Review: Atome - Buy Now, Pay Later

 

I recently discovered a new way to shop! Okay, maybe not recently. About six months ago. It's called Atome. 

What is Atome? 

Atome is a buy now, pay later mobile app that's been around since December 2019. Atome is pronoucned A-to-me and stands for Available to Me. It allows you to shop and pay your purchases in 3 easy installments at 0% interest. You can use it to shop online in stores such as Zalora, HairMNL, Boozy, just to name a few. You can also use Atome when you shop in retail stores such as SM Department Store, Watsons and Urban Revivo  - just look for the Atome sign to know that the store is an accredited merchant. Atome has over 5,000 store partners from lifestyle, beauty, fashion, fitness and homeware. 

My Experience Shopping with Atome

Setting up an account with Atome is hassle-free. The app's interface is also easy to understand and manage. The home screen shows you the shop categories, your Atome earned points and also informs the users of what's new. You can also easily check on the app their partner merchants so if you're looking to buy somewhere specific, search the app to see if the store accepts Atome payments. 

To see how much your payment will be and the due date, you simply have to click on the finance option on the bottom of the screen. That's also where you have to go to settle your payments. The app automatically charges your linked card account once your due date arrives but you also have the option to settle your payment ahead of time, manually. 

I've been using this app to shop for some time now. I can tell you, it really makes shopping lighter on the pocket since it allows you to pay in three interest-free installments. When you shop online or in stores, the app will automatically compute your total purchase and break it down into three installments. I was wary at first that I even computed the broken-down amount to see if it's really interest-free. It is!  

Atome Card

Atome also recently launched their own physical card. I've been a satisfied customer of the mobile app so I availed the card. I got it after a couple of weeks delivered to my house. Just like other credit cards, to use the Atome card, you'll need to activate it. It also works like other credit cards. When you go to a merchant, check if they accept Mastercard in order to use Atome. 

Use the Atome card to pay for your purchases at 0% interest. Unfortunately, unlike the mobile app version, the physical card currently does not allow you to pay in three installments. Not yet anyway.  I found that out when I bought shoes from Urban Revivo and used the card. I was surprised to be charged the full amount.  

Bothered, I emailed them to ask and confirm that this is really the case. The agent responded a few minutes later and confirmed that unfortunately, the Atome card only lets you shop at 0% interest but not in installments. For now at least. Hopefully, they'll soon make it into three interest-free installments as well. 

Also, I don't think the card is widely accepted yet. I recently tried to use the card at a salon when my debit card balance wasn't enough to pay my bill. The card was declined even though it still has an available balance. 

Conclusion

The Atome mobile app is great! Three zero-interest installments - what's not to love? The Atome card, meanwhile, not so good to use just yet. For easy on the pocket shopping experience, use the mobile app. Download the Atome on Apple or Google Play store and start shopping. 

Shop and Get Cashbacks with Shopback

Do you do online shopping? You probably do now, right? It is so convenient to buy items online! You can be at home or anywhere else and you can buy an item with the press of a button. With the pandemic and ongoing lockdowns, online shopping has become a norm. Businesses who didn't have e-commerce had to adopt in order to reach more of their customers. In fact, the pandemic has driven growth in the e-commerce industry. 

Personally, I've been enjoying shopping for things online even before the pandemic when most of my friends were still iffy about the idea of buying things online. I would consider myself an early adopter of online shopping. The secret was to find trustworthy online vendors like Zalora, Shopee and Lazada which offer different payment options and have return and exchange policies. 

And because I loved online shopping, I found it very appealing to install an app called, Shopback. 

What is Shopback? 

It's an online site that "helps you get the best deals and discounts on 300+ stores, plus cashback!" When you shop online through Shopback, you will receive a portion of the amount you purchased online back as cashback. Learn more about Shopback here. 

Scam or Legit?

Of course any app that promises I'd earn some cash from using it also makes me wary somewhat.  Was I actually going to get money from it? Well, I tried it because what had I got to lose? I was going to do some online transactions anyway.

After a year and two cashback withdrawals later and I am happy to report that yes, guys! It does work!

How I Used Shopback

This is the mobile app interface. Shopback has a website but I'm always on my phone anyway so I use the mobile app more. Since the lockdowns, I've seen more brands partnered with Shopback. 

Before the lockdown, I used to shop for clothes at Zalora, one of the many brand partners of Shopback. For my online transaction to be credited for some cashback, I simply had to open Shopback app first and from there, click on Zalora. I even used Lazada instead of going to a physical store before to purchase beauty products which I found was cheaper due to their bundled offers. When I had travels whether local or international, I'd book through Booking, Airbnb or Agoda and I would course it through Shopback for cashback. 

