Do you remember the very first book your parents ever read to you? Each of us have a children’s book that tugs at our heart strings, reminding us of those blissful childhood memories when our parents would tuck us in bed and ask us, “What would you like me to read you tonight?”

What will you read your child tonight when you tuck them in bed? Check out the top 10 children’s books that we’ve selected, just for you! You can purchase these books for your Nook here and get 4% back! http://www.extrabux.com/stores/barnes-noble

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

2. Happy Birthday to You! by Dr. Seuss

3. Press Here by Herve Tullet

4. Oh, Baby, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

5. On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman

6. Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch

7. Ish by Peter H. Reynolds

8. Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

9. Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss

10. Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi

Get your hands on Elle’s Top 10 International Beauty product suggestions for 2013. Read what Elle has to say about each product below and follow the links to find where you can purchase them on Extrabux! Ladies, say goodbye to winter and greet spring with some fresh new products and a glow that will make the flowers bloom faster!

1. SK-II Facial Mask A “power nap for dull skin,” this mask makes skin perkier, plumer, and “easily five years younger.”

2. Kiehl’s Since 1851 Crème De Corps Never go without it, “it’s your daily must.”

3. M.A.C Ruby Woo “Universally flattering,” the saturated and satiny bright crimson M.A.C Ruby Woo is your go to “iconic red.”

4. L’Oreal Paris True Match No matter what your skin tone is, L’Oreal Paris True Match gives “lightweight, never cakey” coverage.

5. Crème De La Mer “Unrivaled” and “super-quenching.”

6. LOreal Everpure Moisture Shampoo The sulfate-free, “supersudsy” L’Oreal Paris EverPure Moisture Shampoo makes your hair soft and shiny.

7. Kerastase Nutritive Masquintense “Like a salon treatment,” Kerastase Masquintense “creates megashine” while “softening strawlike ends.”

8. John Frieda Frizz Ease Hair Serum “Essential for any weather,” John Frieda Frizz Ease “erases flyaways” but never feels greasy.

9. CoverGirl LashBlast Length Mascara “Better than lash extensions, ” CoverGirl LashBlast Length makes eyes “bigger and brighter” with just one coat.

10. Olay Regenerist Daily Regenerating Serum Olay Regenerist Regenerating Serum has that wrinkle-nixing power that “beats pricey alternatives.”

Black Friday Week Giveaway Raffle

There’s no better time to shop with Extrabux. We’re preparing for the holidays with big savings and cash back at more than 2,500 stores. To thank you for your loyalty, we’re giving away $500 shopping sprees to 3 lucky Extrabux members!

Want to Earn More Raffle Tickets?

Help us spread the word about Extrabux! Tell your friends and family how they can take advantage of Black Friday Deals from the comfort of home PLUS earn cash back with Extrabux! Earn 1 Raffle Ticket per Referral sign-up. *No self-referrals allowed…ever.

Contest Starts

Monday 11/19/12 at 4:00 PM (PST)

Contest Ends

Monday 11/26/12 at 11:59 PM (PST)

Raffle Drawing

3 lucky winners will be selected on December 1, 2012! Winners will be notified by email and you’ll receive a $500 shopping spree on us, just in time for Christmas.

To enter the raffle, just join Extrabux!

America is a country that prides itself on its differences. We have red states and blue states; we have distinct regions with their own unique cultures and traditions. Heck — if you want to look at how diverse America can be, just think about all the different ways we make something as simple as pizza. But there is one thing we all do, from Alaska to Florida — shop.

And sometimes, we shop for some rather surprising things. We here at Extrabux combed through online search data from shoppers in all 50 states and the country’s major cities to discover what people want to buy — read on to see how your city and state stacks up.

State-by-State Color and Fabric Trends

Key

Alabama: Polka Dot, Alaska: Fur, Arkansas: Tie-Dye, Arizona: Polyester, California: Hawaiian, Colorado: Camo, Connecticut: Spandex, Delaware: Gray, Washington D.C.: Corduroy, Florida: Orange, Georgia: Peach, Hawaii: Teal, Idaho: Lime, Illinois: Dark Green, Iowa: Polyester, Indiana: Mesh, Kansas: Tie-Dye, Kentucky: Polka Dot, Louisiana: Leopard Print, Maine: Flannel, Maryland: Pastel, Massachusetts: Violet, Michigan: Corduroy, Minnesota: Fleece, Missouri: Herringbone, Montana: Wool, Nebraska: Satin, Nevada: Cotton, New Hampshire: Cotton, New Jersey: Gold, New Mexico: Turquoise, New York: Leather, North Carolina: Light Blue, North Dakota: Tan, Ohio: Zebra Print, Oklahoma: Neon, Oregon: Straw, Pennsylvania: Dark Blue, Rhode Island: Brown, South Carolina: Paisley, South Dakota: Silver, Tennessee: Light Blue, Texas: Zebra, Utah: See-Through, Vermont: Flannel, Virginia: Red, White, and Blue, Washington: Salmon, West Virginia: Glitter, Wisconsin: Green, Wyoming: Denim

While some state fabric trends aren’t surprising (for example, people in the Packers-loving state of Wisconsin buy a lot of green), a few of them are quite unusual. Read more about state shopping habits below.

See the Total Package in Connecticut and Utah

If you like clothing with some cling, go people watching in Connecticut and Utah — the two states that buy the most spandex. But if you really want a good look, make Utah your destination — they also lead the country in searching for see-through fabrics.

Sparkle in West Virginia

Thankfully, the good people of West Virginia are interested in glitter clothing, not Glitter, the abysmally-rated Mariah Carey lemon of a movie vehicle. We’re not sure what they thought of the recent Sparkle.

Going Goth (but Not Vegan) in New York

Residents of New York state (that’s the oh-so-chic city and the gorgeous “upstate” beyond) are serious shoppers — they rated high in several areas, including searching for the most black clothing and the most leather.

Florida, California, and Hawaii: Tropical Looks in Tropical Places

Things are looking sunny in the sunshine state: Florida tops the country in tropical print, while Hawaii matches its gorgeous waters with teal togs. Hawaii doesn’t have the most people shopping for Hawaiian print, though — that distinction goes to California.

Falling for Flannel and Cotton in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire

Here’s a bit of an odd one — both Maine and Vermont residents search for a lot of flannel (presumably to guard against those frigid winter winds, and not because everyone is trying to dress like Kurt Cobain), but New Hampshire, the state in between the two? Not so much. All three states are big on plain old cotton, though.

Get Glamorous in Nebraska

Nebraska’s nickname may be the cornhusker state, but its fabric of choice is far from husk-like — it’s luxurious satin.

Patriotic Virginia

The state on the southern border of Washington D.C. likes to let those patriotic colors fly — Virginia tops searches for red, white, and blue. (Speaking of D.C., while the district’s northern bordering state, Maryland, generally likes to keep things muted [see below], they’re pretty big on the colors of the flag too.)

Get Bold in Idaho, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Washington

Idaho, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Washington residents search for big, bold colors, including lime green in Idaho, neon in Oklahoma, yellow in Mississippi, and salmon in Washington (although that might have something to do with all the delicious salmon fish).

Muted in Maryland, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Massachusetts

On the opposite end of the spectrum from the states in the previous section, these states all wear relatively muted colors. In Maryland, it’s all about the pastels. Delaware goes for gray. Rhode Islanders search for brown, while North Dakota residents have a plan to wear tan. The brightest of the bunch might be Tennessee and Massachusetts — they like light blue and violet, respectively.

Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania Love Their Sports Teams?

North Carolina, home of the Tar Heels, searches for lots of light blue. Pennsylvania, home of Penn State, goes for dark blue. Green Bay’s home state of Wisconsin, meanwhile, searches more for green than anyone else. Unfortunately, we have no statistics on how often people are searching for those foam cheeseheads.

Bundle Up in Alaska and Montana, Cool Down in Indiana

America’s last frontier (that’s Alaska) knows how to bundle up, with fur topping their list. In Montana, they stay warm with wool. But over in Indiana, it’s all about the mesh.

Georgia’s a Peach

The peach-growing state is also a peach-wearing one.

Going for the Gold in New Jersey

Put on your best old-timey prospector voice, because there’s lots of gold (shopping) in them there New Jersey hills. Although a significant percentage of that gold shopping might have been for Real Housewife Teresa Giudice’s house.

Wyoming’s Still Cowboy Country

…at least it is if you’re judging by all of the denim they buy.

Textures in Washington D.C. and Oregon

D.C. stays erudite with corduroy, while Oregonians favor a rather surprising material — straw.

South Dakota + New Mexico = Some Beautiful Jewelry

South Dakota is known for its silver; New Mexico for its turquoise, and it shows — those are top searches for each state.

Synthetics for Arizona, Iowa, and Michigan

Residents of Arizona and Iowa buy a fair amount of polyester, while in Michigan, it’s nylon.

Patterns a-Plenty in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas

It’s all about polka dots in Alabama and Kentucky. Arkansas is ready for The Dead with tie dye, while South Carolina keeps things delicate with paisley. And animals are out in Louisiana, Texas, and Ohio — in the latter two, it’s zebra print, and in the former, leopard.

Weak Trends in Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nevada

The fabric-shopping trends for these states aren’t as strong as other states. But when you look at city-by-city data about items they search for, one possible conclusion is that people in those states are just too busy being active. People in Denver, CO search for camo and swimsuits. People in Missouri  and Minnesota cities search for a lot of swimsuits too, although Minnesota’s shopping is split between swimsuits and cold-weather gear. As for Nevada, that’s a wild card — people in Las Vegas buy hoodies, and people in Reno by sunglasses.

America’s Biggest Shopping Cities

In addition to the state-by-state breakdown, we also took a look at what items people are buying in major American cities, from boat shoes and beanies to skirts and speedos. Here are shopping trends for 15 of the top shopping cities in the country.

1. New York City

The big apple might be America’s biggest shopping center (sorry, Mall of America); they rank number one in searching for over a dozen items.

#1 in belts, boots, boxers, button-downs, cardigans, coats, dresses, earrings, flats, gowns, heels, jackets, necklaces, parkas, raincoats, rings, rompers, sandals, scarves, sneakers, stilettos, suspenders, trench coats, and “wife beater” tank tops.

#2 in blazers, blouses, boat shoes, overalls, slippers, sports bras, suits, sweaters, and thongs.

#3 in beanies, hoodies, and jeans.

#4 in shorts, stockings, and tank tops.

#5 in bow ties and sunglasses.

#6 in long sleeves, onesies, and pants.

#8 in camo, gloves, and speedos.

2. Los Angeles

Some of LA’s most shopped-for items fit LA’s stereotype as a fit, fashionable, and forever-sunny Southern California city. But there are also some serious surprises — like why are the two most fashionable cities in America (New York and LA) also the top two places people are shopping for overalls?

#1 in beanies, jeans, overalls, sports bras, and thongs.

#2 in cowboy hats, hats, rompers, stilettos, sunglasses, suspenders, tank tops, and wedges.

#4 in purses.

#5 in parkas, sweaters, trench coats, and watches.

#6 in cardigans, flats, jersey, sandals, and stockings.

#7 in blazers, boxers, button downs, and earrings.

#8 in bikinis, bow ties, onesies, and pants.

#10 in gloves, long sleeves, speedos, and suits.

3. San Francisco

The bay-area city is a shopping hub…and a baby hub? In addition to blouses and pants, San Fran is also top in shopping for onesies.

#1 in blouses, onesies, and pants.

#2 in beanies, boots, cardigans, earrings, flats, jeans, purses, sandals, skirts, speedos, and underwear.

#3 in jackets, scarves, sweaters, tank tops, and thongs.

#4 in gloves, hats, parkas, and trench coats.

#5 in blazers and long sleeves.

#6 in belts, hoodies, and wedges.

#7 in stockings, vests, and watches.

#8 in boxers.

#9 in gowns, jersey, sunglasses, and t-shirts.

#10 in sweatshirts.

4. Boston

Boston is a great city full of great people. We say that because we don’t want you to imagine all Bostonians only wearing the three items they shop for more than any other city — boat shoes, a sweatshirt, and a speedo.

#1 in boat shoes, speedos, and sweatshirts.

#3 in jersey, pants, and parkas.

#4 in boots and sweaters.

#5 in cardigans, heels, onesies, and slippers.

#6 in blouses, gowns, rings, and scarves.

#7 in beanies and flats.

#8 in sneakers, stockings, and vests.

#9 in blazers, bow ties, and suits.

#10 in sandals and tank tops.

5. Philadelphia

More than once, magazines have ranked Philadelphia as one of America’s worst-dressed cities. We beg to differ — the city is, after all, second in the country for buying gowns. But then again, they’re also the biggest slipper-buyers in the country (and we don’t think they’re talking about Cinderella-style glass slippers).

#1 in jersey, long sleeves, and slippers.

#2 in gowns and sneakers.

#3 in boots, boxers, cardigans, coats, dresses, flats, and heels.

#4 in beanies, speedos, suits, and vests.

#5 in pants, scarves, and sweatshirts.

#6 in blazers, gloves, skirts, and T-shirts.

#7 in blouses, bow ties, jeans, shorts, and wedges.

#8 in sweaters.

#9 in tank tops.

#10 in hoodies.

6. Chicago

The windy city’s winter frigidness shows in the items it buys — people are arming themselves against the cold. But under all that cold-weather gear, Chicagoans are looking pretty dapper — the city is also shops for lots of suspenders, stockings, and bow ties.

#2 in parkas.

#3 in gloves, stockings, suspenders, and trench coats.

#4 in bow ties, coats, jersey, and onesies.

#5 in boxers, button downs, tank tops, T-shirts, and underwear.

#6 in beanies, earrings, and sweaters.

#7 in hoodies, purses, sandals, speedos, and ties.

#8 in blouses, cardigans, dresses, and flats.

#9 in pants.

#10 in blazers and wedges.

7. Washington D.C.

Shopping in the District is as professional-looking as you’d expect for the seat of America’s government. Although thinking about people in Washington D.C. buying trench coats does make us picture Scully and Mulder.

#2 in bow ties and trench coats.

#3 in blazers and speedos.

#4 in blouses, button downs, dresses, flats, gowns, long sleeves, pants, and suspenders.

#5 in jackets, jersey, sandals, skirts, and wedges.

#6 in boxers and coats.

#7 in gloves, onesies, scarves, suits, and tank tops.

#8 in belts, earrings, heels, jeans, shorts, and vests.

#9 in camo, cardigans, and sweaters.

#10 in beanies, stockings, T-shirts, and underwear.

8. Dallas-Fort Worth

This area is big on cowboy hats — no surprise there. But the next-biggest trends in the area might point to…babies going hunting? Dallas-Fort Worth ranks second for both camo clothing and onesies. (Just kidding; we know babies aren’t going hunting. Babies prefer to fish.)

