Capital One Shopping Review [2024] - Does It Really Save You Money?
As Americans spend more and more time shopping online, companies have developed platforms to help individuals save money shopping online. To utilize these extensions, all you need to do is install a plug-in that attaches itself to a web browser, such as Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. But to leverage your online savings, you need to choose the most suitable browser extension for your shopping needs. If you are searching for the best of the best, it’s hard to top the Capital One Shopping extension.
What is Capital One Shopping?
In a nutshell, Capital One Shopping is a free coupon and rewards app that can help you save money while you shop online. This popular browser extension was created by an Austin-Texas-based company in 2014 but was purchased by Capital One in 2018. Don’t be deceived by the name of the extension, you don’t need to have a Capital One account to take advantage of this shopping extension. With millions of people using this tool every day, Capital One Shopping extension helped its loyal participants collectively save over $70 million just last year.
Capital One Shopping is available in the form of a browser extension and as a mobile application. While this shopping tool has many advantageous features that we will explore in detail, some of its beneficial functions include searching for lower prices on items you are viewing, locating accurate promo codes, and notifying you when there’s a better deal available from another retailer. This shopping tool can be utilized on thousands of websites including Barnes & Noble, Nike, L.L Bean, Sephora, Walmart, and Target.
Pros:
- Makes it simple to save money
- Safe and secure
- Available as both a browser extension and mobile application
- Easy to add and remove
- Completely free
- A large variety of redeemable gift card options
- Offers high rewards that can be redeemed for gift cards relative to other shopping extensions
Cons:
- No cash payout option
The Bottom Line: Not only is the Capital One Shopping extension free and easy to use, but this top-notch shopping tool also has features that offer more benefits than most other browser extensions on the market. Capital One Shopping works with 30,000 online retailers, offers numerous gift card options, and generous Capital One Shopping Rewards compared to other browser extensions.
How to get Capital One Shopping
One of the best parts about Capital One Shopping is it's extremely easy to get started with this tool. To maximize your saving opportunities, simply set aside five to ten minutes of your time to start your saving journey as soon as possible. The Capital One Shopping browser extension will give shoppers access to lower prices, promo codes, online coupons, and access to amazing deals on your favorite items.
Ensure You Have an Appropriate Browser
First things first: you will want to ensure that you have a browser that supports Capital One Shopping to save money on online purchases. Thankfully, this shopping tool works on most browsers including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari. If you don’t already use or have one of these applications on your computer, now is the time to download one.
Download Capital One Shopping
Now that you have a browser that supports Capital One Shopping, you can proceed to download this money-saving tool. After making your way to Capital One Shopping's website, you should easily be able to find a button to download the shopping browser extension. Capital One Shopping's website will detect which browser you are currently using (so make sure that this is the browser that you use the most frequently) and will then download the free browser extension. By clicking on the download button, you will be directed to the web store for that browser (eg. Google Chrome web store). It is there that you will add the extension to your browser.
Sign up for Capital One Shopping
The last step you must complete before you begin shopping? Creating your Capital One Shopping account. To create your Capital One Shopping account you must simply provide an email address and password. The platform will also ask you to provide your ZIP code to ensure that you are a U.S Citizen (Capital One Shopping only works in the United States). There will also be a place to note whether or not you are an Amazon Prime member. This is simply so that the shopping tool can factor in free shipping if you choose to order an item through Amazon.
Capital One Shopping Mobile App on iOS and Android
As mentioned earlier, there is a mobile Capital One Shopping app available for download for both iOS and Android. Typically, the app is used in addition to the desktop browser extension, because on its own, the app isn’t as substantial. There are features available on the mobile app that work well, but to save the most money and great deals, it’s important to use the browser extension.
The app allows you to search for items and look at prices from selected popular retailers. What the mobile app can show you will be limited compared to what you can find on the desktop extension, but it can still be a useful feature for browsing on the go. The mobile app has a nice feature that will let you scan barcodes of physical products, and you can see prices from online retailers of what you scan. There are a few other features that come with using the app, so it might be worth a look if you find yourself on the go a lot.
How to use Capital One Shopping
There are many nifty shopping features on Capital One Shopping that you will want to be aware of. The more you know about Capital One Shopping, the more you can benefit from its money-saving features. Below we will highlight a few of its most significant shopping features that can help you save money while online shopping.
