolbar offered by your favorite cashback program.  However, you should know that there is a possibility that this will interfere with your ability to receive a higher cashback rate through a competing cashback site.

4. BE AWARE that the portion of an order paid for with a gift card is not usually eligible for cash back. For example, if your order is $60, and you pay for $50 of it with a gift card, only $10 of the order will be eligible for cashback.

The reason for this is that many retailers now offer cashback when you buy a gift card. To allow someone to earn cashback for buying a gift card, and then cashback when they use it to pay, would be double-dipping, and the merchant would be paying commission twice on one sale.

5. TURN OFF ad blockers and pop-up blockers before you visit the cashback site. If the rewards program can't mark you as their customer with a cookie, they won't get commission for sending you to the store to make a purchase. If they don't get the commission, they can't share it with you in the form of cash back.

6. DO NOT expect cashback on orders that are returned, canceled, or modified in some way after the purchase. Most rewards programs have a “pending period,” where your cashback will appear as being earned but won't be available to cash out. The purpose of this is to prohibit unscrupulous people from making a large purchase, being paid cash back for it, and then returning it to the store. If you return an item or cancel an order, the merchant reverses the commission. This cancels your cash back.


These are the major reasons why shoppers are surprised to find that they didn't receive cashback on their purchases. Most members who avoid these six pitfalls will find their cashback credits magically as promised every time!

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It's THAT Time of Year - The Redemption Rush is On!

We work all year long to earn and save for our Christmas shopping. This is your BIG reminder that it is time to finalize all of your earnings and start redeeming for your cash, prizes, and gift certificates. Don't think you are the only person who is wanting to cash out. You aren't. There are thousands and thousands of people all wanting to do the same exact thing.

What we don't know is if any of the sites we use are totally automated when it comes to the redemption process. I am sure that there are some that probably are but there are likely MANY if not most that are doing at least half or more redemptions totally manually. And, there is the fraud factor. I am betting that fraud forces these sites to scrutinze as many redemptions as possible.

Get crackin'! Time is wasting!

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Keeping Your Machine Cleaned and Scanned Can Increase Your Earnings!

Attention ALL Shoppers!

I want you to learn a little something about online shopping. I find that most people do not know what I am about to teach you. They may know how to do it but not so much about when to do it. What am I talking about? Cleaning your machine of cache, cookies and history is what I'd like to teach you.

First things first.....

1. Why should you clean your machine prior to shopping?

• The answer is it is all about the credit. From the blogging or site side I would like to receive credit on my account that you shopped through my link. Since a "cookie" has a life (Info HERE) and is good for varying lengths of time, it becomes really important to the person who owns the link you are using for you to clean your machine.
• Example: You aren't cleaning your machine often if at all (SHAME SHAME). So let's say that 6 weeks ago you were doing some research on a special gift. You visited lots and lots of sites tracking down a good deal. Well every site you visited had a cookie put onto your machine in the temporary Internet file. That day you visited Amazon and probably didn't remember that you had. You returned to Amazon today.
• Since you didn't clean your machine but wanted to shop using my Amazon link today --- well guess who gets the credit for TODAY'S shopping spree? It isn't me or it isn't any site you shop on today while shopping at Amazon. It is the previous cookie. Yep, credit defaults to the oldest cookie. Wicked huh? 
• So, here is what you learned. (1) Your machine is probably bogged down with months if not years of old cookies, cache and history. You'll learn what to do in a minute to clear it off. (2) You learned that if you want to get credit on some rewards account or any account that give you any kind of credit, you may not be getting the credit or giving the credit you thought was happening automatically. (3) You learned you have to do a little bit of work.

On to the work....

• Here is where it gets a little dicey. There are many, many different computers and many different browsers that people use. It follows that there are loads of combinations of computers and browser matchups. I AM NOT A COMPUTER PROFESSIONAL. I can give you instruction, tell you in theory what should happen and how it should improve your computer speed but the bottom line is YOU must be responsible for doing a bit of computer maintenance.

