Cashback sites partner with retailers to save you money when you shop online. In this post, I’m going to explain how it works and give you some tips/links to get started.

If you haven’t heard of cashback shopping, I hope to make this a good starting point. If you have, scroll down to see my favorite sites and recommendations. I’m gearing this towards some of my favorite categories for shopping: lingerie and beauty. Keep in mind that these cashback options work for pretty much all retailers for fashion, electronics, travel, or anything else you can think of. I don’t work for any of these sites and my recommendations are solely based on my own positive experiences. Not all sites are created equally and I wouldn’t recommend any that I hadn’t tested.

How does cashback work?

More info can be found in a quick google search, so I will keep this short. If you’ve heard of cashback credit cards, then you probably already know the gist: You buy something, and a third party (like your credit card company or one of the sites I will recommend below), “gives” you a percentage of your purchase back. Usually the cashback shows up as a separate balance in your cashback account. You then ask for a check, PayPal deposit, or transfer of the funds to your bank account. Cashback percentages can vary from 1%-40%, with my own anecdotal average for bras, lingerie, and makeup and department stores at about 5%-15%.

All you have to do to participate is sign up (links below). To shop with cashback, just click a link from inside the cashback website that will take you to the site you want to shop at rather than just going to the retailer directly. That way it can log your purchase as eligible for cashback. You shop as normal and the retailer – like Amazon or Nordstrom – processes your order the same as always.

If you’re thinking, why would someone give me money to shop? Basically, the retailers see the cashback website as a referrer and partner with them. They get paid a commission for passing your business on, and transfer some of that along to you.

My recommended sites for earning cashback

1. eBates

Use my referral link to sign up and you’ll get a $10 bonus after you’ve spent $25.

eBates is probably one of the most well-known sites. It’s reliable and has some great cashback rates, including double cashback days and the generous $10 sign up bonus for all new members. Sometimes the eBates app has better rates than the website, so it’s worth checking.

eBates also offers in-store cashback. Simply link your credit card(s) that you use for in-store spending to your eBates account (via the homepage or the mobile app) and then check through the mobile app to see which stores are offering cashback. Then just hit the mall as usual and your cashback will show up in your account.

One thing worth nothing about eBates is the payout system. Unlike the other two sites mentioned below, eBates sends out quarterly payments that you can opt to receive as a check or PayPal payment. The payments are perfectly reliable, but if you prefer the freedom to grab your cashback balance whenever you want, then see the other options below.

2. TopCashback

Top Cashback USA

Use my referral link to sign up, and after you have earned $10 in cashback in your account, you’ll get a $10 bonus. (Sign-up offers vary; this one is at the time of posting).

Top Cashback UK

If you use my referral link to sign up, you’ll earn a £5 bonus. Sign up bonuses change/end depending on promotions. This was current at the time of posting.

I have used both the US and UK Top Cashback sites and received payments without issue. It doesn’t cost anything to use and there’s no minimum pay out. They offer various ways to receive your money, from bank transfer to PayPal, or you can opt for a gift card from retailers like Amazon or Sephora with an extra bonus added to your withdrawal. Their cashback rates are typically higher than the other sites across the board. They will also “match” any competitor cashback site’s rates including ebates and MrRebates. I have successfully used their rate guarantee and got my cashback amount matched within 24 hours. They also list active store coupons on their cashback link pages so you never miss a sale. For example, right now Macy’s has a 25% off sale sitewide, plus Top Cashback offers 8% back for purchases from Macy’s on top of that. The codes and cashback link are all provided in one place.

Some bra/lingerie brands and stores offering cashback:

TopCashback USA

Bare Necessities, Figleaves.com, Aerie, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Amazon, ASOS, eBay, Zulily, Wacoal, Journelle, BiggerBras.com (Big Girls Bras), Belk, LeMystere, Victoria’s Secret, ModCloth, Torrid, Lane Bryant, OnGossamer, Soma, Intimissimi, Triumph, La Senza (Canada), Target, Jockey, Hanes, Old Navy, EssentialApparel.com, Dicks Sporting Goods (they sell Panache Sports), Lingerie.com, Walmart, other major retailers and department stores.

Top Cashback UK

Bravissimo, Figleaves, Debenhams, Brastop, Belle-Lingerie, Leia Lingerie, Triumph, Boux Avenue, Bras and Honey, La Perla, ASOS, New Look, John Lewis, House of Fraser, Ann Summers, Ultimmo, M&S, Next, Esty Lingerie, Lingerie.co.uk, L’Agent, Bluebella, Leonisa, Undercover Experience, Tesco, George, and many more.

UK shoppers, I believe you can even get cashback for offline shopping if you link your debit card. Lucky sods!

3. Swagbucks

Swagbucks.com

My Swagbucks referral link

Swagbucks is more than just cashback shopping. Everything you do on the site earns points (i.e. “swagbucks”, including shopping with cashback, watching videos, playing games or doing market surveys. You cash the points out for gift cards when you reach the denomination you’d like. They have gift cards from loads of stores and you can get the money in PayPal credit, too. There’s so many options for earning in Swagbucks that it really depends on how much time you want to put into it. A good place to get tips on how to earn swagbucks quickly and easily is /r/swagbucks.

Now that you have some options, here’s how to make the most of cashback shopping without spending too much time on it.

How I save time (when saving money)

This is my biggest tip for cashback shopping. I don’t go straight to a cashback site every time I feel like browsing for bras (that’s pretty often) or makeup or a new computer. If a session times out or you close tabs or move around a lot, the site can lose track of your cashback click. So I:

Browse as normal on the site of my choice, adding what I want to the cart. When I’m absolutely ready to purchase, I open the cashback site and click the link to the retailer. Now I’m back on the retail site again. My cart is already full of my goodies and my click has been tracked by the cashback provider. I check out as normal. Anywhere from a couple of hours to a week or so later, the cashback shows up in the account I clicked from (e.g. Topcash or eBates or Swagbucks).

More tips and tricks

Cashback rates always vary and sometimes there are bonus days, e.g. when a site that normally offers 3% will offer 10%. Sometimes TopCashback will have a bonus promotion that gives you an extra $5 here or there, but they also run regular “treats” events where you solve easy clues that give you a chance to win bonuses. I win a little something every time. eBates sometimes has bonus offers or double cashback days.

Cashback websites are also great repositories of discount codes, promo codes, vouchers and the like. Make sure you look at the coupon codes for each retailer.

All of these sites will send you emails unless you unsub. Choose the email account you sign up with carefully.

A lot of credit cards or bank cards will also offer cashback. Mine gives me 1.5% on everything. You can use them together with these cashback sites.

Adblockers and DoNotTrack plugins can interfere with tracking cashback purchases. If you know what these are, you’ll know how to disable them for certain sites or decide if it’s worth it to you.

I hope this helps some or all of you! Happy shopping 🙂