Automatic Coupons and Discounts
One of the easiest ways to save money using the Capital One Shopping app is by using the automatic coupon codes that it provides you with. If you are shopping on a website that is supported by Capital One Shopping, you will receive a pop-up notification upon checkout. Is the store you are shopping at currently offering a site-wide 20% off deal or a holiday special? If it is, Capital One Shopping will know about it and provide you with the coupon code. Some of these coupon codes are available publicly online, other coupon codes have been crowdsourced by other Capital One Shopping users.
If the online retailer is currently offering multiple discounts, Capital One Shopping will scroll through each coupon code and automatically apply the discount for your purchase. Depending on the store’s policy, you may even be able to use more than one coupon when you check out.
Reward System
Capital One Shopping doesn’t just help you with saving money, it also helps you make money. As you continue to use Capital One Shopping to purchase items online, you will slowly accumulate reward points known as Capital One Shopping credits. Whenever you go on a supported retailer’s website, a green button will appear showing you the amount of Capital One Shopping Credits you can earn from a certain purchase.
All you have to do to ensure you receive these shopping credits? Click the “Activate” button immediately or when you check out. Once you have racked up a decent amount of rewards (which will happen sooner than you think), you then have the option to redeem these shopping credits as an online gift card. Users have many redeemable gift card options including Barnes & Noble, Macy’s, Walmart, Lowe’s, and Petco.
Price Comparison
One of Capital One Shopping’s more unique tools is its Price Comparison Tool. This tool is not offered by many other money-saving extensions in the same capacity and is one of the tools that helps set Capital One Shopping apart from its competitors. This tool helps you find the incredible deals for the product you are purchasing.
For example, you may be looking to purchase a new pair of Apple AirPods from Amazon. But the same model of AirPods may be available at Walmart or Target for a lower price.
If that is indeed the case, Capital One Shopping will notify you that there is a more desirable deal available and where you can access this deal. This shopping tool will also notify you of the exact amount of money you can save by purchasing this item from another retailer. For example, if Apple AirPods are currently $39.99 cheaper at Walmart, Capital One Shopping will provide you with this information.
Price Watch
We’ve all had the experience of finding an item we wish to purchase, but with a price tag that is just out of our budget. Whenever that situation occurs, users can simply add the item to their Capital One Shopping Watchlist. Capital One Shopping will then track the price of the item and notify you if the price drops. If you wish to stop receiving price drop alerts on a product, you can also remove it from your product history.
Participants also have the option to view the price history for a certain product. Capital One Shopping will show you how the price of an item fluctuated over 365 days, which can help the consumer make an informed decision on when to purchase it.
Trending Deals
Capital One Shopping’s trending deals function can come in handy on more than one occasion. By simply visiting the Capital One Shopping homepage, users can discover if a certain store or brand has any “trending deals” or “featured offers.” These deals will either be a site-wide discount or will allow you to accumulate more Capital One Shopping rewards.
Is Capital One Shopping legit?
Yes, Capital One Shopping is indeed legitimate. Not only is this platform owned by one of the most established and well-known companies in the financial industry, but it also has millions of active users who use this tool regularly. Just last year alone, Capital One Shopping helped its users collectively save $70 million through its various features. Additionally, Capital One Shopping has also been accredited by the Better Business Bureau, which is always a good way to confirm whether or not a company is a scam or not. You can also find countless reviews online. A shopping review gives you a customer’s perspective on pros and cons of shopping online with the Capital One Shopping extension. Capital One Shopping reviews can also offer insight into the best ways to use the features of the Capital One shopping extension.
Is Capital One Shopping safe?
Yes, Capital One Shopping is a safe tool to use. Keep in mind, that one of the reasons that the shopping extension functions as well as it does is because it has access to your shopping history. However, according to Capital One’s Opt-Out Privacy Notice, this shopping history and personal information is not shared with any other affiliate companies or online stores. This means that you will not receive any unwanted marketing emails or text messages from unfamiliar companies after signing up for Capital One Shopping.
Is Honey or Capital One Shopping better?
Capital One Shopping and Honey are very similar shopping tools. Both money-saving browser extensions will provide you with automated coupon codes, reward money, and price comparisons.