Sources for information and instructions....
Internet Tips & Traps: Clear Your Cache and Cookies to Free up Valuable Space and Protect your Privacy
I found this resource on godaddy.com and they are written pretty well.

• Also use Google, YouTube for a video version, the help button on your browser or a Dummies book. I have to leave you to your own devices here. There is just no way I can take on the responsibility to teach you to do this. Read, read, and re-read.

Expected results....

• First of all, your machine may run faster.
• To really make your machine hum, Google "how to defrag computer" and find some instructions that you feel comfortable with using. What does defragging your computer do? Here is my fave analogy...Lay a CD on the table. It represents your hard drive. Pour salt on it. The salt represents the bits of information stored on your hard drive. See all the grains everywhere? No rhyme, reason or pattern? Well, a defrag simply lines all the like information (grains of salt) up on your computer hard drive and compacts it so that your software isn't having it race all over the disk trying to gather it up so it can run a program or do a task. Once you run a defrag, you need to reboot your machine. You should see a significant improvement in speed if you have never done this.

All in all, what you learned today is keep your machine clean so it will run faster and how to do that.
You also learned that for you to get or give credit while shopping or doing a task for credit, you MUST clean your machine before you shop or before you do a task.

Now that you know the ins and outs of doing this manually I will share with you my favorite free program that will do the same with a few clicks. It is CCLEANER.  I love this program and have always trusted it to find and delete all the unnecessary garbage from your hard drive. I have never saved a backup of the junk it deletes but you do what YOU feel is best. One last note about CC -- UNcheck the following boxes so you don't lose login information.

• First, click on the Broom/Cleaner Icon.
• Click on the Windows Tab up in the top left corner. A list of items will show up. Under the section titled INTERNET EXPLORER UNcheck - Autocomplete Form History!
• In the section titled System, UNcheck - Start Menu Shortcuts and Desktop Shortcuts
• In the section titled Advanced, UNcheck - Tray Notifications Cache
•  NEXT click on the Applications tab in the top left corner. A list of items will show up. Under the section titled Firefox/Mozilla UNcheck - Saved Form Information

I have done all of the above so many times I can do it in my sleep. I have used CCleaner for about 4 years and (knock on wood) have not had any problems with it on my computers or hubby on his. There will be periodic program updates for CCleaner as with virus programs.

In addition to CCleaner, I personally run SpySweeper w/ virus protection. I also run Norton 360. I run scans from each daily (Spread them out at 3, 4, & 5 AM). I do a defrag about 3x a week as well. Just to be clear, daily people...DAILY, there are 100's if not 1000's of viruses, trojans, spybots slung out on the Internet. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE keep your machines cleaned, software updated and scans done DAILY!


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What Is a Cookie? ALL Reward Shoppers Need To Know

No it is NOT an Oreo. It is not Toll House. It is not anything quite that yummy to many. To me, cookies are delicious. I love cookies and embrace them but they do have to be deleted to get what you want when you are talking rewards, rebates or crediting your account. If you are working to earn points or cash, you need to clear before working on your task. If you are shopping on this site and want me to get credit for your purchse, you'll need to clean your machine for that too.

Most of all, I want you to understand cookies. I could write in circles all day long but rather than reinvent the wheel, I'd rather just link to someone who is a better writer than I am. Please visit HERE to learn all about cookies.

1. Don't fear cookies. They were designed to do a job but if you have too many of them on your computer, it is completely safe to delete them and just get new ones. They arrive automatically so don't despair. You don't have to do anything special to get new ones.

2. If it wasn't safe to delete cookies, there would not be so many easy ways to do it.

3. Everyone wants to track you using cookies. I track you. Why? It helps me to know how large my audience is. It tells me what pages are popular. It tells me what you are searching for and if you found it. Some of us have the best intentions for having cookies and do nothing devious. Others will try to and sometimes succeed in being devious. That is why we have a need for SpySweeper or CrapCleaner.

Now you know all about cookies. :)

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