Cashback website

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A cashback website is a type of reward website (often also available on a mobile app) that pays its members a percentage of the money that they spend when they purchase goods and services via its affiliate links. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Leading cashback and similar programs providing U.S. consumers with rewards for shopping online with multiple vendors include Capital One Shopping, Ibotta, Rakuten, PayPal Honey and CouponCabin. [5]

Customer journey

When a customer makes a purchase online, instead of visiting the retailer directly, they may choose to follow a link from a cashback website to generate a monetary reward when buying products or services. The cashback website receives a commission from the retailer that, after the purchase is confirmed, is shared with the customer who made the purchase.

Digital channels

Consumers can receive the cashback or similar rewards by searching on the cashback program's website, but usually also via its mobile app, via browser plugins. The plugins may also alert consumers to better prices for the same product from the program's participating merchants, or to available discount coupons. [5]

Time frames

Users of cashback websites can know ahead of time how much they stand to get back for their purchases at each specific retailer before they buy. [6] The amount of time that it takes to receive the cashback benefits is dependent on the site. Certain sites will make their payments every four to six weeks, while others will only issue their rebates after a few months. The time gap between purchase and cashback payment is observed to rule out cashback payment to cancelled or returned goods.

Amount and forms of payment

Sites vary on what form of cashback rebates they offer their users. Some programs will provide the users with a percentage of the total purchase price, while others have a flat sum that they pay out for each action. Many cashback sites offer users a reward for referring others to the site.

Payment is generally made to the user in the form of bank transfers, gift vouchers, online sites such as PayPal, bank checks, mobile recharges or online orders at the request of the user. Some cashback websites place a threshold on a customer's account such that a user may need to make several transactions in order to be able to receive a reward.

Others sponsored by banks offer fixed or percent for purchases of certain items or from certain vendors that are given as a credit on the shopper's credit card bill. [7]

Non-cash awards

Some U.S. shopping portals for consumers do not reward shoppers with money back paid directly to the consumer, but with airline miles. Examples include:

BrandProducts
qualifying
for rewards		MarketsWhere shopping takes placeReward currencyNotesRefRef
Year
At merchantOnline via program…
In personMerchant website/ appWebsite/ appBrowser plug-in
Aeroplan GeneralCanadayesyesyesyesAeroplan milesExcept for Air Canada purchases, earning at merchants requires linking a merchant loyalty program loyalty program or account [8] 2024
AirMiles GeneralCanada
Netherlands		yesyesnonoAir Miles (Netherlands) or Cash Miles (Canada)The program issues the "miles", not actual airlines. [9] 2023
Avios GeneralUnited Kingdom
global (limited)		yesnoyesnoPropietary "air miles" exchangeable for rewards [10] 2024
MileagePlus ShoppingGeneralUnited Statesnonoyesyes United Airlines MileagePlus miles [11]
Puntos ColombiaGeneralColombiayesyesyesnoPuntos Colombia points [12] 2024
RocketmilesHotel staysUnited StatesnonoyesnoMiles from multiple airlines,
Amazon gift cards, Uber credit, etc.
40+ redemption partners in total		Owned by Agoda subsidiary Rocket Travel [13] 2024
SimplyMilesGeneralUnited Statesyesyesnono American Airlines AAdvantage milesTo get miles, shoppers must activate specific offers on program website first [7] [14] 2024

Other features

Some cashback sites also offer discussion forums, paid online surveys, daily deals, and other rewards to increase traffic and maintain customer loyalty.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loyalty program</span> Marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at a business

A loyalty program or a rewards program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of one or more businesses associated with the program.

Sales promotion is one of the elements of the promotional mix. The primary elements in the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, direct marketing and publicity/public relations. Sales promotion uses both media and non-media marketing communications for a predetermined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. Examples include contests, coupons, freebies, loss leaders, point of purchase displays, premiums, prizes, product samples, and rebates.

Discounts and allowances are reductions to a basic price of goods or services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coupon</span> Document, paper or electronic, to provide a discount on goods or services

In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be redeemed for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online shopping</span> Form of electronic commerce

Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voucher</span> Redeemable transaction bond which can only be used for specific goods

A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include housing, travel, and food vouchers. The term voucher is also a synonym for receipt and is often used to refer to receipts used as evidence of, for example, the declaration that a service has been performed or that an expenditure has been made. Voucher is a tourist guide for using services with a guarantee of payment by the agency.

Online shopping rewards are a type of loyalty program to e-commerce shoppers.

