Buzz
When an item you’ve bought experiences a price drop, certain retailers will refund the difference. However, tracking each purchase to monitor price changes can be tedious. Paribus handles the tracking for you and, more importantly, it takes care of requesting refunds so you can get your money back effortlessly.
We've previously introduced you to Yapta, a flight price tracker that automatically refunds price drops. Similarly, Tingo excels at refunding price drops for hotel bookings. Paribus operates in a similar way, but it focuses specifically on online retail purchases.
To get started, link your email account to Paribus. It works with Gmail, Yahoo, and Windows. It then scans your email for receipts from participating retailers. For Amazon purchases, you’ll need to link your Amazon account separately. Paribus tracks the prices of items you've bought from these retailers and requests a refund if the price drops.
Though it might feel unsettling to allow an app access to your email to find receipts, rest assured that they implement strong security measures to protect your data. As stated on their website:
Paribus uses multi-layered security systems, such as advanced firewalls, VPN services, intrusion prevention systems, and strict access controls, to safeguard against unauthorized access.
All data is transmitted with 256-bit SSL encryption (the same level of security used by banks). Purchase details are stored with AES-256 encryption, the highest standard of security globally.
To avoid exchanging passwords, Paribus authenticates users directly through email providers like Google and Microsoft whenever possible. This allows you to grant access without sharing any mailbox credentials. For providers that don't support password-free authentication, all credential information is encrypted.
You can read more about their privacy policy here. Paribus earns by taking 25% of the refund adjustments they secure for users. You’ll need to link a card to the service, and payments are securely processed via Stripe.
I signed up for the service recently to give it a try. Over the weekend, I received an email from Amazon confirming a small refund. It wasn’t much, but considering I didn’t have to do anything, I’m happy with it. Give it a shot yourself at the link below.
