I absolutely love finding the best deals on the internet when it comes to shopping, saving money and making extra cash on the side. In fact, nothing gives me more pleasure than being a smart shopper and saving myself a few hundred dollars while shopping online.
That is how I discovered ShopBack, a cashback app and website that gives you cash back by shopping with household brands they are affiliated with.
Boasting over 380,000 downloads from the Google Play Store and countless positive reviews on Apple's App Store, Shopback has been catching the attention of frugal living fans looking for ways to save money on everyday purchases.
Yet while ShopBack has undoubtedly been a hit, its growth in popularity has also raised a host of questions.
Is ShopBack safe to use? If so, how does it work, and how exactly does ShopBack save you money?
It's these questions, and more besides, that we'll answer in this complete guide to the ShopBack app.
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Complete ShopBack 2022 Review
Contents
What is ShopBack?
Shopback is an online shopping platform that's accessible through both a web browser and a popular smartphone app.
Once you've created an account, you can use ShopBack to browse products from an enormous array of stores selling everything from food and groceries to electronics, fashion, and more.
Why would you do that rather than visiting stores directly?
Because when you do, you earn cashback on your purchases, making the whole process of shopping for both everyday essentials and luxury items that much cheaper.
Where is ShopBack Available?
At the time of writing, ShopBack is only available in a select number of countries, including:
- Australia
- Singapore
- Philippines
- Indonesia
- Taiwan
- Malaysia
- Thailand
- Vietnam
- South Korea
For the purposes of this guide, we’ll be writing our review on ShopBack Australia.
How Do You Sign Up to Shopback?
One thing we love about ShopBack is that it's a breeze to get started.
After heading to the ShopBack sign-up page, you can create an account either by using your existing Google or Facebook credentials or simply entering an email address and phone number.
From there, you'll be required to create a unique password and whiz through a quick verification process. After completing that process, you're ready to start shopping, saving, and earning rewards.
How Do You Save Money with ShopBack?
Whether you're on a 30-day money-saving challenge and looking to keep your day-to-day living costs as low as possible or simply looking for a cheaper way to make those big purchases, ShopBack helps you do that by offering cashback incentives for over 1,500 well-known stores.
Using either the website (with a useful Google Chrome extension) or the app, you can use the platform to scour your favorite stores and make purchases just as you would with your usual online shopping.
Before you select a store, the app will tell you how much cash back you'll get on purchases. Once you've completed that purchase, the money back goes into your ShopBack account, which you can then withdraw to your bank.
That's not the only way to save, either. You can also:
Link Your Bank Cards for Automatic Savings
By connecting your credit or debit card to the app, you automatically earn cashback when you shop with one of the platform's hundreds of partners, all without having to worry about activating a voucher or clicking a referral link first.
Buy Restaurant Vouchers and Gift Cards
Another way that ShopBack can help you to stop overspending money and make savings is by offering discounted restaurant vouchers and gift cards.
The restaurant vouchers offer discounts of up to 50%, and you'll earn cash back for each purchase, too, meaning twice the savings, while gift cards for many of Australia's top brands also qualify for cashback savings.
Use Product Comparisons and Price Drop Alerts
If you've ever found yourself in the position of learning to live on $1,000 a month while eagerly wanting to pay for a big-money item, ShopBack Australia's product comparison features will prove invaluable to you.
Using this, you can compare prices across multiple stores to find the best deals and even set a price drop alert so that you can be notified when that product is available at a lower price, a tool that’s especially helpful if you’re happy to wait to get a better price.
Earn Extra Money With Referrals
If you're finding ShopBack Australia useful, be sure to share it with your friends. Not only does it help them, but you'll also earn $20 every time that friend signs up and spends the same amount in one of the partner stores.
How Much Money Can You Save With ShopBack?
Most of ShopBack's partner stores come with cashback incentives averaging around 3% – 6%, though it's not uncommon to find cashback offers of up to 45%.
In one case (Nord VPN), you can even take advantage of an impressive 95% cashback offer.
Elsewhere, buying those discount restaurant vouchers could save you as much as 50% off the cost of eating out, while other incentives such as referrals and “upsize deals” can net you even more income.
What Stores Can You Save With on ShopBack Australia?
The platform connects you with hundreds of stores across a whole host of categories, meaning no matter whether you're trying to cut the cost of food prep by shopping for groceries, renovating your home on a budget, or simply looking to take a trip for less than the going rate, you'll find a store to meet you.
Among just some of the more popular major names, you'll find cashback deals and offers from:
- Amazon (up to 7% cashback)
- Booking.com (6% cashback)
- eBay (up to 4% cashback)
- Target (up to 2.8% cashback)
- UberEats (up to $20 cashback)
- Doordash (up to $20 cashback)
- Groupon (up to 15% cashback)
- Hotels.com (up to 4% cashback)
- Virgin Australia (up to 5% cashback)
- Expedia (up to 13% cashback)
- Boohoo (5% cashback)
- Footlocker (5.6% cashback)
- PizzaHut (3.5% cashback)
- Menulog (4% cashback)
- Catch (up to 3%)
- Adidas (up to 7% cashback)
- Nike (up to 3% cashback)
Is ShopBack Safe?
Whether it's ShopBack, other money-saving apps like Trim, or indeed any service where money is involved, it's natural to be concerned about the legitimacy of that service.
The good news is that ShopBack is a safe and legitimate business. The company is operational in over eight countries and boasts thousands of TrustPilot reviews which help to verify its authenticity.
How Does ShopBack Make Money?
One of the reasons why someone may be dubious over whether ShopBack is legitimate is that it may seem too good to be true.
A website that's 100% free to use and pays out money? Sure, it sounds like a great deal, but surely they're not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.
So what's the story? How does ShopBack make money and stay in business?
The answer is pretty simple: They earn a commission every time you shop with one of their partner stores. These commission fees are then shared with you so that you get to earn your cash back rewards while ShopBack itself gets to make a profit.
It’s a simple solution that’s really a win-win for all involved. The stores get more customers and make more sales, you get to make savings, and the company behind ShopBack gets some financial reward for bringing you and the store together.
How Long Does ShopBack Take?
Shopback typically takes 48-72 hours from the time of purchase to track cashback, though each one of the platform's partner stores has its own tracking time period, and these periods can vary wildly from one store to the next.
We've heard cases of cashback claims taking two to three months to validate in some instances.
It’s also worth mentioning that you’ll need to have earned at least $10 in order to withdraw money into your bank, a process that usually takes no more than 3-5 days.
Is ShopBack Worth It? A Final Verdict
We started this guide by promising to answer your most burning questions, such as whether ShopBack is legitimate and how to use it to save money on purchases.
If you’ve read this far, we hope you’ll agree we’ve answered all of those questions -and more- to the fullest. Still, all that leaves just one last question to be answered:
Is ShopBack worth it? Is the added time it takes to log in to ShopBack and shop only through select partner stores worth the money you’ll save? Having tried this one out for ourselves, the answer is a resounding yes.
The simple set-up-and-shop process means that using ShopBack takes hardly an extra effort than it would if you went directly to your favorite eCommerce store.
Meanwhile, the number of major international brands available means you’ll be able to make significant savings on all manner of purchases, including many that you likely make on a weekly basis.
Combine that with the fact that many of the cashback offers are of substantial value (from a few percent up to almost half your money back), and it’s easy to see why ShopBack is one of the most popular money-saving tools to come along in the last several years.