Cashback Rewards – get rewarded for shopping
Although sites offering cashback rewards have been around for a number of years and yet there are still a lot of people who are not using them to earn cashback on their shopping.
The two top cashback websites at the moment are Quidco and Topcashback. These sites are currently considering a merger to allow them to become even better.
The offer of free money does make people wary of these sites but both have been going for a number of years and paid out a large amount of money relating to cashback earned by clicking through links on their sites.
A lot of retailers have signed up to Topcashback and Quidco. TopCashback is the largest with 4,700, and Quidco is only slightly behind with 4,500. You can shop with most big retailers, the main exceptions being Amazon and John Lewis.
You can earn even more money when you buy through these sites if you use a cashback credit card as well.
How do cashback reward sites work?
Cashback reward sites are similar to the rewards you earn on your Boots Advantage Card, Tesco Clubcard, or Nectar. Rather than scanning your reward card you simply visit the cashback site and log in.
Registering for cashback sites should be free as it is for Topcashback and Quidco. If you are looking to join another cashback site and they ask you for an upfront fee then it is probably worth steering clear.
Once you are logged in you will see a list of all the retailers offering cashback if you buy through the site. Retailers registered include Boohoo, Dominos, Just Eat, Ticketmaster, Three, Very in fact there are hundreds of different retailers offering cashback.
Why are the cashback sites willing to pay out cashback? Well, the retailers such as Dominos pay an amount to the Cashback site for referring your purchase. The Cashback sites then offer to share a portion of this cashback referral fee with you.
It is Win Win Win situation for everyone as the retailer makes a sale allowing it to make a profit, the cashback site earns a commission allowing them to earn some money and you get to buy whatever you wanted and earn some cashback allowing you to effectively get a discount on your purchase.
The amount of cashback you will earn will vary from retailer to retailer. At the time of writing, this Just Eat is offering around 4% of the value of your purchase, Boohoo is offering 10% and Ticketmaster is offering 8%.
Not all rewards are based on a percentage of the purchase price. You can earn £155 from the RAC by taking out breakdown insurance with them, £150 from BT if you take out a broadband contract, and a whopping £514 from confused.com on life insurance policies.
Are Cashback reward sites safe?
Quidco and Topcashback have been around for a number of years both have over 6 million users each and claim that their members receive over £300 on average in cashback each year.
Although the cashback sites earn commission from your purchase you do not need to register your credit card details with the Cashback site instead you only enter your details on the retailer’s site.
The cashback sites will need your bank details to pay you your cashback or your Paypal details but if you do not want to provide these details as you are unsure then most also offer to pay you in vouchers which you can pick from a selection of retailers.
The only real danger to you is if one of the Cashback sites gets itself into financial difficulties then it may not be in a position to pay out your reward. It is therefore recommended that once you have earned your cashback reward you withdraw them as soon as possible just in case.
