Capital One Shopping Review – An Easy Way to Save Money When Shopping Online

Shopping online is already an effective way to save money, as it’s easier to compare prices and look for sales than to travel to multiple stores in person. Plus, if you use various online shopping browser extensions, you can simplify your life even further and ensure you find the best deals.

Capital One Shopping is one of the most popular shopping browser extensions, with millions of users. If you want to effortlessly save money and find lower prices when shopping online, Capital One Shopping is a must-download.

Key Features of Capital One Shopping

Formerly known as Wikibuy, Capital One Shopping is a comparison shopping and coupon platform. It aims to save users money by leveraging price comparison, coupon codes, and loyalty offers to help users find better deals.

Capital One Shopping is free to use, and getting started only takes a few minutes. Users create an account online by connecting their Facebook account or signing up at www.capitaloneshopping.com with an email address. Once you have an account, you’re ready to save money online on things you’d buy anyway — and to earn free gift cards for future purchases.

Capital One Shopping Browser Extension 

Capital One Shopping is an extension add-on for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari web browsers.  It’s the easiest way to use Capital One Shopping to find online savings.

As you shop online, Capital One Shopping scours the web to find better prices. When you view a product on a website like Amazon, Capital One Shopping automatically notifies you if it finds an alternative retailer with a lower price. The extension has a pop-up notification that pings you about lower Amazon prices or other retailers offering better deals.

Rather than spending precious time browsing multiple websites for deals, Capital One Shopping’s price comparison tool lets you shop with confidence and the knowledge you aren’t getting ripped off on a specific purchase.

Capital One Shopping has data at over 30,000  U.S. stores, including online retailers like: 

• Amazon
• AT&T
• CVS
• Macy’s
• Nike
• Target
• Walgreens
• Walmart

With pricing data available for so many retailers, you’re more likely to find a better deal with Capital One Shopping. And you can rest assured that Capital One Shopping recommends only reputable, safe-to-shop retailers.

Automatically Apply Coupons at Checkout

Capital One Shopping is similar to free browser extensions like Honey in that it also applies available coupons at checkout. Leveraging its massive membership base, Capital One Shopping can detect coupons that work for specific retailers and ensure members who shop at those retailers use those same codes.

Coupons don’t always work, but it’s still a low-effort way to save money and time since you don’t have to search for coupon codes yourself.

Between the price comparison feature and automatic coupons, you can use Capital One Shopping to find the best deals online and to even score potential discounts.

Add a cash-back credit card to your shopping routine, and you’re saving even more money each time you shop online.

Price Drop Alerts

If you don’t find a deal and aren’t happy with the current price of a specific product, you can add that product to your Capital One Shopping watch list. Once a product is on your watch list, you receive notifications if the price drops or if Capital One Shopping finds a better deal.

It’s an incredibly low-effort way to save money. Use the Capital One Shopping extension when shopping online to add a product to your watch list. You can keep track of your watch list or remove existing products through the Capital One Shopping website.

Price Protection 

Following its acquisition of Paribus, Capital One Shopping added price protection to the mix. To get price protection, just link the email mailbox where you receive e-receipts to your Capital One Shopping account. 

From there, Capital One Shopping scans e-receipt emails to look for recent price drops on products you bought recently. If your previous online purchases are eligible for price protection, Capital One Shopping files claims on your behalf to get your refund.

This is similar to credit card price protection, and once you link your email to your Capital One Shopping account, it kicks in automatically. Capital One Shopping’s price protection doesn’t always work, but it’s yet another automatic way that Capital One Shopping helps you save online.

Product Search

You can use the product search feature on Capital One Shopping’s website or scan barcodes using the app when you’re in a store.

When you search for a product using this feature, Capital One Shopping displays a list of websites where you can purchase it. Capital One Shopping also shows any sales and factors in shipping costs and taxes to highlight the lowest price in their database. The product search feature also considers any coupons and promo codes if they’re available.

The product search feature is the easiest way to start an online shopping trip if you know exactly what you’re looking for. Scanning a product’s barcode with the mobile app also helps you discover whether you’re better off shopping online or visiting another retailer.

Price History

Capital One Shopping also displays products’ price history with up to a year of data. That’s useful for identifying whether a sale is truly a sale and whether you can expect a price to continue dropping or it’s the right time to buy. 

Capital One Shopping doesn’t make a judgment call for you, but if the current price is significantly higher than the yearly average price, it can be a good idea to wait for a better deal.

Earn Free Gift Cards

You can score free gift cards by shopping at specific Capital One Shopping partners.

If you shop online at Capital One Shopping’s retail partners, you earn Capital One Shopping credits. This is similar to Rakuten, which pays you PayPal cash, or the Honey Gold reward platform, which offers gift cards as an incentive. Capital One Shopping rotates their loyalty offers, but you can often find major retailers like Walmart alongside dozens of other stores.

There are several ways to earn Capital One Shopping credits. When you’re shopping online, the browser extension notifies you if your purchase qualifies for rewards. Alternatively, you can browse Capital One Shopping’s website for featured offers and trending deals to find reward offers. Offers rotate frequently, so it’s worth checking each time you shop.

