Financial Reflections

BigCrumbs is a shopping portal that allows it’s members to get cash back when they shop online though the site with participating retailers.  That’s a pretty straightforward idea that’s been around for a while, but BigCrumbs has added several features on top of that basic concept to build a community for both shoppers and sellers with great rebates and deals that sets them apart from other sites.

Cash Back/Rebates

BigCrumbs offers competitive rebates about 500 retailers, which is less than some of the other rebate sites I’ve found, but BigCrumbs has all the major stores just about anyone can think of online.  In fact, I haven’t found a store that I wanted that wasn’t listed.  The real key here is quality rather than quantity.  The real quality is in the amount of the rebate offered as a percent of the purchase.  In that area, I’ve found that BigCrumbs consistently beats other cash back/rebate sites out there, which is why I stay with BigCrumbs.

Deals

It’s great to get a percent off on a decently priced item, but not if the same item can be found far cheaper elsewhere.   BigCrumbs helps people avoid that problem by having a special deals section of the site that has top deals, which is updated regularly to keep members informed.

Member Stores

BigCrumbs does one thing that I haven’t seen any other site do, and that’s to offer the way for people to list their eBay, Amazon or Etsy stores on BigCrumbs and offer deals just like the big retailers do.  You’ll be able to find a lot of niche items, handmade items or great deals on BigCrumbs that you just can’t get on other shopping sites.  The eBay member stores offer the same cash back from eBay that all other eBay purchases do.

Social Networking

One area where BigCrumbs shines is in its social networking functions.  The site has it’s own forum, complete with user profiles and ways to message on another.  The forum is active and is used by BigCrumbs staff to get feedback and for a way for members to share deals, ideas or just socialize.  Members also have the ability to “like” deals shown on the site, which provides a novel sort of feedback for how good a deal really is.

Members also can share deals though Facebook or Twitter with the icons shown with each deal.  The usual incentive here is to brag about a deal one has found, show off a new purchase, or just help a friend who’s looking for something, which all have their own rewards, but BigCrumbs also offers a “referral” reward (a small percent of the usual cash back) if someone follows your links and makes a purchase.  The amount is just enough to get people to share, but not big enough to encourage spam.

How to Join

Joining BigCrumbs is simple.  This isn’t a “shopping club” so there’s no cost with joining.  Just go to the registration page, fill out the form and you are good to go.  OK, there is one catch – BigCrumbs uses PayPal as it’s payment processor, which makes getting paid easy, but also means you will need a PayPal account, but most people already do.

Savers vs. Earners

There are two types of members on BigCrumbs CrumbSavers and CrumbEarners.  CrumbSavers get the highest cash back for their purchases, but CrumbEarners get money for every purchase people they refer to BigCrumbs.  So if you think you can get a bunch of people to join BigCrumbs using you as a referrer, it might work.  Personally I use (and recommend) the default, the CrumbSaver.  You can change the setting in your profile page, but can only change it once.

Overall Rating

BigCrumbs offers a wide selection of the most popular stores online and offers top cash back on purchases.  In addition BigCrumbs also offers many eBay, Amazon and Etsy stores, offering a variety not found on other cash back sites.  There’s a BigCrumbs community, complete with messaging, a forum and the ability for members to rate items and deals they like, offering social feedback that any serious site needs.  I’ve found payments to be timely and accurate to my PayPal account with no strings attached.  I use BigCrumbs and recommend it.

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