Online shopping is more popular than ever before, especially during periods of lockdown or being grounded. At Point Hacks, we’re all about maximising the returns from your purchase, whether that be bonus point offers or using the right rewards credit card for payment.
But sometimes, the stores you want to shop at aren’t on Qantas Shopping, the Velocity e-Store, or rather online malls run by ANZ, KrisFlyer or Asia Miles. Sometimes, you’re looking for more cash savings instead.
Enter Cashrewards, an online shopping portal that provides cashback on your online (and some in-store) purchases at hundreds of partner retailers. By signing up for a free Cashrewards account and clicking through their links, you can easily save money on your next online purchase.
Cashrewards seems to be the most effective cashback option in Australia, with the highest number of partners and the most aggressive promotions. However, the principle in this guide also applies to similar programs such as Shopback.
How does Cashrewards work?
Cashrewards gives you cashback on purchases. Once you’ve accumulated more than A$10.01 in cash back, you can withdraw it to your bank account, all with no fees or other strings attached. Here’s how it works.
- Sign in to your Cashrewards account
- Search for the participating retailer you want to shop at
- Confirm the cashback offer and click through to start shopping
- Check-out with the retailer as usual.
- Your cashback is tracked and awarded to you within a certain timeframe (usually a few months)
The best part is that given you are making the final purchase directly from the retailer — there’s usually no difference to your cart or booking pricing if you have clicked through from Cashrewards.
There are some caveats:
- You need to have cookies enabled in your browser, as the retailer can track your purchase that way
- Generally, you must not use any promo codes or coupons that aren’t explicitly listed on the Cashrewards website
- Generally, you can’t buy or use gift cards as part of the purchase if you also want to earn cashback
- Finally, returns or refunds on the order can invalidate the cashback
Cashrewards has a video that explains the process, or read more about how Cashrewards works.
What if I don’t shop online?
This is where Cashrewards differs from other providers – and in a way that benefits you. A joint partnership with Visa and MasterCard means Cashrewards users are able to earn cash back by shopping in-store at hundreds of locations across the country.
To utilise this function, simply login to your account, click the “link your card” option and add your card number.
Each eligible transaction is confirmed by email almost immediately and shortly after there’ll be a small saving sitting in your account ready to be withdrawn.
This perk is available across several different industries from automotive retailers like Repco, hundreds of restaurants and takeaway stores including the Kowloon Cafe in Sydney Chinatown as well as the Chat Thai empire, Mrs Fields, Top Juice and even mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei.
Check the in-store list on the website to find other participating brands.
Points online malls vs. cashback
Both are essentially similar business models, but with different branding and rewards back to the consumer — cash vs. points. For example, the Qantas Online Mall and the Velocity e-Store offer bonus points on purchases. Cashrewards offers a cashback instead.
The bad news is that you can’t use both a point-earning online mall and a cashback site — using one will cancel out the other and your last click-out will be the one that’s tracked. You’ll need to choose one and stick with it for a particular transaction.
Therefore you might be asking, which should I use, an online mall or Cashrewards? The general rule would be to compare the value of a point with the percentage saving that you will receive from Cashback Rewards.
Going for bonus points is a good idea if you’re saving up for a reward seat or upgrade. Conversely, if having money back in your pocket is important to you, then perhaps choose the cashback pathway.
See our guide on the most popular online shopping malls.
How can you integrate this into your loyalty strategy
Receiving cashback on purchases can integrate well into your strategy and be another layer that you stack with your rewards programs.
As an example, you book a hotel through Hotels.com to take advantage of the Hotels.com Rewards program, which offers an effective 10% bonus by using their rewards program towards a free night.
By using Cashrewards, you can also receive up to 6% cashback on anything you spend in addition to the above saving at Hotels.com, giving you an effective 16.6% total benefit. This also doesn’t include the frequent flyer points earned from using a credit card, which gets added on top.
