One of the attractions with shopping for golf equipment online is price……online retailers can keep prices down due to lower overheads compared to running a physical store, and it’s very easy for us to shop around online to get the best price. Well now you can also get cashback if you shop at the right online stores.
There are a number of online programs offering cashback on purchases at certain online golf store. Microsoft’s Bing is such a program and it’s getting a bit of attention.
Here’s how it works:
The Model
- Bing receives commission from participating online retailers for referring shoppers to their store
- Rather than keeping the whole commission, Bing gives some back to you as cashback…..this keeps you coming back to Bing
- You can redeem your cashback after about 60 days of making your purchase (waiting period varies by store), as long as you have at least $5 cash back in your account
The Process
- Use Bing Shopping to search for golf equipment, or a particular online golf store
- The search results list the cashback savings you’ll receive off the regular store price
- Click on a search result to go to the store and make your purchase
- Receive an email from Bing confirming your cashback
- Request your cashback and receive it by check, through PayPal or into your bank account
Microsoft’s ad for Bing shopping:
Is it any good? Yes and no. It’s money for nothing if you were planning to buy anyway (for example, you can get about $25 (8%) cashback on a Ping G15 Driver at Golf Discount Superstore)……but there aren’t too many online golf stores in the program.
Here are the online golf merchants in the Bing cashback program:
- www.3balls.com
- www.golfdiscountsuperstore.com
- www.golfballs.com
- www.golfsmith.com
- www.intheholegolf.com
- shop.callawaygolf.com
- www.callawaygolfpreowned.com
While Bing seems to offer the largest cashback percentages, it isn’t unique (or even the first) when it comes to cashback programs. Here are a few others you could try:
- Ebates: includes Edwin Watts Golf, Pinemeadow Golf, Golfsmith and Golf Outlet USA. Cash back discount ranges from 3% to 7%
- FatWallet: includes Callaway Golf, Golf Galaxy, Golf Outlets USA, The Golf Warehouse, golfballs.com. Cash back discount ranges from 3% to 7%
There’s a pretty good selection of online golf stores across the various cashback programs. If you’re a regular online shopper, or are thinking of making a purchase soon, I reckon it’s worth taking some time to sign-up to a few of these programs and get a bit of money back.
The only downside is that you’re giving your email address to these programs, so expect some marketing material to hit your inbox (Bing hasn’t been too bad so far)…….you can always flag their emails as junk!