I found that some cashbacks took awhile before it got credited to my account like Agoda while some you'll get in a day like Grab (when it was a partner merchant).   

You can see the status of your cashback on the dashboard. As you'll see in the photo above, my available, pending and withdrawn balances are reflected so it's actually easy to keep track.

 

This was one my total earnings after using Shopback for sometime. You can withdraw your balance once it reaches P200 and you can get it via Paypal or bank deposit. I've been able to withdraw from Shopback multiple times already.  

I love using Shopback because I get some savings from my online shopping. It's extra money I can use for whatever!

Try it out for yourself!  Use my affiliate link to get Php100 cashback bonus for yourself. 

 

Snapcart: Snap your receipt and earn cash rewards

Ever since I made it a point to keep track of my spending, my wallet had always had a receipt or two in it so I could note down my expenses at the end of the day. Now, those receipts have another purpose before getting thrown out in the trash - I snap a photo of them for cash rewards. 

Allow me to introduce you to Snapcart! 

What Is It? 

It's a mobile app where you can snap receipts - any kind of receipt - and be rewarded with coins. The coins can in turn be used to earn cashbacks and vouchers. 

Photo credit: Tech.nh

How Does It Work?

It's simple really. When you have a receipt, just open the app and take a photo from there to upload it. You'll get your coins reward instantly which as mentioned can be turned into vouchers or cash. 

When you reach Php220.00, you can withdraw the money to your bank account. 

Snapcart has had some updates over the past years. Some good. Some enough to turn you off and uninstall the app altogether. You see, it used to be that once you snap a receipt, you're instantly rewarded cashback and the higher your level is, the bigger the amount you'll get. There used to be a bronze, silver, gold, platinum level. The more you snapped, the higher your level will be. Now, any receipt you snap, you'll get coins reward. 

This part is where you'll see your coin rewards. To get cash rewards, press Play Now to try your luck at Spin the Wheel. I say luck because it's not guaranteed that when you spin, you'll get cashback. You might earn coins at time.

Cashbacks are not really big. Just centavos! However, if you're lucky, you might win Php20. Sometimes you may be able to earn additional coin rewards if there are activities available like shoot, video or survey. Coins can be used to also avail coupons though I have not experienced this ever.   

Is it Worth It?

If you're after easy money, Snapcart is not for you. If you feel like the app is getting data from you and cents for return is too small, then this is not worth downloading. I personally know some friends whom I was able to convince to try out Snapcart before when it was still instantly rewarding users with cash and quit using the app when that changed. 

I'm still using the app though because honestly, I don't feel like I'm losing anything providing them my purchase behavior. I'm getting the receipts anyway. I'm just not too crazy about how hard it is these days to achieve Php220 specially since I'm not as out and about as I used to be considering there's a pandemic. 

So if you guys share the same mindset as I, then go on and download Snapcart on your smartphones and start snapping those receipts for rewards!  

Update as of March 2021

So unfortunately Snapcart raised the minimum cashout amount again! It's harder to cash out now. The minimum amount went from Php220 to Php2, 220! I think it's gonna take years to reach that amount now. Still, if you always have receipts lying around and you're not in a hurry, I suggest you just snap away anyway. I know I am. 

Buzz Break Review: News that Pays

Staying updated on news and current events is very important. You can make better and informed decisions when you are aware of what's happening around you. In this day and age of technology, we have more than one way to keep informed. While we can still get the news from newspapers, radio and TV, we can now also get it online! 

Photo credit: Buzz Break 

Personally, I get my news easily nowadays via my Facebook and Twitter feeds since I follow online publications but I recently found an app that not only allows me to read news but also earn cash from doing so. Introducing Buzz Break! 

Is Buzz Break a Scam or Legit?

Let's get right on it before I give you further low down on this app. After all, there's just so many apps that promise money. If you play games on your phone, you've probably encountered ads on such apps. I don't think those apps will really bring you easy money but Buzz Break? It is the real deal!

How to Earn Money from Buzz Break

Using the app doesn't instantly give you money. Rather, what the app does is have you earn points that can be converted to cash. 


Out of these, what I personally do is watch videos, read news and check in daily. I've tried to get friends to sign up and try Buzz Break but they're not really as willing to try money making apps like this as me so... The more of these you do, the easier you'll earn points.

How to Cash Out 

When I tried this app, I cashed out via GCash as soon as I reached 20,000 points which is equivalent to Php1.00. It was my way of checking whether or not the app was legit. I received the pay out after a few days and I have cashed out at least two more times since installing this app. 

You can get as much as Php1,000 from using Buzz Break. You just have to spend a lot of time browsing news and watching videos, that's the catch. Now if you have a lot of downtime to spare, you'll surely earn enough points to get that money in no time!