COUPONS: Paypal Special Offers

Paypal, like I previously discussed, is one of the pillars of internet commerce.

If you do have a Paypal account, there is an extra perk that is provided: special offer coupons. For example, I was recently sent the following coupons: 20% off Ebay purchase and a $20 off $50 Walmart purchase.

Here is how you opt in

1. Sign in to your paypal account
2. Click on the "Profile" sub-tab under the "My Account" tab
3. Click on the "Notifications" link under the "Account Information" column
4. Check the box for "Partner/Third-Party Promotions"
   

These promotions are often targeted to users based on undefined criteria. Therefore you may or may not receive certain coupons.

Tip: Be sure to enable Paypal mail through your spam filters

I am usually wary about receiving spam mail when I sign up offers (don't we all have enough spam?). My spam did not increase after signing up. Read more!

BASICS: Credit Card Cashback

The neurotic (and savvy) shopper has an armatorium of credit cards to choose from. One needs to pick the right credit card for the occasion.

I currently get 5% cashback on most purchases, 3% on most else, and then 2% on everything else.

I sure do have one fat wallet! How am I getting all this cashback?

First let me breakdown my cashback savings

• 5% cashback: gasoline, groceries, cellular plan, cable internet, computers (and related), groceries, office supplies, and utilities.
• 3% cashback: restaurants
• 2% cashback: everything else

These cashback rewards are courtesy of various institutions: American Express, Chase, Advanta, and Orchard Bank. I've kept an eye on the various credit cards throughout the years.

Unfortunately, most great card rewards programs are a thing of the past so you won't be able to duplicate my current rewards. But you can probably improve what you have right now.

Here are the best options currently available

• American Express SimplyCash: Used to be better, but still offers 5% cashback off wireless service (i.e. AT&T wireless) and office supplies (i.e. Staples, OfficeMax, etc). The gasoline cashback has decreased from 5% to 3%
  
• Chase Amazon: Great if you shop at Amazon a lot. Currently has a 3 month promotion.
  
• Discover Card: I find this card pretty useful all around. Runs seasonal 5% cashback promotions.
• Orchard Bank: This gives me 2% cashback on all other purchases. This may have recently been discontinued, but might be available here.
  

TIP: How do you keep straight which credit card to use? Put a little masking tape on the back of the credit card and write what the rewards are.
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Pro: Optimize your cashback savings on purchases
Con: Will decrease your credit score. Adds complexity to your personal financing.
Read more!

BASICS: Bank & Credit Card Fee Reversals

We've all been hit with them before.

You look at your financial statement and are surprised to see some kind of fee you didn't expect.

The most common culprit is the overdraft fee, in which one withdraws more money than your account contains.

When faced with bank or credit card fees, there are things that you can do to try and get them reversed.

Remember, banks want to keep you as a customer

• Stay calm and collected. No one likes to deal with an unpleasant stress-ball. You want the customer service rep to help you!
  
• Feign ignorance. This is the approach I take most often. They will often waive the fee if it's your first time.
  
• Escalate to manager. The manager will do things that other customer service reps won't. If the conversation is not going the way you want, ask to speak with their supervisor.

Over the years, I've had about 90% success using the above methods. Read more!

BASICS: Ebay Buying Part I (researching the purchase)

Whenever I want to buy something, I first check Ebay.

Purchasing items on Ebay can be great or it can be a very, very bad experience. Understanding Ebay's unique role in the marketplace can help you decide whether to use it. You can often find nice deals, but you need to know when it's good to use and when it's not.

Ebay needs no introduction. You know a company is big when its name becomes an English verb. I ebayed it. I googled it. For those not familiar, Ebay is an online auction site/marketplace. You can either purchase through an auction process or you can buy at a fixed price.

Old-fashioned retail stores buy bulk items and resell for a set profit. There is a MSRP and thus prices are generally very uniform. Unlike retail stores, Ebay is not so constrained. Supply & Demand rule. Therefore it's great for unique hard to find items that only you want (I got a great deal on some 1990 CTS Thunderstick tennis racquets), but horrible for high demand hot items (look at the ridiculous prices for the iPhone and Wii).

Random tip: Don't buy items that are easily forged. For example, brand-name clothes (Diesel & Abercrombie clothes are notorious), and jewelry. Buying these items on Ebay is akin to buying that Rolex on the NYC street.

Researching the Ebay purchase

1. Search 'completed auctions' for what prices that item has sold at. This will indicate the price range you can expect to pay. You do this by searching for the item, clicking on the checkbox for 'completed auctions' (you need to sign up for ebay to do this).
   
2. Take into account seller's feedback rating when looking at prices. Seller reputation is key. Higher feedback ratings = less risk but higher price.
3. Based on completed auction prices, decide on what is an attainable price
   
4. Compare the price to lowest online price (maybe check Amazon)
   
5. You have to then decide whether the price savings is worth the added hassle of poor return policies and risk of fraud (generally low). In my experience, it is very low risk if you use common sense.
   

Once you decide that Ebay offers a good deal, then you need to actually make the purchase. Stay tuned for my next installment where I will talk about "ebay sniping" and cashback options; ways to make your Ebay purchase an even better deal.
Read more!

CREDIT CARD: Discover Card free $100 gift cards

Discover is a nice credit card which runs great promotions every now and then. If you own a Discover card, you can get $20 cashback for every $200 charged at a lot of different malls.

Now how can you get $100 in gift cards without actually spending money?

If you don't mind being a little deceitful, here is what you do.

1. Check here to see if there is a mall nearby which is running the promotion
2. Go to the mall and purchase $1000 worth of products (any stores). I used Sears to buy some expensive electronics.
   
3. Bring your receipts to the customer service counter
4. You will receive $100 in Discover gift cards ($20 x 5)
5. Return your purchases and keep the gift cards.
   

Promotion runs until 1/4/2009.
Read more!

DEAL: High-speed Internet retention discount

When you first sign up for high-speed internet, there are often some great promotions through which you can get good pricing.

What do you do when the promotion runs out and your bills shoot up?

For the past several years, I've had service with Comcast, Cox, Charter, and RoadRunner. I've been able to get my bills reduced for every single company.

No company want to lose customers. This is especially true for internet service providers, for whom customer volumes are necessary to improve the bottom line.

They therefore employ retention specialists, whose job is to keep you subscribed. This department has access to special deals that other customer service reps may not have access to.

Here is what you do

1. Call your service provider (for phone #, look on your bill or their homepage)
2. Navigate the phone menu system to talk to a real person
3. Say you would like to cancel your service. They may transfer you to a retention specialist now.
4. Key question that you need to be asked: "Why would you like to cancel?"
5. State that the service is too expensive and you will switching to a competitor to save money. Be sure to be specific about the competitor and pricing.
6. They should try to see what can be done and adjust your price depending on what is available. If for some reason, they don't offer you anything then don't panic. Just set your cancellation date for 1 month in the future so that you can just call again to "change your mind".
   

I did this yesterday for my Charter HSI bill which had increased from $19.99 to $54.99. I got it reduced back down to $19.99 for the next 6 months. 6 minutes on the phone saved me $210!
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Pro: Save money on your bills
Cons: Can be time-consuming.
Read more!

FREE MUSIC: iTunes part II

Ok so maybe the free single of the week isn't your cup of tea.

Here is another option for some free music. If you have a facebook account, you can get a 20 song free sampler of Indie music.

Here is how to get your free music.

1. Login to Facebook (or register for an account)
   
2. Go to the following link
3. See available offers and click on the Indie song sampler

Offer expires 1/31/09.

Easy enough. They also have random free stuff from time to time
Read more!