Back-to-School season is here – it’s the start of a very busy shopping season.  Before you know it, Christmas will be upon us too.  I try my best to buy as many of our Christmas presents during Back-to-School to make it less stressful in November and December.  Shopping online has enabled me to do this without leaving the house, it’s so handy.

Whenever I make a purchase, I go directly to an online’s storefront.  I always looks for coupon codes to save some money…sometimes they  work, and sometimes they don’t.  But I recently became familiar with another shopping option that gives you cashback by shopping through their portal.  It’s called GivingAssistant.org.  GivingAssistant.org is a cash back website that gives you money back for purchases you’re making anyway online.

And GivingAssistant.org includes many popular stores like Best Buy, Woot, Macy’s, Disney Store, World Market, Sam’s Club, eBay, Office Depot, Michael’s, Sears, Gilt, 1-800-GOT-JUNK, and many more.  Whether you want to buy tech, home goods, food, beauty, luggage, even a hotel room, GivingAssistant.org is a great place to start.

Here’s How GivingAssistant.org Works

Basically, retailers pay GivingAssistant.org a commission (around 5% average) for every purchase stemming from the GivingAssistant.org website.  GivingAsssistant.org in turn gives this entire commission back to their members in the form of “cash back.”  You can receive your funds directly to your secure debit card or through PayPal, once you acquire $5.01 cash back.

In addition, the .org part of their website comes to play because of their focus on giving back.  Members are given the option to donate all or a percentage of their savings to their favorite charity, if they choose.  

In addition,  every transaction made at a retailer site through their website results in a meal given to a needy family through Feeding America.  So far, GivingAssistant.org customers have given nearly 600,000 meals!  It’s a win-win-win.

Just How Much Cash Back?

Every store gives a different amount and sometimes it depends on what you buy at each store.  GivingAssistant.org has agreements with over 1,800 stores.  Here’s a brief sampling of some stores and the amount of cash back you’ll receive on your purchase…  

Macy’s – 6%

Michael’s – 4%

eBay – 1.2%

Shutterfly – 10%

Cost Plus World Market – 8%

Barnes & Noble – up to 4%

Forever 21 – 6%

Guess Factory Store – up to 4%

HalloweenCostumes.com – up to 10%

Hilton Hotels – up to 6% (4% domestic, 6% international)

Your Savings Will Add Up

Just think of it, if you booked a Doubletree hotel room near Los Angeles for $185, you would get 4% back, or nearly $7.50 back each night you stay at the hotel.  If you stay 3 nights, you’ll earn back $22.50 for something you were going to pay full price on anyways.

Now, think about Back-to-School shopping.  Buying online saves time, money, and waiting in stores for your kids to try things on.

Every year, I give my daughter a budget to buy her own clothes for school.  She gets $150 to spend on shoes, jeans, shirts, whatever she needs.  Last year, she spent her entire amount of money online at JC Penney’s, Kohl’s, Aeropostale, and Walmart. Each and every one of these stores is available on GivingAssitant.org.

This year, I’ll get her started on GivingAssistant.org so any money she earns back, she can use towards her budget.  It’s a win-win.

As I purchase Christmas and birthday presents online this year, I look forward to earning back a sizable amount back.

Yes, You Can Use Coupons!

But it gets even better.  GivingAssistant.org makes it easy to find coupons for each store, right on their website.  You can even contribute deals that you know of to each retailer’s page on GivingAssistant.org.  GivingAssistant.org makes it so easy.

You Can Even Donate

GivingAssistant.org was built on the premise of giving back.  As a part of their offerings, they have made available a list of charities to choose from to donate all or a portion of your earnings to, should you desire.  Their charity database includes thousands of charities, you’ll be surprised that even local ones are included.

Here’s What I Bough Recently

Barnes & Noble – 2%

We are big Harry Potter fans in our family. Well, as you likely know, the 8th book, entitled Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts I & II, just came out. When browsing the Barnes & Noble page on GivingAssistant.org, I noticed several 15% coupons for a new book.  I wondered if it would work with the newest Harry Potter book.  I assumed it wouldn’t, but tried it anyways.

It didn’t work, the code had expired.  So I tried the next code and the next code until one actually worked. Yay!  It almost paid for my shipping and I didn’t have to leave the house!  

And the kids don’t have to know I ordered it, so it will be a surprise when it comes.  Barnes & Noble doesn’t give a big discount (only 2%) on physical products (as opposed to digital books and Nooks at 4%).  

But it’s still money back into my GivingAssistant.org account and my shopping experience was easier than I’ve had before, with the coupons on the Barnes & Noble page.

The next morning I checked my GivingAssistant.org account I had already been credited $.31 cents from my Barnes & Noble purchase.  Typically, it can take up to 7 days to see this credit, but mine showed up overnight.  Love it!

Cost Plus – 8%

I enjoyed the process so much, I bought something else the next day.  The Cost Plus World Market near me recently closed.  I saw it was an offering on GivingAssistant.org, so I decided to browse through their website. 

 I found the cutest stemless glasses that match the full-size glasses I love and use everyday, so I bought two sets of four glasses for a total of  $39.98 + tax + shipping.

GivingAssistant.org gives 8% back and on their Cost Plus World Market page,  and I picked up a 10% coupon.

Though shipping was a big pricey from Cost Plus at $8.95, the 10% coupon took off $3.99 off my total, making shipping a little more reasonable for me.  Plus, through GivingAssistant.org, I’ll receive $2.87 back, so I only paid a couple of bucks more than if I went to the physical store, and since the closest Cost Plus is over 20 miles away, I saved money in gas.

So you may be wondering why on nearly $40 I received $2.87 back instead of around $3.20 (which is 8%).  The reason is because I used a 10% coupon, that brings the price of my purchase down $4, or $35.98.  Eight % of $35.98 is $2.87.

Within 3 hours, I had already received my cash back from my purchase at Cost Plus.  Here’s my summary now…

GivingAssistant.org is a great passive way to earn money back, similar to Walmart’s Saving Catcher, we wrote about earlier.  I’ve already received back over $50 in a Walmart gift e-card, just by shopping at Walmart like I normally do.

A Mom’s Perspective

I love that I can go to one place to shop at my most favorite online stores…and many deal codes are already there.  GivingAssistant.org gives the entire rebate of what they receive from each retailer directly to you, their customer.

I have to say, using GivingAssistant.org was a pleasant experience. Most of the stores I shop are a part of their 1,800 stores.  I don’t need to waste time looking for coupons on the Internet to save some money, as many coupons are already there for me on their site (even for stores not supported included in cash back rebates).  

I feel less gouged about paying for shipping now because of 1.) the coupons on their site and 2.) I’m getting cash back on GivingAssistant.org.  3.) every transaction I make at a store, GivingAssistant.org will give a meal to a family in need through Feeding America. So now, I can feel even better about my purchases.

Try out GivingAssistant.org for yourself.  It’s free, fun, and really streamlines your shopping, while putting money back in your pocket.