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We’re always looking for legitimate and easy ways to save money at our house. The easier the better.
If you’ve been reading this site for a while you know that I prefer the lazy ways of saving money.
Whether it’s using store rewards cards that automatically apply store coupons for you, or doing your best to buy things that are already on special, I prefer saving money in ways that won’t take a lot of time or energy.
Ibotta is just the ticket if you’re looking for an easy way to realize some quick cash savings. Ibotta is an app that is chocked full of money saving cash rebates that you can earn just by shopping at the stores you already shop at, and then scanning your receipts to claim the rebates once you get home. The rebates stack up quick and you can get paid out in cash via PayPal or Venmo, or via gift cards for a ton of retailers including Amazon, Starbucks, Best Buy, Sephora, etc.
Ibotta just released a completely redesigned and refreshed app for iOS and Android a couple of months ago, and after signing up for the service this month I decided to take it for a spin. After trying it for only a week I know it works well because I just got my first $24.25 in cash paid to my Venmo account yesterday!
Today I want to look at 5 important things about the Ibotta app, and talk about how you can use it to save as well.
Ibotta users have earned over $200 million dollars. The average active Ibotta user makes $20 every month Click To Tweet5 Important Things To Know About Ibotta App
While I’m new to Ibotta, I’m loving it so far because the app is so easy and intuitive to use. I’ve been able to find cash rebates on a ton of things I buy already including groceries, toiletries, beer (Hello, Guinness!), Groupon purchases and more.
Download the FREE app here: Ibotta App
So what do you need to know about Ibotta to get started?
1. $10 Welcome Bonus Just For Signing Up
When you sign up for Ibotta through our link, you’ll be eligible to get a $10 welcome bonus.
What do you have to do to get that bonus? Just redeem your first rebate. If you have a lot of friends that you think might use the app, you can also get a $5 referral bonus for every friend you refer that uses the app. If nothing else, sign up to get your initial bonus and a few rebates on things you’re buying anyway. It’s free money!
2. The Redesigned App Means Redeeming Cash Rebates Is Easier Than Ever
When Ibotta redesigned their app in May of 2017, they implemented new receipt capture technology which processes scanned receipts in real time for a lot of stores. Not only that, but many retailers like Walmart and Best Buy have QR codes on their receipts that make scanning even easier. Just scan the receipt and the app knows what is on it instantly.
Searching for rebates in the app is super easy as well. You just save your favorite stores in the app, and then search for rebates before you shop.
For example, before my last trip to Hy-Vee grocery store I clicked on the store which was in my favorites, found the available rebates for items I wanted to buy, and added the rebates to the “my rebates” section of the app. Once I added the rebates I just shopped as I normally do, and then scanned my receipt while sitting in the car.
The app automatically registered most of my items in the “my rebates” section and added them to be submitted for cash back. One of the items didn’t register so I had to scan the barcode on the item’s box, and then it registered as well. All in all it took about 2 minutes of my time, and on that particular trip I got $6.75 cash back. Not too shabby!
Another nice thing is that for some stores Ibotta can link up directly with the store’s loyalty program and mean that you don’t have to scan receipts in at all for that store. You just scan in your loyalty card the first time and then rebates will automatically be redeemed!
3. Many Rebates Can Be Stacked And Used Multiple Times
One cool thing about Ibotta is that rebates are now often stackable and can even sometimes be used multiple times on one receipt. So what does that mean?
For example, just the other day I found a $2 rebate on one bag of my son’s favorite cereal that we buy often anyway. The rebate showed that it could be used up to 3 times per receipt. I bought 3 bags, and saved $6 in one fell swoop.
In the past most rebates could only be used once per receipt. Since the redesign it seems like more and more offers allow multiple redemptions per receipt, or are usable again within a day or two. Buying multiples of things you need, while they have rebates available, is a great way to save a bunch of money very quickly.
Another great thing is that quite often Ibotta has generic rebates for “any item” or for any of a certain type of food. For example, you can get a rebate on bananas, or any bread purchase. They even have rebates for produce quite often – which most other apps don’t have!
4.You Can Redeem Rebates Up To A Week After You Shop
One nice thing about the Ibotta app is that there is no pressure to automatically upload your receipts and get your cash back instantly.
If you went shopping a few days ago, you can always pull out the receipt and scan it to get your rebates up to a week later. That’s handy if you’re always on the go and want to just submit receipts all at once at a later time.
5. Ibotta Has Rebates For More Than Just Groceries
When I first signed up for Ibotta I assumed that they were an app for saving on your groceries only, but I found out quickly that just wasn’t the case. There are rebates for all sorts of retailers, both bricks and mortar and online shops.
For example, here are some rebates I found just today in the app:
- Groupon: you can earn between 2-20% on Groupon purchases
- Hotels.com: Get 3-4% cash back on hotels with services like Hotels.com
- Sam’s Club: Save $10 on a Sam’s Club membership, and get rebates on items bought in store.
- Jo-ann Fabrics: Get specific cash back offers like 10% cash back, or specific savings on certain products.
- Amazon.com: There are even nice rebates for purchases on Amazon – and specific ones for Amazon devices.
- Beer: I quickly found that one of my favorite things – craft beer – has a ton of cash back rebates in the app. For example, I found $3 cash back on a 6 pack of the new Guinness beer!
- Uber: Save $1 cash back on your Uber ride!
- Home Depot: Save on home improvement products.
The number of rebates you can find on just about anything is pretty impressive. Just login, and start searching!
Signing Up Is Easy, And Redeeming Rebates Even Easier
I’ve been using the Ibotta app for a week and I’ve found that it is super easy to use, the navigation is simple and efficient, and claiming rebates was much easier than I thought it would be. Just scan your receipt and confirm.
In the short time that I’ve been using the app I’ve already saved over $25 in rebates and bonuses, and just yesterday cashed out for the first time with a $24.25 payment to my Venmo account.
If you extrapolate my savings across the month, I could end up saving $50 or more a month! That’s almost $600 a year! Even if you only save $20/month like the average active user, you’ll still be saving almost $250/yr! That’s easy money just for scanning in a few receipts!
I’d recommend getting the app and taking it for a spin.
At the very least, sign up, get your $10 bonus and make enough to cash out! By the time you do you’ll likely already have made Ibotta a regular part of your shopping trip – checking for rebates before you shop. Get your free account through the link below!
JT Smith says
I really like Ibotta, but it seems like most of their deals are on overpriced brands. If you were going to buy those brands anyways, definitely use Ibotta but I wouldn’t use them if you can get a better deal by shopping cheaper brands.
Ran says
I have been using Ibotta for a long time now and have made over $60! Unfortunately, I can never get the monthly teamwork bonuses. If you would like to help me and join my team sign up with the link below: (You’ll also get a free $10 bonus when you redeem your first name brand offer!)
https://ibotta.com/r/jewtlrm
Or use my referral code when you sign up: jewtlrm
siri says
Try ibotta for more savings.
Use referral code: TDKCHLL and get $10 welcome bonus when you redeem your first rebate within the first 14 days of registration and using referral code: TDKCHLL and up to 10 additional on other bonus when using the code. Money is transferred to your paypal account instantly. And you can also buy online and earn. Best app ever.Sign up at https://ibotta.com/r/TDKCHLL
My team usually spends $1000 per month and we are getting lot of cashback bonus back