A cashback portal pays you a share of the commission it earns for sending you to a retailer. The purchase is identical and the price is the same; the only difference is that you started from the portal's link, which is why forgetting that step is the whole failure mode.
Rates move constantly and the same store can pay twice as much one week as the next, so it is worth comparing two portals before an expensive order. Payouts usually arrive after a return window closes, which can be a couple of months.
These stack with codes and with card rewards, but be careful: using a coupon code the portal does not list will often void the cashback entirely.
Where to look
- Rakuten Large portal, quarterly payouts
- TopCashback Often higher rates, pays the full commission
- Capital One Shopping Free, compares prices and applies codes
- Ibotta Receipt rebates for in-store as well as online
- Cashback Monitor Compares the rate across portals for one store
Well-known places people commonly use, chosen editorially, not sponsored, no affiliate relationships. Offers, eligibility and amounts change often, so check the current terms on the site itself before counting on one.
How to play it
Click through from the portal and 1-10% of the purchase returns to you. Identical price, extra step, real money.
Scan receipts, match offers, cash out. $5-$15/month as a habit; route it to savings automatically.
Banks embed activate-and-earn merchant offers: free stacking on cards you already use.
Rebates respent are rebates deleted. Auto-transfer every payout to the emergency fund.