Capital One Shopping Review Does it really save you more than big box stores?

What is Capital One Shopping?

Shopping online is more popular than ever. Whether it be for groceries, the latest tech, clothing or furniture, access to your favorite stores is just a Google search away. 

But with spending opportunities constantly at your fingertips, it’s important to have tools that’ll help you stick to your budget.

Capital One Shopping is a free browser extension and mobile app that helps you save money when shopping online. 

This service takes the legwork out of bargain hunting by automatically searching thousands of sellers to see if there are better prices anywhere else to find you the best deal, including coupons and discounts.

Pros and cons of Capital One shopping

How to use Capital One Shopping

Capital One Shopping is free and easy to use. Simply download the browser extension here and start shopping. 

As you’re browsing for things online, Capital One’s price comparison tool will show you if there’s a cheaper option to buy the product you’re checking out from another retailer. 

So, when you’re browsing on Amazon, pin Capital One’s comparison tool to your webpage — it can redirect you to another site selling the same thing for less.

Additionally, your Capital One Shopping extension will provide pop up messages as you shop to inform you of discounts and coupons. All you need to do is click those messages to activate savings.

How to add the Capital One Shopping Extension to your browser

1. 1 Click this link. 
2. 2 Select “Add Capital One Shopping” to your browser.
3. 3 When prompted, select “Add extension” or “Install.” If you’re redirected to your browser’s app store, select “Get” or “Install” from there.
4. 4 Provide a bit of information about yourself — your ZIP code, whether you have Amazon Prime.
5. 5 Accept Capital One Shopping’s terms of service and privacy policy and click “Continue.”

After that you can click “Continue to my Capital One Shopping Page” or close out the window. Now that you’ve downloaded the extension, the “S” logo will appear in the extension section of your web browser of choice — that’s the puzzle piece on Chrome next to the search bar.

Top features of Capital One Shopping

The best way to get deals with Capital One Shopping is by utilizing *everything* they have to offer. 

From their price comparison tool to shopping credits and more, Capital One Shopping is chock full of great features to enhance your online shopping experience and get you the best deals possible. 

The following features are what we found to be some of their best — they can cut spending, earn cash back and keep you in the know of the best prices available.

Capital One Shopping Rewards

As you use Capital One Shopping to make purchases, you’ll accumulate rewards points. 

When you make a purchase from a partnered retailer using an offer brought to you by Capital One, all you have to do is click “activate offer” and a percentage of your spending will become a future shopping credit.

Your shopping rewards can be redeemed for gift cards at a variety of retailers like eBay, StubHub, Kohl’s and Walmart — basically, you’re getting free money. 

To check your rewards balance, just make sure you’re logged into capitaloneshopping.com and click “My Rewards and Savings.”

There you’ll find a streamlined dashboard of your rewards balance, your transactions and the savings you’ve scored.

Coupon codes

Another great feature of Capital One Shopping is the automated coupon code search. 

While you’re shopping, Capital One will scan the web for potentially applicable coupon codes and add the best ones to your purchase. Consider it not-so-extreme couponing.

We love this feature because it takes the effort out of hunting down discount codes, typing them in, then finding out they’re expired or that you don’t qualify. 

This way, you still get the perks of that “a-ha!” moment when a coupon sticks the landing without the hassle.

Price comparison tool

The price comparison tool is a widget that appears when you’re shopping on Amazon. 

The browser extension will scan for cheaper prices of the items you’re shopping for at alternate retailers and display those deals right on your webpage.

Right next to Amazon’s listed price, Capital One Shopping will show you if the item is offered for less somewhere else.

Here’s an example of the price comparison tool in action from when we browsed Amazon for a Vitamix blender.

We saw it listed for $289.95 on Amazon and the price comparison tool scanned for better deals, finding us $64 in savings.

After clicking on the offer, we were able to get a better price for this luxe blender at Saks Fifth Avenue through Capital One Shopping.

While many people tend to assume Amazon is the cheapest option, the price comparison tool helps you determine if it really is where you should buy, depending on what you’re shopping for.

Product watchlist

The product watchlist feature allows shoppers to track prices for any items they’re looking to buy. 

As long as you have the extension installed, Capital One Shopping will automatically note things you’re interested in and keep you updated on new prices and savings. 

You also have the option to click “Add to watchlist” to manually keep track of products when you’re shopping on Amazon. The button can be found right next to the price comparison widget.

