Did You Know You Can Earn Cash Back For Shopping Online?

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You can!! In fact, you can earn cash back on just about anything you buy online. Participating merchants include Walmart.com, K Mart, Ebay, Southwest Airlines, Beauty.com, Restaurant.com, and a whole lot more. It's amazing how much you can earn by shopping at your favorite online stores or how much you can go out to eat at one of your favorite restaurants for next to nothing. One of my favorites is Restaurant.com. I have used their certificates, they are legitimate. My husband and I go out to eat at family restaurants, casual and fine dining restaurants, and never pay full price! In fact, including tip and tax we end up saving on the average of about 46% It's unbelievable. I'll tell you the secret of how you can do the same. Restaurant.com provides certificates for thousands of restaurants. It's a way for restaurant owners to promote their restaurants. Basically, you search the site http://www.restaurant.com for a restaurant you want to eat at, whether its in your neighborhood or an hour or so away. The website is very user friendly. Each restaurant will tell you what certificate amounts they offer. Some offer $10.00, $25.00, $50.00 and $75.00 certificates. Others may only offer $25.00 and $50.00 certificates. The average "Regular" cost for a $10.00 certificate is $3.00, a $25.00 certificate is $10.00, a $50.00 certificate is $20.00, and a $75.00 certificate is $30.00. I say average because few are a bit more. Now, you will already be saving just by purchasing a certificate. Your lowest savings on a certificate is an average of $7.00, but your highest savings is an average of $45.00! But wait, it doesn't end here! Now, let me guide you through to saving more money. 1. Do a google or yahoo search for "Restaurant Promotional Codes". Codes provided by these sites are used to save more money on your Restaurant.com certificate purchase. These codes you will need to enter during checkout at Restaurant.com. Right now couponheaven is providing a code for you to save an additional 70% by using the code SAVE. Yes, there is an expiration date for this code and it says March 31, 2009. But, when this one expires there will be another to replace it, it may not be for 70% off, but it will be an additional savings. You see where I am getting at? Anyways, when you click on the link in couponheaven.com it will automatically link you to Restaurant.com. You do not want to purchase your certificate through that link. You want to take one more step before purchasing at Restaurant.com to save even MORE money! Just make sure to write down the coupon code so you don't forget it. 2. Now, go to http://evreward.com. In the box under "where are you shopping?", type in Restaurant.com and click on find rewards. This page now gives you a list of cash back websites. You want to look under "Loyalty Program Rewards", Cash Back Rewards. The highest paying reward is marked in a different color and shows the percentage of cash back when going through that website. Today, March 28, 2009, it is Cashbaq. You will click on "Go" for program information. This will automatically link you to Cashbaq. Now Cashbaq is already showing a 70% savings coupon. Click on that coupon link and now you will be taken to the signup/login page for Cashbaq. Hey check that out! Cashbaq is giving a $5.00 signup bonus for new members. Thats an additional $5.00 in your pocket! If you are new reap the $5.00 new signup bonus, if you are already a member, login. Now you are taken to Restaurant.com. Choose the restaurant you want, the certificate amount you want (that is available), go through to the checkout, now it will show the cost of the certificate you chose, but up at the top of that you will notice a box to enter a coupon code. In order for you to receive the 70% discount you have to key in the code. Remember the code is SAVE. Now it will show your 70% discount applied and your new total. So, for a $25.00 certificate your regular cost would be $10.00. Using the code SAVE, your new cost is only $3.00. That's an additional $7.00 savings. Now, just with using Restaurant.com and the promotional discount code, for a $25.00 certificate you are now up to a savings of $22.00. Wow, this is great! But it doesn't end here. Remember, because you signed up for Cashbaq (free of charge to become a member), they are giving you an additional 25% cash back rebate. Granite, the 25% cash back rebate is only calculated on the net amount, meaning if you purchase a $25.00 certificate and use the 70% off coupon code you will not earn cash back on the $10.00, you will only earn 25% cash back on the $3.00. But hey....25% of $3.00 is an additional $.75, every penny adds up. Now your total savings is $22.75. Okay, so on the average the $25.00 certificate requires you to spend at least $35.00, not including alcoholic beverages. And, usually they will add gratuity to your bill before your discount is taken off. So, lets do the math and see how much you and your better half will end up spending for (2) $19.95 meals (each meal on the menu cost $19.95). I am figuring this in PA, using the gratuity rate and sales tax charged in PA. Yes, unfortunately Uncle Sam needs his cut and because the servers don't get paid minimum wage, not even close to minimum wage, we the consumer have to make up for that by leaving them a tip. Oh well, it's nothing we can change. So, 2 meals at $19.95 each equals $39.90. You each had water, so that didn't cost you anything. 18% gratuity (server tip) on $39.90 is $7.18. So far we are at $47.08. Now, 6% sales tax on $39.90 is $2.39. Wow, that's a pretty good chunk of change right there, $9.57 for tax and gratuity. Okay back to your bill... your total bill is $49.47. On a normal night out, without coupons, this is about how much you would pay, considering with a party of 2 they usually do not add 18% gratuity onto your bill, you would just leave a tip on the table, but the average tipper leaves 20%, sometimes more, depending on the service. So, using the $49.47 figure, you have a $25.00 certificate that you only paid $2.25 for. Your cost now to go out to eat at this nice restaurant is only $26.72, a savings of $22.75, almost 46%! Remember, I figured this on a higher end using $39.90 for meals, but remember, most restaurants only require you to spend a minimum of $35.00 including drinks, when you use a $25.00 certificate, so your dinner could cost you less. The method discussed about is the same method that can be used when shopping online at your favorite store to save money. Always look for promotional codes, joining cash back rebate sites and such. You can join as many sites as you like, just remember, before making your purchase, do your research and check to see if is offering the best cash back rebate. Happy myLot...ting and good luck with earning your cash back rebates!