Get Cash Back for Online Music Shopping

Mark the date and time: 08/24/2010, time depending on when you read this.

Today is the day when I forgo my usual brilliant commentary on the state of guitar, captivating all and capturing the hearts and minds of the people.

Today is the day I get into the depressing reality of today’s economy, of our hardships, of the desire to close our eyes, click our heels, and wish that everything was right in the world again.

Today is the day I officially sell out… to myself and to you. Sort of…

Today is the day when I put it all aside and selfishly say to you all, “Hey, here’s something that will benefit both you and me. Check it out!”

One of the big trappings of becoming a blogger is the possible revenue you can generate by being successful. When you first start researching how to blog you find all of the great stories about bloggers making six-figure incomes from affiliate links, Google ads, and eBooks. The reality of the situation, however, is that when you’re just getting started it’s not quite that easy; especially when you are blogging about something like guitar where the blogging community is already dominated by absolutely amazing sites, such as 300 Guitars, Strat-o-Blogster, Guitar Noize, and I Heart Guitar. I can only hope to someday be as good as these guys, and although generating revenue isn’t necessarily my end-game, having some come in would certainly be nice.

Okay, so the point I’m trying to make is that money is on everyone’s mind, especially lately. My GAS list is as long as it has ever been, but like everyone else the money just isn’t there. It’s hard enough to justify a Friday night movie date with your wife nowadays let alone getting that 8-string Ibanez guitar you’ve had your eye on. (Yeah, I’ve had my eye on it.)

Despite whatever is on your GAS list, at the very least you’re always going to need some stuff from the music store. Cables, strings, picks, a strap, or maybe even the latest MP3 CD on iTunes from your favorite group. At the very most you might be lucky enough to still buy that axe you’ve been saving for.

When making your purchases, the best you could possibly hope for would be a sale on something you need, but most of the time the sales are for items you would never want to buy. Essentially, you’re stuck paying full price for stuff you probably need more than you want, in a down economy. What could be more depressing?

Now, what if I told you that there was a way to get cash back for shopping online at your favorite music websites; would you be intrigued?

Well, there is a way, and I’m going to tell you about it.

I must tell you up front that while you will get the benefit of receiving cash back for your purchases, I will also get a benefit by earning some residual income by providing the referrals. Lest you think I’m purely doing this out of the altruistic goodness of my heart, there is something in it for me. (Not that I don’t want to help y’all out, of course.)

It’s a lot like having an affiliate ad on my site, but whereas in traditional ads you don’t get any added incentive over the product purchase, and you have to buy the specific product being advertised, I’m giving you a way to get money back for anything and everything you purchase.

How It Works

Let’s get to it. The steps are very simple:

1. Go to www.sanuk-shopping.com.
2. Create an account (it’s free, and no spam) by clicking on the Sign In at the top right of the page.
3. Create your account (duh!).
4. When you are logged in, click on the Partner Stores tab.
5. Click any of the partner store names to be directed to their site. (You can click on the “Music” category on the right to get the stores you really want.)
6. Shop like you would normally shop on that store’s website.
7. When you place your order, you earn a percentage of your total order as cash back. The percentage will depend on what store you shop on. For example, Guitar Center, iTunes, Music 123, Musician’s Friend, Sam Ash, Sheet Music Plus, and zZounds all offer 2% cash back on your purchases.

How To Get Paid

The cash back accumulates in your account on sanuk-shopping.com. How long it takes for the cash back to show up generally depends on the store; many stores wait for the duration of their return policy so you don’t order something to get the cash back credit and then immediately cancel your order.

When your cash back grows to $50.00 or higher you can immediately request a check to be mailed to you.

Any web-based coupon codes you would normally use on these sites can still be used through my method, too, which obviously makes your savings even greater. The only thing you need to remember is that you must be logged into the sanuk-shopping.com website first, and then click through to the other sites from the Partner Stores page. (This is the critical step to remember; otherwise the site you are shopping on won’t know that you came from sanuk-shopping.com and your cash back won’t be credited.)

By Anything You Need From Virtually Any Website

Moreover, your purchases and cash back is not relegated to music stuff only. The website has over 3,600 partner stores and over 50 million products (way more than Amazon, by the way…), so you would be very hard pressed to try and buy something online that the site or partner stores don’t have.

So there it is. There really is no excuse for not getting cash back while buying all of your music gear and necessities online. Especially with the state of the economy as it is today, why would you not want to get money back for nothing more than an extra mouse click?