Cash-back websites are popping up all over the place. This article looks at how you can save pounds and pennies without changing your shopping habits, simply by taking advantage of these websites.
What are they?
Cash-back websites partner themselves with traders such as Tesco and eBay and post links to their websites. If you visit these traders through the cash-back website and subsequently make a purchase, the cash-back website will (typically) refund you a small percentage of what you have spent.
How do they work?
The partnered traders pay advertising and referral premiums to the cash-back website. In return, the cash-back websites can offer discounts for those traders to their own visitors, thus creating more advertising and referral income: it is a lucrative cycle for all involved.
Once you click on the link to the trader's website, any purchases you make during that visit are tracked. It takes approximately 14 days for the purchase to be acknowledged on the cash-back site, and often several weeks more for the payment to be authorized. As far as legitimate cash-back websites are concerned, these cookies are designed to record only details of your purchases.
Arranging insurance and other financial products through a cash-back website can be particularly lucrative, with some cash-back offers of £100 and above.
Almost all cash-back websites require you to sign-up as a member. Any cash-back you subsequently earned would then be credited to your member account. Membership is usually free, but certain cash-back websites (such as Quidco) charge a small annual administration fee.
Are they legitimate?
Conceptually, cash-back websites are legitimate. However, this doesn't mean that 'every' cash back website is legitimate. As with everything online, a degree of common sense is required: if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Before signing up to a cash-back website, do some research and look for some reviews. Most legitimate cash-back websites are amiable to pay by Paypal or in the form of gift vouchers: DO NOT input your bank details without being absolutely certain of the website's legitimacy.
Some examples
Below you'll find links to some of the more popular cash-back websites. However, caution is still advised.
- Top Cashback
- Quidco (charges £5 per year admin fee)
- Rpoints (Note: made a recent comeback following liquidation)
Cautions
When dealing with any cash-back websites, the following cautions should be borne in mind:
- The cash-back is not guaranteed, so it should only be considered as a bonus. If one trader works out cheaper than another only by virtue of the cash-back, be aware that you are taking a risk.
- If a deal seems to good to be true, beware.
- Earned cash-back as noted on the cash-back website only becomes yours once it is paid into your bank account. Most cash-back websites have a minimum earning threshold before they allow you to do this. If the cash-back website goes into liquidation, you could stand to lose any money that hasn't been banked (think of it like The Weakest Link!).
- For the reasons above, you should bank any cash-back you have as soon as the threshold is reached.
- Most cash-back websites work by using tracking-cookies. Clear your existing cookies regularly to make sure the website can make a clean track of your transaction.
Conclusion
Used right, cash-back websites can save you hundreds of pounds without changing your shopping habits. However, not all cash-back websites are legitimate, and even those that are legitimate aren't 100% guaranteed.
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