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If you’re an avid online shopper (who isn’t these days?) then hopefully you’ve been using a cash back shopping site/portal for some time now. For those that don’t currently utilize these wonderful tools for earning cash back and rewards, you really should start as they are all free to use!
New to cash back shopping sites? Well, there certainly isn’t a lack of options available, as it is definitely a lucrative business model. We’re here to help you choose the best cash back site option for you.
What’s Up With These Cash Back Shopping Sites?
Totally fresh to the concept? Alright, it’s simple, the cash back shopping site is the middle man to earning incentives (cash back, rewards, points) for your online shopping. You first visit the cash back shopping website, browse their partners, and then get redirected to those partners’ official website to make your purchases. These partners have negotiated a commission with the shopping portal, and part of that commission is shared with you. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
The surprising thing to many online shoppers is that most of the biggest merchants are partners, so you’re losing out on earnings with a lot of your normal everyday shopping by not taking advantage of these portals. Examples of big merchants:
- Walmart
- Target
- Amazon
- Best Buy
- Macy’s
- eBags
- eBay
- Kohl’s
- Saks Fifth Avenue
- Sephora
- Home Depot
- Groupon
Choosing The Best Cash Back Site
All of the best sites practically do the same intended goal for most shoppers, and that’s earning you cash back for shopping online as you normally would. Here are some of the top factors that you should be concerned with in your choice:
- Best Rate. This is the bottom line – which site will earn you the best rate. In this regard, no one site has the kind of dominance to offer the best cash back rate for every partnered merchant. What we’ve done for our round-up below, and we recommend you do as well before deciding, is we used the cashbackmonitor.com website to compare the rates among all the best cash back sites for the most popular merchants. You should make a list of your most preferred shopping sites and compare the cash back rates in order to make a more tailored decision. Yes, these rates are constantly being updated, but it gives you a general idea. Often, many shoppers use 2 or 3 cash back site options, and rotate depending on the best offer. Using more than 3 different sites will spread out your earnings too thin to redeem in a reasonable time frame. If you’re going to be utilizing more than one site, we feel Ebates is one of the best overall to add to your line-up.
- Partnered Merchants. Some cash back portals will have thousands more partners than others. It really comes down to which site partners with most of your go-to retail merchants at the best rate, rather than one with more partners that may be of no interest to you.
- Earning Opportunities. This is where you’ll find differences between the best options below. Being able to earn cash back for shopping online is going to be standard with any portal you choose. What sets one choice apart from the others are alternate opportunities to earn. For example, Ebates partners with many retailers to give you the ability to earn cash back in-store. You’ll link your credit card to your profile and earn the in-store cash back when you pay with the card. This is particularly useful with retailers where you really need an in-person demo or evaluation. Another unique option is Swagbucks, where alternate ways of earning points include completing surveys and watching sponsored videos.
- Referral Bonuses. If you’re Mr./Mrs. Popular or have ways of connecting with the masses, you should take advantage of the referral bonuses available with many of the shopping portals below. You can earn $5, $10, or $15+ per qualified referral depending on the site you choose or when they have limited-time increased referral bonus promotions. Keep in mind, you’ll typically need to also earn a set amount of cash back in your account with your own shopping before being able to cash out the earned referral bonuses.
1. Ebates
- Sign-Up/Referral Bonus: Earn a $10 welcome bonus just signing up for a free account. You can then make anywhere from $5 to $25 per qualified referral depending on the current promotion. Referrals can be made via your personalized link, email, Facebook or Twitter. Ebates tends to have a variety of bonus promotions throughout the year for different seasons/holidays.
- Number Of Partners: Over 2,000 stores for Cash Back, Coupons & Promo Codes
- Favorite Features:
- The original cash back shopping portal and one of the best to ever do it.
- Over 2,000 stores partnered for Cash Back, Coupons & Promo Codes
- Earn with online shopping or in-store by linking your credit card to your profile.
- Save with coupons and special promo codes as well
- Frequent seasonal promotions for double cash back at popular stores
- Featured Daily Deals for bigger earnings
- Great referral bonus system with frequent promotions for $25 per qualified referral, and referral bonuses are unlimited
- Full Review: More On Ebates
2. TopCashback
- Sign-Up/Referral Bonus: An initial sign-up bonus for new members isn’t always available. Once you’ve joined for free, you can start making $10 per qualified referral. For the Tell-a-Friend bonus to be applied to your account, your friend must authenticate their TopCashback.com account and reach a minimum cashback threshold of $10 cashback.
- Favorite Features:
- Free payouts through ACH, PayPal, Amazon.com Gift Card and American Express Rewards Card.
- Get a bonus on your cashback rebate when requesting payout by Amazon.com Gift Card or American Express Rewards Card.
- No minimum pay-out threshold.
- Stack the savings with cashback + coupons.
