We mentioned yesterday that ASDA is now offering 1% cashback via Quidco, which could be worth a few quid if you’re a regular ASDA shopper, but recent research by shopping comparison site Kelkoo suggests that we are missing out on £123 each from not using cashback sites such as Quidco when shopping online.
British shoppers are missing out on £3.2billion each year, according to new research from price comparison site, Kelkoo.co.uk. That’s £273 million of untapped cash that could be earned per month – just by taking advantage of cashback services when shopping online. Cashback enables shoppers to earn money by receiving cash when they make purchases from e-tailers participating in cashback programmes. Online retailers normally offer cashback as a percentage of the buying amount. Cashback services are free to use, with customers able to earn money immediately.
The problem as I see it is, getting cashback can be a bit of a chore.
First, you’ve got to remember to look for cashback in the first place. Then when you’ve chosen your purchases, you’ve then got to check whether or not the online store takes part in a cashback scheme, and if it does, which one of the many cashback sites you then need to go through to buy your items. You’ve then also got to have an account with each of these sites so that you can take advantage of the deal. Voucher codes suffer from a similar problem.
What I would like to see (and I’m sure if it’s not already available, it soon will be) is a plugin for Firefox (or your web browser of choice) which lets you navigate to websites as normal, and either notifies you that cashback is available (and through which cashback site), or even better, automatically assigns you any cashback deal available on the items, without you having to take a special route. Possible?
Do you use cashback sites? If not, why not, and if you do, what are your favourite cashback sites? Let us know in the comments below.
photo credit: moonhouse
I’m based in Ireland. You guys over in the UK should consider yourselves lucky you have options such as Cashback sites.
I use them, but only for big purchases. For example: car insurance, hotel stays, holidays, white goods.
I first used Quidco for cashback years ago, and bought car insurance from them based on the promise of getting £130 cashback. Only it never materialised and I didn’t use these sites again. I got lucky, and over 2yrs later they paid it to me, so I went on a bit of a spree, but now again I find it’s more hassle than it’s worth, as I only usually buy low value stuff online.
My first stop before buying *anything* these days, is QuidCo. To date I have received about £25 from them this year.
Sure, it’s not huge amounts… but it is £25 I would not otherwise have had, for absolutely minimum effort on my part.