If you’re not clicking through cashback sites with your online purchases, you’re probably leaving some money on the table. The concept is simple – visit the merchant via a click on the cashback website to earn money back on each purchase.
Is there a catch? Not really. It’s essentially affiliate marketing. When you purchase items through a cashback provider, they get paid a commission, and you pocket a percentage of that as cashback. Cookies are involved (the website kind, not the cookie-jar kind).
These days, you can get cashback on just about anything. Whether it’s travel, fashion, health, groceries, beauty, or food delivery, you’ll probably find a deal somewhere.
How to maximise cashback on your travel
There are hundreds of different travel retailers you can receive cashback from, so it’s worth doing your research when planning a trip. Booking flights? Virgin Australia offers cashback, sometimes up to 10% on certain routes and during promotional periods.
But hotels are where the big numbers start to show up. It’s not uncommon to see Booking.com offer 12% cashback (it’s reached as high as 20% before), and Expedia sometimes offers boosted rates of around 15%.
Finally, keep an eye out for cashback offers from tour and activity providers such as Klook, Viator, GetYourGuide, and so on. Point Hacks editor Brandon says he books with cashbacks on just about every trip, sometimes getting hundreds of dollars back. Some examples are below.
Where can I earn cashback in Australia?
The two major cashback providers in Australia are ShopBack and TopCashback. You might have heard of Cashrewards, but they shut down. You might also know of other similar websites, such as Qantas Shopping and the Velocity eStore. They operate on the same principle, but offer points instead of money back.
1. ShopBack
With over 60 million users across 13 different countries, and over 20,000 partner stores, both online and in-store, ShopBack is likely the largest cashback website in Australia. Some of the major travel merchants ShopBack partners with include:
- Booking.com
- Expedia
- Virgin Australia
- Klook
- Viator
2. TopCashback
TopCashback is a growing platform that also offers high cashback rates and even a ‘Highest Cashback Guarantee’ that matches ShopBack’s rates on the same merchant if it’s higher. In addition to all the merchants mentioned in the ShopBack list, you can also earn cashback at:
- GetYourGuide
- Agoda
- Airalo
- Trip.com
- Accor Live Limitless
What can I do with my cashback?
In most cases, the rewards will take several weeks to months to be redeemable. This is to ensure there are no returns or refunds during that period, as your earnings are voided if that happens.
Once your travel is complete and your rewards are approved, it’s up to you how to spend them. Most of the time, it makes sense to withdraw it to your bank account. With ShopBack, you can also use balances to buy gift cards through their app.
Summing Up
Going through cashback sites can save you lots of money on travel expenses, especially if you are planning to book or travel anyway. Don’t forget to also make the purchase on your points-earning credit card to earn even more rewards from the same transaction.
Stay up to date with the latest news, reviews and guides by subscribing to Point Hacks’ email newsletter.
This content contains affiliate links from which Point Hacks may earn commissions from transactions generated from new customers, bookings and general enquiries. Find out more here.
