Shopkick

Checking in on Foursquare or other geo-location apps can get you more than mayorship — it can get you some pretty sweet deals if you know where to look. More and more businesses are offering up discounts for their mayors, frequent customers, and even passers-by, kicking back a little coin just for visiting. Find out how you can save money, get a great deal, and even make a little cash, just by using Foursquare, Loopt, or these other location-based apps.

• Foursquare — The current king of geo-location apps, participating Foursquare businesses can offer deals and discounts for mayors and frequent visitors, ranging from free frapps at Starbucks to 25 percent off at stores like Sports Authority.
• Loopt — Loopt has been known to offer an automatic 25 percent off purchases at Gap and deep discounts on Virgin America flights, and even show you available rewards near your current location. Now it's even integrating Groupon's Groupon Now deals into the app, so you can find great deals on the go.

See the rest of the list (there's quite a few) after the break.

I already check in to Shopkick every time I step foot into Best Buy, Target, and Macy's (and am well on my way to getting some serious reward points), and now my one-off visits to Crate & Barrel will be lucrative thanks to Shopkicks's newest partnership. Starting this February, Shopkick will be installing its sensors in Crate & Barrel stores nationwide (NYC- and Chicago-based CB stores starting this weekend), allowing you to check in via the iPhone and Android apps or scan bar codes to earn rewards points that can be later used toward real items.

For me, Shopkick seems like a money-making machine, and I'm baffled as to why more of my tech-savvy friends aren't using it! As soon as this partnership launches, I'm planning a major tech renovation. Are you checking in to stores with Shopkick?

After its initial launch over the Summer, rewards-based app Shopkick has just announced a new holiday program culminating in a grand prize of more than four million kickbucks to put toward a reward of your choosing. "The 12 Days of Kickmas" is a 12-day holiday sweepstakes that awards 12 different Shopkick users with prize packages.

To enter, shoppers should download the free Shopkick app for iPhone or Android and use it to check into a participating store upon entering. Shoppers will receive Kickbucks from participating stores like American Eagle, Best Buy, Target, and Macy's. Each check-in also warrants 50 entries into the sweepstakes, which starts today and ends on Christmas Eve. Winnings will total more than 31 million Kickbucks, which are redeemable for items from MP3 downloads to magazine subscriptions to big-ticket items like TVs.

I love me some location-based rewards, but sometimes I forget to check in to a location, which means I can lose out on a good deal. But with one new app, you can waltz into a Best Buy and automatically earn points, without ever needing to click "check in" on your smartphone.

The app is called Shopkick and is currently partnered up with the likes of Best Buy to bring you some great rewards just for visiting a store in one of its launch locations — 187 stores in LA, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, and San Jose on Aug. 17, with Dallas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Miami being added on Oct. 1. Find out how this Shopkick/Best Buy mashup can help you save money after the jump.