Special Report: Paid to Shop

Forget about the mall madness this holiday season - Esther Ku of Arlington is doing all her shopping from her sofa.

Esther Ku, Online shopper
"I prefer to shop online over a brick and mortar store."

Esther is like millions of others who will be skipping the malls and heading straight for their computers.

Shopper
"I don’t want to deal with the long lines, finding a parking spot. It's cold outside."

Some people like to shop online for the convenience, others like the selection - - now some companies are giving consumers an even greater reason to log-on - - they'll pay you for it!

Dan Sondhelm, Butterflymall.com
"We pay you to shop at over 600 named brand merchants."

Dan Sondhelm is with Butterflymall.com. It’s just one of a handful of web sites whose only purpose is to send you to online stores. They get paid to do it - and pass that on to you.

Dan Sondhelm, Butterflymall.com
"All of the fees that we collect, we pay 80 percent back to the consumers."

Here’s how it works - - you sign up and log on to a referral web site like Butterflymall, E-bates or Fatwallet.com. From there, you find the online store you want to visit, and then, shop away.

Dan Sondhelm, Butterflymall.com
"You can save up to 40 percent of every purchase depending on the web site."

For example - - if you were to fill up your shopping bag at the Gap.com with this jacket, a sweater and these slippers - - you'd be paying $195.50. If you went to Butterflymall first - the same items after a 4 percent cash back offer would be $187 and change.

A pair of Wellies and a dress shirt at Pink.com totals $270. But you get 8 percent of that back if you clicked through Butterflymall.com. That’s over $21 off!

Shopper
"If you’re making money shopping, that’s like a woman’s dream!"

The savings aren't instant. Stores want to make sure you keep the products before they give out any reward. But once it’s credited to your account, you can request a check. Sondhelm says although it may be hard to believe, there’s no catch.

The only catch is that consumers didn't catch this years ago they've been spending to much on their internet shopping, there leaving money on the table

It’s money Esther Ku says she won’t be leaving behind any more

Esther Ku, Online shopper
"If you save money on buying gifts for other people you can spend more money on yourself."

Each referral web site has different deals with merchants - so the cash-back may vary.

For more information:

http://www.butterflymall.com
http://www.ebates.com
http://www.fatwallet.com