Capital One Shopping Review 2022 - Is it Safe & How Does it Work?

What is the Capital One Shopping extension and is it legit?

The Capital One Shopping browser extension (formerly known as Wikibuy prior to being acquired by Capital One in October 2020) is a free browser extension that can help save you money while shopping online. This free personal finance tool compares prices and monitors coupon codes, trending deals, and product price drops at over 30,000 online retailers to find you incredible deals at jaw-dropping prices for your online shopping trips.

Capital One Shopping is a legitimate service brought to you by one of the top financial companies in the industry. In the last year alone, Capital One Shopping found over $160 million in savings for users. This service is provided independently from other Capital One financial services, so you don't have to be a Capital One card or bank user to reap the benefits.

Is Capital One Shopping safe to download and use?

Capital One Shopping is completely safe to add to web browsers and mobile devices. Capital One Shopping scored nearly perfect with 4.7 out of 5 stars from over 2,000 reviews on Trustpilot.

Take note that Capital One Shopping collects personal data such as your email, shopping activity, and social media preferences. It may also ask for you to provide a ZIP code or payment card information to your account for algorithm and transaction purposes. While some people may be wary about browser extensions collecting personal and financial data, Capital One Shopping ensures users in their privacy policy that data is not sold to any third parties and that the data collected is solely for e-commerce-related activity.

Still, users can review their latest privacy policy to double-check before downloading and using the extension.

How does the Capital One Shopping browser extension work?

Upon downloading the browser extension, Capital One Shopping will immediately start doing the hard work for you. This free browser extension is a relatively low-effort way to save money while shopping online as you normally do. Capital One Shopping's features are unique in that it is actively finding ways of saving money before and even after you've made online purchases, working seamlessly in the background as you go about your business. Capital One Shopping will notify you at checkout of any possible savings, or after already buying a product.

It saves you the trouble by finding much more than you would in a simple Google search. Capital One Shopping works quietly in the background, searching for available discounts on your purchase and automatically highlighting lower prices for the product you're shopping for across major online retailers.

Capital One Shopping's features help you save money in several ways:

Price comparison tool

It can be a hassle on your own to compare prices over thousands of retailers to find the right deal. That's why Capital One Shopping's price comparison tool does it for you. It can instantly compare prices between thousands of online retailers to ensure that you get a great price when shopping online.

If you're looking for a specific product, Capital One Shopping will sort your options while considering which results have the lowest shipping costs and best delivery times, finding you great deals to choose from.

While online shopping at popular retailers such as Amazon, Capital One Shopping is monitoring trending deals and searching for lower prices. If the price comparison tool finds the product available for a better price within the service's database, Capital One Shopping will notify you with a widget. You can view the top offers for the item by clicking the “Continue to Capital One Shopping” button.

This tool shows you directly on the Amazon page the cost difference in a comparison table and provides a link directly to the other retailer, making it easy to navigate across the internet to that better deal. The tool also provides historical price data that may be useful in determining your savings at the time of purchase.

Apply coupon codes automatically

Everyone wants to save money, but not everyone can take the time to dig around for the coupon code they need. Capital One Shopping makes the couponing process mostly low-effort. With only a few clicks, Capital One Shopping automatically applies available coupon codes at checkout for free!

When it's time to check out, the browser extension automatically finds all the promo codes, coupon codes, and online coupons for you. Much of these coupon codes are publicly available, however, many of them are crowdsourced from memberships or added to the database by other Capital One Shopping users. Since not every coupon code is bound to work, Capital One Shopping will test all the available coupon codes for you and apply the top codes for your product.

Capital One Shopping saves you money and time with these automated coupon codes in seconds.

Redeem rewards for gift cards

Even if Capital One Shopping can't find any discounts or better prices for the item you're shopping for, you can still have the opportunity to save when you purchase through rewards. When you shop at popular retailers and your favorite online stores, Capital One Shopping earns you Capital One Shopping Credits. 

The Capital One Shopping extension button next to the website address bar will turn green and tell you how many credits you can earn as a percentage of your spending. To collect credits, simply click the "Activate" button directly on the page or at checkout.

