Capital One Shopping Review [2024]: How Does It Work?

Key takeaways

What is Capital One Shopping?

Capital One Shopping is a free browser extension and mobile app focused on the online shopping industry. It was initially launched as Wikibuy in 2014 with a vision to help people make better financial decisions and save money, and that vision still holds true today. Over the years, it has evolved significantly to offer more features and benefits to its users.

In its early days as Wikibuy, the tool primarily focused on providing users with coupon codes. However, with the transition to Capital One Shopping, it expanded its offerings to include price tracking, rewards earning, and a universal product search engine. These new features have made it an even more powerful tool for online shoppers.

Capital One Shopping has attracted millions of users and has received app ratings of 4.9 out of 5 stars on the App Store and 4.7 out of 5 stars on Google Play, with more than 520,000 reviews on both platforms.

Can it actually save you money?

Whether directly or indirectly, Capital One Shopping can help you save money. The extension and mobile app will automatically apply available coupon codes to your cart to ensure you have the lowest price. Indirectly, you will earn shopping rewards as a percentage of each purchase you make.

For example, I was shopping for a new Roomba vacuum cleaner. The Roomba was already on sale at Kohl's, marked down from $689.99 to $499.99. I added it to my cart, and the Capital One Shopping extension automatically applied the best coupon code available, taking an additional $75 off. On top of that, I received 0.5% back in shopping rewards to use later.

How do Capital One Shopping rewards work?

Simply visit Capital One Shopping and create an account to begin using it. Depending on the device you’re using, you can download its browser extension or mobile app to make it easier to access.

To find a deal on Capital One Shopping, simply go to the Capital One Shopping website or mobile app and browse their featured offers. Alternatively, you can go to the website of the participating merchant you plan to buy from, and Capital One Shopping’s browser extension will automatically identify any potential savings for you.

Capital One Shopping can help you find potential savings using the following features:

1. Coupons
2. Capital One Shopping Credits
3. Price comparison
4. Watchlist
5. Universal Product search engine
6. Featured offers
7. Hotels, events, and travel experiences

1. Coupons

Capital One Shopping can test available coupon codes at participating online retailers with just the push of a button. When you’re on a website that works with Capital One Shopping, click the “try codes” button while checking out. This will prompt Capital One Shopping to apply any codes it has found and potentially save you some money.

Many online stores offer coupons, but it’s not always the easiest to find them. The Capital One Shopping Coupons feature is an excellent way to save yourself the time and hassle of searching for coupons. With just the click of a button, Capital One Shopping will apply the available codes, and you might be in for a nice discount on your shopping trip.

We like this feature because it’s much faster than finding and entering coupon codes yourself.

2. Capital One Shopping Credits

Capital One Shopping partners with select online stores to offer you a percentage of your money back from any eligible online purchase you make. You receive this money back as Capital One Shopping Credits, which can be redeemed for gift cards to popular retailers through Capital One Shopping.

We like this feature because it makes it easy to get rewarded for shopping you do anyway.

Perspectives

Yahia Barakah, CEPF

Senior Editor and budgeting pro

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Yahia is an avid budgeter who excels in optimizing savings and making every penny count.

How I saved over $30 on a single purchase with Capital One Shopping

I was about to place an order for a $230 Columbia ski jacket when a pop-up from Capital One Shopping appeared, offering 5% back in rewards after activating the browser extension. After activating, it searched for valid coupons upon activation and applied one that saved $20. I placed the order, and after approximately two weeks, I received $11.50 in Capital One Shopping Credits. In total, I saved $31.50 with Capital One Shopping.

3. Price comparison tool

Many online shoppers use Amazon.com to browse for everything from apparel to groceries to electronics and more. If you’re an Amazon shopper, you’re in luck because Capital One Shopping can seamlessly work in the background as you’re browsing Amazon products online.

Capital One Shopping automatically searches for lower prices on other websites when you select a product and its options. If it doesn’t find a better deal than Amazon, it informs you. You typically receive the search results within 10 to 15 seconds, and you can click on the Capital One Shopping pop-up to see additional information.

We like this feature because you can still shop on Amazon, which is convenient, but get alerted if you might find a better deal elsewhere.

