Big Crumbs Reviews | BigCrumbs.com

The Site: BigCrumbs.com

• Shop at popular travel sites: Travelocity, Hotels.com, Expedia, Orbitz, Choice Hotels, Southwest Vacations, and get cash back
• Big Crumbs has over 17 different shopping categories, not limited to travel:  Auto, Food & Drink, Sport & Fitness, Clothing
• Cash back (often up to 4% cash back on your total travel purchase price) varies depending on the travel site
• Cash back payments are sent securely to your designated PayPal account
• Your own personal Big Crumbs “Profile Page” that you may customize, add friends and begin social networking
• Ability to earn additional cash back on purchases made by any friends you refer to Big Crumbs, but you’re not required to refer
• Use it to promote your eBay store
• Two BigCrumbs.com Membership Options (both FREE):

1. CrumbSaver:  Earn maximum cash back on your own shopping, as well as referral commissions on the shopping of any friends referred to Big Crumbs.
2. CrumbEarner:  Earn a cash back on your own shopping at Big Crumbs; however, in addition to earning referral commissions on your direct referrals, you also earn when more referrals of your referrals shop, and so on, up to 5 generations away.

UPDATE: “Effective April 2, 2010, BigCrumbs will streamline its program into one membership type from the current dual membership types (i.e. CrumbEarner and CrumbSaver). Under the new program, everyone will enjoy the same high cash back rates, while still having an opportunity to earn generous referral commissions. The benefits of this change are many, including simplification of the program, higher sign-up rates, equal shopping rewards for all, and optimized overall earning opportunities. In general, former CrumbEarners now earn 60%-80% higher cash back, plus many will see an increase in referral commissions. Additionally, former CrumbSavers can now be paid on the referrals of their referrals.” – BigCrumbs.com

The Good:

Although Big Crumbs is not a travel site, we review it here because it allows you to get cash back from Travelocity, Orbitz and other travel sites, simply by clicking through to these travel sites from your Big Crumbs account.  We like how easy Big Crumbs is to use. Signing up for BigCrumbs.com is extremely fast (and free).  After you have “joined” all you do is click on the link to the travel site that you want to book your travel through (ie. Orbitz.com), and Big Crumbs tracks your purchases made. You can easily see how much cash back you received on your Big Crumbs account page. If you already know you are going to buy something through Orbitz.com, then why not get cash back by going through Big Crumbs?  We can’t think of any reason not to.

This ingenious program works because Big Crumbs gets commissions from Orbitz (or any other retailer they use) if you make a purchase, and then they pass a portion of their commission onto you!  We like to think of it as a travel agent that gives you a percentage of their commission. You are not limited to travel purchases.  Big Crumbs has over 16 shopping categories, so you can get cash back for buying clothes, computers, and just about anything else that you shop for online.

The Bad:

Apparently, some people wonder if Big Crumbs is a scam. Remember, scams cost you money. Big Crumbs is free to join. All of your purchases are made on the retailers websites (ie. Priceline, Orbitz, Travelocity). We don’t see how Big Crumbs can interpreted as a “scam”. Be assured they are entirely legit. We personally have been Big Crumbs members for over two years, and continue to earn monthly cash back from our referrals.

The cash back amount is fairly small, unless you are making a big purchase.  We are skeptical of those that claim they “make a living” off of Big Crumbs referral income, as we don’t see it as a huge money earner.  It simply allows us to get a some cash back that we would not get otherwise.  For example, when you spend $1000 on your own travel booking, you might get back $45 or less from Big Crumbs… and you get far less cash back from your referrals. Nonetheless, we think Big Crumbs is ingenious. You heard about it here first!

The Fees *:

• After joining, to get cash back you must access each retailer through the links provided on the Big Crumbs website prior to each purchase.
• You must add a PayPal to your Big Crumbs account so they can pay you cash back. Otherwise they won’t.
• Cash back and commissions are computed on the net purchase amount (not including taxes or shipping)
• Cash Back amounts may not appear on your Big Crumbs account for up to one month.
• There is no minimum cash back payment amount!
• Cash back payments will be made to you after at least one month has elapsed, on about the 15th of the following month. (ie. Purchase in January, Cash Back in March).
• Up to $1 PayPal Payment Processing Fee will be accessed per cash back payment sent to you. This fee goes to PayPal.
• Gift cards and gift certificate purchases generally do not generate cash back.
• If you are lucky enough to exceed $600 in cash back from Big Crumbs during a calendar year, Big Crumbs will be required by law to send you a 1099 form. Gotta pay your taxes!

*Based solely on research done by TravelSiteCritic.com, these figures may be inaccurate and are subject to change. Double check before you buy. Reviews Disclosure

The Deals *: