The saying goes that to make money you have to spend money. But no matter how green your pocketbook is, it’s wise to take advantage of ways to earn cash from the purchases you make, be it in-store or online. If you earn cash back on stuff you always buy, you’ll have money in your pocket that wouldn’t otherwise be there. That’s a win-win situation, any way you look at it. 

How cash-back services work

The best cash-back services offer an easy way to save when you shop. If you’re not using a cash-back service every time you shop, you’re leaving money on the table. You can also increase your earnings by referring friends. 

Cash-back services operate as either apps, websites or browser extensions. When you shop using these tools, retailers pay a commission to the services for bringing in new customers and helping retailers develop and maintain customer loyalty. You can retrieve your payouts when they reach a certain threshold.

Sign-up bonuses for cash-back services

Cash-back services pay a sign-up bonus to attract new customers. They also pay referral bonuses when you refer a friend who signs up and uses their services. Sign-up bonuses are a great way to generate additional income while introducing your friends and family to a useful service. Sign-up and referral bonuses for the services we reviewed range from $5 to $30 and don’t place limits on the amount you can earn.

Cash back 101

Suppose you’re looking to replace your favorite running shoes. You might, for example, visit Nike’s website, choose your preferred pair and check out.

To score extra cash back (and we say « extra » because we’re assuming you’re already using a cash-back rewards credit card), you simply detour to a service site such as Rakuten and then proceed to Nike via that site. Choose your shoes, check out and you’re done.

At the time of this writing, you’d have earned a cash rebate of 6%. On a $100 pair of shoes, that means $6 back in your pocket. Not a fortune, but every dollar helps.

Cash-back rates vary among different services and can change frequently, but the end result is the same: extra money you wouldn’t have saved otherwise. 

Speaking of extra money, some cash-back services offer a sign-up bonus. You’ll also receive referral bonuses for encouraging friends and family members to sign up. Right now, for example, Rakuten will give you $10 when you sign up and make a purchase of at least $25 within 90 days. You can also earn $30 for each person who signs up with your referral ID code (and spends at least $30). If you manage to sign up just one person per month, you’d make $360 over the course of a year. That’s a pretty easy way to earn some cash. 

Read more: Best Travel Credit Cards for 2023

What’s the cash-back catch?

There must be a catch, right? You must be throwing open the gates on your privacy and agreeing to all kinds of spam, telemarketing and other evils. Otherwise, how do these services make money?

Here’s how: Using the above example, when Rakuten sends you to Nike and you buy something, Rakuten earns a cut of that purchase — and gives you a cut of that cut. This is called affiliate marketing, and it’s extremely common on the web these days. (Case in point: CNET may earn a commission when you use our links to buy certain products and services.)

Now, is there also some tracking and data gathering involved? No question. In addition to the ubiquitous browser cookies that track your journeys online, the cash-back sites track your buying through their retail partners, which is necessary to confirm those purchases and give you your rebate. Indeed, most of these sites will require you to allow apps to track your iPhone, or not to use an ad blocker, while using these services, so these site-to-site handoffs can occur to enable the discounts. (Again, CNET — like most websites — also uses browser cookies. Check out our cookie policy and privacy terms for more info.)

Do cash-back services also aggregate and sell this data? If you peruse their terms and conditions and privacy policy pages, you’ll see that most of them say they reserve the right to do so. In that regard, they’re not any different than the likes of online companies like Amazon, Facebook or Google. But you need to be comfortable with that trade-off — getting a discount in exchange for the cash-back service sharing with its partners that you bought a Keurig at Target or a laptop from Lenovo, for instance. 

If you prefer to keep your online activities as private as possible, cash-back services may not be for you.

(Note that CNET has its own browser extension called CNET Shopping — formerly known as PriceBlink — that highlights deals and coupons, and broadly competes with the services listed below. But as it doesn’t have a cash-back component, it wasn’t considered for inclusion.)

What are the best cash-back services?

Qualifying the « best » service is a bit subjective. We prize simplicity above all else. There’s no need to jump through hoops like completing special offers, scanning receipts, watching videos or building a pyramid of friends. The best services allow you to shop as you normally would and earn cash rebates along the way.

Then there’s longevity. There are lots of cash-back services out there; we look for those that have staying power. That satisfies the trustworthiness question: If a service hasn’t been good to its users, chances are it won’t be able to keep them. 

With that in mind, our favorites are below. This is by no means a comprehensive list — but it’s a good starting point.

Who should sign up for cash-back services?

These services are tools to help cost-conscious shoppers keep more of their cash. They provide an easy way to save money on purchases you make. These sites are great for those who shop online, at retailers associated with the cash-back service and for shoppers who don’t mind the inconvenience of adding extra steps to their shopping experience. 

Cash-back tools generally require you to make a purchase through an app, while signed into a store’s website or with the browser extension installed so that your purchases can be tracked. 

What to consider before signing up

Cash-back services are extremely useful. They’re often easy to set up and work seamlessly once you’re familiar with the process. However, there are issues to consider when using these services.

• Annual fees: Some services take an annual fee out of the savings, which can minimize the overall benefit of using the service.
• Fake or scam sites: Sticking with well-known services is the best way to avoid fake sites that will use your personal information for nefarious purposes.
• High payout thresholds: Some cash-back sites set the thresholds so high that, unless you shop consistently through the service or buy big-ticket items, receiving your payout can take six months or more to receive. 
• Confused cookies: Using multiple cash-back services can confuse the cookies used to track your purchases and that can delay your payouts if rewards are applied to the wrong service.
• Better deals elsewhere: Retailers using coupons or direct-to-retailer discounts may offer better prices than going through a third-party cash-back service.

How to best use a cash-back service

There are two ways to approach using a cash-back service to make the most of your efforts. One approach is to use it for every purchase, no matter how small. Small purchases run through a third-party service will add up when used consistently. The other approach is to use it mainly for more purchases that add up to larger values, such as Christmas shopping or buying a big-screen television. Do you want to jump through hoops for a 13-cent rebate or for a rebate that adds up to a significant amount of money?

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