With a cashback app, shopping can become much more enticing: free products, lots of discounts, or even “free” money. Sounds interesting now that we pay full price for many products. But how do these cashback apps actually work and where is the catch?
Cashback apps can be roughly divided into two categories. The first type is apps where you have to upload receipts to get your free products or a discount at a particular store. This is how cashback via the popular Scoupy app works. The app claims to have more than 1.3 million users.
Another way of Cash is by linking your bank account to a cashback app. For example, the Woolsocks app works. Iris Newman of savings blog One Broke Girl likes using this app. “Get your money back just by linking your account to it, so you don’t have to send receipts.”
How does a cashback app work?
But how exactly does it work? Woolsocks collaborates with a large number of shops, such as Jumbo and Lidl supermarkets, but also with Action, HEMA, MediaMarkt and online clothing shops of Vero Moda, H&M and About You. These shops pay for users who contact them through Woolsocks.
If you buy something from the shops they work with, you will automatically receive an amount in your account.
Newman: “If you buy something from the shops they work with, you’ll automatically get an amount in your account.” Woolsocks says he doesn’t make money selling the data. “Merchants are willing to give us a reward because we brought you in as a customer,” the company says on its website. Woolsocks retains part of this commission on its own account.
Cashback apps use data
In many cases, cashback apps link data to the basic information they have about their users. “This is very attractive for stores,” says Newman. “’37-year-old woman with a child who likes to shop at the Action and spends an average of x amount’ is very valuable information for the Action. Because this way they can advertise again very specifically. They are happy to pay for it.”
You have to decide for yourself if you are comfortable sharing your data. I don’t mind, but if you don’t trust it, then don’t.
This is also what savings expert Minke van Kuijen of the blog Gierige Gerda says. “Cashback apps make a lot of money selling your data.” Van Kuijen understands that some people therefore prefer not to use cashback apps. “You have to decide for yourself if you like sharing your data. I don’t mind, but if you don’t trust it, then you shouldn’t.”
The Consumer Association never or rarely receives complaints about these apps. “They don’t even appear in online scams,” says spokeswoman Joyce Donat. “This way you can get your money back on the products. But you have to look at the conditions. Pay special attention to the data you share when requesting a refund.”
“Obviously cashback apps tempt you to buy things. But that’s not prohibited and it obviously happens in many places in different ways. Savings offers and campaigns do this too.”
Can you save money with cashback apps?
In any case, Van Kuijen is satisfied with the sums she receives and the money she saves each year. She doesn’t even have to try so hard. “It’s not that bad. If you get cashback by letting you pass, all you have to do is click the link in the app. So you don’t go directly to Bol.com, but open the app first.”
This way of collecting cashback works through commissions. Van Kuijen: “The online shop pays a commission to the cashback app and the customer receives a small portion of it. Examples of these apps include Cashback XL, Euroclix and Shopbuddies.”
If I get a discount, I only buy the products I need.
Newman saves 500 to 1000 euros a year thanks to cashback apps. “I also use it to switch health insurance or TV subscription. And Cashback XL works together with bol.com, for example: if you regularly buy something there, it can make a big difference, especially if you make a major purchase like a TV. I make about 60 euros a year just by linking my bank account to Woolsocks, so I don’t have to do anything about it”.
Just using cashback apps for daily shopping doesn’t pay much. 05 cents per receipt, that adds up too. Plus, the free products you can buy through Scoupy are nice, too. If I get a discount, I’ll only buy the products I need. But they’re free and if I don’t use them myself, I put them in the gift box in front of my house.”
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