#1 in cowboy hats.

#2 in camo and onesies.

#4 in boxers and swimsuits.

#6 in button downs and purses.

#7 in bikinis.

#8 in jersey and tank tops.

#9 in beanies, blouses, earrings, and wedges.

#10 in bow ties and flats.

9. Houston

Houston has one of America’s strongest job markets, and it shows in their professional clothes — the city is #2 for button-downs. They might also have one of the country’s strongest prom markets — they’re also ranked #3 in gowns.

#2 in button downs.

#3 in gowns.

#5 in beanies and purses.

#6 in bow ties, camo, heels, and tank tops.

#8 in wedges.

#9 in sandals and speedos.

#10 in jeans and swimsuits.

10. Atlanta

This rapidly growing metro area is also growing into a shopping powerhouse.

#3 in blouses, bow ties, camo, earrings, and onesies.

#4 in wedges.

#5 in flats and jeans.

#7 in gowns and long-sleeves.

#8 in beanies, blazers, and sandals.

#9 in gloves, heels, and stockings.

#10 in pants.

11. Miami

For a city known for being so fashionable, Miami is actually lower on the list than we would have expected.

#1 in tank tops, watches, and wedges.

#3 in long-sleeves and sandals.

#5 in gowns.

#7 in sunglasses.

#9 in jeans.

12. Seattle-Tacoma

Seattle and Tacoma’s buying patterns point to sensible dressing for some seriously cold weather, although we do like how they also sneak in as the 10th-most gown-buying city.

#1 in gloves.

#2 in vests, pants, and stockings.

#4 in underwear and scarves.

#6 in jackets and slippers.

#7 in cardigans.

#8 in sweatshirts.

#9 in flats.

#10 in boots and gowns.

13. San Diego

For a city in some a warm area of the county, San Diego is big on boots. But they know how to deal with the sun too — they’re fourth in sunglasses.

#3 in belts.

#4 in cardigans, jeans, and sunglasses.

#6 in boots.

#7 in heels and sweaters.

#8 in T-shirts.

#10 in hats and skirts.

14. Austin

The city’s motto might be “Keep Austin Weird,” but Austin’s shopping habits aren’t that odd. Then again, maybe they’re number 1 in purses because they have a crazy 40:1 purse-to-person ratio. That would indeed be weird.

#1 in purses.

#3 in T-shirts.

#5 in bikinis.

#8 in skirts.

#9 in belts.

15. Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City is an interesting one — while residents don’t appear to do much shopping overall, they’re #1 in four categories that they do search for. And two of those categories — lingerie and underwear — are pretty darn similar. Similarly, swimsuits and bikinis both make the list.

#1 in lingerie, skirts, swimsuits, and underwear.

#2 in belts.

#3 in bikinis.

While they didn’t shop enough overall to make the top 15, these cities were #1 in searching for the following items:

• Albany-Schenectady-Troy: Hoodies
• Baltimore: Bow ties
• Fresno: Hats
• Honolulu: Bikinis
• Indianapolis: T-shirts
• New Orleans: Suits
• Providence: Sweaters
• Richmond-Petersburg: Shorts
• Roanoke-Lynchburg: Socks
• Santa Barbara: Sunglasses

Do you agree with the list? What do people shop for in your area?

If you’re thrifty, it’s easy to categorize all shopping experiences into one of two types: purchases you can haggle, and purchases you can’t. At places like swap meets, car dealerships, and many independently-owned businesses, it’s expected that you’ll haggle — really, you’re a chump if you don’t (or you have a lot of money to waste — if so, good for you, buddy). But at most chain retailers, the price is what the price is, and if you fill up your shopping cart and then abandon it right before checking out, you’re just a jerk who’s making more work for some poor employee.

The interesting thing, though, is that if you do the same online — even at some stores that you couldn’t haggle at face-to-face — you can net yourself a serious discount.

Many online retailers have problems with customers putting items in their shopping carts and leaving before making a purchase. A recent Reuters article cites a study saying that “In the online retail space, abandonment rates of shopping carts hover around 65 percent.” I certainly do this — sometimes I’m just not ready to buy, or I decide I want to do a little more comparison shopping first, or I get distracted by hunger and start thinking more about delicious cake than whatever was in my shopping cart.

But now, retailers are taking notice and trying to win these customers back with what amounts to online haggling. This piece from Channel 7 News in San Francisco gives a good overview, including information from one of our resident experts, Extrabux CEO Jeff Nobbs.

What to Expect

First of all, you should know that this isn’t a guaranteed method. Just like the guy at the Pasadena Swap Meet last weekend who wouldn’t let his creepy box of dentures go for half the asking price (I’d show you a picture of the dentures, but he even charged people to take a photo), stores might not haggle with you. According to a study from Listrak, out of 1,000 sample companies, only 14.6 percent sent any type of email to people who abandoned their shopping carts.

If a retailer is going to send you an email, there’s also no way to figure out when it’s going to arrive (like that friend you have who seems to never understand the concept of time, showing up at least a half-hour late for everything). While Listrak recommends that companies send the first message within three hours, their study found that some retailers will wait longer — even, in some cases, over three days.

You might also receive multiple emails — some retailers send up to three reminders, and not all of them will necessarily have discounts. As Listrak notes:

Many times an offer isn’t needed in the first message as a simple reminder of the products in the cart is enough to prompt customers into action. However, a nominal discount in the second message can help entice shoppers who are still considering the merchandise to complete the purchase. And, for shoppers who still haven’t acted, a larger discount in the third message is typically too tempting to pass up.

You also can’t expect any regularity to the emails or the deals — both because they change often and because they might be targeted specifically to you. For example, SmartMoney points out, “if a customer lives near one of the retailer’s warehouses, it will cost less for the company to throw in two-day free shipping.” And some stores will only send you a message reminding you that there’s something in your cart, but offering no discount, while others will ignore you entirely. Basically, this isn’t the method to try if you just have to get those almost-sold-out platform wedge American flag boots.

How to “Haggle”

If you’re on the fence about a purchase and free shipping or a 10 or 20 percent discount might push you over the edge, here’s what to do.

1. Give Them Your Email: Retailers can’t send you an email offering you a discount if they don’t know where to send it. Make sure that you enter your email address in the check out process or log in to your account.
2. Make Sure You’ve Opted in to Emails: Some retailers, such as ThinkGeek, will only send you a discount if you’ve opted in to email communications.
3. Take the Transaction as Far as You Can: Websites aren’t sending these discounts out willy-nilly — they’re for people who were ohsoclose to making a purchase, but then abandoned their shopping carts. Take your transaction as far as you can without actually paying for it, then leave the site.
4. Wait: Some retailers will send you an email within a few hours, others can take days.
5. Go Back to the Site Through Extrabux: When you get an email with a discount code, make sure go back to the store through Extrabux to get both the discount and cash back. Even if you got to the site through Extrabux in the first place, you’ll only get cash back if you go to the site through Extrabux when actually making a purchase. Keep in mind that some discount codes will void the Extrabux cash back, so use whichever discount is greater (cash back vs discount code).

