How to Find the Best Buy Price Tracker and Earn More from Retail Cost Drops
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Itโs hard to imagine life without shopping. Whether youโre shopping for accessory items you donโt really need, or looking to buy essential, shopping is fun.
While shopping is fun, spending a lot of money isnโt which is why finding the best buy price tracker out there is important.
A price tracker will give you the luxury of knowing when an item youโre interested in buying goes in sale.
In fact, why stop there?
Saving money should always be a priority and in addition to price tracker apps, money back apps will also be really useful.
Thatโs why weโve made a list of the top apps thatโll help you not just save money, but also earn back money from shopping.
Table of Contents
CamelCamelCamel
CamelCamelCamel is regarded by most as the best buy price tracker.
Using the website isnโt complicated at all either.
After deciding you want to buy something, go check out its price on Amazon.
If you think the price is too expensive then just go look up the same product on CamelCamelCamel.
The website will show you a graph demonstrating the variability in price of the product you want.
The graph will have ups and lows relating to when the cost of the item went up or down.
Now that youโre on CamelCamelCamel, you can set your desired price.
For example if something currently costs $70 but youโre not willing to pay more than $50 for it, then set 50 as your desired price.
Youโll then have to provide your email address or Twitter handle so the website can notify you if the itemโs price actually does drop to, or even below, your desired price.
Itโs a great way to save money and get notified when something starts costing the amount of money youโre actually willing to pay for it.
TechBargains
TechBargains provides a similar service but is used mainly for deals on tech gadgets.
The website is constantly manually updated so youโll find a new tech deal on the home page every few minutes.
Youโll be able to find the best deals from AT&T, Microsoft, TorGuard, eBay, and others all on one websiteโs home page.
This eliminates the need to keep checking the price of your desired item on several websites.
Just go to TechBargains and itโll show the best offers from all.
Ibotta
With Ibotta you can get money back, or you can consider them discounts, while barely putting in any effort into finding good deals.
In order to use Ibotta, you first have to sign up for free and set up an account. Youโre now good to go.
Before you leave the house to go shopping from now on, check Ibotta for deals and offers.
If youโre going grocery shopping, then write down a list of the things you need as you normally would with no restrictions.
Now open Ibotta and check at different available stores for the products on your grocery list. Youโll surely find rebates on plenty of them.
Letโs say youโre going out to buy detergent of a certain brand, open the app and look for it. If you find a deal for it then click on the plus sign.
Apply to all the items on your list.
Once youโre done finding rebates and setting them up, you can leave your house to go shopping.
When shopping is over and you have your receipt, just take a picture of it and upload it to Ibotta.
The app will then give you some money back on the things you selected for rebates before leaving the house, like the detergent for example.
This can save you at least 3-5 dollars per week and potentially a lot more if youโre an avid shopper.
In order to maximize gains, donโt just look for rebates at a single store. The same product might be available for a rebate at one store but not others through the app.
Using Ibotta isnโt time consuming at all, itโll take you a maximum of about 10 minutes to set up rebates and add them to your list before getting in your car to go shopping.
Sometimes, but not always, you might need to watch a short video or take a quiz before getting a rebate but this only results in a few second delay.
Ibotta mainly gives rebates and money back on essential and grocery items.
This restriction still doesnโt get in its way of being one of the leaders of money back shopping.
Youโll find deals on household items, generic or store brand items, as well as healthy food which we all know can be more expensive than junk food.
Watch out though because with so many great deals you could end up buying way more things than you really need.
With Ibotta you have the chance to save hundreds of dollars per year. All it takes is the clicking of a few icons and checking the app before going grocery shopping.
Drop
Now this isnโt an app thatโll directly earn you money back and add it to your bank account or a price tracker app.
With Drop youโll receive points for doing your regular shopping. Just go about your days shopping from your favorite brands and youโll get points added to your Drop account in the process.
