Welcome to the cash back starter guide!
The only thing better than getting something you want is getting it cheaply. That’s why I made this guide: I want to help you score cash back on all kinds of purchases.
Cash back comes in several different forms, so I’m going to go piece by piece and tell you how to navigate each one.
Just check out my nifty graphic here!
So let’s get started!
Cash back starter guide – portals
An example of portal offers, from TopCashBack
A portal is a website or app that offers cash back when you make purchases through their links. They have lists of online stores and will tell you the percentage back on each. The portal is the first step because you go to them before you buy.
There are many different portals. If one doesn’t have the store you’re looking for another one might.
So why do these places offer money back? Companies pay a commission on sales to the portal, and the portal in turn passes some of that money to you.
When you click on a portal link the portal will track your activity on the site and register purchases you make. Once the purchase is confirmed and finalized, the portal will give you whatever percentage back you earned. How long that process takes varies by portal and merchant. It might be a few days or a few months.
Your account will have a place to see which stores you’ve visited and what cash back you have pending.
After that, congrats! You’re earning money back on things you would have bought anyway.
Your portal should have a place for tracking shopping trips and cash back. This is how TopCashBack does it.
Portal Tips
1
Make tracking easy for the portal! Don’t use private browsing, a VPN, or adblockers that affect the portal or site you buy on. You can whitelist the portal site and store it in the controls for your browser or adblocker.
2
Have an empty cart at the store before you click on the portal link. If your cart has items, your shopping might not count as a new trip and you might not get cash back.
3
Don’t close the browser tab that’s opened after you click on the portal link. That will tell the portal that the shopping trip is finished.
4
Check the minimum cash out for the portal. Each place has its own rules on the lowest amount able to be withdrawn.
5
If your trip doesn’t register, open a missing cash claim. This varies by portal, but in general, they offer a way to contact support. You’ll probably have to provide dates and proof of purchase.
6
Check the exclusions on the store before you click through. The portal should list items or categories that won’t get cash back at each site. Gift cards are a very common exclusion, but it could be anything the business chooses.
7
There’s a great site that helps when using portals: Cash Back Monitor. This site lists various portal rates for a given store and helps you compare to get good deals. Not all portals are listed here, but it includes most of them.
8
Portals can’t be combined. If you try to go through a second portal after the first only the most recent portal will count.
Cash Back Starter Guide – Cards
The second part of the cash back world is a rewards card.
If you’re not using a rewards card on your everyday spending you’re missing out on some easy money.
The cards can be debit or credit. Typically credit cards have higher rates of cash back, but rewards debit cards are a growing business. If you don’t want or can’t get credit cards you can still find a good cash back card.
Rewards cards either give money back to your account/card statement, or they give points in their own rewards system.
Beyond that, some cards offer a flat rate back on all purchases, while others give varying rates depending on category. Generally cards that give category based rates offer more in return.
Finding the right card or cards depends on you. What do you spend money on? Do you want to max out points or do you want a simple flat rate that you don’t have to think about? Can you be approved for good credit cards? Do you want to have the best card for each situation or do you want to stick with a single card?
But no matter who you are I’d recommend having at least one rewards card. Why not benefit from the spending you’re already doing?
Card Tips
1
Some purchases aren’t eligible for card rewards. Things like gift cards and money orders are almost always excluded from cash back.
2
Think about what you want the card to help you with. Groceries? Travel? Or just some of everything?
3
Take some time to get familiar with your card once you have it. If it has points, how do redemptions work? What ways of redeeming would give the best value?
4
Sometimes rates vary after a certain spending limit. For example, a card might offer 2% back on dining up to $1000, and 1% after that. Pay attention to that stuff too.
5
High rewards credit cards tend to require good credit scores. If you don’t qualify for them now that’s okay. Try to raise your score and use other cards in the meantime. Also see my Credit Card Bonus Starter Guide for more talk on credit cards.
Cash Back Starter Guide – Card-Linked Offers
Some card-linked offers listed on Rakuten.
The third part of the cash back world is card-linked offer programs.
Card-linked offers require you to enroll a debit or credit card, and they give cash back on certain purchases you make using that card. I call them the third part of the cash back cycle because they kick in after you make the purchase.
Remember how portals work, and how they make commissions from listed businesses? Card-linked offer programs work in much the same way. They register purchases made and pay you part of their commission fees.
