Consumer technologies are unbelievably advanced these days. We have smart home devices to control our lights and thermostats, remote home entry systems, VR headsets, voice-to-text audio features, AI assistants at your fingertips…it’s really overwhelming to think about how much technology can improve our lives with minimal effort on our part!
Smartphone and tablet apps are also becoming extraordinarily useful, from low-cost therapy chats and first aid advice apps to automated money-saving apps, such as Earny. If you’ve ever purchased something online, only to realize a few weeks later that the price dropped significantly, then you understand the frustration of buying something at the wrong time.
Fortunately, Earny’s algorithm is designed to eliminate this frustration altogether by getting your cash back on your purchase to match the newly lowered price. It’s a super easy way to save money shopping online without having to go back and manually check prices on items you purchased recently.
If you would like to save money effortlessly, then here are some things to consider before downloading the Earny app.
Earny Review
Automatic Cash-Back on Purchases
With Earny, you don’t have to upload any receipts or keep track of your purchases to get cash back on price drops if/when they occur. Instead, the app is synced with your email inboxes to automatically search through your receipts and compare the prices you paid to other listed prices for the same item online. If Earny detects a lower price, then it automatically claims the price difference in the form of a refund on your behalf.
Unless you’re already doing this manually, which you probably aren’t, Earny is a no-lose opportunity for you to save money on online purchases.
Price Protection
So, how does Earny work? While the app doesn’t cover all purchases you make online, Earny has conveniently partnered with several prominent retailers. Retailers such as Best Buy, Costco, Kohls’ Macy’s, Overstock, Sears, Walmart, and Zappos give you 30-day price protections on purchases made on their websites.
Additionally, you can sync your credit card with the Earny app to ensure you get even more price protections from your credit card purchases. With this feature, you typically have 120 days to claim a refund on the price difference. However, you normally need to manually request a refund from your credit card provider in order to get your money back.
For credit card price protections, Earny tracks items purchased from major websites including Amazon, Best Buy, Old Navy, Overstock, Target, and Walmart, and automatically claims refunds.
What’s the Catch?
Earny isn’t perfect, but the pros seem to outweigh the cons. One downside is that Earny takes 25% of the refunds it gets back for you, but since you might never have gotten these refunds in the first place, it’s really a small price to pay for big rewards.
Additionally, there may be privacy concerns involved for Earny users, as the app requests access to your email accounts in order for the app to function properly. Specifically, Earny asks for permission to “read, send, delete, and manage” your email.
This may seem like a daunting request for anyone concerned about their personal information online. However, Earny’s security and privacy policies include protections such as multi-level security encryption, VPN systems with threat detection and dynamic data masking, as well as two-factor authentication.
Should You Sign Up for Earny?
Signing up for Earny is pretty easy. Just sign into your account and grant Earny permission to scour through your online receipts to see if you’re potentially missing out on a refund within the 30-120 price protection windows available from retailers and/or credit card companies.
You don’t have to pay anything for the app, it just takes a portion of your refund only when it gets a refund back for you. This means you won’t have to pay a dime until Earny succeeds on your behalf, making it an effortless way to save money on your online purchases without having to go back and compare prices on purchases you made weeks ago.
I’ve used earny for a few months now. I’ve saved $2.45.