As more Americans settle in for a self-initiated or state-ordered quarantine period, online shopping is quickly becoming a necessity.
Fortunately, you can now earn a little extra cash back on your online purchases.
To help shoppers during the coronavirus pandemic, the cash-back website Rakuten has increased its cash-back rates for some 150 retailers and other merchants that Rakuten partners with. This means you can earn higher percentages of cash back than usual on purchases from those merchants through the end of March.
You stand to earn as much as 10%, 20% or more during this promotion. And that’s on top of any other type of savings you rack up, such as from shopping sales or paying with a cash-back credit card.
To view a list of retailers that are currently participating in this promotion, visit Rakuten’s website and click on “Essentials Stores” near the top of the page.
How it works
Rakuten, formerly known as Ebates, is a cash-back portal. By doing your online shopping through its website or app, you’ll earn cash back — during this promotion and in the future — on purchases from any of thousands of retailers and other merchants that partner with Rakuten.
How is that possible? It’s simple: Rakuten receives a commission from retailers for referring online shoppers to those retailers’ websites. Then, Rakuten shares that commission with shoppers.
It’s free to sign up for a Rakuten account, and it’s free to use the portal.
Rakuten is among the oldest and best-known cash-back portals, but it’s not the only one. Others include Drop, TopCashback and Swagbucks Shop. Additionally, the free app Ibotta enables you to earn cash back on both online and in-store purchases.
Even if you already have a Rakuten account, you might want to check out other cash-back portals because different portals often offer different cash-back percentages for a given retailer.
Do you use cash-back portals? Let us know which ones and why by commenting below or on the Money Talks News Facebook page.
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