For example, I went to Overstock.com and put a pair of boots in my cart. Within a couple of hours, I received this:

Extrabux Stores That Will (Probably) Try to Woo You Back

According to the Reuters article, a blog post from Time’s Moneyland, and a thread on Reddit, the following Extrabux retailers are likely to follow up with an email discount:

• AllPosters
• Avis
• Best Buy
• Cookie’s Kids
• Crocs
• e.l.f. Cosmetics
• Guitar Center
• Hanes
• Home Depot
• Lands’ End
• Lens.com
• Lids.com
• Motel Rocks
• Newegg
• Omaha Steaks
• Overstock.com
• ProFlowers
• ThinkGeek

Have you tried this? Which stores have worked for you? Share in the comments below!

Photo: Polycart via Flickr

For students looking to get the best deal possible on textbooks this year, we have one important lesson to impart: Timing is everything. Well, that and this nugget from Economics 101: It’s all about supply and demand. When it comes to textbooks, the best time to sell is when demand is high and supply is low. This means that students will get the most money for their books if they sell them when there are a lot more people buying rather than selling textbooks. The best time to buy textbooks is also when demand is high.

Buying Textbooks 101

As we showed in our post about the best days of the week to shop online, the demand for a product on a given day can significantly affect its price that day. That is, the more online shoppers that search for a product in a given time period, the cheaper that product tends to become during that time period.

Based on historical trends, students this fall semester will search most for textbooks during the fourth week in August, which means textbook prices will be lowest that week of August 20^th. To prove this relationship between price and demand, we took a snapshot of a few textbook price history graphs from camelcamelcamel.com:

Selling Textbooks 101

So it’s time to get rid of old textbooks—now what? Or more importantly—when? Students can sell their textbooks for as much as 20% more by selling during the right months. When exactly is that time? Using data from Google Trends, we’ve created a graph that shows when the textbook market is most lucrative.

When we compare the difference between the number of searches for “used textbooks” versus the number for “sell textbooks,” the peak times to sell become apparent.

Based on that trusty theory of supply and demand, it’s clear that the best months to sell textbooks are July, August and January. And, as the chart shows, the worst months to sell are April, late November and early December.

If you need more convincing, take a look at the next chart. To confirm that the theory of supply and demand does in fact influence online textbook buyback prices, we overlaid the demand (minus) supply graph with a graph of the average textbook buyback price throughout the year from BookScouter.com.

The supply and demand of used textbooks significantly affect the buyback price. In the course of a couple months, the fluctuating number of sellers and buyers in the market can affect the buyback price by as much as 20%—that translates to about $12 per book! Even non-math majors can rejoice in those numbers. The best time to sell this year will be the week of August 20^th.

Now that we’ve completed today’s lesson on textbook economics, we’d like to hear what you have to say. When do you prefer to buy and sell textbooks? Is buying used and reselling at the right time too much of a hassle, or is it worth the savings?

前言

打开这个页面的朋友无论是新朋友也好，老朋友也罢，可能都或多或少听朋友介绍过一些，亦或网上看到过一些海淘相关的东西。为什么要海淘？不同人有不同的初衷，谁淘谁知道，本篇就不作具体讨论了。那么Extrabux跟海淘有什么关系？当然有关系了，Extrabux跟全美几千个在线商家建立了良好的合作关系，通过Extrabux去这些商家下单购物，可以帮您在海淘时省更多钱。什么，还不知道Extrabux是什么？服了U，请点击链接去扫盲了一下再回来。

正文

一、注册Extrabux

打开Extrabux首页(http://www.extrabux.com)后，您可以通过下图中的1和2所示的按钮来免费注册一个Extrabux账户。只需30秒就可轻松注册一个Extrabux账户，不需要提供任何信用卡信息 您只需要一个Email账号和密码。您也可以点击下图中的3来关注Extrabux的官方微博，我们会及时发布一些最新活动信息，最新功能上线信息，热门优惠折扣信息。您甚至可以通过微博私信和留言功能来联系到我们。

目前Extrabux官网有四种语言选项，如果您默认看到的语言是英文的，您可以通过页面右下角的语言选择，点击切换到中文方面。我们正在不断的完善中文内容信息，让更多英文能力有限或者还在借助在线翻译工具来使用Extrabux的用户使用更方便。

Ok, 现在我们先来看看如何注册，根据下图所示的页面提示填写有效的邮箱和密码，如果是朋友推荐给您的，请勾选“一个朋友邀请我”，将朋友的邮箱地址填入方框中，随后点击“注册Extrabux”，成功！当然了您也可以选择通过Facebook账户快速注册，如果您能正常使用Facebook的话。我们以后将推出更多中国国内常用的第三方登录快捷方式。

注册成功以后，您会收到一封成功的邮件，里面包含了一些新手上路的简单介绍，作为对新注册会员的奖励，我们已经为您的账户加了5美金作为注册奖金。您只要通过Extrabux去任意合作商家完成一笔金额超过5美金的有效订单，我们奖励的5美金的注册奖金就从待可用变为可用了。

如果您是好友推荐过来来注册的，那么我们也会奖励推荐您来的好友5美金，当然了，您也可以推荐您的其他好友来注册Extrabux来赢取更多推荐收益。更多推荐好友的规则，请参加常见问题页面之好友推荐部分：http://www.extrabux.com/help/faq#InviteFriends

为了避免可能出现的无法收取来自Extrabux的客服支持邮寄，我们建议您将info@extrabux.com 添加为您使用邮件的联系人，这样可以有效避免因被服务器误判造成的邮件丢失问题。

二、通过Extrabux去商家购物

注册好了账户，接下来就要去购物啦！当然不能忘记先登录Extrabux后才能拿到返利哦。在登陆后，您会看到您的账户（下图1所示）已经有$5的注册奖金啦。您需要最多攒够$10可用返利，才能申请提现哦。后面我们会具体介绍账户相关的使用。

每周加倍返利商家

下图的页面是我们登陆Extrabux显示的个人首页。在页面左侧(下图2所示)区域，是Extrabux每周的推出返利加倍商家，Extrabux会联合不同的商家每周会有不同的商家可以拿到比平时比例双倍甚至更高的返利。如果遇到正好您正想去购物的商家，一定不要错过这样得到实惠的好时机。

热门促销信息

右边主要区域（下图3所示)主要是最热门的折扣促销信息。有的促销力度还不小呢，再加上返利就可以省更多了。由于商家对coupon代码的使用会有一些具体说明，特别是有些特别的优惠代码，往往会有特别说明使用范围和限制条件，所以大家在使用的时候要注意哦。

我的收藏商家

想快速访问您经常去购物的某个商家，您可以点击商家列表页面白色的星状图标，或在商家页面点击添加到收藏按钮，即可将一个商家加入到您的收藏商家里面。您收藏的商家会显示在上图4所示区域。当然您也可以利用图4所示区域里面的快速添加来搜索一些商家。

热门商家

我们会根据用户对商家页面的关注程度和下单量等诸多因素推荐一些热门商家给您，说不定您里面就有您喜欢的商家哦。

搜索商家或产品

如果不知道怎么样找到您要购物的商家，您可以通过搜索框搜索商家，或是通过导航菜单的商家列表，来订单您需要找的商家。您甚至可以通过产品分类来找到相关的商家。当然，如果您非常清楚您需要的产品名称，您也可以直接搜索产品，来了解都有哪些商家在卖这些产品，您也可以顺便比比价格。下面就来简单介绍一下最常用的两种方式。

搜索功能

当您输入商家名称字母的时候，系统会自动提示一些您可能感兴趣的商家供您快速选择。比如我们要找disapers.com，您输入的字母越多，提示的结果也会越精准。甚至您可以用商家中文名来搜索。