For travel, there are many online retailers you can receive cashback on, including hotel aggregators, hotels where you can book directly, airlines, online travel agents, car rental, travel insurance and more.
The best part is, after you have logged in to the Cashrewards website and clicked through to the retailer in question, you book as you normally would using the retailer’s website, at the usual advertised price.
Getting cashback just takes one extra step!
How to use your rewards benefits
Your rewards come in the best rewards currency: cash. When you cash out, the money reaches your nominated bank account or PayPal account within five business days, though it’s usually sooner.
Some things to be aware of
Be sure to read the store T&Cs on the Cashrewards website for actions that may invalidate cashback, including using unlisted promo codes and so on. At some retailers, certain items might not be eligible for cashback either.
Also, Cashrewards uses cookies to track your purchase, and some ad-blocking software breaks these. It’s worth testing and turning any of these off before shopping to make sure you get your cashback.
Many sites (Hotels.com for example) push you to use their mobile app as well, which often won’t earn you any cashback because when you load it you’re not clicking through Cashrewards. Again, check the individual Cashrewards partner terms for each partner if this is a concern.
Summing up
It is super simple to join Cashrewards and look around the site to see what retailers are supported. With regular promotional cashback increases frequently occurring, check the site or subscribe to the newsletter to get the latest cashback offers.
And remember to come back to the Cashrewards site and click through next time you make any purchase online, and start collecting cashback.
Do you use Cashrewards or other cashback programs?
Frequently asked questions
You can join Cashrewards by clicking on this link.
No. You will have to choose one or the other, with the last selection chosen to be the one that is used.
Yes, you can get cashback through Cashrewards as well as earn frequent flyer or guest points. As an example, if you click through to Virgin Australia, you will receive 0.7% cashback in addition to earning Velocity Points by entering your Velocity number during your booking.
This guide was previously written by Daniel Sciberras.
Cashrewards has a competitor called ShopBack which does the same thing. Most of the stores are the same, but can differ in cash back amounts as well as promotions. There are some cases where a store on one and not the other. Generally I have noticed that Shopback has slightly better cash back rates.
Personally for things like hotels, it is better to shop around rather than go through Cashrewards/Shopback as hotel sites have app only deals or member only deals.
Note with Hotels.com you will NOT earn cashback if you are logged into your hotels.com account after you click through cashrewards – its plain to the eye as per the image above re Hotels.com – its clearly stated as a T+C cashback awarded only if NOT SIGNED INTO Hotels.com account or if booking is made as a guest
I checked Agoda with and without cash rewards and the price was dearer through cash rewards, with the cashback just bringing it back to the normal price.
I tend to use the 5% off wish cards that CR lets you buy then do an online order via the qantasmall with pickup. earning at least 2 QF points per $ + any woolworths reward points then pay with 5% off gift card that still earns me 3 MR points via Amex Edge card.
At times the QF mall offer 3 to 5 points per $ spend at woolworths. Annoyingly there’s no email, but if you do a weekly shop shouldn’t miss out.
I thought about doing that – using the 5% discount WISH Gift Card + Woolworths Online through Qantas Shopping… effectively 5% discount + 2 QFF Points per $ + points for credit card spend. But when I tried it, Qantas rejected the transaction and I didn’t get any points for it.
Maybe the terms and conditions have recently changed on Qantas Shopping?
Also please note the catch you can’t book on behalf of people. I got stung with this.
To assist us, we request that you please provide additional documents that include your name listed on the itinerary to help support resolving this enquiry. Please see our terms and conditions page section 2.2.2 stating ‘You must not join nor use the Service on behalf of any other individual, including a family member.’ The previous document we received with your original enquiry listes several individuals other than yourself on the itinerary.
Great info, where I have been let down by cashrewards in the past is the poor tracking and lack of payments. Their tracking is really hit & miss. I’m still waiting on a cashback on a couple of Virgin flights last year, but given the amounts its not worth sweating over. Their customer service is responsive, however responses are only standard templated responses asking for patience.
