I like to hunt for a bargain, and I know I’m definitely not alone in doing so. I am, however, not a fan of the busy, noisy, hustle and bustle of shoulder-bumping shopping centre madness. I like to check out the deals in store catalogues (a.k.a. junk mail) beforehand, just so I don’t spend the entire day roaming aimlessly around the store.

Needless to say, I was pretty happy to discover Buckscoop. It’s a new online service that offers vouchers, deals, and cashback rebates to consumers who buy products through the website from any of the 700 stores listed. They’ve got deals from the big guns like Sony, EB Games and JB Hi-Fi, to specialty stores like the ABC Shop and Sportsgirl, and others that I’ve never even heard of. And there’s a vast range of store categories, too, with anything from ‘Computers and Electronics’, to ”Health and Beauty’, so there’s deals for everyone, not just the tech-heads. Heck, there’s even McDonalds and Domino’s Pizza listed in there.

How does Buckscoop work, you’re asking? Well, Buckscoop earns an income from referral commissions from online merchants. But instead of keeping it all to increase profits, it shares up to 100 per cent of the commission it receives with its members by offering cashback rebates.

There’s also a really interesting hook; the more people who use the website, the larger the rebates Buckscoop can offer to its members. This is because online retailers pay higher commissions as gross sales increase. So, put simply, Buckscoop earns more money by selling more products through the site, and passes more discounts onto its members.

The aim is for members to pool resources and band together to discover the best bargains on the web. Members can submit the bargains they’ve discovered, and interact with other members in the online forums which allows them to share information on great deals and discounts.

I’m usually skeptical of similar services that offer rewards to buyers because there is almost always a catch. Buckscoop, on the other hand, didn’t want to adopt a model that involved lots of spam links or surveys, or exchanging reward points for money. All rebates are in cash, and the service is completely free to join and use. And best of all, it’s Australian.

I signed up and began poking around the website today, and I’m actually pretty surprised at the amount of bargains around the place. While many of the cashback rebates are only small, they’re an added bonus when considering that a large portion of them are available from the stores I would normally be purchasing from anyway. That sounds like a win-win to me.

So, check it out, sign up, and start sharing bargains you find while hunting for some bargains of your own. The service might actually save some folks a few bucks this Christmas, and the way Buckscoop works, it’s definitely the more the merrier!