Using cashback websites to save

“CASH-BACK” in France refers not to getting notes back when paying by a card (as in the UK) but to websites that you use as intermediaries to buy goods from other sites which then share a commission with you.

One of the better sites in terms of clear rules and above average pay-outs is www.fabuleos.fr which requires a €7 annual subscription (in practice they just keep the first €7 of your payouts). For example, you register with them and then click on the fnac.com link on their site to take you to the Fnac website.

If you buy the new Asterix book at €8.74 then you get cashback at 7.2% (the Fabuleos rate for Fnac books - rates vary by site and item). That means €0.63 will be added to your total owed in your account at fabuleos.fr

When you want to, and not more than once a month, you can request they pay what is owed to you into your bank.

If you buy regularly over the internet you can make around €100 or so a year simply by using your ordinary sites - Fnac, Carrefour, 3 Suisses etc. However it is worth knowing the “small print,” and that not all cashback sites are the same.

Often “cash-back” (your payment) on goods is only about 2-3% of the price of the item (before VAT) and you often have to build up a minimum entitlement from different purchases before the cashback site will pay you what you are owed - in some cases requiring at least e1,000 of purchases.

Also, after a year, money owed to you is in some cases wiped off if not yet paid out.

Other popular cashback sites include www.planete-reductions.com and http://cashback.kelkoo.fr

Search on www.google.fr under “cash-back” for others.