Is Capital One Shopping a Scam?

If you’re thinking of using Capital One Shopping, you need to know whether it’s safe. Is Capital One Shopping a scam? 

Below, we explain whether Capital One Shopping is a scam and discuss some steps you can take to improve your safety when using this coupon-finding extension. 

What Is Capital One Shopping?

Capital One Shopping is a free browser extension and mobile app that runs in the background while you shop online. 

It automatically searches for and applies coupon codes at checkout, compares prices across different retailers, and offers rewards called Shopping Credits when you make purchases through its links. 

You can also save items and receive price-drop alerts. 

Once you earn enough credits, you can redeem them for gift cards (not cash).

The tool began as Wikibuy, a standalone price-comparison plug-in, before Capital One acquired it in 2018 and rebranded it as Capital One Shopping.

The service generates revenue through affiliate commissions when users make purchases through its links.

So, Is Capital One Shopping a Scam?

No, Capital One Shopping is not a scam. It’s a legitimate deal‑finding tool. 

Numerous third-party publications and review sites have reviewed the extension.

For example, FinanceBuzz concludes that Capital One Shopping is a legit, easy-to-use browser extension that can help you automatically find coupons and earn rewards, but its biggest drawback is that you can only redeem those rewards for gift cards rather than cash. 

DollarSprout says the tool is an easy way to save money on things you’d be buying anyway.

MilesTalk warns that though Capital One Shopping offers exceptionally high cashback rates, unreliable tracking and poor customer support often make it more frustrating than it’s worth.

User reviews of Capital One Shopping are mixed as of this writing:

• 1.3 out of 5.0 stars (from 305 reviews) on Trustpilot.
• 4.7 out of 5.0 stars (from 85,899 reviews) on Google Play.
• 4.9 out of 5.0 stars (from 1,410,939 reviews) on the App Store.  

People appreciate that the extension automatically searches for coupons, compares prices, and helps earn rewards, all without requiring a Capital One card.

Main complaints are about reward redemption issues, tracking, and system “errors”, and poor or non-existent customer service. 

One person says: “Constantly getting popups about savings, deals, or a $40 bonus for adding the extension/app, yet whenever trying to redeem these things it is exceedingly difficult or impossible.” 

Some users are more forgiving. 

For example, one person says: “It may not work perfectly with exclusions, etc… but it’s a FREE bonus. I’ll take it!” 

On online forums like Reddit, people likewise report varying experiences.

One person said they’ve had success with the Capital One Shopping app, getting large cashback rewards (25% and 15% at Lululemon), which added up to $135, and they used that cashback to buy a Hotels.com gift card that helped pay for a hotel stay, even though many of the gift card options aren’t great.

On the other hand, many users feel that the gift card selection is lacking, which discourages them from using the service. As one person put it: “I’ve considered starting to use it recently, but their selection is truly awful. Petco would be the most useful for me but still meh.”

Capital One Financial Corporation, which owns Capital One Shopping, is Better Business Bureau (BBB) accredited and holds an “A+” rating at the time of writing.

Capital One Shopping security

While Capital One Shopping does not publicly publish the specific architecture of its security systems, its privacy policy states that it utilizes “administrative, technical, and physical measures that are designed to protect information” within the company. 

Capital One Shopping privacy

Capital One Shopping explains in its privacy policy the types of data it collects, why, and with whom it shares this data.

It may collect the following personal information: 

• Identity data: Such as your name, billing and shipping address, zip code, email address, and phone number.
• Login data: Such as your account username and password
• Preference data: Including inferences or predictions about your interests, preferences, or likely behavior. 
• Browsing, product, and e-commerce data: Including transaction data and information about how you use Capital One Shopping. 
• Technical data: Such as unique device ID, Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone, general location, data about how you use our website and interact with our website and mobile advertisements, and advertising identifiers.
• Cookies and similar technologies data: Used for operating the service, personalizing content, analytics, and advertising.
• Social media data: Including social media preferences.
• Marketing and communications data: Including survey responses, preferences, email communication, etc.

Capital One Shopping may collect this data to run and provide its services, personalize your shopping experience, market and advertise offers, detect and prevent fraud, conduct research and analytics, and comply with legal requirements. 

The company may share your data with service providers (to operate the service), merchant and e-commerce partners (to verify purchases), and Capital One affiliates (mainly to avoid duplicate marketing). 

They may also share it with legal/government entities when required, as well as buyers, in the event that the business is sold or merged.

Capital One Shopping states that it does not sell your personal data for third-party marketing.

The company may store or process your information in other countries (including the U.S.). It uses safeguards when transferring data internationally. 

It states that it retains your personal information only as long as necessary to provide its services and fulfill legal or business obligations, after which it is deleted or anonymized.

Depending on where you reside, you may have the right to exercise certain privacy rights, such as the right to access, update, or delete your information, opt out of marketing communications, and request your data in a portable format. You may also be able to object or restrict certain types of processing, withdraw consent, and delete your account to stop data collection. 

So, Should You Use Capital One Shopping?

Depends.

If you frequently shop online and value automated coupon searches, price comparisons, and rewards without needing a Capital One account, the extension can save time and money. 

However, users with privacy concerns or those who shop primarily at retailers excluded from the program may see little benefit.

How to Use Capital One Shopping Safely and Privately 

• Create a separate email address specifically for Capital One Shopping. This helps avoid excessive marketing.
• Adjust the browser extension’s permissions. The extension can track sites you visit for shopping, but you can limit this by changing your browser settings.
• Turn off personalized ads and tracking. To limit the extent to which Capital One Shopping uses your data for marketing and behavioral ad targeting, block third-party cookies, turn off ad tracking on your mobile device, and opt out of ad networks.
• Periodically clear cookies. Doing so breaks tracking patterns.
• Review or delete your data. You can access the data Capital One Shopping has about you and request deletion.
• Delete your Capital One Shopping account. This stops all future data collection. Just note that deleting your account also deletes your rewards balance, so make sure to redeem any rewards first.
• Don’t rely on rewards. As many users report, rewards sometimes fail to track, so don’t make purchase decisions only for a reward and expect occasional tracking issues.
• Keep your expectations realistic. Capital One Shopping saves money mainly in small increments, and rewards come in the form of gift cards, not cash. Also, customer support can be slow.