Are you a big online shopper? If so, how would you like to get paid for shopping? There are many sites that will pay you to shop online.

How are cash back sites able to pay for your online shopping? They receive a commission for the shopping traffic that they send to retailers.

In turn, they give some of that commission back to their members via cash back offers. So, it’s a good deal for you and a good deal for the cash back site.

How to Get Paid to Shop Online

However, not all cash back sites are created equal. Some are better than others. In this article, we’ll highlight our ten favorite sites that will pay you to shop online.

1. Rakuten

Rakuten is one of the most popular online shopping cash back sites for a good reason. They boast over 2,500 partners. That means there’s a good chance that your favorite online stores are part of their network.

How It Works

To use Rakuten, first, you begin by visiting their site or app. Next, browse through the deals they are currently offering.

Then once you’ve found a cash back deal that interests you, click on the link and Rakuten will transfer you to the retailer’s site.

Finally, you just do your shopping as you normally would. If you end up buying something on the retailer’s website, Rakuten will give you cash back.

It’s really that simple!

Other Ways to Earn

The “Rakuten button” (available via a browser extension) will find coupons and cash back for you even when you don’t start your shopping session from their site.

Rakuten heavily focuses on online shopping. But you can also earn cash back by shopping inside stores by using the debit or credit card that is linked to your account.

Rakuten pays out earnings once a quarter via PayPal or a check which they famously refer to as your Big Fat Check.

Sign up for Rakuten today and get a $10 bonus!

2. Ibotta

Ibotta is best known for being one of the top grocery receipt scanning apps. 

But if you haven’t used Ibotta in a while, then you may be surprised to find out that they offer cash back for online purchases as well.

There are two ways that you can get paid for online shopping with Ibotta — by linking store loyalty cards or by making mobile in-app purchases.

Use Your Linked Store Loyalty Card

Begin by browsing Ibotta’s website or app to find deals that are being offered at stores where you shop.

Next, add offers on products by completing simple tasks. Finally, go shopping online (or in-store) and use your loyalty card number at check out.

That’s it! Your cash back will be deposited within 48 hours.

Make Mobile In-App Purchases

To get paid for mobile in-app purchases, begin by browsing Ibotta’s app for offers from their partners.

Once you’ve found an offer that you like, just click on the “Shop” button to launch the participating retailer’s app.

Then make a qualifying purchase inside the partner’s app, and Ibotta will give you cash back for your purchase!

You can redeem your Ibotta points for gifts cards or get paid in cash via PayPal or Venmo.

Sign up for Ibotta today and earn a $20 bonus!

3. Shopkick

Shopkick is one of my favorite cash back apps. Why? Because they are one of the only ones that offer ways to earn cash back even without spending any money.

Shopkick offers eight different ways to earn cash back (they call them kicks). Some examples include walking into stores, scanning barcodes of products or watching videos.

But we’re here to talk about sites that will pay you to shop online, and you can do that with Shopkick too. There are three different ways to earn cash back from Shopkick for your online shopping:

• Visit online stores
• View online products
• Make online purchases

Once you’ve reached at least $2 in your Shopkick account, you can redeem your kicks for a virtual gift card.

4. Drop

Drop will give you cash back for all the shopping that you do at your favorite brands with your linked debit or credit card.

What I love so much about apps like this is that they allow people who use cash back credit cards to “double-dip” on rewards.

I hadn’t heard about Drop before researching for this article, so I decided to give it a whirl.

Setting Up Drop

Once I downloaded the Drop app, it asked me to share my age and gender so that it could personalize my offers.

Then I was greeted with a screen that said, “Let’s select your offers.” In this step, I was instructed to pick five brands (and five brands only) to earn points from each time I spent money there.

They gave me 17 options. After a bit off waffling, I settled on the following brands:

• Dunkin Donuts
• Walgreens
• Starbucks
• Target
• 7 Eleven

Before finalizing your selection, Drop warns you that won’t be able to change them later.

The final step in the set-up process is linking your debit or credit card to your Drop account by logging in with your online bank credentials.