There are lots of different card-linked offer programs, offered by various sites and apps.
Some programs require you to activate offers before purchase, while others are entirely passive and activate automatically after you enroll.
How to link a card
Linking a card to these programs is fast and easy.
They might only need the card numbers, but most places want you to log in to your debit or credit card to connect, using a service like Plaid.
If you’ve never used one of these before, it’ll ask you to pick the financial institution that issues the card, and then enter your log-in info to link up.
Usually, it only takes a moment to complete.
Adding a card on Rakuten.
Card-Linked Offers Tips
1
Not all cards can be enrolled in all programs. While major issues will generally work, sometimes newer banks won’t be listed as an option in the card-linking program. You may or may not have success contacting the company and asking them to add your card.
2
Like always, read the rules of the program. They should list things like the cash out minimum and redemption offers, as well as any exclusions.
3
Like with portals, there are sometimes tracking problems (though not as frequently). If your purchase doesn’t track you can talk to customer support. You’ll probably need dates and proof that you bought the item.
4
Passive card-linked offers are the easiest to deal with. If you have to activate offers that also means you need to remember to activate them. The next best are the ones that only need to be activated every month or so.
Cash Back Starter Guide – Miscellaneous Cash Back
Receipt Scanning Apps
Many services give rewards for receipt scanning.
The receipts they’re most often interested in are grocery receipts. They’ll have you take a picture of your recent paper receipts and reward you.
The exact process varies by program. Some want you to add offers to an in-app list before you buy, while others will credit you for participating products without you needing to do anything ahead of time.
What the companies are generally looking for here is market research. They want to see what kind of things you buy and how often. They also advertise specific products on the apps by offering a discount.
This can be a great source of cash back if you spend a lot on groceries and often buy name brands.
Check Out The Receipt Scanning Apps Category
If you're looking for more receipt scanning cash back, this is where you'll find it!
Receipt Scanning Apps Tips
1
You often need to scan a receipt within a certain time period to get credit. On Fetch Rewards, for example, it must be scanned within 14 days of buying.
2
Take the receipt pictures on a plain background with plenty of light. It’ll help the app read the paper.
Loyalty Programs
Many brands offer their own loyalty programs, which usually give points that can be used towards discounts on future purchases.
These are well worth it if you shop at the place in question frequently.
The most famous loyalty programs are airline memberships, followed closely by hotel chains. But even small stores online sometimes get in on the action.
Companies offer these to try and lure you into buying more from them, so it’s good to stay mindful so you don’t end up with a bunch of extra stuff trying to get rewards.
Want More Loyalty Programs?
You can find the loyalty programs I've covered at this link!
Cash Back Starter Guide – Stacking
The real magic of cash back happens when you stack different methods on top of each other and reap all the benefits.
Rewards cards are stackable with pretty much any other method. That’s why I consider them the center of cash back-they’re the most reliable source.
Portals list online shops and card-linked offers usually focus on in-store purchases, so generally these two can’t be combined. There are a few occasional exceptions among the card-linked offer programs though.
Receipt scanning apps are mostly about grocery shopping, and those are rare stores for portals or card-linked offers. Enjoy it when it happens! It’s also perfectly possible to use multiple receipt scanning programs on the same receipt, just as long as the items count for both.
Card-linked offer programs can be combined with each other, as long as they use different tracking networks and don’t forbid it. Understanding the tracking networks gets pretty involved and merits a post of it’s own.
Loyalty programs are generally stackable with other mehods. Once in a while they’ll have terms that exclude native loyalty rewards for portal purchases or something like that, but it’s not universal.
If you’re lucky and plan ahead you can get multiple layers of cash back on what you buy.
Cash Back Starter Guide – Useful Terms
Card-Linked Offers
Programs that connect to one of your debit or credit cards and offer rewards when you make purchases at certain businesses.
Portal
A site or app that offers cash back when you make purchases through their links.
Receipt App
Any of the various apps and sites that offer cash back for scanning receipts. Generally this is for grocery receipts.
Rewards Card
Any debit or credit card that gives some form of cash back.
Cash Back Starter Guide – Thanks for Reading!
Thanks for reading my cash back starter guide! I hope you found some useful info to help you score money back.
This page is a living post, and I’ll continue to add information and modify what’s already here.
As always, feel free to leave a comment below with questions or thoughts.