商家列表

在“商家列表”您可以了解商家介绍，以及商家当前的优惠信息，您也看了解到一些更多我们为您准备的商家相关的信息，如商家的货运，付款等信息。您也可以通过字母筛选快速定位您所要找的商家。

每个商家右侧的图标分别代表不同含义。绿色图标表示该商家支持，灰色表示该商家不支持。飞机代表货运，信用卡表示中国信用卡付款的支持情况，Paypal表示对中国Paypal国际版的支持情况，您在商家页面也是可以查看到类似信息。注意，此内容主要是为了方便中国用户而特别整理，所以如果您以英文方式查看，将无法获取到此类实用信息。

选定商家购物

通过前面的介绍，相信您已经找到您想要的商家，那么下面就要是试水去商家海淘下单啦。我们以Diapers.com为例，给大家介绍一下如何通过Extrabux去商家购物并且尽可能省更多。提到diapers相信很多年轻妈妈们都不陌生，dispers.com是美国最大的婴幼儿用品在线商城。您可以通过他们买到婴儿食品，洗发水，药膏等等各类产品，各类知名品牌都有，由于良好的性价比，品牌质量的保证，非常好的客户满意度，受到了越来越多的年轻妈妈们的喜爱。通过Extrabux去diapers购物，还能额外享受到5%的返利，帮您省更多。

在diapers的商家页面，您可以看到上图1所示，Extrabux提供的返利比例，和很醒目的去购物的按钮，在下面有一个返利的使用限制，如果第一次使用，强烈建议鼠标移过去了解一些具体使用的限制，避免由于不熟悉规则造成不必要的损失。在商家介绍下面，列出了很多这个商家的目前有效的优惠券和促销信息，大家根据自己的需要，自行毕竟，选择最适合自己的优惠折扣，Extrabux网站提供的优惠券信息除特别注明，一般都可以和返利叠加使用，比如您使用了新用户八折的优惠代码，您通过Extabux去商家页面购物以后，还能额外再享受5%的返利哦，是不是觉得很划算。

注意：可以返利的订单金额和您实际付款金额是不一样的，商家明确规定了，运费部分，可能产生的美国消费税，以及部分本身已经在执行特别的促销的商品和税费是不能算作有效的返利金额的，除此之外的金额×5%，就是您拿到的返利啦。我们选择新人8折的这个优惠券去diapers下一单。点击以后，您会看到：

窗口会停留几秒用来生产跟踪点击的记录，然后会带您到diapers.com商家页面。如果您已经注册好了，那么就直接选择您打算购买的商品到购物即可，如果还没有注册，您需要在Diapers.com先注册一个账户。由于在Diapers如何注册的过程不是本篇的重点，这里就不详细讲了。相信对您来说应该不会太困难。

我们选了几款小孩子常用的产品，然后去结账啦。第一步需要你填写收货地址，在商家页面的3所示，Diapers是不支持直邮中国的，所以我们只能选择走转运公司或者寄到美国朋友那里。转运公司的教程根据您选择的转运公司不同，而稍有不同，但基本上类似。您可以再网上搜索一下相关教程，我们将在下篇海淘之转运公司篇中再作详细介绍。

填好收货地址以后，您就会在下个页面里面看到具体可能的消费税金，及运费。

记得在Promotion & Savings:的文本框里面输入剪贴板里面优惠券代码，不管优惠力度多少，能省一点是一点，再说还是美金。

点击Apply优惠代码以后，您会看到实际金额还有一点变化，另外由于您选择的美国的收货地址不一样，如果是除非是免税州，否则都或多或少的产生一些消费税，根据每个州的税率高低而稍微有变化。接下来就是下一步就是选择您喜欢的付款方式来付款了。

由于Diapers.com既支持中国信用卡，也支持Paypal国际版。如果不知道国际版和中文贝宝的区别，请点击这里了解更多：Paypal国际版V.S.贝宝。我们这里选择Paypal付款，因为正好Paypal里面有金额可以付款。如果注册Paypal，我们在以后的教程里面会着重介绍，这里就不作过的介绍了。付款完成以后，您会收到Diapers.com发来的确认邮件。

这样订单就已经下好了，通常下单后过几天商家就会把您通过Extrabux购物的信息发送给Extrabux，随后就会显示在您的个人账户里面。由于示例订单已经达到免运费的金额，所以这里只有税金是不能算返利的。实际可返利金额为：$57.00，5%的返利就是$2.85刀。

小结一下，这次购物选择的商品总金额$71.26，用了折扣代码实际只付了$57.00, 付了税金$5.13，拿到返利$2.85可以用来抵扣部分税金。总体还是很合算的，只花了60刀不到。

三、如何能顺利拿到返利

通常情况下，您通过Extrabux购物以后，商家在会您的订单发货以后，把您的购物信息发送给我们，由于各个商家处理速度各不一样，所以通常会在1-7天内。这就是我们通常所说的自动跟踪到订单的情况。然而实际各位在下单过程中由于操作习惯的差异，甚至使用的浏览器都有可能会导致返利的跟踪没能正确跟踪到，过了7天以后，也还没收到自动跟踪到。这时，就需要通过联系我们页面来追加这笔未跟踪到的订单，提供您的订单详情，包括购买商品金额明细，订单号，下单时间等等，以便我们据此跟商家去核实该笔订单。如果商家复核认可了这笔订单商家就会同意给到Extrabux销售佣金，相应您也能从Extrabux拿到返利。如果商家拒绝承认您的订单有效性，进而拒绝支付给Extrabux佣金，您也就拿不到返利了。

由于我们还需要将该订单提交给商家，等待商家复核通过，然后才能最终确认您的订单返利。商家复核的速度有快有慢一般需要30-45天的时间，而且有的商家交易量比较大，甚至需要更久的时间，请您耐心等待，只要您提交了订单，我们一定会继续为您跟进，直到您的问题解决为止。

正因为有这样那样的情况，有些有经验的朋友注意到了，往往都能正常拿到返利，甚至几乎都会自动跟踪到返利。有朋友会问，到底怎么样才能保证我能拿到返利呢？我们在这里总结了几点供大家平常使用时参考（该做什么和不该做什么）：

• 确保您的浏览器在您购物的时候支持Cookies。商家使用cookies来跟踪您的订单，这样您才能从Extrabux拿到返利。请记住，如果商家没办法跟踪到您的订单，那么Extrabux就会收不到销售佣金，意味着我们也就没办法付您返利了。
• 要从Extrabux点击到商家页面。从其他网站点击进入商家页面或者通过您的浏览器没经过Extrabux就直接访问商家页面，都会导致你的返利失效。确保在您从Extrabux点到商家页面以后不要再点击任何其他链接到商家页面。如果您在一个商家页面已经下单了，但是忘记先从Extrabux点击到商家页面了，那么您的订单将不能拿到返利。
• 当您从Extrabux点到商家页面的时候，确保您的购物是空的。为了能拿到返利，部分商家要求从Extrabux点到商家的时候购物车必须为空。一些商家会一直跟踪您添加购物车的行为，如果您没有在Extrabux点击之后才添加商品到购物车，有可能因此导致您拿不到返利。
• 不要使用非Extrabux提供的优惠券。一些网站跟踪您使用的优惠代码，如果您使用一个非Extrabux提供的优惠代码，您将不能拿到返利。这些不能拿到返利优惠代码来源包括您从商家的Email邮件里面，社交媒体网站，博客等。需要指出的是，找到最好的折扣您的权利，但使用非Extrabux之外的优惠代码往往不能拿到返利。
• 不要在您购物的时候删除cookie。我们知道有些用户经常性的删除它们的浏览器Cookies。如果您在通过Extrabux去商家购物期间不小心删除了Cookies，您的返利可能没办法跟踪到。在您考虑删除cookie之前，请务必等您的购物完成以后。
• 不要在购物的时候关闭商家网站。 如果您关闭了浏览器窗口，您必须回到Extrabux的商家页面，重新从Extrabux点击到商家页面，开始一个新的会话。
• 不要从Extrabux点击到一个商家后连续下多单。如果您想在第一次结算以后继续购物，您必须回到Extrabux再次点击到商家页面。即便您在同一个商家，购买同一个产品，但是以不同的订单，您仍然需要一个新的点击记录来跟踪您在这个商家的新订单。因此每完成一笔订单，请回到Extrabux，重新点击到同一个商家或者其他商家去再次购物。