In-App Offers

Once you’re all set up, Drop will then surface a huge number current “in-app” offers that you can take advantage of. These are in addition to the ongoing rewards that you’ll earn from the five favorite brands that you chose during set-up.

As I was browsing their offers, I saw that Jet.com was offering 40 points per $1 spent. When I tapped on the “Shop Now” button, Drop launched the Jet app so that I could do my shopping there.

Once you have at least $5 in your account, you can redeem Drop points for a virtual gift card. And they offer a large variety of brands.  

5. Swagbucks

Swagbucks offers an impressive number of ways to earn cash back online.

They are partners with most of the popular retail sites like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Groupon, Hotels.com and many more. They will pay you to shop online.

Also, they are one of the best survey sites to make extra money. Plus, you can watch videos and play games to make money on their site and app too.

But unlike many other cash back apps, Swagbucks does not currently offer a way to earn in-store rewards through a linked card.

Once you’ve earned enough Swagbucks ($3), you can redeem them for a store gift card or PayPal cash once you’ve earned at least $25.

Sign up for Swagbucks today and get a $10 bonus!

6. FlipGive

FlipGive is a unique cash back site that is geared towards helping sports or nonprofit teams raise funds.

Once you’ve created your team on FlipGive, you can invite teammates to join. Then everyone who starts their online shopping through FlipGive earns cash back for their team.

FlipGive also gives cash back for in-store payments if you use your linked payment card.

Other Earning Options

FlipGive teams can book group events at local partner restaurants through the app. And when each member buys a gift card on FlipGive to redeem in the restaurant, everyone earns bonus cash.

Finally, FlipGive provides a platform for teams to collect donations from family and friends.

High Minimum Payout Threshold

FlipGive offers an impressive number of team fundraising choices. But keep in mind that they have a rather high minimum payout threshold of $100.

They charge you a fee of $50 for any withdrawals that you make for less than $100.

7. TopCashback

Launched in the UK in 2005, TopCashback has developed a huge following from the British community.

But with over 8 million worldwide members, TopCashback is a force to be reckoned with all over the globe. In fact, TopCashback claims to be the fastest growing U.S. cash back site (with 350% year-over-year growth).

Rate-Matching

For TopCashback, their name is also their promise. On their website, they claim to pay the highest rates in America for your online shopping.

And they also say that if you happen to find a better rate elsewhere, they’ll match it!

100% Cash Back

TopCashback says that they are the only cash back site that gives 100% of their commissions back to their members while also charging no membership fee.

So how does TopCashback make money, you ask? They make their money through getting paid bonuses from merchants for driving high volumes of web traffic their way.

But the fact that TopCashback gives 100% of their regular, everyday commissions back to their members is a big deal. Plus, they have one of the most impressive networks on this list, with over 4,400 online partner stores listed on their site.

Sign up for TopCashback today. It’s free to join.

8. MyPoints

MyPoints is owned by the same parent company that owns Swagbucks. They allow members to earn cash back for many of the same types of online activities.

Here are just a few ways that you can earn cash back with MyPoints:

• Shopping online: Choose from over 1,900 retailers to get points.
• Local deals: Earn points per dollar for your Groupon and LivingSocial purchases.
• Reading email: You get points just for opening up MyPoints emails.
• Sharing your opinion: Taking market surveys earns you points.
• Watching videos: Earn up to 500 points per day by completing playlists.
• Searching the web: Randomly searching through Yahoo can get you 170 points.
• Playing games: Receive 8 points per dollar that’s spent on popular games like Bejeweled and Solitaire Rush.
• Printing coupons: Redeeming and printing coupons will help you earn points.

MyPoints allows redemptions via gift cards, cash (PayPal deposit or Visa prepaid card) and United MileagePlus miles.

9. BeFrugal

BeFrugal is a popular cash back site that boasts having over 5,000 stores in their network. It’s the largest network on this list.

One of the things that I like about BeFrugal is that they have a BeFrugal button. It’s similar to the Rakuten button and can be downloaded as an extension for Chrome or Firefox.

