Sift: How we unlock automatic rebates from price drops and other hidden credit card benefits

Every year, consumers miss out on tens of billions of dollars in reimbursements and benefits that they have access to because of jargon, fine print, and sophisticated tools many companies use to maximize their profitability. We founded Sift to solve that problem by bringing radical transparency to this market. Here are some of the benefits that we unlock:

  • Automated Price Protection: Monitoring for price changes in a product and automatically securing refunds if a merchant or credit card have a price protection policy.
  • Damage and Theft protection: Offering up to 90 days of coverage in case your cell phones, electronics, and high-value items get damaged or stolen.
  • Free Extended Warranties: Providing free extended warranties for items including televisions, laptops and other electronics.
  • Extended Return protection: Extending the timeframe for returning merchandise that is unsatisfactory.

One of the biggest sources of money back for consumers is through price protection. The chart here shows how Amazon changed its prices for a product . . . in just ONE day. Almost every major retailer does this!

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Source: Amazon Changed The Price Of An Item 8 Times In A Single Day

The good news is that most retailers have price adjustment policies which vary between 7 days to 30 days. This is further EXTENDED by credit cards (about 50% of credit cards offers this price protection) for up to 90 days.

This is where Sift comes into the picture – it will automatically do all of the tracking and claiming for you so you don’t have to do anything! Here is just one example of checks that one of our users got back from their credit card issuer. . . in just one day!

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Actual checks received by one of our users!

How Do We Do This?

The Sift app continuously works to get you money back:

  • Based on the information you provide, Sift automatically combs through your credit card policies to show you all your benefits in one place
  • For every purchase you make, we let you know what your benefits are and we keep track of them for you (e.g. how many days you have left to return an item)
  • When Sift identifies a way to get you money back, such as a price drop on an item you purchased, it automatically files a claim on your behalf! (fully automated for Citi and Chase card)
  • The retailer or credit card company will process the claim and either put the credit back on your card or send you a check for the refund.

In beta testing, our users got back an average of between 5-10% of what they purchased with their credit cards!

This Sounds Cool. . . But Can’t I Do This Myself?

Sifting through lengthy credit card policies is a hassle, and the language used is often complex and hard to understand. Sift does everything for you, so after you’re sign-up, you can just let it do the work and get your hard-earned money back!

As we mentioned in our launch post, credit card benefits are a lot like icebergs – some of the most valuable benefits are underneath the surface, hidden behind jargon, fine print, or are otherwise hard to take advantage of.

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Sift is here to make sure you get your money back, aren’t spending more than you need to (rental car insurance, trip cancellation insurance, etc.) when you are already protected by your purchasing credit card, and to be a resource for consumers post-purchase.

Stay tuned as we continue to provide insight into credit card benefits and how to make sure you’re getting back the money you deserve, but in the meantime, you can learn more about us here or download our iOS app here.

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