There’s tonnes (and tonnes) of articles out there which promise to make you money without you lifting a finger; and many of which, don’t actually deliver on said promise. But don’t fret – this post actually will!
So, ‘how do I earn £250 on day-to-day purchases’ I hear you ask. Well, I’m talking…..Cashback.
Cashback works sort of like a discount, except you only get it after the fact. Signing up to Cashback sites is (most of the time) completely free. If you’re an avid online shopper, then you may wish to sign up to for a premium account. A premium account will unlock additional benefits such as higher rates and more offers, albeit at a small extra cost.
Some of the Cashback sites I have used in the past or recommend to use I have listed below.
- TopCashback
- Cheddar
- Quidco
- Perks at Work (if you’re an employee)
- Utility Warehouse (if you have your utilities with them)
- Kidstart (if you have or know a child)
Table of Contents
How much can I earn?
The reason why you’re here reading this blog post, (am I right, or am I right?)! Now, this is of course dependent on your personal spending habits, but you can earn some serious coin on Cashback.
Now, I’m sure once we’re all out of local restrictions we will be booking some kind of getaway. The Caribbean? Europe? Bali? Wherever you decide to go, a 10% cashback offer from Booking.com is just too good to pass up.
But even in the time being, perhaps you’ve been thinking of starting a blog to earn some extra income and to keep you busy. Canva is my favourite tool to create my infrographics for Pinterest and all of my images you see across my blog – so, worth checking out.
And just to prove I’m not talking absolute non-sense(!), here is some of the actual cashback I’ve received on purchases over the years. It shows a whopping £300 earned; which isn’t too shabby considering the money would’ve been spent regardless. I’ve simply just used the Cashback scheme to my advantage.
So, what’s the catch?
Believe it or not, there isn’t a catch per se. There are however, a few caveats, which I’ll list below.
The cashback on purchases is not always guaranteed
The links to the websites work in a similar way to the affiliate links we know and love, whereby the data stored on the websites you visit are based off of ‘cookies’. By rule of thumb, the last cookie wins; so for example, if you’ve visited another site with a similar link to that particular website, that ‘cookie’ may supersede the ‘cashback cookie’. In which case, your cashback won’t be logged. Technology, eh.
The cashback is not yours until firmly in your back pocket
It is the cashback site’s prerogative to have the power to retract any cashback earned, at any time. So don’t let the balance build up and risk losing it all, as soon as the cashback has cleared and ready to withdraw, then do it.
Shop around
There will be numerous available sites to snag some cashback from, and the very item you wish to purchase could be on more than one site. So before purchasing, shop around for the best deal. Be careful though, focus on what is cheapest overall and not just the biggest cashback % or the cheapest purchase price. For example, if the item costs £100 on site A and has a 5% cashback offer, the effective purchase price will be £95. However, if the same item is being sold on site B for £110 but they offer 15% cashback, this works out at £93.50. Savvy.
Be patient
The cashback can take quite(!) a long time to clear. The cashback partners must be able to verify that you have: purchased the product and not returned the product, in order to pay out. For example, we switched gas suppliers and the cashback took 1 whole year to clear as this was our contract length; so our gas supplier could only confirm the cashback was payable after the contract had finished. Clothing stores work in a similar way, in that you usually have a minimum of 14 days on the returns policy, so therefore it’s highly unlikely any cashback will clear before this period has passed.
So with all that in mind, it seems like a no brainer – right?! You are simply just earning cashback on your day-to-day purchases, just as I promised you.
If you’re ready to get started, head over to TopCashback to sign up or try one of the other listed sites above a go. There isn’t a limit to how many you can sign up to, so why not give them all a go! That way, you have the best possible chance at some ‘reet steals.
Enjoy this post? Head over to my blog post on 50 Ways to Earn Extra Income for more!