I’m a notorious email saver.
I rarely delete anything — especially not receipts.
Turns out that was a smart policy. In the past few months, I’ve earned $22 in refunds. And all I did was shop online like I normally do.
Paribus Review: How to Get Money Back for Online Purchases
My new secret weapons is called Paribus — a free tool that gets you money back for your online purchases.
Intrigued? Wondering how saving your emails could earn you money?
Then keep reading.
How Paribus Works
Let’s run through a hypothetical. Say you purchase a toaster online from Walmart for $20. The next week, Walmart drops the price to $15.
Like many retailers, Walmart offers a price guarantee within an item’s return window, so you’re entitled to a refund for the difference.
The only problem? None of us have time to check whether prices have dropped on our purchases.
That’s why Paribus is handy.
It scans your email archives for receipts. If it discovers you’ve purchased something from one of its more than 25 monitored retailers, it tracks the item’s price.
If Paribus notices the price went down on the toaster you bought, it alerts you and contacts Walmart (or one of the other monitored retailers) on your behalf or tells you how to easily claim a refund yourself.
To uphold its price guarantee, Walmart refunds the $5 difference to your original method of payment — so you’d earn money without wasting your time watching the price.
Participating Paribus Stores
Before signing up, you’ll want to see whether Paribus is worth your time. If you shop from one of the retailers it monitors for price drops, chances are, it will be.
Here’s a list of stores it monitors for price drops:
| Bed Bath & Beyond | Anthropologie | Athleta | Banana Republic | Staples |
| Bloomingdale’s | Bonobos | Costco | Crate & Barrel | Gap |
| Home Depot | J.Crew | Kohl’s | L.L. Bean | Loft |
| Macy’s | Neiman Marcus | Newegg | Nordstrom | Office Depot |
| Old Navy | REI | Saks Fifth Avenue | Sears | Zappos |
| Target | Walmart | Wayfair |
To read more about each retailer’s price-protection policy, check out the policy guides.
How to Sign up for Paribus
Signing up for Paribus is free — and super simple.
Head over to its website, and enter your email address.
Note: Paribus is only compatible with Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft accounts. If you use a different provider, you have an option to set up an an auto-forwarding filter, which will forward your digital receipts to a Gmail, Yahoo or Microsoft account. When you enroll, you’ll give Paribus permission to search your email for receipts send refund claims on your behalf.
Once you sign up, the items you’ve most recently purchased at monitored stores will show up on your dashboard. You’ll be able to see whether the price dropped and whether Paribus filed a refund for you.
If you want to see what others have earned from Paribus, click “Deals.”
Here are a few deals folks had recently scored as of the most recent writing:
Is This Too Good to Be True? Is Paribus Safe?
The idea that Paribus is tapping into your emails makes some people feel iffy.
But the company has earned a B+ through the Better Business Bureau, which notes the score might have been affected by the length of time the business has been in operation (since 2014). Since 2016, Paribus has been owned by Capital One, which has an A+.
Now, Let’s Address Some Paribus Complaints
Some folks have posted online about Paribus not finding them any refunds. Sometimes, that’s just the case. It all depends on where and how often you shop and a store’s policy. Remember, Paribus is made to work on your behalf, so it’s actually the stores that are (or are not) issuing refunds — not Paribus.
If you have any technical issues, you can always reach out to its support team. Additionally, if at any time you want to cancel your account and remove all information, head over to “Settings” and click “Delete Paribus Account.”
So Will I Continue to Use Paribus?
Because I do most of my shopping online — where prices fluctuate all the time, even within the same day — I’ve been super happy with Paribus so far.
Honestly, the fact it’s automated is my favorite thing about it.
For me, giving Paribus access to my emails is worth it — and one of the easiest ways I’ve found to save money when I’m shopping online.
Susan Shain is a freelance writer and digital nomad. She covers travel, food and personal finance (basically, how to save money so you can travel more and eat more). Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.
Carson Kohler, a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder, contributed updates to this article.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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