Rakuten and Be Frugal

[Bella the Ball 360]

Do you use Rakuten or Be Frugal or both?

I use Rakuten all the time but just signed up for Be Frugal. I am not familiar with it but the new member returns are much higher than Rakuten. For example they are giving back 17.5 percent on toys from Walmart and Macy's was 14.5 per cent whereas Rakuten was only 11. I would be interested to see what people think. Also, Rakuten gives 40.00 back when you sign up new members, it is only 10 on Be Frugal. I usually get about 100.00 on Rakuten per pay period.

 

[VandVsmama]

I have no idea what either of these are.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

OMG they are just the best money back sites for shopping. They give you cash back on stores like Macys QVC, HSN and tons of others. Rakuten has been around for at least 5 years and Be Frugal is newer.

I get on the average 100.00 per quarter for things I would normally purchase. For example Macy's had 10 percent cash back and this is totally separate from your credit card rewards as well as the store sales.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Rakuten has been around for at least 5 years

Rakuten was preceded by Ebates. My first check from Ebates was Nov 2000.

 

[AgentMama]

I use Rakuten, haven't tried Be Frugal, I'll have to check it out. I average between $50-$200 per quarter.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I haven't tried them, but I know I really should be using something like that.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I have never actually had any of these sorts of businesses be fruitful in any way, nothing ever works so I won't bother.

 

[Colleen27]

I use Rakuten/Ebates a lot. The browser extension makes it easy - it lets me know if a site I'm already shopping on participates, so I can activate it. I don't shop a lot so I don't average a ton of cash back, but the $50 or so a quarter doesn't hurt since I'm not spending anything extra to get it. And occasionally I'll hit on a promo that ends up being a lot more; when we switched our cell service to Verizon (a decision I'd already made for better rural/remote coverage after DH's Verizon work phone was the only one working when someone needed to reach us in an emergency while we were traveling), the rebate was $75 per line. We have 5 lines on our plan. So that was a nice chunk of cash back.

I've never heard of the other one.

 

[Sinder]

I've used Rakuten for years, way back when it was Ebates. I average about $60 every quarter.
I signed up for BeFrugal earlier this year but I tend to forget to check it since Rakuten is on my browser ext.
This thread made me check my BeFrugal account and I've got $6 in it LOL.
I think I'll start checking that to see if their % back is higher than Rakuten.

 

[katie01]

I had to open this thread because I thought you were giving some sort of blessing, like "Go, Be Fruitful and Multiply". "Rakuten and Be Frugal" has a nice ring to it, I might just give it out as a holiday greeting this year to throw people off

 

[aprilgail]

I have never actually had any of these sorts of businesses be fruitful in any way, nothing ever works so I won't bother.

I have gotten over 2,500 back from ebate/rakuten- well worth the one click to shop.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I have gotten over 2,500 back from ebate/rakuten- well worth the one click to shop.

How much have you spent to get 2,500 back? What did you buy, a roof? Feeling skeptical because people are waiting 9 months for furniture & appliances and receipt of a thing is generally necessary for the rebate, so how did you do what you say you did.

 

[Colleen27]

How much have you spent to get 2,500 back? What did you buy, a roof? Feeling skeptical because people are waiting 9 months for furniture & appliances and receipt of a thing is generally necessary for the rebate, so how did you do what you say you did.

I assume AprilGail was talking about how much she's gotten back over the entire time she's used the site. I'm not exactly sure when Ebates (now Rakuten) launched, but I started using them before we moved to our current house so I know it has been at least 14 years. I get between $100 and $300 back most years, mostly on small (3-5% cash back) offers on hotels booked through Hotwire, Expedia, etc., but over a decade or more that does add up.

 

[rangerxenos]

I use Rakuten (used to be Ebates), have for a while. I'm up to close to $500 now, free money even though it takes me years because a lot of the places I shop don't earn.

 

[Sinder]

How much have you spent to get 2,500 back? What did you buy, a roof? Feeling skeptical because people are waiting 9 months for furniture & appliances and receipt of a thing is generally necessary for the rebate, so how did you do what you say you did.

I have gotten back almost $1500, it has taken me 20 years though.
It's really no hassle and no risk, you just sign up and shop through their website, or to make it even easier you just add an extension to your browser. When you shop on a site that participates a little pop up will let you know the percentage of cash back and you just click it. It creates a tracking number so to speak so you don't necessarily have to wait until you get something delivered and you don't need a receipt. I can't speak for every single company that participates though, some may have rules I'm unaware of.
They pay out quarterly so if you shop often online even those little purchases add up. There are exclusions but they vary by store.
I shop at Target for everyday stuff- pet stuff, household cleaners, paper products, health and beauty, etc. They give 1% back so even though it isn't much, it adds up and it's nice to save a little especially on things I am buying anyway.
Sometimes there are bonus rebates, I've got 10% back on my last shopdisney purchase.
Cell phone purchases have been the biggest rebates I've gotten, even signing up for service can get you up $75 to from Verizon Wireless right now.

 

[Tilnar]

I've gotten to just over $800 in 9-point-something years (starting with eBates) -- the way I see it, it's free money and not doing it leaves it on the table. I don't go out of my way to use it (well, not *much* anyway), and I don't buy extra things for more cash back -- and I just get a nice cheque for $15-$50 bucks every quarter, depending on spending.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

You have to try Be Frugal I just did a comparison and Macy's for example is 6 percent to day on Rakuten and 12 percent on Be Frugal. I click back between the two but so far Be Frugal has been better. Yesterday toys were 17.5 on BF and like 2 percent on R. Today QVC is 8 on BF and 1 on R. Worth it to play the back and forth game.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Rakuten was preceded by Ebates. My first check from Ebates was Nov 2000.

Me too I have used it for years but this one is better at least now. Use them both.

 

[aprilgail]

How much have you spent to get 2,500 back? What did you buy, a roof? Feeling skeptical because people are waiting 9 months for furniture & appliances and receipt of a thing is generally necessary for the rebate, so how did you do what you say you did.

over years. Not all at once lol. I did buy all my appliances from Home Depot who gave rebates on them at the time and that was big. Fridge, oven, micro, washer, dryer and dishwasher. Macy’s was giving 10% and did a lot of Xmas shopping there.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

I just noticed that the referral rate of Be Frugal has gone up. It is now 15.00 instead of 10.00. Of course the referral rate on Rakuten is 30 to 40 right now. They obviously want to get as many as they can before Black Friday.