Discover Shopping Cash Back Rewards in a Cash Strapped Economy

The beauty of being an immigrant in the US is, one sees everything with new eyes; it’s literally like being a new born baby…in a strange land where anything and everything can be purchased at the touch of a mouse…the digital kind of course!I guess one needs to be thankful for the reasonable cost of internet access in the US where shopping cash back reward and mystery shopping programs; where one gets paid to shop online have taken over as worthwhile professions for stay at home moms and other interested persons.When I lived in the UK, I delved in mystery shopping for Harrods, a very big department store in there.Back then, mystery shopping was just starting out and the rewards were much better than they are today, naturally because there was less demand and competition from interested mystery shoppers.I digress.The availability of information both off and online means that companies now take their gloves off and square off for customer loyalty, it’s not uncommon to hear ads slating the competitions’ products!This is because customer loyalty has fallen to all new lows; consumers do not have the time to visit Joe Soap’s corner convenient store for their daily bread no more, nor are they apt to visit the same store over and over again.Enter the age of the Internet with shopping cash back rewards!

Where online shopping cash back rewards are concerned, I have come to appreciate how companies here in the US are ready and willing to part with their cash for customer loyalty.

Shopping cash back rewards are a form of discount applied to your account against the purchase of a consumer product.Say for instance you opened an account at; Best Buy, Office Depot or a Target Store. These stores in turn offer you a mail in rebate as an incentive to move items in bulk from their floors.That amount, which is essentially a discount, is applied to your account upon mailing in the coupon within a mail in period. If you fail to mail in your rebate form within the specified time frame, you lose the discount, meaning you purchased the item at the full advertised price.Other stores now offer free shipping for your online purchases over a specific amount or quantity.So imagine my excitement when I was first introduced to the concept of shopping cash back rewards through coupons and instant savings and realized that everyone was using this form of instant savings despite their social standing?Back in the third World, coupons are considered the bastion of the poor.Elsewhere, people literally shun coupons lest they be branded ultra cheap, yet here in the first World, coupons are a way of life; people thrive on them, companies push large quantities of products they wouldn’t otherwise be able to sell in the normal course of business using this method and in the process, rack in millions!Once I got the hang of using coupons, I researched further to find other shopping cash back rewards companies were using, and I must admit, there’s a whole new shopping experience out there to add value to your shopping experience.My personal favorite way to shop online is where I earn cash when others shop!

As crazy as this may sound, there are a lot of companies out there where you can get paid to shop online and also by referring others to shop from these companies.Back home, you pay a premium to shop online!A friend of mine recently purchased a vehicle through eBay motors and had it sent to him by freight train.He has since embraced the convenience of online auctions by setting up his own eBay store! His daily livelihood now extends to advertising his eBay store online and teaching others how to find great deals on eBay.As easy as it may sound to buy on eBay and sell products through online auctions, there are “tricks of the trade” only a few insiders are willing to part with.With the high price of gas, it is prudent to maximize one’s purchasing power, and this is easy to do actually with a little research and determination. For instance, there are sites on the Internet that operate under something similar to what credit card companies refer to as restricted authorization networks.This is where a number of companies promote their products through a single and third party online portal.This could be a membership site where you stand to be earn cash back for your online purchases or for referring friends and family to purchase from this network of companies through this membership rewards site.Speaking of gift cards, these have become compelling products for both the giver and the receiver, challenging companies in coming up with new ways to engage the gift buyer as well as the recipient.

Recently, Wal-Mart’s stock was influenced by the number of unredeemed gift cards purchased from this retailer over a period of 6 months! That’s just the power of gift cards and consumers’ inability to spend time looking around for a present for friends or loved ones etc.There is no sign that shopping cash back rewards or incentives will disappear any time soon.I now purchase almost all of my electronic items and books etc. online, all the while getting a portion of my cash back for shopping online through some of these companies!How much fun is that, I hear you ask? It’s awesome! God bless America!Driving around searching for a specific store isn’t really for me, there’s always the problem of traffic, construction and, my pet peeve; drivers who have no idea their cars have turn signals!Hence the need to use the Internet, be it dial up, DSL or high speed, and I am eternally grateful to the cost saving programs available online. There are a dime a dozen shopping cash back reward programs online and, with today’s economic climate being what it is, it’s a wonder not many people use these sites to save, no matter how little, on their online purchases.As for me, rest assured if there’s an online shopping cash back rewards program to buying a house, I’m game.