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Rakuten (formerly Ebates) is the most popular cashback website.
You have probably heard of it.
If not, you will learn more after reading this review.
Cashback sites give you cash for your online shopping.
Sometimes, they even give you cash back for in-store shopping in certain stores.
Rakuten changed their name a year or so ago.
If you have used Ebates in the past (like me), you will basically see the same interface.
You can even go to Ebates.com, and it takes me to rakuten.com.
We will use both names to not confuse old and new users.
RELATED: Why You Should Use A Cashback Site For Online Shopping
What is Rakuten (Ebates)?
Rakuten is a cashback site that gives you cash for your shopping.
They are a business that has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
They are the most famous of the cashback sites again.
Most people have heard of them.
How does it work?
First, like all cashback sites, you go to Rakuten.com.
Then, you click through to your merchant (i.e. Macy’s, Amazon, etc).
Next, you shop as normal.
If you are signing up for the first time, here are the instructions in steps.
- Sign up here, Get $10 (Limited time get $40) . You can sign up with Facebook, Google, or e-mail.
- Go to the portal, and click on your store.
- Shop as normal.
How does Rakuten give you free money? What is the catch?
Rakuten participates in affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is where companies partner with other businesses and promote their products.
They get a commission for referring you to stores. They give you a portion of this commission.
Which stores partner with Rakuten?
Rakuten partners with over 2500 stores.
Some sample stores that participate:
- Belk
- Dillard’s
- Macy’s
- Best Buy
- Target
- Walmart
- Hilton
- Marriott
- Expedia
- Booking.com
- Home Depot
- Lowe’s
Basically, most stores you probably shop at participate.
Sign up for Ebates here, Get $10
How much can you make with Ebates?
You can usually get 1-30% back with Rakuten.
The average is between 5-8% like all cashback sites.
For instance, if you bought an item at Walmart for $500 with 10% cash back, you would earn $50.
How long does it take to get paid?
Your initial cash will show up in your account after around 7 days. After that, it will be pending for 60 days.
All cashback sites have this pending period to make sure shoppers don’t return items and cause them to lose money.
After that, you can withdraw during their quarters 4 times a year: February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15.
Sign up for Rakuten here, Get $10
Tips To Use Rakuten
- Use their coupon codes
- Click when you are ready to buy so everything tracks
- Get $25 for referring your friends
- Install the browser extension, so you won’t forget to use Ebates
- Don’t disable cookies or use ad blocked
- Use with reward credit cards
- Link a card and use in-store too
- Know if you account is inactive for a year, there is a fee
- Know the max you can make on any purchase is $50. If you buy something for $1000 at 10% you will only get $50 instead of $100
Pros
- It’s free
- It is easy to use
- It has over 2500 stores
- It is the most popular cashback site
Cons
- It takes longer to pay than some other cashback sites (only 4 times a year).
- Most Amazon categories don’t count (true of all cashback sites though).
- Sometimes there are problems tracking your purchase (true for other cashback sites again).
Sign up for Ebates here, Get $10
Rakuten Summary
If you shop online, Rakuten is a no brainer.
If you don’t shop online, you should.
There are lots of cashback sites out there. In comparison to other sites, Ebates is the most popular and well known.
If you are choosing a cashback site and only want to sign up for one, Ebates is the one we recommend first.
The best practice is to sign up for several cashback sites though. Use our list of sites on our START HERE page. This is because no one site has the highest rate at every store. It is best to use a comparison site like cashbackmonitor.com to find the site with the highest rate at the particular store you want.
For example, I may need a Hilton hotel later this year. Ebates is only offering 1% (at time of writing).
Other cashback sites are offering up to 8%.
In this case, I would go to the sites that offered 8%.
If you want to get paid quicker than every 3 months, then maybe you will like Swagbucks too. It tends to pay in a month.
Your cash will need to build up, so sometimes every 3 months makes sense though.
I use both Ebates and Swagbucks and think everyone who is into cashback sites should definitely be signed up for Ebates.
Again, they are the most popular and well known of the cash back sites.
So, if you do not yet use cashback portals, Ebates is the first one we recommend you sign up for.
Again, the best way to use cashback sites is to sign up for more than one though. Use our START HERE page, and sign up for all the ones we recommend.