Capital One Shopping credits are redeemable for free electronic gift cards. To access Capital One Shopping rewards, head to the Redeem section of the website. Gift card rewards begin at $5, and popular merchants include:

• Amazon
• Best Buy
• eBay
• Kohl’s
• Lowe’s
• Macy’s
• Nike
• Sephora
• Walmart

Complete Local Offers

Shopping online at specific partners is the main way to earn Capital One Shopping credits. But you can also complete local shopping offers to earn credits, offering more flexibility to save online or in-store.

Local offers are unique offers available only in your zip code. There are only three steps to redeem local offers:

1. Link a Card. Link an eligible credit or debit card to your Capital One Shopping account. You must shop for local offers with a linked card to receive Capital One Shopping credits.
2. Find Offers. Check online or through the Capital One Shopping app to find local offers. Offers state how many credits they’re worth.
3. Earn Rewards. Earn Capital One Shopping credits after buying a local offer and paying with a linked card.

Many local offers pay 2% to 4% back in shopping credits. They’re an excellent way to support local businesses while earning meaningful rewards.

What Information Does Capital One Shopping Collect?

According to Capital One Shopping, the app collects the following types of information from its users:

• Email Information. Capital One Shopping can collect email sender, recipient, date, and subject information from your inbox. Capital One Shopping also collects transaction information, travel bookings, and purchase receipts. Capital One Shopping only collects information from emails that their automatic system detects as being from retailers or online merchants.
• Shopping Information. Through their extension, Capital One Shopping collects data on product pages you view, pricing information, purchase history data, and different coupons you use.
• Personal Information. When you sign up for Capital One Shopping, you provide Capital One with basic personal information like your name, address, billing and shipping address, and credit card information if you connect a card.

If the idea of giving up this kind of information makes you uncomfortable, Capital One Shopping’s savings might not be worth it.

Advantages of Capital One Shopping

Several advantages make Capital One Shopping one of the most popular shopping browser extensions.

• Completely Free. Using Capital One Shopping just requires a Facebook account or email address. There aren’t any hidden membership fees or premium features you have to pay to use.
• Automatic & Simple. One of the easiest ways to maximize your savings rate is to make certain saving behaviors automatic. With Capital One Shopping, you can feel confident you’ve automatically found a great deal when shopping. Looking for coupon codes or loyalty credits offers takes time. Capital One Shopping automates this entire process, and as long as you add the extension, the work is off your plate. You can use features like local offers or price history data to dig deeper, but at its core, Capital One Shopping is an automatic savings tool.
• Powerful Product Search Feature. The Capital One Shopping extension works best when you’re browsing online and not quite sure of what you want to purchase. However, the product search feature is immensely powerful when you know the exact product you want. For big-ticket products like appliances and electronics, for which the price discrepancy between retailers can be wider than inexpensive buys, this feature can save a decent amount of money as long as you remember to use the tool before shopping.
• Multiple Ways to Save. Capital One Shopping is a robust platform that has something for every shopper. If you want automatic savings, the coupon codes and price comparison feature are all you need. In contrast, if you want to maximize your savings, shopping through Capital One Shopping partners or buying local offers are easy ways to earn free gift cards.
• Easily Accessible. The Capital One Shopping extension is available on several browsers, and there’s also an app for Android and iOS devices (extension is not available through the app). Anyone shopping at U.S. retailers can easily use Capital One Shopping.

Disadvantages of Capital One Shopping

Although Capital One Shopping is a versatile shopping platform that’s easy to use and is mostly automatic, there are still several drawbacks:

• Only Available to U.S. Users. Unlike other shopping extensions like Honey or Rakuten, which both operate in several countries, Capital One Shopping only works for online stores in the U.S. That’s a considerable drawback for users outside the U.S. or anyone living in the U.S. shopping internationally.
• Data Sharing Requirement. According to Capital One Shopping, this app collects email information, shopping information, and personal information from users. You must be comfortable with giving up your user data when using a service like Capital One Shopping. According to Capital One, Capital One Shopping doesn’t share your personal information with their affiliates or any nonaffiliates, so there isn’t a need to opt out. However, that still means Capital One stores your information on its servers.
• Lower Prices Sometimes Have a Catch. Capital One Shopping makes an effort to factor in shipping times when finding better deals. However, the platform sometimes recommends products with significantly longer shipping times than if you simply bought what you wanted through Amazon Prime or from a direct retailer. So, to maximize your savings with Capital One Shopping, give yourself plenty of runway for receiving packages. Don’t use it for last-minute shopping.

How Capital One Shopping Stacks Up

Capital One Shopping is among the best comparison shopping tools on the market, if not the best.

It doesn’t have the space all to itself, though. One of its top competitors is Price.com, which also offers access to thousands of individual deals and boasts a browser extension for automated savings.

Final Word

At its core, Capital One Shopping is an automatic way to save money when shopping online. The price comparison feature and extensive coupon database make it easy for shoppers to find better deals and easy savings when buying from online U.S. retailers. Plus, earning free gift cards for shopping is a nice way to get paid to shop.

Just remember: Capital One Shopping is just one money-saving program you should have in your toolkit. Other reward apps like Ibotta and Fetch Rewards are also useful for saving money if you mostly shop in-store. And, you should also stick to a monthly budget even if you’re snagging deals to ensure you stay on track of your personal finances.

Capital One Shopping compensates us when you get the Capital One Shopping extension using the links we provided.