Paribus Review: Can They Really Help Get The Best Price?

Stores are always coming up with all sorts of ways to beat the competition. Some are even willing to pay you the difference if you made your purchase prior to an eventual price drop. This may not be news to you and it's probably why you’re going through Paribus reviews. 

Well, we did all the hard work to help you determine whether they can indeed detect potential savings and help you get some money back. 

Unfortunately, we uncovered some pretty uncomfortable things about the app, and that’s why we decided to write this Paribus review. So to be safe, you may want to read along carefully. You’ve been warned!

About Paribus

Paribus found online at Paribus.co is an app and website that tracks price changes on your online purchases and refunds you the difference if there’s a sale or price drop shortly after you made the purchase. The company was founded in 2014 by Eric Glyman and Karim Atiyeh. It was later acquired by bank holding company Capital One in 2016. They’re headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. 

How Does Paribus Work?

The concept of stores offering best price guaranteed or having price adjustment policies is nothing new. But the process of claiming the difference after a later price drop can be a nightmare, right? Most of us don’t even bother following up!

That’s where Paribus comes in. The app basically connects to your email account to scan and monitor messages for receipts from retailers. The app basically tracks your purchases and if an item you bought goes on sale shortly after you made the purchase, the app will do the leg work of contacting customer service departments on your behalf to file a price adjustment claim. 

They’ll request the refund on your behalf, saving you the trouble of going through the process. Not only that, they’re also able to find coupons or promo codes that could have been applied to your purchase, and have the coupon redeemed with effect from the date of purchase. 

What Stores Does Paribus Work With?

At the time of writing this review, Paribus is monitoring price adjustments of 31 stores operating in the US and Puerto Rico. Here are a few examples

• Amazon
• Bloomingdale's
• Macys
• Best Buy
• Staples
• Gap
• Walmart
• Home Depot
• Anthropologie

You can view the full list here. 

How Do I Join Paribus?

Paribus is currently available on desktop and iOS. They pulled the Android version a while ago, but they say it should be back later. Ceteris Paribus, (see what I did there? lol) all you need to get started is to sign up using either a Google, Yahoo or Microsoft account. They don’t work with any other email service at this time. 

Anyway, for the app to work, they’ll need a read, send and delete access to your email account. If that sounds pretty invasive and uncomfortable to you, don’t fret. Apps like SwagBucks or Rakuten (formerly eBates) also help you save money while shopping online, with cashback, coupons, gift cards, promo codes and offers you can take on. 

How Does Paribus Pay You?

Paribus sends the difference in price drop to either the card you used to make the purchase or your PayPal account, whichever one you prefer. Again, there’s no minimum payment threshold for payouts, they’ll just send you the cash as soon as the request is approved. 

Paribus Complaints

So Paribus sounds great so far, but there has to be a catch somewhere. We found a few complaints from users about the app we thought may help you decide whether it’s worthwhile. 

Privacy Concerns

As I mentioned earlier, in order for Paribus to do it magic it will need a read, send and delete access to your email account. Some users didn’t feel entirely comfortable with such levels of scrutiny. So if you’re uncomfortable and would want a less invasive way of saving money while shopping online, you can check out SwagBucks.com and Rakuten.com. 

Paribus Doesn’t Work!

Some current and past users claim they’ve been using the app for months and have never received a refund from them. Reason for that could be either Paribus is yet to find an eligible purchase or the store you shopped at hasn’t played ball for some reason. Technical errors also arise in some cases, and customers who ran into such issues say they contacted customer service and the issue was resolved. 

Paribus Alternatives

Perhaps you’re not entirely sure that Paribus would be the go-to app for saving money while shopping online, especially with the privacy concern behind its operation. If so, you can use SwagBucks or Rakuten to get cashback, coupons, promo codes and offers from the same stores that Paribus partners with. 

Is Paribus Safe or A Scam?

Paribus is not a scam. If you don’t mind them having access to your email account, it’s a real way to potentially save some money. But if you’re not comfortable with bots scanning through your email and checking what you buy online, I wouldn’t recommend you use Paribus. One way around that though, is to sign up with an alternative email if possible, as opposed to using your primary email. 

All the same, Paribus is just one way of putting some cash back in your wallet. But you can never have enough options when it comes to shopping online. If you feel the same, you can shop using SwagBucks and Rakuten that offer cashback, discounts, promo codes and coupons. It never hurts to have options, and these alternatives won’t ask to control your email account. 

Anyway, that’s my Paribus review. Are you using the app or have you used it before? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with the app or something similar in the comments section below. If you have more questions about the app, you may find answers in their FAQs section. 

Until next time

Eddy “with a Y”