As someone who is always looking to increase income and be more money-savvy, this is the second of a series about boosting your income. Even little amounts every month can add up and make a real difference to a budget. With some simple changes to how you shop online and just a little thought beforehand, you can earn £100s of extra income without costing you anything! The first post in the series looked at Swagbucks and today’s post looks at cashback sites.
Cashback sites are very straightforward and easy to use; you simply join up and then you shop via their site, and it gives you money in return. The sites get paid by retailers for successful transactions made through their sites, so there are no hidden costs or catches. The only slight downside to cash back sites is that you have to sometimes wait a while for your cash back to clear and be claimable.
There are two main cashback sites to use in the UK: TopCashback and Quidco. All you do is go to either site first, and type in the website you want to shop at. So, for example, if I wanted to get some products from Boots, I’d log into TopCashback and type Boots in the search box. Then, if you click on Boots and then Cashback, it should open a new window (or tab) which is tracked by TopCashback. Boots is currently unto 8% cashback, so anything you purchase will be noted by TopCashback and you’ll soon have some cashback as pending. That’s it!
Both me and Mr FC use cashback websites; they’re especially good when it comes to renewing home insurance, car insurance and larger, one off expenses as the cashback tends to be higher. We have recently renewed our home insurance and went through TopCashback after researching all of the deals online, and we could get the cheaper home insurance going via TopCashback and also gained £25 cashback for doing so. This is great because it’s something we were going to get anyway, as it’s an essential item in our annual budget, and we got some free cash as well!
I joined TopCashback a few years ago and typically choose to get paid by BACS payment when any cashback is ready to be claimed. You can also choose having the money paid directly into your bank, a paypal payment or Amazon vouchers. As it’s free to have a direct bank payment, I choose that option every time. Between me and Mr FC, since we joined cashback sites, we’ve had over £300 worth of cashback payments, which is always a welcome addition to our budget.
Do you use cashback websites? How much have you earned from them?
There are referral links in this article; if you choose to join up via my link, I’ll earn some cashback once you reach £5!
I have used Quidco for some time now. Found it very good indeed, it must be said. I subscribed to TopCashBack but don’t really use it as often. I really should. They tend to have slightly higher rates (though it is negligible difference, really).
Great services though. I use it chiefly for phone contracts and the like. As you say, once in a while big purchases/changes are really ideal for using these sort of things.
I love the idea of cashback websites that pay me when I click through them, go to retailers or product providers and spend. I made £75s a year using them correctly, which is pretty exciting. I don’t think that all cashback sites pay a person the same. Many pay out 50% or less of what they get paid.
TopCashBack have got steadily worse for any cashback over a few pence. I now use them and treat it as a bonus *if* they pay the cashback. Have made nearly £1k from them over the years, but will go back to Quidco as soon as my last few items track. Ps. your TCB links don’t work.
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keep checking for new details about once per week. I subscribed to
your Feed as well.