Universal product search engine

This feature gives you a similar experience to the price comparison widget provides — except you don’t have to be on Amazon to compare costs. Instead, you simply click on the extension and search anywhere the product is sold. 

Capital One Shopping’s universal product search engine will provide you with an item’s price history of up to a year, special offers and the lowest price available at that moment. 

We love this feature as a streamlined way to compare options for an item you’ve got in mind but might still be shopping around for.

To check out the search engine, head over to capitaloneshopping.com and type the product you’re looking for into the search bar at the top of the page. 

Here’s an example.

Once you’ve typed in what you’re looking for — for us, it was a Nespresso coffee machine — you’ll see the products availability and current prices at different retailers, plus reward rates for certain sellers.

Price protection

When it comes to this feature, the name really says it all. 

With automated price protection, Capital One Shopping ensures that you get a refund if the price of a product you purchased goes down within a designated time period — usually around two weeks. 

Without the extension, keeping an eye on price drops for your recent purchases falls totally on your shoulders. But Capital One Shopping will monitor your purchase history for any price drops, and in certain cases it can even request a refund on your behalf so long as you’ve provided access to your email. 

This feature is great because it takes the work off your hands, so you can go about your life and be happily surprised if a refund hits your bank account.

Exclusive deals

The exclusive deals you get with Capital One Shopping are unique to your shopping habits. Essentially, they’re cash-back rates for specific retailers you’ve already visited.

Since the extension tracks the websites you visit, it’s able to tailor what deals you receive, offering you extra cash back at select stores that you’ve previously visited. 

You can browse all the specific deals available to you in your personalized deals feed through the extension, so it’s easy to make sure you don’t miss out on anything.

The Capital One Shopping app

For those who prefer to shop from their smartphone, Capital One Shopping has a mobile app that acts as a companion to the browser extension. 

You can’t download the extension on mobile devices, but the app acts as an extra on-the-go way to save money.

After downloading the app through your mobile device’s app store, you can use it to search for items and scan barcodes while you’re out shopping and the app will provide you with the prices of those items at other popular retailers. 

Then, you have the option to order the better-priced version of the item through the app directly.

Does Capital One Shopping actually save you more money than big box stores?

The main question you’re probably asking is whether Capital One Shopping can actually save you more than what you’d regularly spend at big box stores. 

Lucky for you, we put this to the test.

Amazon vs. Walmart vs. Capital One Shopping

We went ahead and took a look at a few items on our shopping lists to see how the costs at major retailers compared to the deals Capital One Shopping could find.

The first thing we looked at were the Apple Airpods Pro 2nd generation.

After checking the cost at Walmart and Amazon — which was $229 at both retailers — Capital One Shopping was able to save us $23 by purchasing them at Staples for $205.

The next item we checked out was the Bose SoundLink Micro portable speaker in Stone Blue.

Both Walmart and Amazon were selling the product for $99, but Capital One Shopping found it for $86.20.

After shopping around for more fun gadgets, we decided to go back to basics and check out the Oral-B Pro 1000 CrossAction electric toothbrush.

While Walmart was selling it for $39.97 and Amazon was selling it for $38.99, Capital One Shopping was able to track it down for $35.10 at Walgreens.

Sure, that might not sound like much, but when you shop online consistently these savings really do add up.

Here are some other items we compared while shopping around.

Overall, Capital One Shopping was able to find us lower prices during our research plus a few coupon codes. While the availability of deals depends on the item you’re searching for, it’s definitely an asset to be able to instantly compare prices and hop over to other retailers to get the best price — even when it’s a matter of mere dollars and cents.

The drawbacks of Capital One Shopping

While Capital One Shopping has much to boast about, it does come with its drawbacks. 

Plus, some of its features are clever in theory, but don’t necessarily function as you’d expect.

Limited withdrawal options for rewards

Earning Capital One Shopping rewards is a great feature of the extension. But, compared to some other shopping reward extensions, the gift card options for redemption are a bit limited.

The fact that Amazon, PayPal and Visa are missing from the list of redeemable gift card options is definitely worth noting. 

If you’re OK with missing out on those big three, here are some of the options that you can redeem your rewards for.

Price comparison is only for Amazon

While the price comparison tool is easily recognizable as a great feature of the Capital One Shopping extension, it does have a major limitation — the widget is only available when shopping on Amazon. 

People who don’t use Amazon as their go-to retailer will miss out on this massive selling feature.

It collects a lot of data

User-provided information like your email, name and address, along with things like transaction data and cookies, will be tracked by Capital One Shopping. 