4. Watchlist

Are you constantly checking the prices of specific items and hoping the price drops enough for you to make a purchase? If so, Capital One Shopping’s Watchlist feature can really improve your process and save you loads of time and money.

Just add the items you want to monitor into Watchlist, and Capital One Shopping will track their prices for you. You’ll be able to see the latest prices of each item and the last price you saw on the item. This makes it easy to see if the price has gone down, up, or stayed the same.

5. Universal product search engine

Capital One Shopping also has its own search engine, which makes it easy to view prices across multiple sites.

For example, when I searched for “KitchenAid mixer”, it displayed 16 stores with coupons or rewards and over 13,254 product results.

The downside we found to the search engine is that you can’t see what site the products are from until you click through to the next page. For example, I didn’t know the KitchenAid mixer I was looking at was from eBay until I clicked through to the next page.

6. Featured offers

While you’re searching on Capital One Shopping, you can also check out its featured offers. Its offers typically include shopping rewards (either a percentage of your purchase or a flat dollar amount), and many also offer a discount.

We think this feature is worth checking out because the featured offers often include popular brands which might align with your shopping.

7. Hotels, events, and travel experiences

Capital One Shopping offers a great way to earn hefty shopping rewards while booking your travel. Its hotel search tool allows you to easily compare the best nightly offers aggregated from various sources. Plus, it automatically shows you how much you'll receive in Capital One shopping rewards after your stay. The rewards percentage varies by hotel, so keep that in mind when you're making your selection. 

This tool also allows you to search and compare prices for events and experiences through partners like StubHub, Viator, and Hertz. Basically, you can plan your entire trip (accommodations, car rental, and activities) through Capital One Shopping, all while receiving shopping rewards back for each purchase!

Keep in mind, it's still important to shop around for the best deal. During our search, some competitors like Google Hotels did show cheaper nightly rates than Capital One Shopping, even after the rewards were applied. 

Capital One Shopping mobile app

The Capital One Shopping app is available from the Apple App or Google Play stores. The main difference between the app and the extension is that you need to shop through the app to find savings, while the desktop extension will show you deals even if you don’t start your shopping through the Capital One app. You can scan barcodes in the app or use its search engine.

With the app, you can find coupons and personalized deals. The app doesn’t have as many features as the browser extension, but it could be helpful if you do most of your online shopping by phone.

You can get started by searching the mobile app for specific stores or products. You can see the amount of potential cash back and savings, then click to activate your cashback offer and start shopping. 

If you're shopping at a store for deals, you can click the bottom of your screen to see the various deals that Capital One Shopping has found at that store. It will also check for coupons when you check out. 

What we like about Capital One Shopping: benefits and perks

• Simple coupon discovery: We like that Capital One Shopping makes it easy to find and apply coupons when available while we shop online. It takes the hassle out of searching for these coupons on various websites.
• Rewards potential: We recommend activating Capital One Shopping before placing online orders with participating merchants to potentially earn rewards on your purchase and maximize your savings.
• Price comparison: The price comparison feature reduces the amount of work we need to do to find the best price for an item since it automatically compares prices between supported merchants.
• Versatile methods to find deals: In addition to the convenient pop-up that Capital One Shopping displays for potential savings, it also allows for active deal hunting. To find deals for specific products, we searched for specific products on the Capital One Shopping website and explored the curated list of featured offers.
• Ease of use: The browser extension is user-friendly and works seamlessly in the background, making it easy to save money without much extra effort.

Capital One Shopping drawbacks

• Limited reward redemption: One drawback we found is that Capital One Shopping only allows redeeming rewards for gift cards. Although it offers gift cards from many popular merchants, it doesn’t offer cash payouts. Other similar platforms, like Honey or Rakuten, offer cash payouts.
• Personal data collection: Capital One Shopping may collect personal data to function correctly. While this is common with many online tools, people who’d like to maintain their data privacy might not like the collection of their personal data.

How to get started with Capital One Shopping

To get started with Capital One Shopping, follow these simple steps:

1. Head to Capital One Shopping, and you'll see a button you can click to add the extension to your browser.

2. When you click this button, it will direct you to your browser's web store. If you're using Chrome, click on the “Add to Chrome” button and “Add extension.” You’ll have to create a Capital One Shopping account if you haven’t already or sign in with your existing account.

