Making My Own Sales, Thanks to Piperlime and Ebates!

After getting home from work yesterday, I was greeted by a little box from Piperlime that made my day.  What was in that box?  These:

Enzo Angiolini "Cristle"

So pretty!  These shoes are kind of flashy, and are so not me--they're even more sparkly in person--but when I saw them in the store, I kind of fell in love.  I know that sparkly shoes have been popping up everywhere lately, probably spurred by Mr. Louboutin (see below), and to be honest, I haven't been a fan-- as they kind of reminded me of cheap Halloween costume versions of Dorothy's Ruby Slippers.

At $595 and $895, respectively, these shoes are definitely not Halloween costume prices, and to be honest, I actually prefer mine!

But for some reason, these shoes grabbed me.  Unfortunately, the store didn't have my size, nor did any other store in Manhattan.  I didn't mind though, because I was certain I'd find them online, and I was almost as sure that I'd be able to find them at a substantial discount.

I was partially right.  Fortunately, Piperlime had my size in stock (it was the only online retailer that did).  Unfortunately, they were not on sale.  Nonetheless, since they weren't on sale anywhere else, I knew it was unlikely that I'd get a better price on the shoes and decided to go ahead with the purchase.  However, I had noticed on Piperlime's homepage an offer for 15% off your first purchase if you signed up for their email updates.  Since I had never purchased anything from Piperlime before, I went ahead and signed up, and immediately received the promo code, and got my discount!  If you're in the market for new shoes and can't find them on sale, I'd definitely recommend signing up for Piperlime and taking advantage of this deal!

I was pretty happy with my 15% discount, but I always try to maximize my deals, so I checked Ebates, and Piperlime was on there!  For those of you unfamiliar with Ebates, it is "a great Web site that pays you cash back every time you shop online (up to 26% back!) Ebates works with 1,200 stores . . . so you are sure to find your favorites."

I had signed up for Ebates a while back, but hadn't had the chance to use it yet (I'd either forget, or the online stores I purchased from weren't participants).  This was the perfect opportunity to try it out.  The cash-back amount differs with each store.  At Piperlime, it was only 2%.  So I'll be getting a whole $1.78 back for this purchase.  But it's better than nothing!!  And it can add up.  Sites like Travelocity and Expedia are on it, and if you book a vacation using Ebates, you could get a decent amount back (I'm still hitting myself for not booking my Hawaii vacation with Ebates)!

So all in all, I wound up saving about $15 on my new shoes.  I'll take it!