In marketing, a rebate is a form of buying discount and is an amount paid by way of reduction, return, or refund that is paid retrospectively. It is a type of sales promotion that marketers use primarily as incentives or supplements to product sales. Rebates are also used as a means of enticing price-sensitive consumers into purchasing a product. The mail-in rebate (MIR) is the most common. An MIR entitles the buyer to mail in a coupon, receipt, and barcode in order to receive a check for a particular amount, depending on the particular product, time, and often place of purchase. Rebates are offered by either the retailer or the product manufacturer. Large stores often work in conjunction with manufacturers, usually requiring two or sometimes three separate rebates for each item, and sometimes are valid only at a single store. Rebate forms and special receipts are sometimes printed by the cash register at time of purchase on a separate receipt or available online for download. In some cases, the rebate may be available immediately, in which case it is referred to as an instant rebate. Some rebate programs offer several payout options to consumers, including a paper check, a prepaid card that can be spent immediately without a trip to the bank, or even as a PayPal payout.

Cashback may refer to:

Debit card cashback is a service offered to retail customers whereby an amount is added to the total purchase price of a transaction paid by debit card and the customer receives that amount in cash along with the purchase. For example, a customer purchasing $18.99 worth of goods at a supermarket might ask for twenty dollars cashback. The customer would approve a debit payment of $38.99 to the store, and the cashier would then give the customer $20 in cash.

Group buying, also known as collective buying, offers products and services at significantly reduced prices on the condition that a minimum number of buyers would make the purchase. Origins of group buying can be traced to China, where it is known as Tuán Gòu, or team buying.

An incentive program is a formal scheme used to promote or encourage specific actions or behavior by a specific group of people during a defined period of time. Incentive programs are particularly used in business management to motivate employees and in sales to attract and retain customers. Scientific literature also refers to this concept as pay for performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Credit card</span> Card for financial transactions on credit

A credit card is a payment card, usually issued by a bank, allowing its users to purchase goods or services, or withdraw cash, on credit. Using the card thus accrues debt that has to be repaid later. Credit cards are one of the most widely used forms of payment across the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Groupon</span> American worldwide e-commerce marketplace

Groupon, Inc. is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching soon after in Boston, New York City and Toronto. By October 2010, Groupon was available in 150 cities in North America and 100 cities in Europe, Asia and South America, and had 35 million registered users. By the end of March 2015, Groupon served more than 500 cities worldwide, nearly 48.1 million active customers and featured more than 425,000 active deals globally in 48 countries.

Gas rebate credit cards or gas cashback cards became popular in the United States in the wake of the 2000s energy crisis and the rising price of gasoline.

Webloyalty is an online marketing company, part of Affinion Group, that runs reward programmes 'Shopper Discounts & Rewards' and 'Complete Savings'. These programmes require a monthly subscription in return for access to discounts similar to those on a cashback website. Previously, Webloyalty's marketing practices have attracted significant controversy and substantial lawsuits.

RetailMeNot, Inc. is an American multinational company headquartered in Austin, Texas, that maintains a collection of coupon web sites. The company was founded by Cotter Cunningham. The company owns RetailMeNot.com and VoucherCodes.co.uk and acquires coupon sites and third-party software.

Ibotta, Inc. is an American mobile technology company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 2011, the company offers cash back rewards on various purchases through its Ibotta Performance Network and direct to consumer app. Ibotta partners with CPG brands and network publishers to provide these rewards. As of 2024, the company operates solely in the United States. The company's rewards-as-a-service offering, the Ibotta Performance Network, went live in 2022.

Prodege, LLC is an American online marketing, consumer polling, and market research company based in El Segundo, California. The company develops consumer rewards and polling programs under various brands including Swagbucks, MyPoints, InboxDollars, CouponCause, Tada, Ysense, Upromise, and Pollfish.

Capital One Shopping is a browser plugin, website and mobile app that offers e-commerce comparison shopping and cash back at online retailers that participate in its programs. It is operated by Wikibuy, LLC of Plano, Texas, and is primarily aimed at consumers in the United States.

References

  1. ↑ "City Survivors: Cash in on cashback deals" Archived 2016-07-07 at the Wayback Machine Moneywise. Retrieved 2016-07-02.
  2. ↑ "Boost your spare change" Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 2016-07-02.
  3. ↑ "'Cash back' websites lure shoppers" BBC News.
  4. ↑ "Cashback websites: is there a catch to cash for free?" The Guardian.
  5. 1 2 "The 5 best browser extensions that automatically find coupons at checkout". CNBC. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  6. ↑ "Crusader guide to getting the best from deals and vouchers" Sunday Express. Retrieved 2016-07-02.
  7. 1 2 Genter, JT (21 June 2023). "How to Stack Credit Card and Portal Offers to Save on Online Purchases – Forbes Advisor". www.forbes.com.
  8. ↑ "Earn every day". Air Canada. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  9. ↑ "Expedia Group announces rental partnership with Air Miles". Short Term Rentalz. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  10. ↑ "Collect in-store". Avios. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  11. ↑ "MileagePlus Shopping". MileagePlus Shopping. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  12. ↑ "Acumulación" [Accumulating points]. Puntos Colombia (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  13. ↑ "How it works". Rocketmiles. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  14. ↑ Brownson, Jeffrey (13 February 2024). "The Best Ways To Earn Airline Miles – Forbes Advisor". www.forbes.com. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
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