If you are not using cashback sites yet, you should start today. This is one of easiest methods and one of my favorites to earn rewards.
How does it work?
Before you make an online purchase, visit your favorite cashback website, search for the merchant you are about to make a purchase and click on it to activate tracking of your order. You will be automatically directed to the merchant website and then proceed to complete your purchase as usual. After a waiting period, which varies depending on cashback website and merchant, your free cash, miles or points will be paid to your account. Cashback earned will be then transferred from the cashback website to you, each site has different payment methods, those include Zelle, Venmo, Paypal, regular check, giftcards, and others. It takes just a few seconds and you will be soon earning money for making a purchase you were about to complete anyways.
What Cashback website should I use?
There is a large list of Cashback websites to select and it will depend on what's important to you. If you are trying to get the largest reward possible, I usually start by going to a site that can compare all the cashback websites.
https://www.cashbackmonitor.com/ and https://www.cashbackholic.com/ are my to go websites to compare cashback earnings. It will look like this:
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Note that you will have Cashback sites, as well as Hotel/Airlines programs and credit cards rewards programs to choose.
What are my favorites Cashback sites?
This is at the top of my list due to the ability to link with an American Express credit card and earn Membership Rewards points, which can then be transferred to one of many American Express transfer partners. American Express Membership Rewards points are usually much more valuable than cash.
Imagine you spent $200 at a particular store giving 10% cashback. You will get $20 of cashback, which is great. However you may elect to get Amex points and will receive 2,000 points for the same $200 spending, which I think is even better. Because you will be able to transfer your membership rewards points to airline or hotel and may be able to get 2-7 cents per point, depending on the redemption you choose. If you are able to get 5 cents per point, your 2,000 points will save you $100. Therefore instead of saving 10%, you saved 50%.
There are some occasions when Rakuten is not providing any cashback on a particular store, or the cashback % is too low compared with other sites, where it could make sense to elect straight cashback. The most common sites I use in those cases are these three:
How much can I earn?
It will of course depend on your usual spending, but most importantly your commitment to always activate cashback prior to your purchase and your dedication to find the site providing the largest reward at time of your purchase. Just remember to activate it and it will build up over time. But NEVER spend on something that you don't need with the sole purpose of earning cashback.
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Sign up today to your favorite cashback sites and start earning!
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