Ever since pre-pandemic times, we've always wanted the best deals and lowest prices while shopping online. Now that we are mostly confined to our homes and do most of our shopping online, it's more important to find these deals quickly and easily. capital one shopping does exactly this for you.

Capital One Shopping Overview

Capital One Shopping is a free shopping assistant that helps you find the lowest prices and the best deals while shopping online. It instantly tests and applies coupon codes with the most savings and saves you both time and money.

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What is Capital One Shopping?

Capital One Shopping is a money-saving service for finding the best shopping deals online by crowdsourcing prices from hundreds of online retailers. It is available as a browser extension and a mobile app on both the App Store and Google Play.

It is a shopping assistant that finds you the best prices on millions of products, automatically finds and applies available coupon codes, and offers shopping credits that can be redeemed for gift cards.

While you shop at Amazon or any other online retailer, Capital One Shopping searches the prices on several merchants within Amazon and on other retailers to find one with the best price for a given product.

Besides that, Capital One Shopping also searches for coupon codes, tests them all within seconds, and applies the best one automatically to your shopping cart.

Capital One Shopping started out as Wikibuy was founded in Austin, Texas, in 2014. It was later acquired by Capital One in 2018. Recently, Capital One Shopping replaces the name Wikibuy as a rebranding exercise by its parent company.

In 2019, Capital One Shopping claimed to have found over $160 million in savings and boasts of 3 million users.

On the App Store, it has a star rating of 4.6/5 across 5,439 ratings, and on Google Play, there are 500,000+ installs and has a star rating of 4.5/5 across 801 ratings.

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Capital One ShoppingFeatures

1. Automatic Coupon Codes at Checkout

Remember the days of typing “XYZ coupon codes” into search engines? Only to try a dozen different codes and none of them work? Well, Capital One Shopping basically said, “hold my drink; I'll show you a better way.”

You don't have to worry about finding the right coupons. Just shop as usual on your favorite online stores, and Capital One Shopping's browser extension would automatically apply the coupon codes at checkout instantly.

If 9 different codes exist for a product, all the codes would be tested within seconds, and the one with the most savings would be applied to your purchase. Note that some codes might not work on some occasions, but at least you didn't have to waste time looking for them and trying them manually one after the other.

2. Universal Product Search

You can search for any product directly on their website and get deals in seconds. Capital One Shopping's organization is pretty neat, and that makes it easy to find anything you're looking for. It's like being on Amazon but a step further.

You can find products directly in the search bar, you can also browse products by category (like on Amazon), and one step further – you can browse deals by stores.

When you type in a product into the search bar (example: “laptops”), you're provided with two sets of results: store results and product results. Clicking on any store results would take you to different coupon codes and deals available for that store.

The product results show you different options for laptops and laptop accessories. When you click on any of the results, you're presented with all offers available for that product, as well as their respective prices.

In this example, the lowest price is by Zoro.com after credits are applied. Basically, you get a great price with a 5% cashback as Capital One Shopping Credit.

Capital One Shopping also shows you the top alternatives to any product.

3. Capital One Shopping Credit

Besides getting coupons applied to your purchase, you can also get cashback, known as Capital One Shopping credit, on qualifying purchases. There are 2 ways to earn Capital One Shopping credit:

a. Online Shopping

When shopping on a retailer's website, if there's cashback to be earned, you'll get a pop up from the browser extension. Click on “activate” to earn the shopping credit.

You can also see cashback opportunities directly on Capital One Shopping's website when you browse through products and stores on there. Redeem your Capital One Shopping credits through gift cards from a store of your choice.

b. At Local Stores

You can earn shopping credits for purchases made in-store at local partner stores with a linked credit card. You will get the credits within 7-30 days. Use these credits to buy gift cards from top merchants on Capital One Shopping's website.

4. Price Comparison

While you shop on Amazon, Capital One Shopping is always on the lookout for the best deals from thousands of merchants for any item you want to purchase.

By keeping track of purchases from millions of Capital One Shopping users who have the browser extension installed, Capital One Shopping can immediately notify shoppers if someone else found a better deal on a product.

Capital One Shopping would show you a side-by-side comparison of the prices from different retailers and a comparison of the shopping credits available and the delivery time frame.

5. Watchlist – Price Drop Alerts

If you find a product you like but aren't quite ready to buy it, or you want to hold out for a better price, you can add that product to your watchlist. Capital One Shopping would notify you once the price drops for that item so you can take advantage of the deal right away.

Especially if there's a national holiday coming up, this can be an effortless way to save a lot of time and money without any stress.

6. Boosted Reward Events

Apart from regular cashback on purchases at different retailers, Capital One Shopping also has events where rewards are increased for some partner stores.

As of the time of publishing, Capital One Shopping has an ongoing “Holiday Kick Start” Event where cashback percentages are at least 2 times higher and up to 20% cashback. ‘Tis the season indeed!

7. Daily Featured Offers and Trending Deals from Top Stores

Capital One Shopping curates a bunch of the best deals from the top stores every day. You can also find the most popular deals from several top merchants directly on the website's homepage. There are deals from Macy's, Groupon, Target, FedEx, among many others.

8. Local offers

Enter your zip code on Capital One Shopping and immediately see local offers and deals from stores and restaurants near you. To unlock these local deals and prices, you will need to link a debit or credit card to your Capital One Shopping account and use that card for the local purchases.

