Why You Should Use A Cashback Site for Online Shopping?

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If you are shopping online and not using a cash back website, you are leaving money on the table.

If you don’t shop online, you should.

What are online cashback shopping websites?

Online cashback sites are websites that give you cash for your online shopping. Many of them have an app. Some even let you earn cash for shopping in store by linking a debit or credit card.

For this post, we will focus on getting cash back for online shopping. That is the main purpose of these sites.

How online shopping websites work?

Why would a website like Rakuten (formally Ebates) give you money for shopping online?

Basically, shopping portals like Ebates (now Rakuten) make money from affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is where companies get paid to refer customers.

When they get this commission, they share the profit with you.

Basically, any store you would shop at.

How much cash back can you get?

Most cash back portals range from 1-30%.

Some stores give more cash back than others.

It is dependent on the merchant (Macys, Target, etc).

The average amount of cash back is 5-7% for most stores.

Use a website like cashbackmonitor.com to find out which portal pays the highest for the store you want.

Sample stores cash back rates (at time of writing from cashbackmonitor.com)

Raise.com 8%

Amazon.com up to 12%

Lowes 2%

Home Depot 8.5 %

Hotels.com 6%

A list of popular cash back websites (in no order)

An example

Let’s say you want to buy something at Home Depot.

Which cash back site above has the highest rate at Home Depot?

To find out, first go to cashbackmonitor.com and type in “Home Depot”.

The results from cashbackmonitor.com (at time of writing) are as follows:

Lemoney offered 8.5 % or a whopping 21% (if you use their turbo cash feature).

Swagbucks offered 12%.

Mr Rebates only offered 1%.

In this example, Lemoney would be the best choice if you could get their 21% turbo cash (limited each month). Swagbucks would be the second choice.

People will have preferences other than the highest payout though but this is just an example.

How to use a cash back site?

Sign up. (We suggest you sign up for as many as possible.)
Decide on a store you want to shop at.
Use cashbackmoitor.com to find the portal that has the highest rate (i.e. Ebates, Swagbucks, Topcashback.com, etc).
Go to the cash back website (i.e. Rakuten, Swagbucks).
Login to the portal.
Pick your store (i.e. Macys).
Do your shopping as normal and pay. (The cash back site will take you to the store (i.e. Macys).
Get your cash back.
Cash out.

How do you get your cash and how long does it take?

Usually cash back sites reflect your cash in your account within 30-90 days. It is important to note this time period because stores will not credit the cash back until the refund policy has ended.

Some sites will give you your money immediately after this period. Some will have a waiting period. For example, Ebates pays every quarter.

If you want cash quicker, it is important to know this. You may want to choose a site that pays quicker.

Cash back site best practices

Use coupons.
Use cashbackmonitor.com to find which portal has highest rate.
Refer friends. (Ebates gives $5-10 for each friend you refer depending on promotion).
Order items shipped to store to avoid shipping costs.
Know Amazon only rewards for a few categories.
Only click on store in portal when you are ready to buy.
Read the fine prints (i.e. things like gift cards don’t count.
Use the app.
Use the extension like the Swagbutton for Swagbucks.
Though we suggest signing up for most portals, use just 2-3 most of the time so your money can build up.

How much can you make from cash back sites?

It depends on how much you shop online. If you spend $500 online each month, you could earn $50 a month (at 10%). If you only spend $100 online, you would earn $10.

When you need to make a big purchase, like a computer you can get some extra money. For example, if you bought a $1000 computer, you could get an extra $100 for one purchase if the portal offered 10% back at the particular store.

Summary

Everyone shops, whether for clothes; contact supplies; or even big purchases.

If you shop online (and you should), not using a cash back website is just leaving free money on the table.

For just an extra minute, you could earn cash back on things you would buy anyway.

Like everything we review, you won’t get rich from cash back portals. You can get some spare change, have Holiday money, or even stash some money in savings.

Do you use a cash back website yet?