更多关于返利的常见问题请移步这里来了解更多：赢取返利常见问题

下面再来简单介绍一下订单的常见几个状态：

• 状态为待可用表示订单已通过审核，返利金额需过90天待可用期后才可使用。
• 状态为待可用且待复核表示订单正在等待商家审核
• 状态为已收回表示返利已被取消，可能是用了不能与返利叠加的优惠代码，或订单被取消。
• 状态为提现中表示涉及的订单返利提现需求正在处理中。
• 状态为已支付表示返利提现需求已处理，款项已支付。
• 在自助添加中您可以查看您自助添加的订单返利的处理结果。

三、个人账户设置及返利提现

在基本了解如何拿到返利以后，随之我们的下单越来越多，积攒的返利也会随之越来越多，所以有必要熟悉Extrabux个人账户的一些相关使用和提现相关方面的使用。

忘记密码

难免会遇到忘记密码的情况，笔者本人就经常这样子-_-”。如果您不巧忘记了您的登录密码，请点击“忘记密码”，随后请填写您的注册邮箱，系统会发送给您一个随机密码。

设置提现收款方式

在账户设置里选择提现方式，目前我们支持：邮寄支票/PAYPAL/慈善捐助。今年我们计划开通更多的提现方式来方便用户选择。选择支票支付需要填写美国地址。一般在您申请提现后，若您的提现款项没有问题，您会在2周内收到支票，美国银行的信封。选择PAYPAL提现，请务必保证填入此栏的账户配置正确，能够正常收取美金，并且提前已经完成您Paypal账户的认证。如果您还没有PAYPAL账户，可以点击“这里注册”注册一个。账户填写完毕后，记得点击“保存修改”进行保存。若今后需修改PAYPAL账户，都要点击保存，然后再点击申请提现。当然了，您也可以选择将您的返利捐助给慈善事业。

如何查看收益明细

您可以点击下图所示的显示明细链接，来了解各部分的收益情况。我们计划对这部分功能做改进，方便您了解更消息的返利收益情况，以方便用户使用。

邀请好友注册Extrabux，赢取$5奖励

注册了Extrabux，您不但自己在购物时可以拿到购物返利，省更多。您帮助我们推荐给更多喜欢海淘的用户注册Extrabux，并通过Extrabux去购物，您还能赢得更多推荐奖励收益。您每推荐一个朋友来Extrabux，您将获得5美金的奖励，另外，我们额外奖励您，这个推荐的朋友在第一年内所取得的返利总金额的5%。您朋友也会得到5美金的注册奖励。那么如何去推荐好友来注册Extrabux呢？您只需打开邀请朋友选项，来得到您唯一的推荐链接，分享这个链接到任何地方- 在邮件里面，微博或者博客上！或者你可以告诉您的朋友在他们注册的时候，在推荐一栏里面输入您Email地址。当然了，自己推荐自己是不允许的，请勿心存侥幸，我们有侦测机制。更多关于推荐好友的相关问题，您可以访问这里来了解更多。

提现返利到Paypal

注册奖励的$5，购物返利，好友推荐奖励收益，已经积攒超过$10最低提现金额要求了，那么就可以申请提现了。提现之前务必要确认自己的提现收款选择已经设置好，Paypal账户已经认证好，免得无法正常收款。您的提现申请提交后，通常我们相关负责付款的同事会在一周内处理您的提现申请，把提现款项支付到您的Paypal账户。届时，您会收到一封Paypal的来信，内容如下图所示：

怎么样，看了是不是觉得不错，心动了？根据我们实际处理的过程中，大家常犯的错误有：马大哈，Paypal账户名填错了，付给别人了。这种情况，有两种可能，如果这个Paypal账户不存在，那么付款会在一个月以后退回到我们的付款账户。如果这个账户刚好存在了，那就没办法要回这笔错付的款项了。所以请大家务必细心一点哦；再就是常见的，Paypal账户没有认证好，也没办法正常收款。或者有人把Paypal国际版和中文贝宝搞混了，中文贝宝只能收人民币，是没法收取美金的。还搞不清区别的，点击这里了解Paypal国际版和中文贝宝差别。
最后提醒，如果您的提现申请超过半个月以上都还一直显示正在处理中，请务必及时联系我们，了解原因。一般多数情况是因为你的账户涉及自我推荐，被系统侦测到而将您的提现挂起，需要跟你进一步核实原因。

最后感谢您花了时间耐心阅读我们准备的教程，希望我们的教程能够对您有帮助。也欢迎通过网站的联系我们给我们多提宝贵意见和反馈。

Open Positions:
Senior PHP Software Engineer
Merchant Relations & Sales Coordinator
Front-End Software Engineer

Senior PHP Software Engineer for High-Growth Online Shopping Company

THE JOB — Full-time Senior PHP Software Engineer

THE COMPANY — Extrabux.com. We’ve grown 5x in the last year and are on pace to generate $25 million in online sales this Q4.

“One of San Diego’s 25 Coolest Companies” – San Diego Venture Group

PAY — $90-130k (compensation will depend on skill level and work experience)

LOCATION — Pacific Beach, San Diego.

SKILLS:
- 5+ years professional software development experience
- 2+ years PHP experience
- Experience overcoming significant scalability challenges
- A tendency to produce better code, with efficient solutions in less time than your peers. . .aka Rockstar status
- Server side experience is a plus
- Experience with Java is a plus

RESPONSIBILITIES — Your job responsibilities will generally be dependent on your skill sets and passions. With a flexible team of engineers in place you have the freedom to work on the projects that you want to work on; projects where you will be challenged but have the skills to take on the work and achieve your flow. Some examples of projects you may work on:

- Personalization/Recommendation engine for coupons, stores and products
- Search algorithm improvements through user behavior and machine learning
- AWS Automation
- Building out services layer
- Improve user engagement through smart gamification (no badges!)
- Unit testing
- Site-wide speed improvements
- . . .Plus any awesome ideas you come up with

PERKS:
- Flex time
- Jeans/shorts + t-shirt dress code (if that counts as a dress code)
- Two huge monitors and a fast machine (and optional standing desk)
- Health Benefits, HSA, 401(k), Stock Options
- Free meals at office..YUM
- Possible international travel
- Work with brilliant hard-working people on a day to day basis

COOL TECHNOLOGY — Every day Extrabux facilitates thousands of online transactions, offering hundreds of thousands of Extrabux users cash back on nearly every purchase they make online. To build its unique comparison shopping engine, Extrabux ingests over 100,000,000 products (~70gb) daily from over 2,500 of the largest online retailers. Our engine is the first to integrate discounts from coupons and cash back to find consumers lower prices than any other shopping engine. We work with big technologies like Hadoop, Solr and Mongo in the cloud on 50+ servers and leverage the zend framework and the LAMP stack to build Extrabux.com and our REST API. Our unique technology was showcased during the keynote presentation at the Hadoop Summit by Amazon Web Services.

