Earlier this month, I realized I needed to buy a new pair of sneakers. But this being November, I immediately said to myself: “Wait till Black Friday since there’s bound to be a sale.”

Here’s the thing, though: I really needed those sneakers. And when I did a little checking online, I found I could easily snag a 10%-off deal on the pair I wanted. When I combined that with a promotion that Rakuten, the cash-back app and website, was running, I actually got the sneakers for what I considered quite a good price.

All…