Most readers are probably already familiar with credit card cash back and online shopping portals. But beyond those, there’s also a way to earn cash back on in-store purchases, and Ibotta is a great tool for that. After shopping, just scan your receipt and the cash back is yours. Better yet, this cash back is independent of how you pay, so you can still use discounted gift cards or a high-cash-back credit card. Groceries, household items, and electronics can all earn extra cash back. The amounts may be small, but they do add up over time.
[2019.6 Update] Today only, if you order from blue arpon through the Ibotta app, you can get $50 cash back. This is limited to new blue apron users only (just register a new account). The cheapest Blue Apron two-person meal plan is about $47 including shipping, so this is basically free ingredients plus a small profit. If you want to give it a try, this could be a good opportunity.
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Ibotta Overview
Ibotta is an app that lets you earn rewards (rebates) by uploading receipts. After buying eligible products at participating merchants, you take a photo of your receipt with the app’s built-in camera and upload it. Once approved, you’ll receive the corresponding cash reward. For example, if you buy ice cream at Walmart, electronics at Best Buy, or Coke at CVS, you can upload the receipt and receive a reward of $1-$10.
For some merchants, such as Best Buy and Food Lion, Ibotta also offers cash back by linking your loyalty account. After linking your loyalty account, you no longer need to upload receipts for purchases at those merchants. Ibotta will automatically detect rebate-eligible items in your purchases and credit you accordingly. In addition, the app also offers some limited-time tasks and team-based tasks that can earn even more rewards. In short, if you can get free cash back on purchases you were already going to make, why not?
Sign-Up and Sign-Up Bonus
If you sign up through our link, you can receive an extra $10 sign-up bonus. You only need to successfully redeem one rebate to activate the $10.
- Ibotta APP sign-up link (redeem one rebate to get an extra $10 bonus)
After registering, you need to download the app on your phone/tablet to use it:
Besides the extra bonus, if you sign up through a referral link and join an Ibotta Team, you can earn even more rewards by completing team tasks. See Chapter 4 for details.
The easiest way to trigger the bonus: buy a bag of chips or a carton of eggs and you can get a rebate.
How to Use It
Upload Receipt Method (works for any merchant)
The cash-back process below is the most complicated one. Some rebates do not require scanning a product barcode and only need a receipt upload.
- Unlock: First unlock the rebate for the corresponding product in Ibotta (sometimes activation requires watching a short video or answering a question)
- Check merchants: After unlocking, you can see which merchants qualify for the rebate
- Shop: Buy eggs at an Ibotta-eligible merchant, such as Walmart, Target, or many local grocery stores
- Verify: Click verify pruchases
In fact, you can shop first and come back later to unlock the rebate and upload the receipt. Because Ibotta covers a very wide range of merchants, rebates usually still go through successfully.
Linking a Loyalty Account (for certain merchants)
For some merchants, Ibotta offers cash back by linking your loyalty account. You just need to add the rebate you want before shopping, link the merchant loyalty account to Ibotta, and then shop as usual. After that, there is no need to upload a receipt or scan anything. Ibotta will automatically recognize the purchase and credit the rebate. Here are some participating merchants:
- Food Lion
- Best Buy
- Homeland
- Full list of participating merchants
One important thing to note: you must unlock the rebate before making the purchase, or it cannot be recognized automatically. If it doesn’t work, just follow the receipt-upload steps above.
Fees
Ibotta now has an inactive fee. If you have not redeemed any offers within 180 days, $3.99 will be deducted from your cash-back balance each month. The minimum withdrawal amount on Ibotta is $20, so it’s a good idea to cash out as soon as you can. If you are just short of the threshold, Ibotta usually has simple grocery receipt offers or rebates for basics like eggs and milk, which should be easy to complete. In addition, online portal activity may also count as using the account, so when shopping on eBay, remember to click through from Ibotta. In short, if you don’t use it regularly, keep this in mind.
Tasks and Team Rewards
Bonuses
In addition to earning cash back from purchases, Ibotta also offers extra tasks that let you earn additional rewards. For example:
- Redeem 3 rebates in June to earn an extra $2
- Buy Huggies diapers and wipes at Costco to earn an extra $2
- Redeem 3 designated back-to-school rebates to earn an extra $1
Team Rewards
Ibotta also has team rewards. Each team gets extra monthly tasks that can earn additional rewards. These tasks are made up of both individual goals and team goals. Once completed, you can level up and move on to the next task. The first-level task for July is:
- Redeem 8 rebates individually
- The team earns a total of $12 in rebates
Once both are completed, you can earn an extra $1 cash back. I can’t see the later levels for now. So join our team as soon as possible and start working on rebate tasks! There are two ways to join a team:
- Method 1: Use the referral link to team up with the referrer, then tap the gear icon at the top right of the menu page - Connect Accounts - Facebook, and link your Facebook account.
