Giving back while shopping online
Tips from Sally Deneen.
If you’re shopping online, here are a few ways to simultaneously give to a charity of your choice at no extra cost.
When I buy something from Amazon, I make the purchase through Smile. Amazon.com, the entryway for the AmazonSmile program. It’s a small way to help — 0.5 percent of my Amazon purchase is donated to my choice of charity.
I could generate bigger donations for free by going to GoodShop.com (or Goodsearch.com/goodshop). There, I’d log in and click its links to reach Amazon.com or 30,000 other online stores, including BestBuy.com, Gap.com, Walgreens.com, Walmart. com, Nordstrom.com, Macys.com and Orbitz. com.
Purchases made via Goodshop generate a donation of 1 to up to 30 percent of the purchase price, depending on the merchant, according to the website. It looks to me that donations usually are below 6 percent. Amazon is on the lower end (up to 1.5 percent of the purchase price). BestBuy. com is better (3 percent), 1-800-PETMEDS is better still (6 percent), and Nordstrom.com beats them (up to 9 percent).
IGive.com is another shopping mall-like option, with about 1,500 participating stores.
Typically, up to 6 percent of your purchase price is donated to your cause, although the Miami Gardens-based website says it can range up to 26 percent. Purchases at Amazon.com and BestBuy.com via iGive. com, for example, generate a donation that amounts to 0.8 percent of the purchase price. Snapfish.com is bet- ter, at 8 percent. Valuemags. com is pegged at 20 percent. A downside is the charity gets a check when $25 in donations is earned this way, so it could take quite a while.
It’s nice that the website posts the amounts and dates of checks sent to charities.
Free shipping: If you’re thinking of making an order anyway with gift purveyors such as Harry & David and Omaha Steaks, take note that they’re among the hundreds of mostly small merchants providing offers on Free Shipping Day on Dec. 18, according to FreeShippingDay.com. Big-name participants include The Body Shop, Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, REI and Levi’s. Cutting Corners appears Sundays in Community News. Email cutcorner@ aol.com or record a message at 954-356-4759.