Best-non-scam-ever story.
Aug. 25th, 2009 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Okay, so the best-scam-ever-that's-not-really-a-scam WORKED!
It all began with an expensive pot. Specifically, a 3-quart saucier. Even more specifically, this one. Well, this is totally one of those things I'd look for on eBay to see if I could get a better deal. I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but nowadays whenever I buy ANYthing on eBay, I use my BigCrumbs account. Basically, if you click on the link to eBay from your BigCrumbs account, then buy an item, you'll get a percentage of the cost back. It's not much, but who cares? It's free to join BC, and it's money back that you wouldn't normally be getting. I also use it for Overstock.com, Best Buy, Enterprise, Priceline -- a ton of merchants work with them. (You can sign up here -- if you don't know anyone else using it I'd appreciate you using me as your referrer!)
Anyway, so I did that, and found the saucier on eBay ($25 less than at Amazon). Except I'm anal, and like to be sure that I'm using a browser that's actually got my BC bookmark on. So as usual, I close the browser and re-click through from BC. Except somehow, I guess I did a search with Bing, which I've been trying out instead of Google (it's actually very good), and Bing has a cashback program! Certain items through certain merchants (not just eBay but anywhere) are eligible for a "Bing cash back." So if you click through from Bing, you'll see eligible items marked with the little Bing icon, and then if you end up buying it, you get a percentage back. And their percentages are usually WAY better than BC.
What ended up happening was that I saw that with Bing cash back, I'd get 10% of the item's cost back (not including shipping for either program), which I knew was way better than whatever the BC cash back would be. But just in case, I closed my browser AGAIN and went back to eBay through BC, to see if the Bing cash back was still "on" (if the little icons were still there), and they were! It takes about a week for your purchase to show up in the BC account, so that's what I was waiting on -- to see if it went through. Because the Bing cash back happened pretty much instantaneously (not getting the money right away, but the transaction showing up).
Yet my browser was theoretically a click through from BC. So I don't know if it's intentional (you could argue that I DID search for it on Bing, even if I then went to another site and clicked back to eBay from there) or if it's something they're going to fix. Regardless, I got $12.50 back from Bing, and an additional $3.62 back from BC, which means an additional ~$16 off the item price for doing nothing but clicking through from other Web sites. I mean, I was going to buy the item ANYway, so the minimal extra effort was so worth it.
From now on before I buy anything online I'm gonna search for it on Bing and then look for the merchant on BC and click through from there, lol.
My new tea kettle arrived. The good news is, it whistles (actually it's more like the sound of a train passing by) and I can open the spout without scalding myself. The bad news is, the spout is poorly constructed and when you pour water out, it leaks. As in, some of it splashes out onto your counter or stove rather than in your cup. Basically it doesn't do well with a trickle of water; if you pour a steady stream with confidence it's fine. Still, so annoying. It's always something! But of all the faults I can live with this one; even if it leaks at least it's only water.
Just finished reading David Lebovitz's The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City. Very enjoyable and funny. But you know what? Makes me NEVER want to live in Paris. Ever. I definitely want to visit and eat all the good food, but I could never, ever live there. It's not that he sets out to praise or rag on the city; he just tells it like it is, and I know I couldn't do it. Two words: personal space. Need it, must have it.
ropo is arriving today, eee! The touring cast of Wicked is here while she's in town so we're going to catch that. We've also got a couple dinners planned with a few Seattlites (including bday gal romanticalgirl :D), but otherwise are going to play it by ear.
It all began with an expensive pot. Specifically, a 3-quart saucier. Even more specifically, this one. Well, this is totally one of those things I'd look for on eBay to see if I could get a better deal. I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but nowadays whenever I buy ANYthing on eBay, I use my BigCrumbs account. Basically, if you click on the link to eBay from your BigCrumbs account, then buy an item, you'll get a percentage of the cost back. It's not much, but who cares? It's free to join BC, and it's money back that you wouldn't normally be getting. I also use it for Overstock.com, Best Buy, Enterprise, Priceline -- a ton of merchants work with them. (You can sign up here -- if you don't know anyone else using it I'd appreciate you using me as your referrer!)
Anyway, so I did that, and found the saucier on eBay ($25 less than at Amazon). Except I'm anal, and like to be sure that I'm using a browser that's actually got my BC bookmark on. So as usual, I close the browser and re-click through from BC. Except somehow, I guess I did a search with Bing, which I've been trying out instead of Google (it's actually very good), and Bing has a cashback program! Certain items through certain merchants (not just eBay but anywhere) are eligible for a "Bing cash back." So if you click through from Bing, you'll see eligible items marked with the little Bing icon, and then if you end up buying it, you get a percentage back. And their percentages are usually WAY better than BC.
What ended up happening was that I saw that with Bing cash back, I'd get 10% of the item's cost back (not including shipping for either program), which I knew was way better than whatever the BC cash back would be. But just in case, I closed my browser AGAIN and went back to eBay through BC, to see if the Bing cash back was still "on" (if the little icons were still there), and they were! It takes about a week for your purchase to show up in the BC account, so that's what I was waiting on -- to see if it went through. Because the Bing cash back happened pretty much instantaneously (not getting the money right away, but the transaction showing up).
Yet my browser was theoretically a click through from BC. So I don't know if it's intentional (you could argue that I DID search for it on Bing, even if I then went to another site and clicked back to eBay from there) or if it's something they're going to fix. Regardless, I got $12.50 back from Bing, and an additional $3.62 back from BC, which means an additional ~$16 off the item price for doing nothing but clicking through from other Web sites. I mean, I was going to buy the item ANYway, so the minimal extra effort was so worth it.
From now on before I buy anything online I'm gonna search for it on Bing and then look for the merchant on BC and click through from there, lol.
My new tea kettle arrived. The good news is, it whistles (actually it's more like the sound of a train passing by) and I can open the spout without scalding myself. The bad news is, the spout is poorly constructed and when you pour water out, it leaks. As in, some of it splashes out onto your counter or stove rather than in your cup. Basically it doesn't do well with a trickle of water; if you pour a steady stream with confidence it's fine. Still, so annoying. It's always something! But of all the faults I can live with this one; even if it leaks at least it's only water.
Just finished reading David Lebovitz's The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City. Very enjoyable and funny. But you know what? Makes me NEVER want to live in Paris. Ever. I definitely want to visit and eat all the good food, but I could never, ever live there. It's not that he sets out to praise or rag on the city; he just tells it like it is, and I know I couldn't do it. Two words: personal space. Need it, must have it.
ropo is arriving today, eee! The touring cast of Wicked is here while she's in town so we're going to catch that. We've also got a couple dinners planned with a few Seattlites (including bday gal romanticalgirl :D), but otherwise are going to play it by ear.
