This blog post does have an affiliate link to Rakuten.
In this 2 Minute Q&A, we’re going over the Rakuten cashback app. The holiday season is a difficult time to stretch our coins. In my household, any option that offers savings and cashback is a must. One of the best ways I’ve been able to make some money back from my holiday shopping is to use a cashback app like Rakuten. I use Rakuten for my already planned shopping needs and get a check for activating rebates offered from my favorite stores. But how does it work? This is what this video is all about, so let’s get right into it.
WARNING:
As a precaution, I do want to state that if you are easily tempted to overspend or go into debt over cash back, sales, or promotions then Rakuten might not be for you. I wouldn’t recommend using Rakuten to chase cash back opportunities and to clearly understand how Rakuten works.
How Rakuten Makes Money
Think of Rakuten as an Instagram influencer and how they make money online. One of their income sources is from collaborating with companies and offering their “follower” community a discount code. This promotes their community to shop at the company that is collaborating with the influencer. The influencer’s income is based on how much the community spends with them. This is exactly how I want you to imaging this company.
Rakuten is just an affiliate marketing company that profits when we shop and active the percentage rebate. This is how they get paid and can offer us a cash back option. If you go on their application or websites, you will see a lot of your favorite stores offering different cash back offers. It’s important to understand how Rakuten makes money, so you understand how to use it properly.
How to Use Rakuten
You can use Rakuten in a number of ways.
- Use the website
- The App
- Browser Extention
- In-Store App Redemtion
In the video, I share all these options on how to use Rakuten and how to activate the cash back. The most important tip I want to share here is how to use the Brower Extention over the other options. This alone can save you money and help you avoid some shopping triggers. Let’s be honest, we all tend to get caught up when we see our favorite stores offering cash back options. When you go on the Rakuten app or website, you honestly forget that this is an affiliate marketing company and just see free money. This isn’t true and we tend to overspend if we believe we will get more money back
Use Rakuten without Cashing Cash Back
To avoid getting caught up on all the different cash back opportunities, focus on just getting the browser extension. You can go on the Rakuten website and download the browser extension. Then when you shop online, the Rakuten browser extension will send you a pop-up. The pop-up will inform you of any cash back option for the current site you are on. This way you don’t miss out on any opportunities, but you don’t get caught chasing cash. For me, this is a game-changer because I still shop online like usual and get a nice pop-up cash back surprise. This way I still get the cash back and don’t get distracted or tempted to spend more than I have budgeted.
Closing Thoughts
As I stated at the beginning of this blog and video, if you can’t control yourself with sales, cash back, points, and all of the above please stay away from Rakuten. This is a great app that offers great sign up bonus cash back options and everyday cash back for planned spending. I personally use Rakuten, especially since I do most of the lifestyle spending and holiday shopping for the family. Getting a little bit of cash back has never gotten me to cheat on my budget and overspend. I highly recommend checking it out and stay cautious about your budget when shopping online.
