Never Pay Retail: Stacking discounts & cash back to maximize savings

[chaseboy2010]

I waited until after Christmas to post this since I know many of us Mustachians waited for the huge discounts and deals that happen after December 25.

Here's a guide I wrote about how to always maximize discounts and cash back when shopping online:

Never Pay Retail Again - Stacking Discounts & Cash Back to Maximize Savings

Most of the links are affiliate links, so using them will give both you and me the $5 or $10 referral bonuses for each service.

Let me know what you think or if you have any extra strategies to use. I didn't dive much into credit cards, because I prefer the simplicity of the 2% cash back on everything card, rather than rotating categories.

[minority_finance_mo]

This is pretty sweet, though I've found those browser extensions to be pretty spammy. Guess it might be worth it if you're getting stuff this discounted

[csprof]

Raise gets terrible reviews - any personal experience to share about it?

I've been using cardpool.com, and haven't had any problems with it.

[JAYSLOL]

A mall not too far away from us ran a big ad in the free local Sunday paper before Christmas with a coupon for a $20 no strings attached gift card good anywhere in the mall (except for the small kiosks, currency exchange, lotto centre and post office).  Ok to redeem 1 per person per day, so wife and kid and i picked up a bunch of left over papers and my parents and carpooled to the mall 4 days in a row.  $20 worth of gas for each couple later we had a combined $400 in free gift cards that, most importantly, we didn't spend each day at the mall.  On boxing day my parents got a $220 food processor thing they wanted that was marked down to $99 along with some other stuff they needed for free.  We still have over $200 worth of cards that are good for 16 months, but since we don't need anything right now, we will hang on to them and wait for the right items on sale. 

[chaseboy2010]

csprof: I'm surprised Raise gets bad reviews. What do the reviews say? I've used them for over 2 years now. I like to get people gift cards as stocking stuffers. I've also used Cardpool and like them too, but found Raise usually has more of the cards I'm looking for in electronic format.

[chaseboy2010]

This is pretty sweet, though I've found those browser extensions to be pretty spammy. Guess it might be worth it if you're getting stuff this discounted

I find them a bit spammy too, but Honey integrates in Amazon without a pop up, and the Ebates pop up always reminds me to use it or TopCashBack when I forget.

[okobrien]

Raise gets terrible reviews - any personal experience to share about it?

I've been using cardpool.com, and haven't had any problems with it.

I have used Raise about 6-8 times and the only time my gift card didn't work they gave me a full refund without any problems.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[csprof]

Raise gets terrible reviews - any personal experience to share about it?

I've been using cardpool.com, and haven't had any problems with it.

I have used Raise about 6-8 times and the only time my gift card didn't work they gave me a full refund without any problems.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Cool - thank you both.

The reviews I had read were along these lines:  http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Raise

and the BBB notes 288 complaints filed against Raise:  https://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/gift-certificates-cards/raise-marketplace-inc-in-chicago-il-88432988

It scared me off, but perhaps those are stale.  Thanks!