Cashback sites explained

What is cashback?

Cashback sites pay you a cash reward when you click through them to buy goods or financial products. 

Websites such as Quidco and TopCashback offer cashback on a variety of goods and services, from mobile phones to car insurance and bank accounts to broadband.

Here, Which? explains which sites offer cashback, how to use a cashback website and offer expert tips on maximising your earnings.

What are the main cashback sites?

There are plenty of cashback sites in the UK, but these are the three biggest:

• TopCashback is free to use and also has a premium version which costs up to £5 of what you earn each year. It offers cashback with over 6,000 retailers from high street names to smaller, niche online sellers. It claims members earn an average of £345 cashback per year and you can withdraw this into your bank account, Paypal or convert it into gift cards.
• Quidco is also free to use and also has a premium version which costs £1 of the cashback you earn each month. It offers cashback with more than 5,000 retailers. Members earn an average of £300 cashback per year which can be withdrawn into your bank account, Paypal or converted into gift cards.
• Rakuten is a cashback site which claims to have more than 400 retail partners and is free to use. You can transfer your cashback into your bank account, or you can convert it into Rakuten Points which have extra value. For example £1 of cashback = £1.20 worth of points. These can be spent on gift vouchers, movies, Rakuten TV, eBooks and audiobooks.

How to use cashback sites

The majority of cashback sites work in the same way although there are differences in fees, joining bonuses and how the money is paid. Here's a step-by-step guide to getting yourself set up:

1. Choose a cashback website

Register with one or more cashback sites. Most sites are free to join, but some charge an annual fee either as a matter of course or if you choose a premium account.

2. Search for deals

If you want to purchase a particular product or service, search the website to see if your favourite retailers or preferred financial services firms are offering deals.

3. Click the link provided

Once you find a deal you want to cash in on, visit the retailer by clicking on the link provided by the cashback site rather than going direct. If you've previously visited this retailer's website, delete your internet cookies before clicking through, so the cashback site is recognised as the referral source.

4. Complete the purchase

When you complete your purchase, the retailer sends the commission to your cashback site. In turn, it pays a slice of this money into your bank or PayPal account. You may need to reach a certain cashback threshold before you can withdraw funds.

How to make the most of cashback sites

Get your friends to sign up

Many cashback sites give you a bonus if you refer them to a friend.

Do this by sending an email using the website's dedicated referrals page. The email will contain a link to the cashback site with a personalised referral code to confirm it was you who gave the recommendation.

Typically, you won't get the bonus until your friends earn a certain amount of cashback themselves, so encourage them to shop after they've joined.

Check utility and financial product offers

It's not just everyday purchases that can earn you cashback. The real windfalls come when you're signing up for a service for a period of months or years.

You could earn hundreds of pounds by signing up for a new broadband or phone contract through cashback sites. Check whether credit card, insurance or mobile phone providers are registered on cashback sites before locking yourself into a contract with them.

Make use of holiday cashback

It's also possible to earn big money by booking your holiday through a cashback site. There are often good deals available on flights and hotels, as well as extras such as car hire, travel insurance and airport car parking.

Withdraw funds as a gift card

Quidco and TopCashback both allow you to withdraw the cashback you've earned via bank transfer or PayPal.

However, if you opt to withdraw funds as a gift card with a specific retailer, you'll earn a top-up on your cashback.

When you go to withdraw funds from your Quidco or TopCashback account, you'll be shown a large list of retailers offering gift cards.

Earn cashback on the high street

You can earn cashback on high street purchases via Quidco's ClickSnap app. This app lists a wide range of offline cashback deals, which you can claim by buying the product then uploading a photo of the receipt.

You can also earn offline cashback via TopCashback's In-Store cashback scheme. Once you register your debit or credit card with the scheme, a host of available deals will appear on the TopCashback website.

Simply activate the deal you want to, use the registered card to buy the product and the cashback will automatically appear in your account.

Use cashback credit cards

You can earn a bonus on your online purchases by paying for your goods with a cashback credit card, which will pay you back a percentage of what you spend on them.

Read our expert reviews of the best cashback credit cards to explore your options. To avoid being charged interest, make sure you pay off your balance in full at the end of the month.

• Find out more: best cashback credit cards

Cashback site pitfalls

While cashback sites are a great way to earn extra money on purchases, there are a number of pitfalls to be aware of. Here are four to keep in mind.

1. Watch out for cookie trails

The most important thing to understand about cashback sites is the online journey you need to take to claim the money. This is tracked by small files called 'cookies' that contain useful information about your browsing history.

To be paid your cashback, there must be a clear 'cookie trail' which shows it was the cashback website that led you to the retailer's website.

If you've already browsed an online retailer's website and then decide to take advantage of a cashback promotion for this site, you'll first need to delete your cookies. This will wipe your earlier records of being on that site - and set up a new cookie trail between the cashback site and online retailer.

If you don't do this, the absence of a clear cookie trail could leave you without any cashback. Once you've made your first purchase at an online retailer through the cashback site, it's usually no problem to keep earning cashback on future purchases.

Clearing your cookies could result in the loss of some useful information, such as pre-filled passwords on other websites that you may use, although most browsers give you the option to keep these stored.

2. Watch out for cashback site fees

It's free to register a basic account with Quidco and TopCashback, but both websites offer a premium tier.

On both websites, premium membership unlocks improved cashback rates, bespoke promotions, comprehensive customer service and the removal of sponsored adverts, among other features.

Quidco Premium costs £1 of the cashback you earn each month, while TopCashback Plus costs up to £5 of what you earn each year. So neither site requires an upfront payment.

Nevertheless, some of the lesser-known websites may charge a fee to join, or require you to earn a substantial amount of cashback before you can transfer funds into your bank account.

3. Cashback sites don't always have the best bargains

The lure of cashback can throw you off the scent of cheaper deals elsewhere. A £300 home insurance policy with £75 cashback is far from a bargain if you can get the same cover elsewhere for £150.

Also, if you have a discount code for a website, you usually can't claim cashback on top of that. If this is the case, check whether the code offers a bigger discount.

4. Beware late or failed cashback payments

Cashback can sometimes take many weeks to reach your account. In some cases, the transaction may fail to track altogether.

This is commonly due to a lack of a cookie trail, but could also be down to issues with the affiliate links that transmit the payments between retailers and cashback sites.

If you fail to receive money owed to you, write to the site as quickly as possible via its official cashback claim link. We'd suggest sticking to the bigger sites such as Quidco or TopCashback in order to reduce the risk of losing out.

• Find out more: returning online purchases