If you are familiar with my blog, you already know that I always search for the most legitimate ways to make and save money online. And that is why I have come up with the Rakuten review and I am going the answer one of the most common questions, is Rakuten legit?!
If you are also obsessed with making and saving money, you must have come across Rakuten. If you have not, then let me tell you Rakuten is a website that offers cashback on your daily purchases. And I must say, if you are not using Rakuten, you are missing out!
The term “FREE money” is often frowned upon as we may have chances of being scammed.
Some of you may wonder- is Rakuten legit? Yes, it is 100% safe, legit and scam-free! Read below to know about the honest review of Rakuten.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy for more information.
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Before I move on to the Rakuten review, I wanted to talk about a similar website that gives cash back on your purchases.
Rebaid is an app that offers up to 100% cash back! Most of the items have 50-75% cashback but sometimes they offer 100% cash back too!
It allows you to purchase from your favorite stores like Amazon, Walmart, eBay and Etsy!
How does it work?
All you need to do is to click the “Redeem Offer” button and you will be directed to the marketplace to purchase the product. After completing the purchase, come back to the homepage of Rebaid. A dialog box will appear where you have to paste your order number.
That’s it! Your rebate will be confirmed and you will receive the payment!
With a rating of 4.6 on Trustpilot, Rebaid is one of the most legitimate cash back apps where people can save money.
Join Rebaid and shop online for FREE!
Rakuten review:
Without further delay, let’s jump right into the review of Rakuten!
1. What is Rakuten and Is Rakuten Legit?
Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates) is one of the most well-known cashback sites. Founded in 1997, Rakuten is a website that offers cashback to people for shopping online.
Over the years the members have earned over $1 billion in cash back on shopping online from the site. In short, you can earn money while shopping! What’s better than that?!
2. Is Rakuten Free?
Yes, Rakuten is absolutely FREE to use. You can just signup and shop like usual. Rakuten will give you cash back when you purchase. With Rakuten, you can earn extra money every month without putting in much effort.
3. How does Rakuten give cashback?
Now, you must be wondering about how does Rakuten gives cashback. Well, Rakuten has partnered with a number of stores and when you purchase from their website, Rakuten gets a commission from the company for driving traffic to a website. Rakuten in return shares a part of their profit with you as the cashback.
When you click on a link on Rakuten and buy something from the store, Rakuten will earn a commission from the store. It is basically an affiliate link and it is a very common way of earning money for many blogs and websites.
It’s a win-win situation for all of us.
4. Review of Rakuten: Is Rakuten legit or a scam
Rakuten is totally legit and is safe to use. It does give you free money as cashback when you shop from their website. If you love to save money, you should definitely try Rakuten.
I have been able to make a few hundred dollars from Rakuten.
Moreover, it has 4.3/5 stars on Trustpilot.
5. Stores on Rakuten:
There are over 2500 stores on Rakuten, including your favorite Amazon, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Target, eBay, and many others. There are lots of choices. Every time I open the website I end up purchasing something! What can be better than saving money on your daily purchases?!
Out of them, one of my most favorite is Amazon. Whenever I need to buy something, I shop on Amazon. So, it saves a ton of money.
Some other stores include:
- Best Buy
- Bigstock
- DaySpring
- FootJoy
- Groupon
- H&M
- KitchenAid
- Turtle Beach
- Lowe’s
This app can be really useful if you do a lot of shopping online.
6. How to earn money from Rakuten?
There are basically two ways to earn money from Rakuten- 1) Cashback and 2) Referral program.
Cashback:
You can earn up to 40% cashback from your purchases. In most cases, you can earn cashback between 2% to 10%.
Get a free $10 bonus:
First of all, sign up on Rakuten.
After signing up, when you shop from the stores on Rakuten (like you usually do) and spend a minimum of $25, you will get a $10 bonus in your account.
7. How To Use Rakuten:
Follow this step-by-step guide on how to join and use Rakuten.
Sign up:
First of all, go to the homepage of Rakuten and sign up. You can signup with your email address, Facebook account or Google account.
After signing up, search for the store in the search bar. For example, I typed Sephora in the search bar.
After searching for the store name, something like this will appear in the window.
For now, you can simply click on “Shop Without Adding” and you will be directed to the website of Sephora.
Once you are directed to the website, you can start shopping for your stuff online.
8. Rakuten Browser Extension (It makes online shopping so much easier)!
To save time and not miss offers, you should install the Rakuten browser extension. If you have this extension installed, you don’t have to worry about logging in to the website every time you shop.
With this extension installed, you need to shop like usual. Open the shop you want to purchase from. If there is a cashback available on your purchase, Rakuten will let you know. Also, if the store you are purchasing from does not offer a cashback, Rakuten will let you know if there is any other store that is offering cashback on the purchase.
9. Rakuten Mobile App:
If you prefer shopping from your phone, then download the Rakuten app on your device. With the mobile app, you can earn cashback on your Uber and Lyft rides too. The app is available to both iOS and Android users.
10. How does Rakuten pay you?
You will get paid every three months via PayPal or by check ( known as “Big Fat Check”).
