There are multiple ways that you can save money while doing online or offline shopping. The rewards that you gain could be either through discount, cash-back or points.
In Australia, there are two primary online shopping rewards platforms- Cash rewards and Shopback.
Even though there are other upcoming apps like PokitPal and Pricepal, Cashrewards and Shopback are the popular ones.
Later I will explain to you why you shouldn’t spread your spending through more than 2 apps.
Who are Cashrewards and ShopBack?
Cashrewards was founded in Sydney in 2014 by Andrew and Lorica Clarke. This startup founded after their son developed and survived a serious illness.
ShopBack is a non-Australian based startup. It has entered into the Australian market to take on its rival Cashrewards.
How does cashback sites work?
It is natural to be sceptical of the fact that someone else is giving you money for shopping. I was in dismay as well at the beginning of this cashback site’s evolution. For quite some time I have stayed away and left money on the table.
In the world of digital, attention is the currency. Retailers like Amazon, Coles and Woolworths are willing to pay for traffic to their sites.
The consumer is provided with a catalogue of all retailers that they can shop from. Some retailers partner with these platforms, providing exclusive discounts and rewards.
When you click on these affiliate links. The code within the link notifies the retailer, the source of the consumer.
For instance, if you purchase goods worth $100. Based on the offer, the retailer will give a certain amount(say $10) to the rewards platform. The rewards platform will further give you a partial amount (say $3) as cashback.
What does it cost?
Both Cashrewards and Shopback don’t charge you any sign-up fee or subscription fee. Their revenue source is the cashback from your shopping, the more you shop the more profitable you are as a customer to them.
How do they compare?
I felt it was challenging to compare both the platforms and provide you with the better of the two. Primarily there are a lot of varying factors to consider before we can accept one for all our shopping.
For instance, if you are shopping for Liquor and consider Liquorland as your retailer. Then clearly, Shopback comes as a winner. As it is offering 3% cashback while Cashrewards is offering 2.45% Cashback.
| Amount Spent | Cashrewards Cashback | Shopback Cashback | Cashrewards Cashback | Shopback Cashback | |
| Chemist Warehouse | $100 | 1.0% | 1.0% | $1.00 | $1.00 |
| LIQUORLAND | $100 | 2.5% | 3.0% | $2.45 | $3.00 |
| Amazon.com.au | $200 | 7.0% | 7.0% | $14.00 | $14.00 |
| Booking.com | $200 | 4.0% | 6.0% | $8.00 | $12.00 |
| Bonds | $300 | 4.2% | 6.0% | $12.60 | $18.00 |
| Woolworths Gift card | $100 | 5.0% | 5.0% | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Reebok | $100 | 10.0% | 0.0% | $10.00 | $0.00 |
| SABA | $100 | 6.0% | 5.9% | $6.00 | $5.90 |
| Crazy Sales | $200 | 3.6% | 4.2% | $7.20 | $8.40 |
| Total | $1,400 | $66.25 | $67.30 |
I found that most retailers from Shopback will give you a higher cashback compared to Cashrewards.
There are some retailers like Woolworth gift cards, theiconic etc, offering the same cashback.
But where the cashback percentage is the same between Shopback and Cashrewards, whom to choose?
What is my recommendation?
Even though you are getting higher cashback from Shopback, I wouldn’t recommend just going with them.
Ideally, I would recommend you to compare the cashback percentage between Shopback and Cashrewards.
Obviously, you can choose to go with a higher percentage of cashback. But where the percentage is the same, I would recommend you to go with Cashrewards, for the following reasons.
Charity
Cashrewards was founded by Andrew and Lorica Clarke after their son developed an illness. They donate 1% of business equity and 1% of every cash reward you redeem to the Starlight Foundation.
I like the intention behind Cashrewards and their commitment to support sick kids. This is an opportunity for us to do some good karma and giving something back without any additional cost.
When will my Cashback be available?
When you purchase through Cashrewards or Shopback, there is a waiting period. This waiting period is what retailers use to ensure that you aren’t returning the purchased product.
Cashrewards has a period of up to 120 days while Shopback has a period of up to 150 days. Shopback takes a month longer than Cashrewards.
Challenges with Tracking
Either you are using Cashrewards or ShopBack, you might face some challenges in tracking your purchases and getting cash back.
To stop losing cashback, ensure that you start your shopping through Cashrewards or Shopback.
Even though they both have apps to enable us to shop on mobile. I wouldn’t recommend it as the tracking on mobile apps is hit-and-miss, not all retailers have the latest websites that can track on mobile.
Do not shop in incognito or private mode of your web browser and ensure that you have disabled Ad Block software. Ad blockers will affect Cashback tracking.
Get $20 bonus from Cashrewards
Use this link to sign-up for Cashrewards, you will receive a $20 bonus in your account.
Get a $5 bonus from Shopback
Use this link to sign-up for Shopback, you will receive a $5 bonus in your account.
Summary
If you are to choose either Cashrewards or Shopback, sorry I can’t recommend you to a specific platform. It is not an either-or option here but rather you will benefit by opening both accounts and choosing the best of both platforms.
Also, it is not worthwhile to open accounts with more than 2 cashback platforms. As each platform has a threshold of $10 applicable before you can cash out.
The more platforms you engage for cashback means that it will take longer for you to withdraw cash.
The other reason why I feel multiple accounts is not worthwhile is the inactive status. If the account is inactive (no transactions in 12 months), both platforms will revert to $0.00.
Shopback has more stringent rules, it expects a transaction in 12 months while Cashrewards considers you as active if you were to log in and click through a retail store.
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