THE TEAM: FUN, SOCIAL, LAID BACK, SMART, HARD-WORKING, HEALTHY — Extrabux’s rapid 5x year over year growth has been supported and accelerated by the high quality people on the team and a technology built to scale. We’re a small team of 15 people and are hiring fast. We’re passionate about building innovative technology, working with great people, helping shoppers save lots of money, and having fun every step of the way. Extrabux has been featured on Good Morning America, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, SmartMoney, MoneyWatch, TIME Moneyland, Mashable, CNN Money, Lifehacker, and the two founders were recently honored at the White House as two of the top 100 entrepreneurs under 30.

THE DEV TEAM — Extrabux has a team of 4 exceptional senior software engineers and is looking to hire another 2 software engineering rockstars. Our team today includes engineers with a wide range of skills and experiences. The flexibility of our team allows us to put software engineers on the projects they are most interested in. At Extrabux you will be challenged, you will learn from your work and your peers, and you will contribute every day to the success and growth of the company and to yourself as both an engineer and an owner.
If you’d like to learn more about us, check us out at Extrabux.com.

If you are interested in joining our team, please send your resume to jobs(at)extrabux(dot)com.

Merchant Relations & Sales Coordinator for High-Growth Online Shopping Company

THE JOB — Full-time Merchant Relations Coordinator

THE COMPANY — Extrabux.com. We’ve grown revenues 5x in the last year and generated $25 million in online sales during Q4 2012.

“One of San Diego’s 25 Coolest Companies” – San Diego Venture Group

PAY — $30-55k + possible commission bonuses (compensation will depend on skill level and work experience)

STOCK OPTIONS — Generous

LOCATION — Pacific Beach, near the ocean.

THE ROLE:
Extrabux is seeking a motivated Sales & Marketing Coordinator. In this role you will work closely with Extrabux’s Sales & Marketing Manager to enhance Extrabux’s relationships with its 2,500 merchant partners, and help create the best deals for Extrabux shoppers.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Develop, maintain, and cultivate relationships with merchant partners
- Make numerous outgoing calls each week to various merchants, respond to emails, prepare proposals, negotiate deals and troubleshoot any merchant concerns
- Schedule & manage newsletters, advertiser placements & special promotions
- Track campaign performances and KPI’s and optimize
- Expand relationships by reviewing account activity and identifying opportunities for advertisers to improve economics and value of the relationship
- Support the Sales & Marketing Manager on daily tasks and communications with the day-to-day operations
- Develop and deliver creative promotions to Extrabux users
- Stay current with trends in Affiliate Marketing

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
- BA/BS
- Excellent verbal/written communication, presentation, customer service, and analytical skills
- Possess strong project management skills, including demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
- Self-starter who can work independently as well as within a team environment- Problem solving skills and the ability to learn quickly

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS::
- 2+ years of online/affiliate marketing, business development or sales experience
- Media/Advertising/Technology/Online industry experience
- Tech savvy and knowledgeable about on/off-line marketing and on/off-line retail
- Prior sales & marketing related experience
- Work consistently within a CRM for tasks, schedules, & organization
- Understanding of Google Analytics, Mailchimp Email Platform, and running Performance Marketing Reports

PERKS:
- Opportunity to travel to Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas for conferences and meetings with Extrabux stores
- Create meaningful relationships with marketing teams at stores such as Victoria’s Secret, ASOS, Groupon, Gilt, Nike and more
- Flex time
- Casual dress code
- Two huge monitors and a fast machine (and optional standing desk)
- Health Benefits, HSA, 401(k), Stock Options
- We subsidize your meals when you’re in the office..YUM
- Free parking
- Work with brilliant hard-working people on a day to day basis
- Big, awesome, startup-culture office

THE TEAM: FUN, SOCIAL, LAID BACK, SMART, HARD-WORKING, HEALTHY — Extrabux’s rapid 5x year-over-year growth has been supported and accelerated by the high quality people on the team and our close relationships with over 2,500 top stores. We’re a small team of 15 people and are hiring fast. We’re passionate about building innovative technology, working with great people, helping shoppers save lots of money, and having fun every step of the way. Extrabux has been featured on Good Morning America, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, SmartMoney, MoneyWatch, TIME Moneyland, Mashable, CNN Money, Lifehacker, and the two founders were recently honored at the White House as two of the top 100 entrepreneurs under 30.

If you’d like to learn more about us, check us out at Extrabux.com or Youtube.com/Extrabux.

If you’re interested in joining our team, please send your resume to jobs@extrabux.com and include a compelling description of why you’re the perfect fit for this role.

P.S. Know someone qualified for this job? We’ll provide a free “dinner for two” for you and your friend if your friend ends up getting this job! Hiring Organization: Extrabux, Inc. Hiring Organization: Extrabux, Inc.

Front-End Software Engineer for Profitable Tech Startup

THE JOB — Full-time Front-End Software Engineer

THE COMPANY — Extrabux.com. We’ve grown revenues 5x in the last year and generated $25 million in online sales during Q4 2012.

“One of San Diego’s 25 Coolest Companies” – San Diego Venture Group

PAY — $70-120k (compensation will depend on skill level and work experience)

STOCK OPTIONS — Generous

LOCATION — Pacific Beach, near the ocean.

SKILLS:
- Javascript/jQuery ninja
- 4+ years of software engineering experience
- 2+ years PHP experience
- Photoshop (or similar) experience
- Zend Framework is a plus
- SCSS/LESS is a plus

RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Coding the front-end of Extrabux.com (We have one existing Front-end Engineer already but with global growth we have more work to do than one person can handle!)
- Coding new features for game mechanics, personalized shopping recommendations, and social integration
- Enabling all user interactions (web pages, emails, chat, etc) to be localized/translated
- Enabling international Extrabux engineering teams to easily override views for certain cultures
- Dreaming up cool new features / strategies for user experience
- Minimize load-times
- Helping code internal Extrabux Customer Support Team tools
- Supporting Extrabux Marketing Team efforts

PERKS:
- Flex time
- Jeans/shorts + t-shirt dress code (if that counts as a dress code)
- Two huge monitors and a fast machine (and optional standing desk)
- Health Benefits, HSA, 401(k), Stock Options
- We subsidize your meals when you’re in the office..YUM
- Free parking
- Possible international travel
- Work with brilliant hard-working people on a day to day basis

THE COMPANY — Extrabux helps hundreds of thousands of US and international shoppers save with cash back, coupons, and comparison shopping from over 2,500 top US online retailers. To date, Extrabux online shoppers have earned over $4M in cash back.

COOL TECHNOLOGY — Every day Extrabux facilitates thousands of online transactions, offering hundreds of thousands of Extrabux users cash back on nearly every purchase they make online. To build its unique comparison shopping engine, Extrabux ingests over 100,000,000 products (~70gb) daily from over 2,500 of the largest online retailers. Our engine is the first to integrate discounts from coupons and cash back to find consumers lower prices than any other shopping engine. We work with big technologies like Hadoop, Solr and Mongo in the cloud on 50+ servers and leverage the zend framework and the LAMP stack to build Extrabux.com and our REST API. Our unique technology was showcased during the keynote presentation at the Hadoop Summit by Amazon Web Services.