The example you use for the triple points is a Getaway fare – I think it might be worth checking how many points per mile you get for this class of fare, it may be only .5 points per mile, which would change the value of the deal (but still a good deal).
That’s right. I checked on ITA Matrix and they are in T fare class, earning 0.5 points per mile. So with the promotion, it would be 1.5 points per mile.
This has happened to me many times with CR… they seem to pick and choose whether they decline or pay! And the standard templates are very annoying…. if they’ve listed my purchase on my CR history then they’ve obviously tracked it… how do you then decline it especially if I have proof of payment that it actually happened. Seems a bit hit or miss to me!
In relation to the 3.5% cashback for Virgin flights, be aware that Virgin has a freely available everyday 10% discount for customers of its corporate partners or sponsored organisations, so Cashrewards would be a bad option in those cases. Two examples: Virgin Mobile customers get 10% off everyday if you book through the portal on the Virgin Mobile website, and likewise Australian Chamber Orchestra subscribers if you book through the ACO portal. I’m sure there are other examples. Having a phone on a Virgin Mobile plan effectively means that the phone pays for itself if you use the 10% discount regularly.
Having said that, the 10% discount usually doesn’t apply to sale fares that are already heavily discounted (eg. “Happy Hour” fares), so there’s still a place for Cashrewards in those circumstances.
Hi. CashRewards offers 1.5% back on Apple purchases but mentions in the special terms – “Cashback is issued by Cashrewards, not Apple.”
Does this mean that Apple is not associated with Cash Rewards? How does Cash Rewards offer cash back on Apple purchases if they are not paid by the merchant?
The special terms on Apple products include – “Cashback is issued by Cashrewards, not Apple.” Do you know what this means? Is Apple actually not a participating retailer? How does CashRewards make money in this case?
no mention of the referral program? that’s the best part!
Good post, just got the new Entertainment Book and they have 5% off VA domestic flights. Would love to see a post about them, they seem to have a couple of good airline discounts
one of the best things I find with cashreward is the ability to purchase the Woolworths wish gift cards at a 5% discount which you can then use to buy JB hifi, DJ, MYER and even flightcenter gift cards. Compound with AMEX PT edge now you get THE point 🙂
Thanks for reposting- a real good guide, however 1 question:
Can you stack cashrewards with qantas online mall?
e.g. buying a $200 purchase on ASOS- can you get the $8 cashback and the 600 QF points?
It’s likely not possible as stated on the guide:
“Note that you can’t use both point-earning online mall or a cashback site – using one will cancel out the other.”
Iv got a scenario for you. I use Cashrewards. Though I also have a velocity account where if you login and select a store for eg eBay, you get 10 velocity points per $1 spent.
Now,
Since the velocity website is similar to the cashrewards how if you click on the link it directs you to their website to buy, how can I maximise this and use cashrewards eBay link to get rewards their and also use my velocity link.
You can’t use both. If you go through the second portal, it will cancel out the first one.
Hi
I am new to this so hopefully this is not a dumb question.
If you purchased a Woolworths gift card to buy say David Jones gift cards in store, could you then click through to the DJs store from Cashrewards to stack on another 6% cashback?
Assuming you can use WW gift card instore to purchase DJ gift cards, and then assuming you can pay with gift cards on DJ online, then yes.
Great site to share with all. Have been using Cash Rewards for the last year, have received at least $170 back. Good site to also access discounted Woolworths Gift Cards, most recent offer was up to 5.75% with this being an instant discount. Most other purchases are processed 90 days after completion.
Hi,
First off, great site, lots of info!
Using cashback to book hotels (I.e. cashback –> Accor) do you still have status recognised and points given by Accor?
Never tried it, looks interesting
Cheers
P.S. Off-topic, but apparently Shangri-La is offering status matches to KrisFlyer 🙂
Yes, if you book direct with Accor, it’s no different to if you went to the Accor homepage without going via CashRewards. No loss of points/status for using CashRewards.