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Mobile vs. Desktop Experience

Capital One Shopping can be used on both mobile and desktop, but there are a few differences in the user experience and how it works on both platforms.

On a desktop, Capital One Shopping provides a browser extension that allows it to search for lower prices and the best deals on products while you shop on Amazon and other online retailers.

Capital One Shopping also automatically tests coupon codes at checkout and applies the best one. Besides, you can also open up Capital One Shopping's website on your desktop and search for products directly.

Within the mobile app, you can easily search for products directly within the app to see the latest prices at several partnered retailers and choose the one with the most savings.

It's also easy to find local offers at restaurants in your area through the “Local” tab in the app. All you have to do is link a credit/debit card, use the linked card to pay in-store at participating merchants, and earn shopping credits.

However, with the mobile app, you're not able to shop on online retailers' websites and get alerted for a better deal, nor are you able to get automatically applied coupons to your shopping cart.

Pricing and Fees

Capital One Shopping offers you different opportunities to save as well as earn some money along the way. The best part of it all is it's 100% Free! You can give it a try and start saving money right away at no cost to you. There are no hidden fees, either.

Signing Up

On Desktop

Step 1: Go to CapitalOneShopping.com to get the free browser extension for Google Chrome. Go to CapitalOneShopping.com to get the free browser extension for Microsoft Edge.

Step 2: Click on “Add to Chrome” or “Get”

Step 3: Create an account in a few seconds. Also, you will be asked if you have an Amazon prime account so Capital One Shopping can account for free shipping when searching for lower prices.

Step 4: Go through the tutorial and answer a series of onboarding questions or skip this step altogether.

Step 5: You're in! Start saving money by browsing through products on the website, on Amazon, or shopping normally at your favorite retail stores.

On Mobile

Step 1: Download the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Step 2: Open the app, and create an account with your email address, your full name, and answer whether you have an amazon prime account or not. It takes less than 30 seconds.

Step 3: You can choose to select stores you like to shop from the lists presented in the electronics hardware, apparel, home and furnishings, and travel & experience categories. Or skip this step.

Step 4: Start browsing products and stores directly on the app.

Security

Capital One Shopping is owned by a major U.S. bank that ensures that your information is protected by strong encryption.

However, what makes Capital One Shopping able to provide crowdsourced discounts and coupons instantly is that they monitor your shopping and all your purchases.

Capital One Shopping collects your Online/Mobile Activity Data, location, and transaction information. So, if you're concerned about what kind of data you give out, be sure to read through their privacy policy.

Customer Support

If you experience any issues, you can search through their help center for information. Many frequently asked questions have been answered on there and information on specific features of Capital One Shopping's service.

For further help, you can contact them via email. However, there's no phone or chat support.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 100% Free to use – Capital One Shopping doesn't charge a dime to use its service, so you can try it out risk-free.
• Great rewards – Its cashback feature is very appealing, as you can get up to 20% back on purchases. Its partnership with several merchants helps you save and also earn some money.
• Saves time and money – Say goodbye to time wasted on manually searching for coupon codes that work. Capital One Shopping does everything for you.
• Very easy to use – Once you have the extension installed, there's not much else for you to do except shop as usual and enjoy all the savings and credits.

Cons

• Tracks your online activity – Capital One Shopping monitors and stores your shopping and purchasing history
• Limited reward redemption methods – Shopping credits can only be redeemed through gift cards.

Capital One Shopping Alternatives

While Capital One Shopping is a great tool for saving money while shopping, there are many other similar tools available that you can try out.

Honey is very similar to Capital One Shopping. It's also a free browser extension that finds coupon codes and better deals and prices while you shop. It also has a mobile app. Read our full Honey review.

Rakuten offers cashback and rewards from thousands of retailers on products bought through Rakuten. You can also get cashback for in-store purchases if you use a card linked to your Rakuten account.

Swagbucks is a free online rewards membership program that lets you earn cashback when you shop online. There are other ways to earn with Swagbucks – take online surveys, watch videos, scan receipts from your grocery shopping, and get paid to try products.

Related: 23 money saving apps that will fast track your savings

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is Capital One Shopping safe and legit?

Yes. It is a service provided by a reputable financial institution – Capital One.

Capital One uses several security measures to protect its customers' information using different encryption features. Capital One Shopping also has a trust rating of 4.6/5 on Trustpilot.

However, as with any browser extension, be sure to download it from a reputable website and have up-to-date antivirus to protect your device from malware.

How does Capital One Shopping make money?

Capital One Shopping makes a commission from its partnered stores whenever a customer purchases through Capital One Shopping or uses its coupons.

How do I get rid of Capital One Shopping?

Simply uninstall the browser extension on your desktop by going to browser settings. Click on manage extension, search for capital one shopping, and click on “Remove.”

On your mobile, just uninstall the app from your phone like any other app.

Who is Capital One Shopping Best for?

If you shop on Amazon or other online retailers a lot, and you like to find the lowest prices and the best deals, then Capital One Shopping may be right for you. The great thing is that you can try it out absolutely free and decide if you want to keep on using it.

However, if you don't really care about saving some money on stuff you buy, you probably wouldn't care much about Capital One Shopping.

Nonetheless, Capital One Shopping doesn't even require any effort from your once you install the extension, so you might as well give it a try.

So, what are you waiting for? Start saving on your online purchases right away!

Have you used Capital One Shopping before? Or do you use a similar money-saving tool? Share your experience in the comment section. I would love to hear from you.