Tis the season for buying gifts, and that means more online shopping. Recently I scored big by using this 1-2 savings combo.

eBates

First I visited eBates, where you get cash back on your purchases just by accessing online stores from the eBates site.  I searched eBates for “Back to Basics Toys” and found that it was offering 5% cash back.

eBates also provides a history of the store’s coupon codes.  Some work, some are expired, some are bogus – but this one looked promising.

Clicking on the red ‘shop now’ button launched the Back to Basics homepage, after briefly displaying this message:

Free Shipping

I added two items to my cart and proceeded to checkout.  Shipping costs totaled $13.95.

Remember that discount code?  I entered AFFNOV2 and updated my cart. Free shipping! Fantastic.

Then, two days later, the eBates 5% cash back was credited to my PayPal account.  $3.50 is not a lot, but if you shop online frequently like I do, it all adds up.

Retail Me Not

Next I wanted to buy some gifts at Constructive Playthings.  This retailer was not on eBates.  So, no cash back for shopping with them.  But, a quick visit to RetailMeNot uncovered this discount code for 20% off.

I entered the code at checkout and sure enough, it applied a “DISNEY EMAIL” discount to my order.  Maybe it was a promo code distributed through a Disney email marketing campaign.  Who cares – it saved me $15!

So between eBates cash back and coupon codes, and RetailMeNot‘s coupon codes, I saved $32.45 on two online purchases, and it cost me very little in extra time.  A worthwhile 1-2 combo, just in time for all that holiday gift buying!

Note there are dozens of coupon sites like RetailMeNot – for example CouponCabin.com.  Don’t drive yourself crazy – they often offer the identical information.  Pick one and stick with it.