Have you ever made a purchase online and found that the item went on sale just days later? This is frustrating because if you had waited, you could have saved money.

But did you know that many stores offer a price guarantee? This means that if a product you buy drops in price shortly after you purchase it, you can get a refund for the difference. Yet it's a hassle to monitor all your purchases and contact the store if this happens.

That's where the incredibly useful service called Paribus comes in. It takes the headache out of getting the refunds you're owed anyway. Let's review how this works.

What Is Paribus?

Paribus is a free service that checks your purchases to find out if online stores owe you a refund. It couldn't be easier -- you simply have to sign up with your email account, let Paribus watch for new purchases, and it will do its work in the background.

If you make an online purchase and the item drops in price shortly after, or you missed an opportunity to use a coupon, Paribus will work to get the money on your behalf within the price adjustment window. When the claim is eligible, Paribus reaches out to the retailer and handles the heavy lifting of processing the refund for you.

New Paribus Features

Paribus has two recent developments that make it an even more useful package.

First, the company no longer takes a percentage of the refund it gets for you. This means that you keep 100% of any money that the service works to earn -- no fees!

Second, Paribus can now link with your Amazon account. Though Amazon doesn't have a price protection policy, you may be eligible for compensation if your items aren't delivered by the guaranteed shipping date. If you link your Amazon account, Paribus will watch for late deliveries and work to get your shipping cost refunded (or a free month of Amazon Prime) if this happens. This could get you even more of the money you're owed.

Get Started With Paribus

Using Paribus is straightforward and only takes a minute to set up. Visit the Paribus homepage and select your email provider. If you use Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook, click the respective button and you can sign into your account using your provider's login page.

For other email accounts, click different provider at the bottom of the list. You'll need to enter your first and last name, your email address, and your email account password.

Now, you'll be giving the service access to your email account, so you do need to be aware of the security risks that come with that. Paribus says:

We take reasonable measures to help protect information about You from loss, theft, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. Nevertheless, transmission via the Internet is not completely secure and Paribus cannot guarantee the security of Your information collected through Our Service.

If you're concerned about your privacy while giving Paribus your information, be sure to dig into its privacy policy and terms of service.

Before you complete the signup process, Paribus will ask if you want to link your Amazon account too for late delivery monitoring. This is an optional step and you can fill in your info later.

Using Paribus

Once you've authorized your account, you'll see the Paribus main page, with four tabs along the top.

The Purchases tab lists items you've recently bought. Each one provides a link to the product on the site you purchased it from, as well as the price you paid and the current price. If the item is eligible for a refund, you'll see how much longer that's available. Use the tabs on the right side to filter by retailer or status.

On the Deals page, you'll see some of the biggest price drops that have saved other users cash recently. This will let you get a feel for the sorts of discounts other users are seeing. Below this are some other recent price drops you might have an interest in.

Use the Stats page to get some information on how the service has worked for you. You can check out how many purchases Paribus has detected, how many retailers you've shopped at, and how many claims you've used to save money.

Finally, on the Settings tab, you can refresh your Linked Accounts and add your Amazon account if you didn't do so earlier (for the aforementioned shipping refunds). Use the Email notifications tab to disable various alert messages, and Delivery Monitoring to toggle that feature. You can edit your name or close your account on the Profile page.

Retailers That Paribus Monitors

Paribus monitors a variety of online stores, including many major retailers that you probably already shop at. You can view them all on the Stores We Monitor page, and click any of them to view that retailer's price adjustment policy.

Some of the most popular monitored stores include:

  • Macy's
  • Newegg
  • Target
  • Banana Republic
  • Walmart
  • Kohl's
  • Costco
  • Home Depot
  • L.L.Bean

Ready to Start Saving With Paribus?

That's all there is to using Paribus. Simply link your email account, let it find receipts for your recent purchases, and enjoy the effortless savings. You don't have to spend time clipping coupons, and there's no need to stress about watching for a lower price. It's all taken care of for you with just your email address.

If you want to use Paribus on the go, you can download the Paribus app for iOS. Currently, the company does not offer an Android app, but you can access the website in your mobile browser as an alternative. It'll work just as well, especially because much of what it does happens automatically.

So what are you waiting for? Get started for free today, and return more of your money to your pocket with little to no effort!

Will you give Paribus a try? Are you already using it? Have you ever contacted a store for a price match on your own? Tell us in the comments!