- Over 4,380 Online Stores.
- Full Review: More On TopCashback
3. Mr.Rebates
- Sign-Up/Referral Bonus: Sign up as a new member for free and get a $5.00 bonus (after first purchase). Once you’re a member, you can start making referrals and each time your referral gets cash back, you get a bonus equal to 20% of their rebate. Referrals can be made via your personal link, email, Facebook or Twitter.
- Favorite Features:
- Mr. Rebates has given members cash back for online shopping since 2002.
- Shop at over 2500 different cash back stores.
- Once you’ve earned enough rebates in your account, you can simply cash out and Mr. Rebates will send your balance via a mailed check or Paypal.
- A mobile app is available for both Android and iOS
- Full Review: More On MrRebates.com
4. Extrabux
- Sign-Up/Referral Bonus: Sign up for free and earn a $5 welcome bonus. Once you’ve signed up, you can get a $5 cash bonus for every friend you refer. Earn additional cash when your friends shop (equal to 5% on the cash back your friends earn). Your friends also get a $5 cash bonus when they sign up. You can make referrals using all of the popular contact and social media platforms.
- Favorite Features:
- Earn up to 30% cash back, get money-saving coupons, and find the best price on every purchase at 2,500+ stores.
- Receive your cash back via your credit card, PayPal, or a check in the mail. Or, you can donate it to a charity.
- Hot Deals section for bigger cash back and coupon promotions
- Full Review: More On Extrabux
5. Simply Best Coupons
- Sign-Up/Referral Bonus: Initial sign-up bonuses for new members aren’t always available. Once you’ve joined for a free membership, invite your friends and receive 5% of their earned cash back, up to $50 for each referral.
- Favorite Features:
- Simply Best Coupons is available in many different countries across the globe
- Receive your cash back via Direct Deposit, Check, PayPal, Amazon Gift Card, and more
- Section for Local Coupons and Grocery Coupons for more savings potential
- Full Review: More On Simply Best Coupons
6. BeFrugal
- Sign-Up/Referral Bonus: Join BeFrugal for free and earn a $10 bonus payable when you earn $10 in Cash Back. You can then earn a $10 per qualified referral, and your referrals can still earn their own $10 bonus. To qualify for a $10 Refer-a-Friend bonus, new referrals must click on your unique Refer-a-Friend link, join BeFrugal and earn $10 or more in Cash Back (not including bonuses and earnings from non-purchase activity) within 365 days of account creation.
- Favorite Features:
- Earn up to 40% Cash Back at 5000+ top stores
- Receive payments via check, PayPal or Amazon.com Gift Card
- 1000s of exclusive coupons that you can stack with the cash back earnings
- Also find printable restaurant and fast food coupons, offering the latest coupons for over 250 popular restaurants
- Full Review: More On BeFrugal.com
7. Swagbucks
- Sign-Up/Referral Bonus: Sign up for free and earn a 1000 SB bonus points, a $10 value, when you spend at least $25 at a store featured in Swagbucks.com/Shop within 30 days. You can then make referrals and earn $3 per qualified referral. You’ll also get 10% of your referrals’ earnings for life.
- Favorite Features:
- You can earn cash back for online shopping like with the other cash back portals, but Swagbucks offers many other options for earning points, such as by watching partnered videos, completing surveys, browsing offers, entering contests, etc.
- Cash back shopping at over 1500 retailers including Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Starbucks.
- Earn SB points for every dollar you spend plus get access to exclusive deals and coupons to your favorite retailers.
- Redeem for gift cards or cash back through PayPal.
- Swagbucks will give you the most variety to earn, but it will require plenty of time invested to maximize. This may not be the best option for someone just looking for a portal for earning cash back for shopping.
- Full Review: More On Swagbucks
8. Paribus
- Sign-Up/Referral Bonus: Sign-up bonuses typically aren’t available with Paribus.
- Favorite Features:
- Paribus works in conjunction with your preferred cash back shopping portal of choice. You don’t earn cash back by doing online shopping. Rather, Paribus is a service that monitors your purchases for price reductions afterwards, and claims price adjustment refunds on your behalf.
- They’ve developed a solid reputation and have been acquired by Capital One.
- Full Review: More On Paribus
9. iConsumer
- Sign-Up/Referral Bonus: Join for free and get 100 shares of iConsumer. Once you’ve joined, invite your friends to join iConsumer. The first time each friend shops and earns Cash Back, you’ll earn 100 shares of stock in iConsumer. You can refer via your own link, Facebook, Twitter, Email or LinkedIn.
- Favorite Features:
- Not only will you earn cash back for online shopping, you’ll also be able to earn shares of iConsumer.
- iConsumer stock – earn shares every time you shop or refer a friend. You’ll get free shares of the company for joining.