Once you've racked up enough credits, you can redeem your rewards for gift cards at dozens of top retailers and Capital One Shopping partners. Gift cards can be accessed through your Capital One Shopping account immediately after being redeemed. So even if coupons don't apply or that better price doesn't exist, you can still get more from every dollar you spend.

Price Protection

According to price protection policies at certain stores, you may be entitled to a refund if an item you bought is available for a lower cost than what you paid for it. However, the price drop must occur within a specified time frame, usually within 14 days of the purchase. Many people may not know about this policy and could potentially be missing out on earning back a few bucks.

Capital One Shopping offers price protection for online purchases, known as Capital One Shopping Price Protection. Price protection allows you to shop with confidence and forgo the buyer's remorse, filing claims on your behalf to be refunded for any price drops or late deliveries on eligible purchases.

To enroll for price protection, you just have to link your email where you receive e-receipts to your Capital One Shopping account. Capital One Shopping Price Protection then uses proprietary technology to identify and open only online shopping-related emails to scan receipts. The service will then check if there have been any price drops within the eligible timeframe. If an eligible price drop is detected, Capital One Shopping Price Protection will file a refund claim for you automatically.

One limitation when it comes to price protection is that Capital One Shopping Price Protection is only available with Gmail, Yahoo!, and Outlook. Price protection is also limited in relation to which retailers are monitored for price drops, so Capital One Shopping Price Protection won't scan every single receipt you get.

Additional Capital One Shopping features you should know about

Apart from the main features listed above, Capital One Shopping has additional features to help maximize your savings when shopping online:

Local Offers Program

There are two ways to earn rewards in Capital One Shopping. One way is redeeming Capital One Shopping Credits for gift cards. Another way is through the Capital One Shopping Local Offers program, where you can earn rewards while supporting your local businesses.

Local Offers is Capital One Shopping’s Card-Linked Offers program. This means these credits are earned through local purchases by using a linked credit or debit card on your account. These local offers are unique to the ZIP code from your payment card information and can earn you up to 4% back when you shop locally using that card.

To enroll in the Local Offers Program, start by linking a valid credit card to your Capital One Shopping account. The program accepts cards from major credit card networks including American Express, Discover, Visa, and Mastercard. If you shop for local offers on an unlinked card, you will not receive any rewards.

Once you've linked an eligible credit or debit card, check online or through Capital One Shopping for any local offers in your area. Offers will tell you how many credits you can earn. After buying a local offer and paying with a linked card, rewards will show in your account up to 30 days after purchase.

Price drop alerts

Paired with the price protection feature, this additional feature looks at your shopping history and shopping searches to let you know if the prices of any of these products drop. This notification feature sends alerts when the items you've viewed or purchased go on sale.

This tool can be useful since price drops can go undetected by the usual online shopper. However, there are numerous limitations to this feature that can prevent it from being truly useful.

Users receive price alerts by email only, rather than being notified directly on the page, through text messages or push notifications. Emails are sent twice per week (typically on Tuesday and Thursday), so there's no option to choose when you receive these alerts. Also, you cannot choose which items you’d like to be notified about, so you may (or may not) be sent alerts you don't need or miss out on alerts for items you do care about. This lack of customization greatly limits the feature's value.

Capital One Shopping review based on actual users

Capital One Shopping has been downloaded and trusted by over 6 million active users to help them save money and handle all their online shopping needs. Overall, users are satisfied with the results.

From over 10,000 reviews on the Google Chrome Web Store, users agree that Capital One Shopping is a simple and easy browser extension to use that helps them save online. The satisfaction of active users is why Capital One Shopping currently sits on a five-star rating on the Chrome Web Store.