Who can use Capital One Shopping?

Anyone who has a compatible browser can get the Capital One Shopping browser extension. However, you must be 18 years or older to enroll and use Capital One Shopping’s services.

You can create a free Capital One Shopping account with your name and email address or sign in with a Google or Facebook account. 

The Capital One Shopping extension is available on the following web browsers:

Capital One Shopping also offers a mobile app for Android and iOS.

Capital One Shopping alternatives

If Capital One Shopping doesn’t seem like the right choice to help you save money shopping online, consider trying other shopping apps like Honey, Rakuten, and Fetch. You can actually download all four and compare the best offer from each. It could help you get one step closer to finding the best buys and meeting your personal finance goals.

	Capital One Shopping	Honey	Rakuten	Fetch
Online vs. in-store	Online and in-store	Online only	Online and in-store	Online and in-store
Type of app	Mobile app (iOS and Android devices) and browser extension	Mobile app (iOS and Android devices) and browser extension	Mobile app (iOS and Android devices) and browser extension	Mobile app (iOS and Android devices)
Redemption options	Gift cards	Gift cards or cash out with PayPal	Cash out with PayPal or mailed check	Gift cards
Minimum cash out	$0.01 minimum of Shopping Credits	1,000 Honey Gold (equal to a $10 gift card) minimum	$5.01 minimum	3,000 points (equal to a $3 gift card) minimum
Rewards expiration	Capital One Shopping Credits don’t expire	Honey Gold only expire if you haven’t earned at least 10 Gold within a consecutive 12-month period	Rewards don’t expire, but they’re subject to account maintenance fees after 12 months of inactivity	Points expire if your account has been inactive for 90 days
Best for...	Those who shop online and in-store	Dedicated online shoppers	Those who shop online and in-store and want cash back	Those who shop online and in-store and can keep their receipts
	Visit Capital One Shopping	Read our Honey review	Visit Rakuten or read our review	Read our Fetch review

Capital One Shopping vs. Honey

Honey is similar to Capital One Shopping, and available promo codes can be applied automatically at online checkout. Also, the free Honey Gold loyalty program offers you rewards when you shop at participating retailers. 

Unlike Capital One Shopping, Honey only works online and cannot be used in-store. It also requires a minimum of 1,000 Honey Gold points before a user can cash out, while Capital One Shopping only requires $0.01 in order to use the shopping rewards. However, Honey users can use their points for cash back, shopping credit, or gift cards.

Capital One Shopping vs. Rakuten

Rakuten is another browser extension and mobile app that helps you compare prices and automatically apply coupon codes both in-store and online. 

Unlike Capital One Shopping, Rakuten rewards can be redeemed for actual Cash Back, versus shopping credits. Plus, Rakuten offers a $10 Cash Back reward simply by signing up. You can receive your cash via quarterly PayPal withdrawals or donate it to one of their many nonprofit partners.

Capital One Shopping vs. Fetch

Fetch is different from Capital One Shopping, Honey, and Rakuten. With Fetch, you scan receipt barcodes from your purchases in the Fetch app, which is available for iPhone and Android.

You can earn Fetch Rewards on virtually every type of receipt, so it’s easy to load up on rewards from everyday purchases. Rewards can be redeemed for gift cards from popular retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Starbucks.

Capital One Shopping FAQ

Capital One Shopping review: bottom line

Capital One Shopping is a free online tool that we recommend for anyone who shops online. It automatically discovers coupon codes, alerts you about potential rewards, and helps compare prices between supported merchants.

However, it only allows redeeming rewards for gift cards and may not work on every website out there. Despite these limitations, we think Capital One Shopping is a valuable tool that can save you money by finding deals and coupons when they’re available.

Learn More

on Capital One Shopping’s website

Automatically discovers coupon codes when available

Lets you know if you can earn rewards while you’re shopping

Helps you compare prices between supported merchants

Author Details

Yahia Barakah, CEPF

Yahia Barakah, CEPF, is a Senior Editor at FinanceBuzz and has created finance-focused content since 2011. As a Certified Educator of Personal Finance, he has a background in institutional investment and asset management, as well as a deep passion for financial literacy.