I
f I offered to give you some
money for every time you
shopped online, you’d naturally
be suspicious. Money for nothing
must surely be too good to be true.
But not only is this notion a reality
thanks to cashback websites, but you
can make a decent amount of extra
cash using them, with the average
user of one site, Quidco, reportedly
making £305 a year.
The very simple idea is that
retailers pay the cashback sites a
commission for every sale they play
a part in, and the cashback sites then
forward some of that back to you.There are two leading sites—
Quidco and Topcashback. It’s very
simple to use them. You go to your
cashback site, and then search for the
retailer you want. If the shop is listed,
you’ll be given a list of different
cashback rates. Sometimes these
relate to everything sold, at other
times there are different rates for
different products. If you like what
you see, you then click through to the
retailer and shop as normal.
After you’ve made a purchase, the
retailer and the cashback site track
your purchase. As long as everything
has been done according to the terms
and conditions, the cashback you’ve
earned will appear in your account,
and you’ll be able to transfer it out to
your own bank account.
Even better, you can earn your
cashback without having to pay any
fees. So it really is free cash.96 • JULY 2019
Andy Webb is a
personal finance
journalist and runs
the award-winning
money blog,
Be Clever With
Your CashThis month, our money expert, Andy Webb,
espouses the myriad benefits of shopping
online through a Cashback provider
Why You Need To Use
Cashback Sites