If you've ever come across a site like Cashback Holic or Cashback Monitor and of course Citi card offers, you will find all sorts of shops you've never even heard of, like Sunday Citizen, Quince, Ardene, Roark, Society6, etc. And that's just the shops that have an online cashback agreement. I imagine there's thousands more that are out there, waiting to be discovered.
What I'm getting at is I'd like to know how to utilize these shops for my buying ability/awareness. I also want to know how they stay in business compared to the big retailers like Amazon and Walmart. So the first part - my buying ability. I rarely buy from small shops as they tend to have more expensive prices and even shipping. BTW one of them Roark I just looked at and it seems to be a more pricier version of Eddie Bauer. If there is an item I want or need what is the best way of finding the perfect small shop if it's cheaper than the big retailers (shipping included)? For example, an item like a nut crusher or grinder. One at a site called Pastry Chef Central is a few dollars cheaper than a different one on Amazon but the shipping charges are way overpriced making it cost more than the one on Amazon - they don't even offer free shipping if you buy a certain amount of things. So naturally I would keep buying on Amazon because most of the items I get for free shipping with my Prime membership, which is quicker delivery than most other retailers for a reasonable price too.
I'd like to give these kinds of online shops a chance but wow - in my opinion, they really need to step up to compete with the bigger retailers. Sites like Temu and Shein have cheap stuff but the whole site model is so annoying as they deliberately try to make you buy things you may not need just so you can help meet a minimum order limit before you can even checkout and pay. Hopefully I posted this in the right section. Mainly I want to understand how they are getting customers if I have only seen them on cashback sites and credit/debit card offers or is that their main way? Should I even worry about checking out these places? I'm not trying to start my own shop anytime soon but it's just natural curiosity I guess.
As of: 8/11/26:
EQ: 802 (prev. 799 on 7/12/26; 783 on 8/15/25; 798 on 1/10/25; 794 on 12/19/24; 781 on 9/20/24; 747 on 8/7/24; 781 on 7/1/24; 785 on 3/28/24. 778 on 2/6/24; 773 on 1/26/24; 750 on 1/7/24; 626 on 6/7/23 & 652 in April 2023) - FICO 8
EX: 804 (prev. 788 on 7/12/26; 766 on 8/15/25; 769 on 1/10/25; 767 on 10/26/24; 751 on 9/20/24; 729 on 8/7/24; 752 on 7/1/24; 761 on 755 on 2/6/24; 753 on 1/26/24; 732 on 1/7/24; 643 on 6/7/24; 619 in April 2023) - FICO 8
TU: 806 (prev. 802 on 7/12/26; 773 on 8/15/25; 768 on 1/10/25; 771 on 12/3/24; 756 on 9/6/24). - FICO 8.
Have:
- Amazon Prime Store Card: $10,000
- Amex Blue Cash Everyday (AU): $10,000
- Capital One Savor Cash Rewards: $3,600
- Chase Freedom Flex: $1,000
- Citi Custom Cash: $9,200
- Citi Double Cash: $8,000
- Citi Rewards +: $5,800
- Discover it Cashback: $4,000
- Kohl’s Charge: $3,000
- Mercury Rewards Visa: $4,390
- PayPal World Cashback MasterCard: $5,500
- Super Cash: Limit varies based on debit balance - doesn't show up in accounts anymore though on CRs.