That said, Capital One Shopping has a slight edge over Honey with most of these tools. When it comes to both platforms' reward programs, Capital One Shopping is typically able to offer a higher reward percentage compared to Honey. For example, in situations where Honey will be able to offer customers a vague 3% to 7% cashback on an item, Capital One Shopping will typically be able to offer slightly higher, and confirmed 8% Capital One Shopping Rewards, which can be redeemed for gift cards. Honey will also always provide consumers with a cash-back range, whereas Capital One Shopping will always provide consumers with a confirmed percentage so they know exactly what they will be getting back.
Another advantage that Capital One Shopping vs Honey is that its Price Comparison tool can work across multiple platforms. While Capital One Shopping can compare an item’s price across Amazon, Walmart, Ultra, Target, and others, Honey can only compare prices across various Amazon sellers.
Does Capital One Shopping work on Amazon?
Yes, Capital One Shopping works on Amazon. This browser extension can find coupons on Amazon, compare prices on Amazon to other retailers, and watch for price drops on Amazon. Capital One Shopping will even factor in a user’s Amazon Prime status if it is relevant to purchase.
FAQs
How to redeem Capital One Shopping Rewards
Capital One Shopping rewards will appear as “credits” in your account. Once you activate a reward by clicking on the button, the credit should appear in your account within 7 days. There will be a blue Capital One Shopping button you can select that says “redeem credit” and various gift card options will appear. Each gift card has a different minimum cash-out amount. For example, some gift cards have a $5 minimum, while others may have a $25 minimum to cash out.
What are Capital One Shopping Rewards
Capital One Shopping Rewards are credits that you receive from using this shopping tool. When you purchase items from retailers participating in Capital One Shopping’s platform, you will earn reward points that can be then traded in for gift cards.
Who can use the Capital One Shopping browser extension?
You don’t need to be a Capital One customer to download the browser extension. Anyone with a compatible browser can download the extension, but you must be 18 years or older to use Capital One Shopping’s services.
What features does Capital One Shopping offer?
Capital One Shopping features include automatic coupons and discounts, a reward system, a price comparison tool, price watch, and trending deals. These deals help shoppers save more money than shoppers who don't use Capital One Shopping.
How to remove Capital One Shopping
In the same way, Capital One Shop is easy to add, this extension is also easy to remove. Simply click on the “Extensions” button on your browser and then “Manage Extensions.” Once you have been navigated to this page, there should be a button that says “Remove.”
How does Capital One Shopping make money?
Capital One Shopping partners with retailers and makes a certain commission when participants make purchases at those stores. By recommending stores or making certain stores more appealing, Capital One Shopping encourages more users to shop at these stores. This system benefits Capital One Shopping, its partners, and its users.
Is there a Capital One Shopping mobile app?
There is a Capital One Shopping mobile app available for iOS and Android. The app doesn’t have the same level of functionality that the browser extension does, so it’s best to use the app alongside the browser extension to save money.
How to delete Capital One Shopping
Navigate to the “Extensions” page of your browser. For example, for Chrome users, this page can be accessed in the upper right-hand corner of your browser. Then, click “Manage Extensions.” All of your extensions will be located on this page and will be easy to remove.
How to use Capital One Shopping on Amazon
Capital One Shopping works the same way on Amazon as it does on all other online shopping platforms. Participants will receive automatic coupons, price comparisons, and reward points. One bonus is Amazon prime users' free shipping will also be factored into purchases made through Capital One Shopping.
Does Capital One Shopping require a membership fee?
Capital One Shopping is 100% completely free. There are no hidden fees or sneaky monthly charges. There is no membership fee to download and use the Capital One Shopping browser extension.
Is Capital One Shopping better than Honey?
Capital One Shopping and Honey are very similar tools. While both tools include many of the same features, there are a few advantages to using Capital One Shopping over Honey, including higher reward percentages and more redeemable gift card options. Honey is a more Amazon-focused tool and has not partnered with as many other retailers
Where can I find Capital One Shopping reviews?
There isn’t one website that has every review about Capital One Shopping listed, but a quick online search can help you find many reviews on Capital One Shopping. Lots of reviews will share pros and cons of using Capital One Shopping for online shopping. Some reviews may go into the best ways to use the app, and some people may use their personal blogs to share how they used The Capital One Shopping free browser extension to save money when online shopping.