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Online Reward Schemes

Can you believe that there are people out there who want to pay you to shop online or compensate you for reading emails and giving your opinion? Well you'd better believe it! ALEX ZANDSTRA reveals where to go online to get your just rewards.

Earning rewards as you spend money is nothing new to Australians; individual retailers have been rewarding customers for years. But when FlyBuys and credit card reward schemes were introduced, they took the practice to a new level. Now, with the Internet so firmly entrenched in most of our lives, it's no surprise that there are schemes that reward you for online activities, such as shopping. Some retailers, such as OO.com.au and Dymocks, operate reward schemes directly, while others offer rewards via a third party such as EmailCash.

With big name retailers such as DealsDirect, Roses Only, WebJet and Magshop taking part in these schemes, it's certainly worth considering joining, if you shop online. But, before you do, it's absolutely essential that you read all the fine print so you know exactly how the scheme works and what the rules are. For example, you will only earn points by visiting the participating retailers via the reward scheme Web site. In some cases, you must have cookies enabled on your computer for the reward scheme to work and, for most schemes, signing up means you are agreeing to receive advertising material by email.

Don't be put off by this, though; just be aware that it is how the programs work, and if you don't mind, then carry on and reap the rewards of your online activities.

EmailCash now has over 500,000 members in Australia, and really, why wouldn't you join? You can earn reward points for participating in a variety of online activities and they can be converted into cold, hard cash. Alternatively, you can exchange them for reward cash and buy something from the site, donate them to one of the listed charities, or bank them in the ebank and earn interest points.

To earn reward points, all you need to do is go shopping with one of EmailCash's online shopping partners. There's a directory full of them in a wide range of categories including children and babies, computers and electronics, health and beauty, home and garden, reading, travel and plenty more. The number of points you can earn per dollar varies with each retailer, but is clearly indicated. On each individual retailer page, there's information on what the company sells, any special deals on offer and what payment methods they accept. When you have placed an order and received the goods, you need to go back to the EmailCash Web site and claim your reward - make sure you keep a note of the date of purchase and your retailer's order number for your transaction, as you will need to quote these when claiming your points.

You can also earn points by participating in online surveys, reading emails, referring friends and more. As a member of EmailCash, you can participate in forums, enter competitions, play games and place classified ads.