But, when does Rakuten payout?! The payment schedule of Rakuten is as follows:
- Purchases made between January 1st to March 31st: Paid on May 15th
- Purchases made between April 1st to June 30th: Paid on August 15th
- Purchases made between July 1st to September 30th: Paid on November 15th
- Purchases made between October 1st to December 31st: Paid on February 15th
The minimum approved cashback should be more than $5. Else, it will carry over into the next payment period.
11. Referral program of Rakuten:
Rakuten also has a referral program. Rakuten pays you for referring to your friends. Every time they sign up from your link and purchase something over $25, you will get paid and the person will earn $10. Rakuten usually pays $5 for each referral. So, it is a win-win situation for both of you.
My advice is to first use Rakuten. Then if you really love it, you can refer it to your friends and family.
12. In-Store Cash Back:
Apart from online shopping, Rakuten has an in-store cash back program too.
Select the offer, link your credit/debit card for the store you would like to shop. Then, make your purchase at the store using the same card. The store will confirm your purchase and you will get the cash back in your account within a few hours or days.
However, the linked offers are valid for one purchase only i.e you have to re-link store offers if you decide to make another purchase in-store.
However, the stores become limited when we choose the in-store cashback option. Some of the popular stores that offer in-store cashback are Adidas, H&M, Levi’s, Clarks, Macy’s and Sephora.
13. Double Cash back:
Sometimes the stores on Rakuten can offer double cash back!
Every day Rakuten picks at least one store from their list and doubles the cash back on purchases for a 24-hour period only.
Just click on the “Double cash back stores” in the menu bar and you will find the list of stores that are offering double cash back at the moment. This could be a great way to save money if you don’t have a particular store in mind.
14. Hot Deals:
Hot deals include the following.
Buy online and pick up in-store: If you can’t wait for a few days to get that item shipped, you can order it online and pick it up from the store.
Free gifts: Rakuten makes online shopping even better with free gifts along with a purchase. Check if the stores are offering free gifts. For example, cosmetic merchants might give away trial size makeup and skincare products with a purchase. Or, while purchasing a gift basket, you might have a sweet treat from the gourmet food shops. On the other hand, the clothing and accessories stores may offer a free T-shirt or jewelry.
Free shipping: Some Rakuten merchants offer free shipping promo codes in categories like shoes, furnitures, apparel etc.
BOGO Deals: What’s better than the “Buy one get one free” deals?! Click on the Buy one, get one (BOGO) option on the menu bar to see what stores are offering BOGO deals.
15. Travel and Vacation:
Apart from daily purchases, Rakuten offers cashback in the travel category too. There are discounts on airfare, car rentals, cruises and hotels.
Some of the participating travel sites are Booking.com, Expedia, Tripadvisor and many more.
16. Pros of using Rakuten:
There are so many reasons to use Rakuten.
- It is free to join and easy to use. It has no hidden fees and signing up takes less than a minute.
- There are literally SO many stores to choose from. You will always find something to buy and save money from the website.
- Get a $10 bonus when signing up for the first time.
- We can earn money by referring it to our friends
- Gives us the opportunity to get in-store cashback as well
- The payment threshold is $5 only
- Rakuten is safe to use
- It has a great customer service as well
17. Cons of using Rakuten:
- The members get paid four times a year (every three months). So, it can be a disadvantage for those who want their cash back immediately.
- Due to great deals, one might end up overspending.
Other resources that helps to save money:
Here are some other resources that will help you to make and save money in the long run.
Ibotta:
Founded in 2012, Ibotta is another free cash back app that gives you cash on everyday purchases like groceries, clothing and electronics. They have partnered with over 1500 brands and retailers.
It has over 35 million users and has paid out over $1 billion in cash rewards to its users.
Some of the participating stores include Walmart, Lowe’s, Domino’s Pizza and Sephora.
Drop:
Drop is a rewards app that lets you earn gift cards for the money you are already spending. Once you and downloaded the app and linked your credit/debit card, you will choose merchants from the Drop’s list.
Now, every time you purchase from these stores with your credit or debit card, you will earn points. Then, redeem your points at places like Amazon, Netflix and Starbucks.
Capital One Shopping:
Capital One Shopping is a free browser extension that helps to save money for online purchases.
When you shop with the browser extension installed, it searches for a better price and automatically applies the best coupon code at checkout. It lets you know when prices drop on products you have viewed and purchased.
It also allows you to earn rewards while you shop. Then redeem those shopping rewards for gift cards.
RetailMeNot:
Founded in 2006, RetailMeNot offers cash back deals, free promo codes, in-store coupons and many more. It works with retailers like Kohl’s, Macy’s, Sephora etc.
Final thoughts on Rakuten-Is Rakuten Legit:
There you go- this was my honest review of Rakuten. I hope this will help you to save a lot of money during online shopping.
So, is Rakuten legit? Rakuten is definitely legit and not a scam!
It is a legitimate cash-back website to save money on your daily life purchases. If you liked this article on the review of Rakuten, you can also read about other ways to make money online.
Have you ever used Rakuten? Let me know the comment section below.