Browser extensions like Capital One Shopping

Many people may find Capital One Shopping's interface useful but not to their liking. There are some alternative browser extensions that exist that can compare to Capital One Shopping. These alternatives, along with Capital One Shopping, can be used at the same time or by themselves:

• Honey - Honey is alternative that is most similar to Capital One Shopping. Honey is another personal finance browser extension that aims to save you money while shopping online. Both extensions compare prices, offer rewards and local promotions, and find discounts when you shop online. However, Capital One Shopping may be more ideal to work with Amazon since Honey can only compare prices against other Amazon sellers while Capital One Shopping can check across thousands of other retailers.
• Fetch - Fetch works a little differently in that it earns you reward points when you scan the bar codes on your receipts with the Fetch app. Both Fetch and Capital One Shopping mobile apps are available for iOS and Android devices. Reward points on both can be redeemed for gift cards to popular retailers, so Fetch is a handy additional tool to be using. One notable difference on Fetch is if an account is inactive for 90 days, the points earned on the account will expire. Meanwhile, Capital One Shopping credits never expire.
• Rakuten - Rakuten is a popular shopping portal that offers cashback for your everyday purchases. Capital One Shopping is a great tool for all-around savings. But if you want to focus more on getting cashback, Rakuten would be the way to go. You may also find better rewards rates from Rakuten compared to Capital One Shopping.
• Ibotta - However you choose to shop, Ibotta's mobile app makes it an ideal tool for both online and in-store shopping. You can browse and add offers to your Ibotta account prior to shopping. Once you submit your receipt or link your payment account, you can earn cashback by shopping like you always do.

It all comes down to user preference and which user experience is more convenient and efficient. Some finance tools have features that are unique; some focus on finding cashback while others apply coupons automatically. It's good practice to check out and try all your options to maximize your chances of saving money.

Frequently asked questions about the Capital One Shopping extension

Is Capital One Shopping free?

Capital One Shopping is completely free to download and use with no hidden costs! You can shop with ease anytime, knowing that Capital One Shopping is doing the hard work for you to help you save money completely free of charge.

Who should use Capital One Shopping?

Capital One Shopping is ideal for any frequent online purchaser since this browser extension looks for great deals for you automatically when you shop online. However, you'll need a U.S. shipping address to use Capital One Shopping and must be 18 years or older to enroll.

Since this service is independently offered from other Capital One financial services, it is available to both Capital One and non-Capital One card customers. Capital One Shopping is can be a valuable browser addition for all online shoppers looking to avoid overspending when they don't have to.

U.S. residents who are 18 and older should try using Capital One Shopping as their default personal finance tool.

Does Capital One Shopping work on Amazon?

The Capital One Shopping extension is compatible with Amazon. You can effortlessly save money shopping online on Amazon as the Capital One Shopping extension checks other sellers for a better price, including sales tax + shipping. The browser extension will optimally work in the background, finding and applying any coupon codes and promo codes at checkout.

However, the best deal may not always be found on Amazon. If the extension's algorithms find the same product for a lower price at a different retailer, a pop-up icon will notify you and compare the results with those on Amazon.

How do I get Capital One Shopping?

Ready to download this extension and start saving? Capital One Shopping is currently available to add to Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, & Safari desktop browsers. You can install the browser extension directly from the Chrome Web Store, the Mozilla Firefox Add-On page, the Microsoft Store, and the Safari Extensions store.

Capital One Shopping is also available for mobile price comparison on all iOS & Android devices when you're shopping on the go. Find the Capital One Shopping mobile app on the App Store for iOS devices, or visit the Google Play Store for Android devices.

Once you've added the extension to your web browser or downloaded the mobile app, there are a few initial steps to set up Capital One Shopping for maximal use:

1. Create your Capital One Shopping account
2. Link an eligible credit or debit card - for payments, refunds, and to have access to local offers.
3. Add your ZIP code - for the extension's algorithm to determine local offers and prioritize delivery times when comparing prices.

What are Capital One Shopping Credits?

Capital One Shopping Credits are reward points you can earn whenever you make purchases online at popular retailers. It's basically free money! At checkout, Capital One Shopping will tell you how many credits your purchase is worth as a percentage of your spending at eligible stores.

Once you've earned enough credits, they can then be redeemed in exchange for online gift cards to Capital One Shopping partnered retailers.

Do Capital One Shopping rewards expire?

No, Capital One Shopping rewards do not expire. As stated in the Capital One Shopping Terms of Service, these rewards are yours until they are redeemed or upon terminating or canceling your Capital One Shopping account.

Any unused rewards do not expire. However, they can only be redeemed if your account is in good standing and has accumulated a minimum balance of $0.01 worth of Shopping Rewards. You may not redeem more than a value of $500.00 worth of Shopping Rewards in any single transaction.