Bing Cashback's Last Hurrah

(expires July 30 or sooner)

I am sad to see the Bing cashback program end.  Many deal seekers are hoping for a last hurrah--a return of 35% back on eBay purchases or something similar.  Tonight, there is a glimmer of hope.  Newegg's Twitter feed had a fleeting 10% back on purchases tonight, but Newegg's Hot Deals feed promises a "grand finale" for tomorrow.

In the meantime, take advantage of the remaining good Bing cashback deals:

• Beauty.com / Drugstore.com: 30% back (to get Drugstore.com cashback, find the Drugstore.com link toward the bottom of Beauty.com's page after clicking through 30% back)
• Dell: 10% back
• eBay: 8% back
• eBags: 30% back
• Endless.com (Amazon.com's shoe store): 40% back (combine with $20 off $100 certain shoes)

Drugstore.com 25% cashback

Most of the crazy Bing cashback deals are over, but some are still available to those who know how to find them.  The key is knowing the secret password.  For example, you can get 25% back from Drugstore.com if you use the right search term, but only 10% back if you go through Bing's shopping directory.

To get 25% off Drugstore.com,

1. Make sure you've signed up for a Bing cashback account
2. Click here to search Bing.com using the right search terms
3. Click on the gold coin showing 25% off
4. Check out and wait for the e-mail from Microsoft, which should arrive 1 day after your order ships
5. Wait 60 days and have the money deposited to you PayPal account

You can try to combine the 25% off from Bing with a coupon for $5 off $50 or $10 off $100.  Or combine it with Fatwallet's cashback (6%) or a commission for your favorite blogger whose name starts with an "R".  The coupon could void your Bing cashback, but the other discounts are okay if they are triggered.

eBay's cashback from Bing now 15%

(update: lowered to 10%)

Last year eBay offered some eye-popping cashback from Bing, with payouts going as high as 35%.  Yes, my cunning and insightful readers, at that rate you could have made money by selling a check for more than the face amount.  Since then it plummeted to single digits (still not bad).  As part of the back-to-school promotion, eBay has bumped up its payout to 15%.  Search Bing for "Buyitnow" and follow the gold coin.

Newegg $20 off $200 *and* 10% off from Bing

Newegg, the large computer and electronics retailer, will offer $20 off a $200 purchase if you pay with PayPal, according to their Facebook page.  When you combine this with 10% off from Bing (look for the coin and 10% off), you can get about 20% off these low margin products (although California residents will need to fork over sales tax up front).

(Expired) Consider getting the Canon Powershot SD780IS camera on sale today for $199.  Add a cheap memory card, and you can have this cool camera for $160 vs. other stores charging $230.

Creative Bing deals: 35% off computer equipment, 55% off North Face apparel

Here are a few creative examples of ways to take advantage of the Microsoft* Bing Cashback insanity:

Combine Bing with other discounts: Computer deal - Solid state disk drive (OCZ Summit 120GB)

• Amazon price: $388.04
• Shop TigerDirect through Bing.com (search for "tiger direct" to get 12.5% back, instead of the usual 10%)
• 
  Buy the disk drive (item #O261-6218) for $369.99 plus $1.99 for shipping
• Get your $46.25 from Bing instantly (it should show up on your checkout page)
• Pay with PayPal to get $20 back on your $200+ purchase (works with Bing because it's not a coupon and your invoice doesn't show any PayPal discount)
• Get a $40 rebate from OCZ
• Net price: $265.73

Using the price match**: North Face Denali jacket

• Regular price: $165
• Shop Altrec through Bing or shop Moosejaw through Bing
• Find your favorite Denali jacket at FULL PRICE (i.e. one that is NOT one of the hideous colors from last season, incidentally only available in fluorescent purple in XXL) and buy it at full price
• Get your 24.2% back from Bing ($39.92)
• Call in to price match by giving them the link the jacket at a cheaper price, like SunnySports for $117.95 and get 105% of the price difference ($49.35); N.B.: do the price matching AFTER you buy, because you want to get the Bing cashback on the regular price, not the discounted price
• Final price: $75.68

* Actually, the stores pay Microsoft for the advertising, but I have a
sneaking suspicion that Microsoft adds some of its own marketing budget
to the fire during these Double Savings Days.

** Don't feel bad about taking advantage of price matching.  The primary reason retailers have it is to dissuade other retailers from cutting prices (in which case everyone has low prices and no one can gain market share).  It's a way for them to collude to hold prices artificially high.