Nice people thread part 5 - nicely does it

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

We make our own pizzas. You can buy frozen pizza bases, but Laffas make for much better, crispy pizzas. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taboon_bread)

Then we add the toppings of our choice - plenty veg, but very easy on the cheese.

Can you please delete the quoted part you replied to here. Thx.

PasturesNew

vivatifosi wrote: »

Can I please ask the NPs a favour? Can you explain to me how cashback sites like Quidco work? I've tried looking into these in the past but for whatever reason just didn't get it. Is there a benefit in it for me and how do I access it? What is the best one to use or do I have to use several. I don't buy masses over the net and have registered for sites in the past but they wouldn't give you money back until you get to a set amount and that took me ages to get to.

Fwiw I do most of my online shop with Amazon as you can get pretty much everything there, the prices are good and they are extremely reliable.

Thanks everyone.

Companies "pay" people, usually called affiliates, to introduce business to them. In the case of cashback companies they've created a site that brings all those companies together. So, if a cashback company introduces people to each of the companies on their site, they get paid for each and every one. It can be as little as £0.05, or as much as £50, depending on the product bought. e.g. Insurance, banking and home improvements pay well.

In order for the cashback companies to make this money, they have to find people to go to those sites, via their links on their site. So, they create a "membership site". As a member, you go to the cashback site, search for the company/product you were going to buy anyway and click on their link and proceed to buy it, at the price you would have been paying anyway. The cashback company gets credited with the sale - they are then in a position to give you cashback for buying through their link.

It can take up to 2-3 months for the cashback company to be paid by the company you bought something from, hence the sometimes long time until a payout.

PasturesNew

Absolutely SCORCHIO here today. Hot, sunny, blue skies..... and

What I saw in Property Bee yesterday was erroneous. My sale is still progressing healthily and survey expected imminently.

Nikkster

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've deleted a bunch of postings from last night... if anybody's quoted me regarding my tea, please delete your quotey bit. Had a PM that I should delete it as it's sensitive.

Done

What tea?!

PasturesNew

Nikkster wrote: »

Done

What tea?!

I had no idea it'd run away like that.......

PasturesNew

Vacuum storage bags ... when you first discover them you think "genius!" then you try one out and you think "go large - get the biggest... big = good". But here's the lowdown....

Big is NOT good. Once vacuumed up, you're dealing with an odd-shaped, and quite heavy, plastic bag. So, it needs protecting, usually put into a box or suitcase or something.... trouble is, finding one that's big enough. All my boxes are quite small as I only possess boxes I am physically able to carry/lift.

I think putting each one into rubble sacks might be a solution though.... have to pick some up when I'm next in a shop.

michaels

Following on from PNs answer, car insurance is probably the best way up thinking of it. In the past insurance brokers would find you a policy with one of the big insurance companies and take some commission from the money you paid for the policy to cover their business costs and profit. When insurance moved on line the sites like 'compare the meerkat' and 'confused.com' offered the same service, when you do a search on one of these sites and then click through to buy the policy from an insurance company the company pays the search site a commission.

The cashback sites model is that rather than the commission going to a search site it can go straight back to the purchaser (less a small cut to run the cashback site). The level of cut varies, some sites pay in 'points' or similar to the exact commission payment is hard to ascertain. Others pay cash, some offering '100%' of commission refunded (they still make a profit as they earn bonus commission for reaching higher levels of transactions). The two main players are quidco (£5 annual fee payable only if you make more than £5 in each year) and topcashback (free).

As well as the insurance companies lots of other retailers also pay other sites if they bring shoppers to their website (this is how PN makes money from her brilliant informative articles) so you can shop at Debenhams online for example and get about 6% of your total purchase bill back. As PN says it generally takes 2-3 months for the money to come through.

2 warnings. In the past a few sites ahve gone broke and people have not ben paid out. Also getting your money depends on the IT working properly that the shop knows and rewards the site that sent you to their site. This is done using 'cookies' which tll the shop where you have come from. This does not always work smoothly, your browser security may block the tracking or you may have visited the sites directly or from another link first and the tracking becomes confused.

Amazon do pay some referral commission but in their T&C it is not permitted to pass this on as cash so generally cashback is not available for them but I think they may be on some of the sites that give points rather than cash?

Topcashback have a scheme to encourage new members, if you wanted to use them and asked me or someone else with an account I and you could get a £5 bonus.

vivatifosi wrote: »

Can I please ask the NPs a favour? Can you explain to me how cashback sites like Quidco work? I've tried looking into these in the past but for whatever reason just didn't get it. Is there a benefit in it for me and how do I access it? What is the best one to use or do I have to use several. I don't buy masses over the net and have registered for sites in the past but they wouldn't give you money back until you get to a set amount and that took me ages to get to.

Fwiw I do most of my online shop with Amazon as you can get pretty much everything there, the prices are good and they are extremely reliable.

Thanks everyone.

michaels

I don't think they need protecting, they are pretty high grade plastic but I do agree that too big is not that good as the different contents don't shrink evenly so you end you with something pretty lumpy and irregular and also heavy. I also find quite a few fail either immediately or you come back months later and they are big again - may be I put the wrong things in or buy too cheap ones of ebay though!

PasturesNew wrote: »

Vacuum storage bags ... when you first discover them you think "genius!" then you try one out and you think "go large - get the biggest... big = good". But here's the lowdown....

Big is NOT good. Once vacuumed up, you're dealing with an odd-shaped, and quite heavy, plastic bag. So, it needs protecting, usually put into a box or suitcase or something.... trouble is, finding one that's big enough. All my boxes are quite small as I only possess boxes I am physically able to carry/lift.

I think putting each one into rubble sacks might be a solution though.... have to pick some up when I'm next in a shop.

lostinrates

Hate those vacuum bags. Moved to italy with them in the car, one behind the drivers seat burst and started to reinflate pushing my seat forward.

vivatifosi

Thanks michaels. For my spend online I'm not convinced its worth it, but will deffo link through you if I decide to go ahead. How much do you have to spend to get back? If I buy from Amazon I probably spend £300-500 per year, give or take. If that's only worth £3-5 or less I'd probably not go for it.

I buy a lot of things when I go abroad, which is quite often, so the UK retail recovery is probably not best pinned at my door in hindsight. Other than that my shopping tends to be with Mr T, Mr S, Boots for toiletries and Wilkos for general household bits and bobs.

My other big spend is for bits to do the house up, but I tend to save more money by using the trade connections my family has than by buying online. In terms of flights, well DH works for an airline.

Am I talking myself out of this? Anyone think it would be worthwhile for me? Maybe I should do it just so michaels (who will use it) can get a fiver...