The more you shop, the more points youโll have. When you finally have enough points youโll be allowed to trade them for a gift card at a brand of your choice.
To get started just download the app on your phone and link your credit or debit card to it.
Linking your credit/debit card is necessary so the app can give you points from things you purchase using your card.
Next, youโll have to select 5 brands. These will be the brands you get points for shopping from.
You only get to choose 5 brands, and you canโt change them later. Think carefully before you choose yours.
Try to choose the brands you use the most. These can include things like Uber or Starbucks just to name a few.
After choosing your brands you might get a prompt to choose a bonus offer, so pick the deal you like the most.
Now that your account is all setup and prepared, every time you shop at one of the 5 brands you chose using your credit card, youโll get points on your Drop account.
Once you get to 5,000 points, you can exchange them for gift cards and discounts. Each 5,000 points are worth a $5 gift card.
Exchanging 15,000 points will provide you with a $15 dollar gift card and so on.
You canโt exchange any amount of points less than 5,000 though.
The gift card can be directed to various retailers and not only the 5 brands you chose while setting up your account on Drop.
5,000 points may seem like a lot, but remember that youโre literally doing nothing.
You just go about your days shopping and living your life while the app accumulates bonus points.
Sounds like a sweet deal if you ask me.
Rakuten
With Rakuten, you donโt need to wait for an itemโs price to drop. Rakuten will probably be able to give you a discount on the things you want to buy anyway.
To get started just create an account and start using Rakuten.com to shop.
At the Rakuten website you can select the online store you originally wanted to buy from, letโs say Target.
Youโll be able to browse Targetโs online store through Rakuten and when you find something you want to buy just click purchase and depending on how much of a discount Rakuten offer on that item, youโll get some money back into your Rakuten account.
For example, if you find a $200 item you want and Rakuten offers 10% cash back on that item, youโll get $20 in your account. Youโll still be paying $200, but you get $20 of them refunded back to your Rakuten account.
This makes it one of the best money back apps you can use.
The money you get back will be deposited in your Rakuten account within a week.
Once a certain amount of cash has been in your Rakuten account for 60 days, itโll get transferred to your Paypal account on one of the following dates: February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15.
Another perk of using Rakuten is that they have coupons which can give you discounts at certain stores, so donโt forget to check these out too!
Just keep in mind that Rakuten canโt give you a discount in retrospect.
If youโve already bought something through a different website or in person then Rakuten wonโt be able to give you cash back on it.
Shopkick
With Shopkick youโll be getting points for doing simple mundane tasks like going shopping, browsing stores, and making purchases.
Oh and your points are called kicks.
To get started, download the app and create an account.
Next, just go shopping and youโll start collecting kicks.
Thereโs not much for you to do because just by walking into a store, the app will use the Internet to detect your location and give you kicks for shopping.
To boost your kicks you can scan barcodes of items inside stores too or by scanning your receipt after making a purchase.
Once you have enough kicks, you can exchange them for movie tickets, song downloads at iTunes, or Facebook credits.
If these donโt sound exciting then you can just exchange kicks for gift cards and over 200 brands.
These include Target, Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, Old Navy, American Eagle Outfitters, and more.
FlipGive
With FlipGive youโll need to get started by creating a team and shopping online.
You can get cash back by shopping for things you already need using FlipGive.
Gift cards are another option that you can use at stores or restaurants rather than online.
Sign up with FlipGive and create your all star shopping team!
The days of buying items for their existing price are slowly coming to an end.
You can now track the prices of different products in order to buy them at their lowest price.
If that requires too much patience, which you might not have, then use cash back apps and create your own price drops and discounts.
By using the best buy price tracker as well as a few cash back apps, youโll definitely save hundreds of dollars on shopping each year.
Author:
Logan is a practicing CPA and founder of Choice Tax Relief and Money Done Right. After spending nearly a decade in the corporate world helping big businesses save money, he launched his blog with the goal of helping everyday Americans earn, save, and invest more money. Learn more about Logan.