Cash ‘back’ apps: Someone is making money, but is it you?

Can you make money while shopping? Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

And yeah, it kinda is.

Unless you’re a stylist who is actually being paid to shop – with someone else’s money – we’re calling this one out.

Let’s break it down.

Breaking down the cash in cash back apps

In this short article I’ll cover some of the biggest question marks raised around cash back websites and apps, like:

1. What are they?
2. How do they work?
3. What’s the fine print?
4. What can we use them for?

1. What are they?

The premise is simple enough. Cash back websites or apps connect you with a range of retailers and offer you a percentage of your purchase back for buying through them, rather than direct through the retailers themselves.

2. How does that work?

The cash back site or app receives a commission from the retailer every time an item is purchased through them. It’s a portion of this commission that they pass on to you, the consumer.

For example, if you bought an item through their site for $100, you might get $5 back. Big numbers might be thrown around in advertising, but most returns are between 1 and 10%, with the average between 3 and 6%.

3. What’s the fine print?

It takes a bit of time and perseverance to navigate through all the terms and conditions surrounding these offers. Double check you’re eligible for a return at all before you buy, and be aware that you won’t get your ‘cash back’ upon purchase. You’ll pay the full amount up front, with the return taking up to three months to hit your account, if not more.

In some cases, I’ve also heard of significant back and forth between the consumer and the website or app being required before the site came good on the promised cashback.*

Never forget that these websites and apps must make profit to survive and that will always be their priority. So please, if you are considering shopping with them, do your due diligence and always check the direct retailer’s price first too.

*Yep. Jump on Google and check the reviews. I think you’ll find that even when you follow all the ‘rules’, you don’t always get back what you’re entitled to. A lot of the time, the reason the return was denied was vague at best or entirely non-existent. Go carefully.

4. What can we use them for?

Places like Woolworths and Coles rarely make cashback offers available and most utility providers only make them available to new members.

Meaning, the vast majority of ‘offers’ available are for wants, not needs.

Do you even really want that new pair of shoes? Or are you just being lured in by the prospect of getting $10 back? These ‘offers’ use the same tricks as sales on our brains. A $199 new coat from your favourite store is available and you’ll get $10 back? We think we’re ‘saving’ $10 but we’re really spending $189.

Bonnie’s wrap: Are they worth it?

Want the short answer? No, not in my opinion.

Here’s why: saving money on your purchases is the ultimate oxymoron. The only way to really ‘save’ on your purchases is by practicing mindful shopping and delayed gratification.

All these cashback sites really offer is temptation. Between Instagram, TikTok and good old television and radio, there’s plenty of that around already, right?

If there were great, regular cashback offers on groceries, petrol, and other utilities, then sure, I’d reconsider that opinion. 

Until then, I say don’t throw your money at them for the chance to get a few bucks of it back.