Of course, it is up to the user to accept the extension’s terms and conditions beforehand. You’ll have agreed to the collection of this data, but who really reads the fine print? 

Whether you’re fully aware of the data collected or not, it is a lot to consider.

It can slow down your browser

This typically goes for any add-on software or extension. 

It’s possible that having the extension downloaded could impede your browser’s performance and generally slow things down.

The offers are sometimes out of date

Retailers are constantly changing their prices. 

Because of this, it’s possible that Capital One Shopping will give you an offer or coupon that’s already expired when you try to place your order.

How does Capital One Shopping compare to other money saving tools?

Capital One Shopping is not the only browser extension created to save you money when you shop online. 

There are similar services out there, and they provide different results.

Capital One Shopping vs. Honey

When we compared Capital One Shopping against Honey — another coupon-hunting browser extension — we looked at how the two held up in terms of savings and coupon codes. 

While the results may differ depending on your own buying habits, the Capital One Shopping extension was the clear winner in our test.

The fact that Capital One Shopping checks prices on Amazon against thousands of online retailers instead of just other Amazon Marketplace sellers gave it a distinct leg up — and landed us more than $150 in savings over Honey.

Although neither browser extension found us any coupon codes for our particular cart at Target, Capital One Shopping tried out more. 

Both the extensions also have their own rewards system in which you earn rewards for online shopping that are redeemable as gift cards. Where Honey lacked in savings for us, it made up for it in the many options available for reward redemption. 

Honey’s rewards points — known as Honey Gold — can be redeemed for gift cards at retailers such as Walmart, Doordash, Uber and Target, as well as PayPal cash outs. 

Honey's gift card options are in some ways better, but the downside is that Honey is stuck in cyberspace when it comes to earning rewards, while you might also get Capital One Shopping rewards when you shop in person at local retailers.

Capital One Shopping vs. Rakuten

Next, we decided to compare Capital One Shopping against Rakuten. 

Rakuten is another browser extension that helps you save money and earn cash back when you shop online.

An immediately noticeable downside of Rakuten compared to Capital One Shopping is the fact that it’s not compatible with any shopping you do on Amazon. 

When we headed over to Walmart to do some shopping, it provided us with a cash back offer right away, which was certainly a positive.

Rakuten’s dashboard keeps you well up to date with any available discounts, coupon codes or high cash-back earning opportunities. 

And while this was a useful tool, the extension didn’t seem to provide us with coupon codes as we shopped around, so unless we browsed through the extensive list on the dashboard ahead of time, we were potentially missing out on coupon codes.

What can you buy with Capital One Shopping?

The great thing about Capital One Shopping is that you can shop for nearly anything, as they’re compatible with major online retailers like Walmart and Amazon. 

Whether it be a new pair of headphones or some cozy slippers, Capital One Shopping will be at your side to help you find great deals.

Shopping in store with Capital One

While the browser extension is Capital One Shopping’s claim to fame, it is possible to benefit from the deals they offer when you shop in store as well. 

The extension will provide you with a list of local deals based on your ZIP code. When you shop at these stores using the credit card you’ve linked to your Capital One Shopping account, you’ll earn rewards — and support local businesses while you’re at it.

What type of online shopper would benefit from the Capital One Shopping extension?

The browser extension certainly has a lot to offer in terms of features and rewards, but is it for everybody?

While we think any shopper could benefit from cutting costs here and there, the extension will be of the most use to online shoppers who frequently use their computer to buy. 

Seeing as you earn rewards and get offers for returning to retailers you visit frequently, you might be more likely to get more out of the extension the more often you make online purchases.

Capital One Shopping FAQs

We have the answers to those important questions you’ve been thinking about.

Final thoughts

Capital One Shopping is an easy-to-use tool to save yourself money on online shopping you were probably going to do anyways.

The fact that it’s free, simple and provides a service that most people would find valuable — saving money — certainly draws us to the extension and its many features.

Of course, it does have drawbacks worth considering if you’re looking to sign up — such as data collection and limited reward options.

Overall, we think the pros outweigh the cons. From automated coupon codes to the free money earned in gift cards just by shopping online, the Capital One Shopping extension could be an asset to your online shopping experience.

Em Norton Content Specialist

Em Norton Content Specialist

Em Norton is a Staff Writer for Moneywise. Em holds a B.A. in Professional Writing from York University and has been writing professionally since 2019. Em's work has previously been published by Room Magazine, IN Magazine, Our Canada and more.

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