Once you’ve added the button to your browser toolbar, it will search for coupons and activate cash back before you check out at online retailers.

The other thing I like about BeFrugal is that they offer a good variety of payment options. BeFrugal can send earnings via check, PayPal, direct deposit or gift card.

However, keep in mind that the minimum payout threshold is different for each payout method.

Sign up for BeFrugal today and get a $10 sign up bonus!

10. Coupon Cactus

Coupon Cactus is an older site that doesn’t have as snazzy of a website design as other sites on this list. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have great deals!

One of the things I like about Coupon Cactus is that they offer two ways to save money during your online shopping: coupons or cash back.

• On some of their partner sites, you can apply Coupon Cactus codes to get the money taken off right away during checkout.
• With other sites, your shopping will earn you cash back that accumulates in your Coupon Cactus account.

Coupon Cactus sends out cash back earnings once a quarter via check or PayPal to members who have at least $10 in their account.

Sign up for Coupon Cactus and get a $3 bonus!

Top Tips for Using Online Cash Back Sites

As with any type of cash back site, online cash back sites have their pros and cons. We’re sharing some tips to help you earn the most profit when you shop online through cash back shopping sites.

Only Buy What You Need to Buy

When shopping online through those cash back shopping sites, it’s easy to go overboard in spending. After all, you’re getting “such a good deal”, right?

I mean, some of these sites give cash back of upwards of 40% of your purchase. It can be tough to pass up a deal like that!

It’s important to remember that if you hadn’t budgeted for the purchase in the first place, and it’s not a planned expenditure, then it’s likely not a deal.

Spending “zero” dollars is still saving more money than the great deals you find on your online cash back shopping site.

And that’s a pivotal rule to remember when you’re looking to achieve financial success.

For that reason, it’s important to restrain yourself from blowing your budget due to the good deals you find at the online cash back shopping sites.

Check “On Your Own” Prices When You Shops

Sometimes the prices you find at the online cash back sites are higher than what you’d find on your own when browsing the net.

Because of that, it’s important to check prices of the items you’re shopping for outside of the cash back site you’re using.

That’s the only way to ensure you’re really getting a deal when you purchase through a cash back shopping site.

Just do an internet search for the product you’re purchasing in a separate browser window. Use apps like Honey as you search to find the best online deal for what you need.

Then, compare that price to the price you found on your cash back shopping site including the cash back discount.

Have a Purpose for Your Cash Back

Our third tip is simply to have a purpose for your cash back. Will you save it for a vacation? Or to pay off debt?

Build up your emergency fund? Save to pay off your mortgage early?

You can earn quite a bit of cash while shopping through cash back shopping sites. Especially if you buy a lot of stuff online.

For that reason, it’s important to have a plan for the money you’ll earn before you spend it on something that doesn’t hold true value for you.

Read the Fine Print

Lastly, it’s important to read the fine print when you’re shopping via cash back shopping sites. Some say you can get paid to shop online, but there are exceptions.

For instance, some sites exclude giving cash back for certain types of purchases or items. Or only give cash back for purchases of select items.

Other times you’ll find a certain percentage cash back advertised, but the actual cash back is lower unless you purchase certain items.

This is why it’s very important to read the fine print before you shop.

After all, you don’t want to be expecting 30 percent cash back on a purchase, only to find out that the actual cash back is two percent.

That amount of cash back difference could result in a huge dent in your budget. Don’t make that mistake. Know the terms for each site and the store it partners with BEFORE you shop.

Summary

There are certain things we all have to buy each month whether we like it or not. Examples that quickly come to mind include toiletries, paper products, cleaning supplies and groceries.

If you have to buy these items anyway, why not take advantage of cash back sites to earn a little money back? It makes sense to me!

And if it makes sense to you, now you know about ten great sites that will pay you to shop online. Go ahead, try them out and get started making money as you shop.

What’s your favorite way to get paid for your online shopping? Connect with us on social media to let us know.