- Great deals and cash back at over 1,700 stores
- Full Review: More On iConsumer
10. Credit Card Portals (Chase, Barclays, Discover)
- Sign-Up/Referral Bonus: There are no sign-up bonuses for these portals, as you can only access them through your eligible credit card. Other credit card issuers have their own cash back shopping portals, but Chase, Barclays and Discover have the best options. You’ll usually be able to earn sign-up bonuses when applying for these eligible credit cards. Great options for these respective portals include:
- Chase: Chase Freedom, Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Barclays: Barclays Arrival® Premier World Elite Mastercard®
- Discover: Discover it and Discover it Miles
- Favorite Features:
- You’ll be able to stack your credit card rewards with the rewards/cash back using the associated shopping portal, thereby boosting the earning power of the card.
- Full Review: More On Credit Card Portals
 The Barclays Arrival® Premier World Elite Mastercard® doesn't have an initial sign-up bonus offer. This card is targeted to high spenders that plan on carrying a good travel card for the long term. Instead of a bonus available upon account opening, cardholders are able to earn 25,000 loyalty bonus miles each and every year that they spend at least $25,000 in purchases. These 25,000 bonus miles are worth $250 in travel credits. The card also earns unlimited miles at the rate of 2 miles per $1 spent on all purchases regardless of category. With the miles earning rate taken into account, spending $25,000 a year will net you 75,000 miles worth $750 in travel credits, and you'll be able to earn that amount yearly.As expected with any good travel card, there are no foreign transaction fees to be concerned with and you'll get the higher worldwide acceptance of a Mastercard, which is nearly equivalent to that of Visa and much better than Discover or American Express. If you're not a high spender who travels often, this likely will not be a suitable card option for your needs. Full Review |
11. Upromise
- Sign-Up/Referral Bonus: Generally no sign-up bonus with Upromise.
- Favorite Features:
- The Upromise portal is for parents, students and graduates to earn towards College Savings or student loans.
- Redeem your earnings towards:
- Your College Savings Plan
- Your Student Loan
- Or ask for a check and get the cash
- 850+ online partners, 10,000+ participating restaurant locations, 20,000+ grocery and drug stores
- Full Review: More On Upromise
Bottom Line
- Choose the cash back site(s) that fits your needs best
- Remember to always check the cash back site to see if your merchant is partnered, whatever it may be that you’re planning to pay for online. This includes everything from goods, services, and travel. We’re so used to quickly jumping on Amazon and getting things shipped out Prime ASAP that it’s easy to forget to blast up the cash back portal first to save. Perhaps consider setting your chosen cash back site as part of your tabbed home pages at browser launch!
- Maximize your earnings by referring friends and family to use these shopping portals as well, as they are all free to use and earn with.
MoneysMyLife Top Offer Picks  Earn a $200 bonus when you open a new Chase Total Checking® account and set up direct deposit. Also earn a $150 bonus when you open a new Chase SavingsSM account, deposit a total of $10,000 or more in new money within 10 days & maintain a $10,000 balance for 90 days. Apply for both offers and get a $350 total bonus. Full Review Get $300 when you open a new Chase Premier Plus CheckingSM account and set up direct deposit. This account has more features than the Chase Total Checking® and the monthly service fee can be waived with a few different requirement options. A $300 Checking bonus is one of the best offers from Chase Bank. Full Review Earn $200 when you open a new Chase Total Business Checking® account, deposit $1,000 in new money within 10 business days of account opening, maintain that balance for 60 days and complete five qualifying transactions within 60 days. This is the most popular Business Checking offer.Full Review |
Apply online for a new TD Bank Checking account to earn either a $300 bonus for the TD Premier Checking account ( $2,500 in direct deposits required), or a $150 bonus for the TD Convenience Checking account ($500 in direct deposits required). This is a limited time offer. 
Earn up to 25,000 bonus miles worth $250 in travel every year with the Barclays Arrival® Premier World Elite Mastercard®. Without an initial sign-up bonus, this credit card is intended for high spenders looking for a card to carry for the long-term. The card will earn unlimited miles at the rate of 2 miles per $1 spent on all purchases regardless of category. 
CIT Bank is offering a 1.75% APY rate with their Money Market Account for all balances. This account is available online nationwide and consistently offers one of the best rates in the nation. The minimum opening deposit is $100 and there are no fees for opening or maintaining the account. 
Ally Invest has a promotion where you can earn either 90 days of commission-free trades or a $200 cash bonus. The $200 bonus will require a deposit of at least $25,000 within 15 days of account opening and the execution of 3 trades within 90 days. The free trades offer will require a $10,000 minimum deposit. 
Simple Bank has an offer where you can earn a $20 bonus after opening their free online Checking account that's available nationwide. You'll then be able to earn unlimited $20 referral bonuses. Direct deposit isn't a requirement and all you and your referrals need to do is open a new account and use the Simple Visa debit card to make a first purchase. 
*These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.