THE TEAM: FUN, SOCIAL, LAID BACK, SMART, HARD-WORKING, HEALTHY — Extrabux’s rapid 5x year over year growth has been supported and accelerated by the high quality people on the team and a technology built to scale. We’re a small team of 15 people and are hiring fast. We’re passionate about building innovative technology, working with great people, helping shoppers save lots of money, and having fun every step of the way. Extrabux has been featured on Good Morning America, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, SmartMoney, MoneyWatch, TIME Moneyland, Mashable, CNN Money, Lifehacker, and the two founders were recently honored at the White House as two of the top 100 entrepreneurs under 30.

THE DEV TEAM — Extrabux has a team of 4 exceptional senior software engineers and is looking to hire another 2 software engineering rockstars. Our team today includes engineers with a wide range of skills and experiences. The flexibility of our team allows us to put software engineers on the projects they are most interested in. At Extrabux you will be challenged, you will learn from your work and your peers, and you will contribute every day to the success and growth of the company and to yourself as both an engineer and an owner.
If you’d like to learn more about us, check us out at Extrabux.com or Youtube.com/Extrabux.

If you are interested in joining our team, please send your resume to jobs(at)extrabux(dot)com.

P.S. Know someone qualified for this job? We’ll provide a free “dinner for two” for you and your friend if your friend ends up getting this job!

Extrabux is all about getting you cash back and saving you money. But just like Extrabux members, we’re also concerned about living more sustainably. So, in honor of Earth Day on Sunday, April 22, we’re on a quest to make the world a greener place. And we’re making it easy for Extrabux members to join our mission.

We’ve teamed up with American Forests, the oldest national nonprofit conservation organization in the country, which advocates for the protection and expansion of our nation’s forests. Our plan is simple: For every purchase made from April 19 through April 22, Extrabux will commit to plant one tree. That means every time an Extrabux member earns cash back, a tree will be planted. We’d like to aim for a whole forest.

Through our Earth Day partnership with American Forests, we’re making it easy to be green. But the truth is, at Extrabux, we’re green every day. And our members are making the world a greener place each day just by choosing e-commerce. As a whole, shopping online is much more earth friendly than traditional retail. But you don’t have to take our word for it—just ask researchers at Carnegie Mellon.

In 2008, six researchers at the Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon University found that shopping online is 35 percent greener than shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. The study used the Buy.com business model to compare the energy use and CO2 emissions associated with delivering a flash drive from the manufacturer to a buyer’s home via traditional retail vs. e-commerce.

While the initial processes were similar—think product manufacturing and storage—the results varied greatly as the product moved down the transportation chain in each scenario. We all know the life cycle of e-commerce and traditional retail transactions vary, but what you may not realize is how much a trip to the mall impacts the environment. (Though, if you’ve ever sat in Black Friday traffic, the following results shouldn’t be much of a surprise.)

But before we get to the results, let’s examine the study methods, which took tons of variables into account for each scenario. Everything from the electricity used at home to place an order online and to run an e-commerce site to the energy used at a traditional retail store were taken into account. The study also compared the individual packaging used to ship e-sales to the bulk cardboard packaging used in shipments to a retail store along with much more data. Let’s just say the study was thorough. Now onto the findings:

When it comes to e-commerce vs. traditional commerce, the proof is in the numbers. As shown in the figure above, the e-commerce delivery delivered the flash drive to the customer while creating less CO2 emissions. As the study notes, while bulk packaging and truck delivery can reduce energy use and cost for traditional retail, the trips individuals make while traveling to retail stores add up. In other words, all those drives to the nearest big box store result in some serious carbon dioxide emissions.

In fact, the study showed that customers hitting the road had the biggest effect on the overall results. How much of an effect? The CO2 emissions created in customer transport alone—not in warehousing or freight or delivery, only the emissions generated in customers’ trips to the store—nearly equaled the total emissions related to the e-commerce system.

As noted in the study, there were five major contributors to the differential life cycle CO2 emissions in both models. Wholesale warehousing accounted for 26 percent of retail emissions and 31 percent of e-commerce. As you see in the e-commerce model, individual cardboard packaging and last-mile delivery significantly affected overall emissions, weighing in at 22 percent and 32 percent, respectively. But, when it comes to major C02 contributors, customer transport is still a much bigger offender, accounting for a whopping 65 percent of emissions.

Overall, when you consider how goods get to customers in each model, it makes sense that online shopping is simply the greener way to go. In the traditional retail model, products are shipped from distributors to regional warehouses to retail stores, where they are then bought and taken home by customers. When you buy online, goods are often shipped from a distribution partner directly to you.

The numbers don’t lie: Shopping online is simply better for the environment. While we’re talking green, let’s take a look at retailers who are making online shopping even greener this Earth Day. Here are some great Earth Day promotions to get you started:

CB2: Through its partnership with American Forests, one tree will be planted for every in-store or online purchase transacted on Earth Day.

Target: In its efforts to remind shoppers that even small changes can make a big difference, Target will celebrate Earth Day by distributing 1.5 million reusable bags in all of its stores on April 22. If you’d like to save a trip, you’ll find plenty of sustainable solutions on the retailer’s website. When you visit www.target.com/earthday, a limited-time website available through April 28, you’ll get access to more than 40 featured products, tips and tricks for living more sustainably along with links to more than $50 in savings on sustainable products. Through its website, the retailer has also partnered with Recyclebank, an organization that promotes sustainable decisions by allowing individuals to earn rewards for actions like recycling and reducing water use.

Barnes & Noble: To celebrate Earth Day, shoppers will receive a 20 percent discount on Earth-friendly toys and games from the Barnes & Noble online store.

Origins: Skin care brand Origins has partnered with Gavin DeGraw and Vanessa Carlton, who performed at the third annual Origins Rocks Earth Month, a free concert that took place in New York City on April 18. As part of the Origins Global Plant-A-Tree Program, the brand agreed to plant one tree on behalf of each concert attendee through American Forests’ Global ReLeaf™.  While it’s too late to attend the concert, you can still get in on the action. In fact, when you visit www.origins.com/liveconcert to watch the rebroadcast online, additional trees are planted are behalf of viewers.

Wine.com: Don’t know much about green wines? In honor of Earth Day, Wine.com has put together a few pointers to help us better understand what exactly makes one bottle of wine more earth friendly than another. Check out the site’s Green Wine infographic, which offers the skinny on everything from organically grown grapes to lighter-weight wine bottles (less glass means it takes less energy to produce the bottle, shipping weights are lighter and there is less material to recycle—who knew?).

Avon: When you buy the “Hello Green Tomorrow” aluminum water bottle, Avon will donate all proceeds from the sale to Nature Conservancy for continuing efforts in the Atlantic Rainforest in South America and to the World Wildlife Fund for reforestation projects in Indonesia.

Groupon: To commemorate Earth Day, Groupon is launching Groupon Grassroots, through which “supporters can positively impact their communities in ways not possible by themselves, including organizing volunteer coastal cleanups or planting an orchard of fruit trees.” To celebrate the launch of the program, Groupon Grassroots will host 50 environmental campaigns, kicking off each project with a $1,000 grant. In partnership with Edward Norton’s Crowdrise, Groupon will give the campaign that raises the most money an additional $25,000, with the second- and third-highest fundraising campaigns taking home $15,000 and $10,000, respectively. And, if you’re into travel, you can check out Grassroots though Groupon Getaways, which will offer volunteer travel experience, where customers can join forces with global activists to travel to Zambia with Spark Ventures.