cashback websites

---

Cashback websites pay you cash for doing nothing more than buying things you were already planning on buying anyway. Using cashback sites is probably the single most effective thing you can do to earn yourself extra cash.

1. How cashback websites work
2. How much can I earn?
3. How do I get started?
4. What's the catch?
5. How to earn even more money
6. Withdraw your cash ASAP
7. Get started

It’s pretty simple, really. Cashback sites earn a commission from the companies you usually shop with. Amazon. John Lewis. Mobile phone operators. The list is endless. They then pay that commission to you. That’s it. You don’t need to buy anything you weren’t already planning to buy, or pay any more for it. Cashback is genuinely free money. 

Potentially, a lot! You’ll typically be paid a percentage of the purchase price, but can also be a lump cash sum. The commission is paid directly to you by the cashback website. Just look at some of the deals currently available:

• O2 will give you £110 if you take out a mobile phone contract
• Hotels.com will give you 10% back on all hotel bookings 
• Dell will give you 9.9% back (why they didn't make it a round 10% we do not know) if you buy a laptop or screen
• LV will give you £75 for taking out a life insurance policy 
• Vodafone will give you £120 if you take their broadband service
• Just Eat will give you 26% cashback on your first grocery shop

All told, over 5,500 companies have offers listed on these sites. 

Simple. You sign up online with one (or more) of the cashback sites currently operating in the UK. Our favourites are Quidco* and TopCashback* but you might also want to look at KidStart which focuses on using your cashback to save for your children. We’ve included links to their signup pages at the end of this post. Signing up is free (in fact, we show you below how you can make money just by signing up), although there are usually enhanced membership tiers available for a small anual fee that enable you to earn even more money. 

When you’re ready to make an online purchase, you simply logon to the cashback site (e.g. Quidco) and search for the online merchant you’re planning on buying from. This will show you a list of that merchant’s available offers. Click on the offer you're interested in and the cashback site will redirect your browser to that merchant, where you can complete your purchase as normal. 

That’s it. You’re still buying directly from the merchant (e.g. Amazon), it’s just that the cashback site is recording the fact that you’ve made a purchase in order to take advantage of a cashback offer. At some point in the near future, you’ll receive a notification, usually via email, from the cashback website that your cashback has been tracked, and later, paid. All you then need to do is logon to your cashback site and tell them to pay you out. You can elect to have the money paid directly into your bank account, or you can usually take vouchers instead (e.g. Amazon or Costa gift vouchers). Taking vouchers over cash will typically give you 10-20% extra on top of the cash payment. It’s all tax free. You don’t even need to declare it on your tax return.

Genuinely, for once in life, there’s no catch. There are a few things to be aware of though. 

The only real problem we’ve found is not all online merchants have cashback deals running all the time. It pays to shop around. So, if you’re in the market for a new mobile phone contract and Vodafone aren’t offering cashback, or their rate isn’t as good as that offered by another operator, choose O2 (or whoever) instead. Additionally, it usually pays to open accounts with multiple cashback sites. That way you can check the commission offered by all sites and simply go with the best offer. Lastly, it can sometimes take several weeks, occasionally  months, for cashback to be paid out, but you can see how much you’re owed at any time by logging on to the cashback site. 

Occasionally, if you’re running a VPN or an ad blocker it can stop the cashback sites functioning correctly, so your purchase may not always be tracked. Just turn these off it you get problems until you complete the purchase, then turn them back on again. 

Be aware that most cashback offers are only calculated on the net purchase price, excluding VAT. So, if you buy an item costing £120 and you’re due to receive 10% cashback, you’ll receive £10 (i.e. 10% of the net price of £100), not £12. It’s really no big deal. Just something to be aware of.

The only other thing to be aware of is that some cashback offers usually come with conditions and exclusions. For example, you can’t usually combine a cashback offer with a discount code (usually, but not always). We’ve also struggled to get cashback on high demand items such as the very latest iPhone. Cashback sites will always list the terms, conditions and exclusions of any offer in simple-to-understand language, and if they decline to pay cashback for whatever reason, they will usually tell you and offer you an appeals procedure, which we’ve successfully used on numerous occasions. 

Cashback sites run refer-a-friend schemes. Once you’re a member you can share a code with your friends. When they sign up and complete their first purchase, you’ll both be paid a commission, typically £10-£15 each for every friend you successfully refer (this is the current Quidco offer). At the time of writing, Top Cashback are paying the referrer a whopping £40, with £10 for your friend. 

You cash take cashback to the next level with TopCashback. By registering your card details with the site, you can automatically earn cashback when you shop in person in a store. The system takes advantage of Open Banking, which gives approved merchants secure access to banking records. It’s safe and effective. 

Many credit cards will give you cashback automatically on your purchases. Unlike discount codes, which tend to invalidate any cashback you may be due if you combine them with a purchase through a cashback site, cashback credit cards will allow you to both earn cashback from the site, and cashback from your credit card. So, if you have a cashback credit card, you're free to use it with a cashback website and double up on your rewards. 

This is one of the golden rules of using cashback websites. They’re not a bank and have no obligation to keep your cash safe. If they go under (and they have done in the past) you could lose any cash you’ve earned but not already withdrawn. Give yourself a diary note to withdraw your cash at least monthly.

Simple. Sign up with one or more cashback sites (it takes 60 seconds) and start shopping. The sooner you sign up, the more you’ll earn. If you use one (or both) of the links below to sign up, you’ll receive an additional cash bonus simply for registering when you complete your first purchase.