Huge Savings at Ebags
I have been buying from eBags for a long time. My first purchase from the company was a couple of sets of packing cubes back in 2007. Despite being used daily on our 18 month around the world trip in 2007-2008 and on every trip since, they still look fairly new. eBags also sells shoes, luggage and a ton of other travel related stuff.
On that same trip back in 2007, I fell in love with a line of shoes from Keen called Newports. These waterproof shoes/sandals have been my travel companions ever since. Actually, the pair I got in 2007 wore out in 2011 or so and the pair I replaced them with just finally wore out too. Four years per pair isn’t bad.
Anyway, these shoes aren’t cheap. Purchasing them from Zappos, Amazon, Keen or just about everyone else costs $110 and in some cases you can add tax to that. Thankfully I was able to get them for just $57.16! That is a savings of almost 50%. And I’ll show you how to possibly make it even cheaper than that.
Ninja Tricks
- Let’s start with that $110 price. eBags has the same price as everyone else, except they are running a promotion for their anniversary. Depending on the product, you can get up to 40% off with the code 18YEARS. In this case, the discount is 20% so the price becomes $88!
- Next, we have two portal options. Ebates is offering 18% cashback at eBags, while the British Airways Avios portal is offering 15X Avios as part of their double cashback promotion.
- Finally, there is an Amex Offer giving $15 off $75 purchases at eBags. This can be found on your Amex account or you can load it by tweeting #AmexeBags from a linked account.
The Math
Now, let’s look at the math:
- Cost: $88
- Minus 18% Cashback: -$15.84
- Minus Amex Offer: $-15
- Final cost: $57.16
Not bad, but what if you went the Avios route? I personally value Avios at around 1.5 cents each and know many other people do as well. Of course you should use your own valuation when making calculations.
At 1.5 cents per point value the math looks like this:
- Cost: $88
- Minus 15X Avios Value: -$19.80
- Minus Amex Offer: $-15
- Final Cost: $53.20
Going that route you actually get a discount of over 50%! I personally didn’t choose the Avios since I tend to value cash more unless I have an immediate need for the points. Just like the other day where I skipped the 150X Avios dating site fiasco, I determined I have enough Avios and thus took the cash.
Other Notes
You should also be able to purchase an eBags gift card to use later or so you can combine offers. As of now it seems based on data in the FM Laboratory, buying a gift card does not payout through portals, so you most likely cannot double dip.
Conclusion
I have no affiliate links for eBags nor am I trying to sell you something, but I figured given the Amex Offer, anniversary sale and generous portal payouts going on right now this was worth highlighting. After all it is never a bad time to practice your ninja skills!
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Will the cashback site payout if you use a coupon that isn’t on their site? I know some companies are sticklers about this. I wasn’t sure how Ebags is?
TIA
I just so happen to like those Keens too, so this was perfect! My old ones were wearing out.
Glad it helped!
@Mike I have successfully combined multiple eBags gift cards in the past into a single gift card using online chat in order to stack the Amex deals. I’ve done this many times but the last time was a couple of months ago.
This particular sale (18YEARS) is advertised on the eBates site so it is safe to use. I used it myself this weekend and it only took about 3-hours to receive the cash back notification from eBates.
You do have to be careful with the portals when using gift cards. All of them exclude cash back on the purchase of gift cards. Some like BeFrugal even exclude use of a gift card with “purchase or redemption of gift card value.”
I believe there’s also a $50 off $150 promotion going on right now. That could yield a better discount if your item is ~150.
Good point and I do believe that is valid with Ebates as well since it is listed on their site.
Datapoint: Purchased 5 eBags $50 GCs in December, each using an Amex offer for $10 off $50. Ebags customer service will combine the eGC #s into a single eGC for you through online chat. Went through eBates portal for cash back and stacked with a eBags coupon code, paid with eGC and Access More card for the balance due not covered by eGC. Cash back was only paid out on the balance charged to credit card, not on amount paid with eGCs, so no double dipping. Access More bonused eBags.com at 3x TYPs.
I tried going through ebates, but the promo code would not apply. When I went directly to ebags, the code worked fine. Seems you can’t stack the two.
Are you allowed to use promo code when buying via Ebates?
Yes the promo code is listed on the Ebates site.
Is it possible to combine multiple GCs hit with amex offer I to a single one?