Live Search CashBack

Introduction To Live Search CashBack Program

Do you want to get paid to buy the things you want? Do you want to be able to compare prices and still get paid to shop? Do you want to see your rebates immediately instead of waiting to mail them in? MSN has a new service on it's Live Search called Cashback. Every time you purchase an item, sign up for certain listings, or even play games you earn actual cash back.

In order to take advantage of this is service from Microsoft Live Search you will need the following:

• Internet Service Connection
• Windows Live ID (MSN account)
• CashBack Account - yes you have to sign up for this service

The images to the right give you an idea of what Live Search Cashback looks like. Microsoft's Live Search works the same as any other search engine. You search for the items you want. When you see an item you would be interested in it takes you to a comparison shopping area where you can see a range of prices for the product from multiple vendors.

The new wrinkle is the Cashback service where you actually are "paid" to buy items from http://search.live.com/cashback. When you have selected the product you want it will display the price of the product and the amount of cash back percentage you will recieve. This shows up as a discount amount on the final price of the prduct and will eventually make it's way to your CashBack account. Check out the screen shot for an example.

Cashback shows you the money to expect back as Cashback for each vendor! In reality Cashback is a lot like buy.com or half.com. The difference being that when you click to Compare Prices you get a list of companies offering the product, list of prices, and you're expected cashback.

How Does CashBack Service Work?

When you select a store to buy from the next screen you see requests your e-mail address. You must supply a working e-mail address to recieve your CashBack amount. This allows Microsoft to contact you on how to claim your cashback (see the screen shot). Also down in the small print it tells you that they will need to hear from the vendor that you successfully purchased the item and didn't return the item. Finally you will see the Cashback amount show up in your Cashback account, but according to the fine print this generally will take up to 60 days.

Once you complete the purchase on the vendors site you will receive an e-mail that says: Welcome to Live Search Cashback and gives you a link to complete your cashback account. If you do not have a Windows Live ID(MSN ID) you will need to create an account. It only takes 3 minutes and you only have to answer basic questions. When you login into your cashback account you'll see your current balance.

What your not seeing in the background is when you make a purchase Microsoft is charging the vendor an advertising fee. This is called a CPA or Cost Per Action advertising method. When you purchase an item the store pays MSN a set amount which they had bid to pay for their advertisement. Microsoft then shares that amount with you the consumer in the form of a CashBack. Of course we don't know the percantage given to us vs. the amount kept for Microsoft.

How Many Purchases Can I Make on Cachback?

There is no limit on the purchases you make with the Cashback Program. The more purchases the happier MSN will be. They make money and if you shop wisely you should save money. Please realize it may take you 60 days to realize those savings, but that's not much longer than most rebate programs. If your continually shopping you'll continually be receiving that money every month.

Microsoft has done everything they can to make this an easy and comfortable process for us. Of course, it's new and we all know that Microsoft is not the best at releasing buyg free software so take it slow in the beginning. If you ever want to see your Cashback balance you can view it anytime through your account.

How Do I Get Paid?

Beyond viewing your balance the CashBack account also allows you to setup your payment methods. There are a fair number of ways you can be paid. You have the good old Paypal account, your Checking account, or of course a check. They won't pay it out until you achieve a minimum balance of $10 at this time. Also remember your CashBack is usually not "active" until 60 days after purchase to alow for any refunds.

Is it Worth it?

So that's iall it takes to sign up the next question is, "Is it worth it?". Like any shopping you will still have to compare prices to see if your getting better deals on Live Search CashBack. I have seen some where the price was hight then buying directly from the vendor and others where it was a good 5% cheaper which can add up over a lot of purchases. I could see it being very useful for "rebates" that you don't have to mail in, instead you just get paid through cashback.

Tips & Advice

• Take your time when your signing up.
• Make sure to use an e-mail account you check regularly
• If you sell anything it is free to advertisers until someone buys something called CPA (Cost Per Action).
• This program just came out so be patient there will be bugs.
• You may not save money even after the Cashback compared to shopping around so still price compare.

Here are some additional Resources:

EHow: How to Use Live search

Ehow: How to Get Your Website Indexed in Live Search

Search.live.com/Cashback - Link to Cashback Program

Official MSN Site on How to use CashPack