About cashback portals

Every so often, you’ll see people asking in chat why the cashback on a purchase didn’t track, or why the tracked amount was wrong. Does that mean the portal ripped them off? Then the discussion turns into which cashback portal tracks more accurately and which ones are unreliable. So what’s really going on? Let’s take a closer look.

Most people are already familiar with cashback portals like Rakuten, TopCashback, RebatesMe, and Mr.Rebate. They’re basically shopping portals. You click through a merchant link on the portal, make your purchase, and then get a certain percentage back from the portal. That cashback is actually paid by the merchant to the portal, and the portal shares part of it with you. The merchant gets shopping traffic, the portal gets a referral fee, and you get some cashback too. It’s actually a pretty good model.

Generally speaking, cashback portals as middlemen usually are not trying to scheme and swallow your cashback. You could say that 99% of the time when a portal doesn’t pay you cashback, it’s because the merchant never paid the portal. On one hand, the tracking link may have been disrupted or overwritten when you clicked, so the merchant can’t tell you came from that portal and therefore won’t pay them. On the other hand, what you bought may simply not fall within the categories the merchant pays commissions on.

What purchases actually qualify for cashback

Most of the time, when we see a cashback percentage, we assume everything we buy will earn cashback at that rate. For example, if you search for CityPASS on TopCashback and see 6% cashback, it’s natural to assume that if you spend $100, you’ll get $6 back.

So if someone spent $2,384 and expected $143 in cashback, but only saw $8 track, that definitely feels like a trap.

Or if someone spent $1,099 at Best Buy expecting 2% cashback, but ended up with $0, that also looks suspicious.

So yes, there are definitely pitfalls. Where are they? As a seasoned cashback-portal user, here are a few key terms you absolutely need to watch for.

Pitfall 1: up to

Some merchants have multiple cashback rules, so not everything necessarily earns 6%. Some items may earn 6%, others 3%, and in some cases the payout may even be a flat $1 per order. But cashback portals usually highlight the highest number to catch your eye, such as up to 6%, making the rate look very attractive. As with CityPASS, the cashback can actually vary depending on exactly what you buy.

Pitfall 2: the fine-print exclusions

Cashback portals usually note in the fine print which products from a merchant do not qualify for cashback. And the reason it’s in fine print... is so you might not notice it. You think cashback applies, but in reality it doesn’t. For example, with CityPASS, taxes do not earn cashback, and adult and child passes in certain specific regions also do not qualify.

Now look at Best Buy. It says these categories are eligible for cashback. The fine print doesn’t seem to mention many exclusions, so why did the purchase still earn nothing?

One more thing: in general, the products a merchant allows to earn cashback are pretty similar across all portals, though the payout rates may differ. For example, if I have a better relationship with Sephora, maybe Sephora gives me 10%, while it only gives TopCashback 5%. But for gift card purchases, Sephora simply doesn’t pay commission at all. So if TopCashback doesn’t clearly list the exclusions, we can go check big brother Rakuten.

Sure enough, there’s a long list of exclusions: computers, tablets, gaming consoles, audio equipment, wearables, cameras, appliances, all Apple products, and more do not qualify for cashback. So in reality, there’s a good chance you won’t get much cashback at Best Buy.

As for why there are so many exclusions, that’s set by the merchant. These products already have thin margins, and if they also had to pay cashback on top of that, they might lose money. Looking at it the other way, merchants and categories with very high cashback rates usually have very healthy margins. Beauty products are a classic example: the cashback looks generous and the discounts look great, but the actual production cost may be just cents while the product sells for hundreds of dollars.

Pitfall 3: coupon codes not approved by the portal

This one is a bit tricky. Most cashback portals say that if you want cashback, you should not use coupon codes from outside their site. In practice, though, cashback is only rarely denied because of a coupon code.

Combining promotions from another site and/or using a coupon code not posted and approved by TopCashback

That said, sometimes a coupon code is not public for everyone to use, but tied to a specific channel. For example, if I negotiated a partnership with Sephora, and users can get 5% off at checkout with my code uscc101, Sephora might pay me a 4% commission. In that case, if you shop at Sephora through TopCashback, there’s a good chance you won’t get cashback, because the coupon code already tells Sephora that this customer came through the uscc101 channel, and the commission should go to me instead of TopCashback.

When the tracking link breaks

Another possibility is that something went wrong when you clicked the merchant link, so the merchant failed to track that you came from the cashback portal. We won’t get into the technical details here, but here are a few suggestions:

  • Turn off your adblock
  • Empty your cart first, then start over by clicking through from the cashback portal to the merchant
  • After clicking through to the merchant, complete your purchase and payment as quickly as possible without going in and out repeatedly
  • If possible, use incognito mode or a separate browser for the purchase, and ideally don’t keep clicking links from other deal sites in that same browser, since another deal site may overwrite the tracking link

Of course, if tracking fails, sometimes it can still be fixed. Submitting a missing cashback claim to the portal can often help. For example, with Rakuten, sometimes after you submit a claim they will even just give you the cashback directly. My personal guess is that Rakuten may sometimes pay out of pocket to maintain customer loyalty, since people are more willing to use a portal that makes things easy. Of course, Rakuten can also use the documents you provide to tell the merchant that this purchase came through them and that the commission should be paid to Rakuten.

That said, even if the portal wants to help, some merchants may not support missing cashback claims, and then you can only recover whatever you can.

Bottom line

Overall, cashback portals are still quite useful, since they can give us an extra discount of around 5% on online shopping. You just need to pay attention to some details to improve your chances of getting the cashback. In the future, keep an eye out for the common pitfalls mentioned in this article, especially the fine print. If you don’t want to deal with all that, my recommendation is to just use Rakuten by default and file a claim whenever cashback is missing. The payout rate may not always be the highest for every merchant, but it’s probably the easiest portal to use with the least hassle.

Comparison and Reviews of U.S. Cashback Sites

Cashback Site Sign-Up Bonus Quick Take
Rakuten $20-$40 sign-up bonus Great customer service, reliable tracking, and in-store cashback; payouts take longer
Rebatesme $20-$40 sign-up bonus Chinese interface available, many payout options, and high cashback rates on beauty purchases
Topcashback Up to $20 bonus Fast tracking, quick payouts, highest-rate guarantee, and frequent promotions; customer service is average
ShopBack $20 sign-up bonus Offers cashback at Amazon, easy browser extension cashback, and very high rates at some merchants
GoCashBack $5 sign-up bonus Chinese interface available, gift card payout option, and exclusive discounts
Extrabux $20 sign-up bonus Chinese interface available, WeChat withdrawal option, and students get a VIP card
Mr. Rebates $5 sign-up bonus Accurate tracking and good customer service
SimplyBestCoupons $5 sign-up bonus Good for niche stores and has strong promo codes
Befrugal $10-$20 sign-up bonus Good customer service and fast payouts