- Method 2: If you already have Ibotta, you can link your own facebook account and then add our facebook as a friend
Withdrawal Options
Withdrawing from Ibotta is very simple. Once you reach $20, you can cash out via:
- Direct cash withdrawal to PayPal or Venmo
- Gift cards: Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, etc.
Cashback Portal Feature
Recently, Ibotta also launched a cashback feature for APP shopping. You can download certain merchants’ APPs from within Ibotta, then shop in those APPs to earn an extra 1%-15% cashback. Current participating merchants include:
- Groupon 5%: Not especially interesting, since many cashback portals offer higher rates for groupon
- Jet.com 5%: 5% is about the highest cashback rate among portals for shopping at Jet
- Boxed.com 15%: Very strong. Most cashback portals only offer 8%. Plus, if you combine Boxed.com’s new user $15off with the AMEX Offer of spend $50, get $20 back, you can effectively get things at about 30% of the original price. Boxed.com is also great for baby diapers, household items, and snacks. For details, see: Boxed.com Savings Guide
- Hotels.com：Highest among all cashback portals
- Spring 15%: This store sells all kinds of trendy brands, including clothing, shoes, and cosmetics. 15% cashback is like getting 15% off storewide, which is pretty good
- eBay 1%: Recently, eBay changed its cashback terms to exclude all gift cards, but actual results were still unclear at the time of testing. My April 15 gift card purchase cashback has already become withdrawable, and the May 24 one is still pending normally. I’ll report back if it posts
- Itunes 5%: You can earn cashback on purchases such as songs and movies
- Hotel tonight 6%: Very useful for booking a hotel for the same night
- Uber: Ibotta has added Uber as a partner. You get $1 back for each ride, and another $5 after accumulating 3 rides. Great news for people who use Uber often!
To earn cashback, follow these steps:
- Click Launch APP from the merchant page within Ibotta to enter the APP
- Complete your purchase in the APP, and the cashback will be tracked automatically.
【7/15 Update】Based on my testing, if you go to eBay through the APP link and buy gift cards, you can still get 1% cashback (under the updated terms as of May). The cashback tracks properly and can be withdrawn directly after 45 days. At the moment, this is the only portal still giving cashback on eBay gift card purchases. Hopefully it lasts and doesn’t get shut down.
Pay with Ibotta
Ibotta is about to launch the Pay With Ibotta feature, similar to MPX’s gift card purchasing function. The benefit is that you can buy gift cards in any amount, including amounts with decimals. The gift card is issued to your account instantly, and then you just have the merchant scan it for payment. The gift cards come with certain discounts, which is pretty nice. This feature is still in testing, but some users already have access to it (under my account-payment). You can also enter your email at the link below for a chance to join the test.
- Some gift card discounts (from doc comments): AMC Theatres（4%）、Banana Republic（6%）、Bath & Body Works（4%）、BBW（4%）、Burger King（4%）、Cabela’s（4%）、Chili’s（4%）、Chipolte（2%）、Dominos（5%）、Gap（6%）、IHOP（4%）、JCPenney（3%）、Lowe's（3%）、Old Navy（4%）、Olive Garden（2%）、Peet’s Coffee（5%）、REI（5%）、Red Lobster（2%）、Red Robin（5%）、Regal（5%）、ULTA (5%)
Best Ways to Use It
Although each rebate in Ibotta may look like just a few dollars in cashback, don’t forget that this is extra cashback on top of other savings. You can stack Ibotta with various discounts to maximize your return. Since you only need to upload a receipt, you can still earn Ibotta cashback even if you paid with a gift card. For example, when shopping at Best Buy in-store, you could stack the following:
- Ibotta Best Buy Offer: spend $100, get $10 back
- AMEX Best Buy Offer: spend $250, get $25 back / pay with discounted Best Buy gift cards
- Best Buy member 2% cashback
- Various Best Buy Coupon offers
Besides Best Buy, Ibotta previously also had a Jo-Ann offer of spend $40, get $5 back, which could be stacked with the AMEX Jo-Ann Offer.
In short, the more stackable extra cashback you can combine, the better. And of course, if you already buy groceries regularly, uploading receipts when you have time can also add up over time.