The 411 On My Favorite Ways to Spot Online Deals
Whether you’re an occasional couponer, semi-thrifty parent, or you go all out when buying your things in-store and online you’ll love today’s post. I’ve shared my tips for saving money via apps in-store, and for Summer trips, but this new website is the most amazing one-stop-shop for online coupons. Not only can you save money by spotting and clipping coupons, but you can make money, too! Keep reading to get the 411 on my favorite coupon spots for online deals.
This post contains affiliate links — at no cost to you —and was originally published in 2016.
Online deal websites
So what are the names of the cool sites I’ve discovered? Rakuten and Dealspotr. Through these websites, you can create a custom home page where only coupons pertaining to your favorite stores or interests show up. Want to know what everyone else is raving about? Both sites will show you the hottest deals for the day and give you the option of rating an offer as a hot deal. You earn points for spotting awesome deals, which you can use toward gift cards! Want to save a deal for later? Dealspotr lets you do that too, then your favorite offers show up in your My Spots section. If you love to spot coupons and deals then this site is for you, too. Anyone on the site can add their own special deal. There’s even the option of finding other savvy shoppers via the profile follow option. This allows you to see what deals they pick in case you’d like to choose from their selections.
Signing up is easy — Either sign up manually by entering your info, or by clicking the Facebook button so that the info is generated for you. The benefit to signing up via Facebook is that this usually allows you to sign in that way too (one less password to remember).
Dealspotr Vs. Rakuten
Dealspotr
Once you’re set up on Dealspotr simply spot deals, claim offers that appeal to you, comment on deals or post your own and you’ll earn points for interacting with deals and other Dealspotr users on the site! Your dashboard will show you who’s spotted the offers you posted and how many points you need to reach your next gift card goal. I’ve heard that some users actually make money using the site! I’m guessing they do this by posting deals they have as affiliates on a site or by using a referral link that then turns into rewards or cash when Dealspotr users act on the links. I love that you get to see everyone’s great deals. This site is really about a community of savers helping each other out.
Rakuten
Rakuten is a website you can go to and click to shop at any participating retailer from there — or install their browser extension and it will flash to tell you when a website you’re visiting can get cash back. Rakuten tries to find the best coupons to save you money on your purchase but also gives you cash back per purchase when you activate it! The amount of cashback varies depending on the store you’re purchasing from and is typically anywhere from 2%-10%, but a lot of major retailers increase their cash back during big shopping seasons like the holidays. I’ve been a member since 2015 and as of now (October 2023), I have gotten over $500 in cash back! That number could be more for someone who does a lot of online shopping (I don’t). This is a huge benefit when you want something like a hotel room or mattress and there aren’t any sales going on — you get the discount via cashback sent right to your PayPal account.
My favorite part about Rakuten? They reward sharing about them. When I invite someone to join Rakuten and they spend $40 within 90 days of joining (pretty easy to do in one Target order) we both get $40 cash! Sign up for your $40 free cash here.
What are your favorite ways to earn while you save online?
