Cashback

How does it work?

Cashback sites work by acting as a referrer, they have agreements with the companies you will buy from that says each lead/order will earn them a certain amount of commission, part of this commission is then passed on to you.

How long do they take to payout?

When you first make a purchase it will should show as tracked (if it does not show i will get to this later on in the blog), this will eventually changed to confirmed alerting you that the company confirms your purcahse and approves the cashback, the final stage will be payable this is when you can withdraw your funds. The quickest i have seen this happen is 1 week, the longestst maybe 6 months. Topcashback will give you an estimate of when this will be payable, you just have to be patient and watch the cashback stack up.

Its worth remember cashback is not guaranteed, think of it as a brucey bonus. It all relies on the click being registered and the company accepting it. See the section below, How to make sure it tracks.

Which cashback sites are there?

Topcashback – This is my favourable site

Quidco – This sometimes has better rates then topcashback so worth checking, they also have more spontaneous deals like spend a fiver anywhere to get an extra £2.50 cashback so keep your eyes out for them.

How to make sure it tracks

As cashback is heavily reliant upon tracking the click and confirming you were referred by the cashback site here are some top tips to help you along the way.

If you search for something online and click through from google you could click on an ad which would then show google as the referrer, this is bad news for your cashback. Try to clear your cookies before you do this and then go through the topcashback/quidco site.

Ideally you should download the respective apps for these sites as they operate with a browser within the app so your regular cookies should be ignored. This is the best way to get cashback to track.

It is also worth noting the terms and conditions on each page, some will say if you use a voucher not on the site you wont get cashback, some pages offer additional vouchers to use so just keep your eyes peeled.

What to do in the case of missing cashback

If you have made a purchase and its not showing in your earnings here’s what you need to do.

  1. Give it at least 24 hours to track, some are instant some are slower.
  2. If it hasn’t tracked dig out the Order ID from the purchase and follow the steps for whichever cashback site you used.

TopCashback

  1. Login to website
  2. Click account at top right
  3. Click on Customer Care
  4. Click on Lodge a Claim
  5. You need to select the company and date
  6. Fill out any required details

You will then be notified of changes to this claim as it progresses. Most of my claims have been upheld.

Quidco

  1. Log in to your account
  2. Click on Support in top Right
  3. Select Create Cashback Claim
  4. Select the company and date
  5. Fill out any required details

As above you will be notified of changes.

If a claim doesn’t go in your favour, try and kick up a stink sometimes they will honour it it themselves for example if its been dragging on, if not forget about it and move on.

Withdrawing funds

I would withdraw any substantial amounts of cashback ASAP, this is your money now and you wouldn’t want to lose it if the site went bust for example.

There are essentially 3 withdrawal methods.

  1. BACS
  2. Paypal
  3. Reward Cards

Reward cards offer top up bonus’, for example on Topcashback, withdrawing to a Virtual mastercard will get you a 5% top-up bonus, £100 becomes £105.

A Virgin experience day gift card will get a 25% top-up bonus.

There is currently 53 different reward card methods.

Refer a Friend

Referring friends is a good way to earn an extra bonus, each site operates a refer a friend scheme and the payout differs, mostly its £5 per referral plus £5 for your friend once they reach a certain amount of cashback earned.

Watch out for enhancements to these schemes though, at new year for example cashback for referring a friend on Topcashback was £20.19.

Bonus deals

Here is an example of a bonus deal. You have to opt in and it will give you an extra £5 cashback on top of any cashback being earned in the transaction. They generally have a limited time period and you Must opt in. As a rule of thumb always opt in even if you might not use it.