Why You Need To Use Cashback Sites

This month, our money expert, Andy Webb, espouses the myriad benefits of shopping online through a Cashback provider.

- Andy Webb

If I offered to give you some money for every time you shopped online, you’d naturally be suspicious. Money for nothing must surely be too good to be true. But not only is this notion a reality thanks to cashback websites, but you can make a decent amount of extra cash using them, with the average user of one site, Quidco, reportedly making £305 a year.

The very simple idea is that retailers pay the cashback sites a commission for every sale they play a part in, and the cashback sites then forward some of that back to you.

There are two leading sites— Quidco and Topcashback. It’s very simple to use them. You go to your cashback site, and then search for the retailer you want. If the shop is listed, you’ll be given a list of different cashback rates. Sometimes these relate to everything sold, at other times there are different rates for different products. If you like what you see, you then click through to the retailer and shop as normal.

After you’ve made a purchase, the retailer and the cashback site track your purchase. As long as everything has been done according to the terms and conditions, the cashback you’ve earned will appear in your account, and you’ll be able to transfer it out to your own bank account.

Even better, you can earn your cashback without having to pay any fees. So it really is free cash.

What can I get cashback on?

There are thousands of retailers offering cashback, from Marks and Spencers through to Travelodge. You generally only earn small percentages of your spend with the majority of online shops, but this amount can quickly add up over the course of a year.