This Browser Extension Is The Secret To Effortless Everyday Savings At Your Favorite Brands
With a suite of automated features, Capital One Shopping brings the savings to you.
We’ve all been there, scrolling through countless websites, hunting for deals, and feeling that sting of paying full price for something that you later see on sale elsewhere at a significantly lower price.
If you’re tired of missing out on savings, Capital One Shopping can help. It’s like having your very own shopping sidekick, always on the lookout for deals on your favorite brands and items on your wish list. How exactly? Read on to find out.
What Is Capital One Shopping?
Focused on online retail, Capital One Shopping (formerly known as Wikibuy) is a free browser extension that acts as a one-stop shop for savings. It has a price comparison tool, searches for coupons and discount codes as you shop, offers gift card rewards, and provides price drop monitoring. The best part is you don’t have to be a capital one banking customer or credit card holder to have access to the browser extension.
It’s available for Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox. If your phone is your preferred method of shopping, it’s also available as a mobile app. Though to maximize your savings, the browser extension is best, as the mobile app has limited features.
In 2022 alone, Capital One Shopping helped shoppers save over $160 million.
How Does Capital One Shopping Work?
As mentioned above, this browser extension helps online shoppers save in five major ways. Below, we get into the nitty-gritty of how each works.
Price Comparison Tool
With so many retailer options available online, it’s easy to overspend if you don’t take the time to compare prices. But hopping from one retailer website to another can be time-consuming. That’s why Capital One Shopping’s price comparison tool is so nifty! It works discreetly in the background as you shop to search for cheaper prices.
If the extension finds the item you’re viewing at a lower price elsewhere, a friendly little notification will pop up next to the product price with the dollar amount you can save purchasing the item through another retailer. Hover over the pop-up with your cursor to get more details about the potential savings. Sometimes multiple alternative offers will be available, and other times it may just be one. Either way, you’ll see a comparison of total price estimates, including tax and shipping costs, delivery estimates, and deals for additional savings.
If Capital One Shopping can’t find a cheaper price anywhere else, the pop-up will instead say “best price.”
Automatic Coupons Codes
Staying on top of all the sales and coupons available for the online stores you frequent is an impossible task. Thanks to the browser extension’s automatic coupon codes, frugal shoppers can take a break from trying to track down deals.
Capital One Shopping diligently monitors more than 30,000 e-commerce sites, alerting you to coupon codes when available. If there are any, you’ll see them when viewing your shopping cart. A message will pop up from the browser extension icon in the top right corner of your browser window telling you the number of coupons it’s found. Click the “try codes” button and if any of them are still valid (codes are updated in real-time), Capital One Shopping will automatically apply working codes your cart to reduce your cost (you can only use one coupon offer at checkout at a time). Sometimes you may have to manually enter the codes yourself — just something to be mindful of.
Shopping Credits
As if monitoring the web for cheaper prices and discounts wasn’t enough, Capital One Shopping partners with select retailers to reward shoppers with Shopping Credits — a percentage of your purchase total that you earn back. If you’re shopping at an eligible store, you’ll be able to see the percentage of credits you’ll earn at checkout. When you receive the alert about credits for the first time, you have to hit the “OK” button to activate credit rewards.
Any time you make a qualifying purchase, your account gets credited in about a week. You can also earn Shopping Credits when shopping in person if you enroll in Capital One Shopping’s Local Offers program. Shopping Credits can be redeemed for gift cards from dozens of merchants once you’ve earned $5, though cash out thresholds for some brand gift cards may be higher.
You can explore Shopping Credit offerings via the Capital One Shopping website and app. You can see the credits you’ve earned in the Capital One Shopping app under the “More” tab and when you’re signed into the Capital One Shopping website in the top right corner of the site next to your name. Credits are redeemed directly through the website under the “Help” tab, also in the top right corner of the site.
Price Drop Monitoring
If there is something that you have your eye on and the price is a little too steep for your pockets, add it to your watch list and Capital One Shopping will be on the look out for price drops for it across the stores it monitors.
You’ll be prompted to add an item to your watchlist when Capital One Shopping savings or “best price” alerts pop up. A button that reads “w.+” will show up next to the alert. Click it to add an item to your watchlist. When viewing a product on the website, just tap the “Add to Watchlist” button to the right of the product photo. When viewing an item in the app, scroll down to access the watchlist button.
Capital One Shopping Website And Mobile App
You can use the Capital One Shopping website to discover deals and special offers. The site’s front page shows featured offers, stores with trending Shopping Credits deals, offers local to you, and other deals available for you to scroll through by category. You can also use the search bar to find products or search for things by product or store category under the “Stores and Products” tabs.
The Capital One Shopping app works much like the website: When you open it up you’ll be presented with the top coupon and Shopping Credits offers of the day in the “Today” tab. You can search offers by zip code in the “Local” tab and see a list of Shopping Credits offers in your area, add products to your watchlist and scan items’ barcodes in stores to see available prices for it at top retailers.
Pros & Cons
Like any product or service, Capital One Shopping has its pros and cons, but I have to say, its pros shine through.
Pros
- It’s free to use
- You don’t need to be a Capital One account holder to access it
- It monitors more than 30,000 stores for potential savings
- Provides various automated tools to save shoppers time and maximize savings
- Has both desktop and mobile versions
Cons
- The “best price” feature isn’t always accurate
- Found coupons don’t always work
- Available gift cards for shopping credit redemptions are limited
Bottom Line
While Capital One Shopping is not the only browser extension of its kind, it does offer some of the most comprehensive ways to find savings. Whether you’re hunting for the perfect pair of shoes or eyeing a trendy tech gadget, this extension will effortlessly reveal hidden savings, from price comparisons and discount codes to price drop monitoring and gift card rewards.