If you frequently shop online, one good way to save and earn money is to join a cashback site. In short, cashback sites will give you a rebate for your online purchases.
And as the saying goes, “Money saved is money earned.” So, if we take that analogy, joining a cashback site will earn you money. One of the big cashback sites is Rakuten.
But is Rakuten legit or a scam to stay away from? Let me just reveal right away that Rakuten is a legit cashback site.
But this doesn't automatically mean you should go ahead and register as a member right away. You have to consider several things before deciding to join the site as a member.
This Rakuten review will give you all the details so you will know exactly what to expect before you decide to join or not.
What is Rakuten, and what does it offer?
As mentioned, Rakuten is a cashback site that will reward you for taking advantage of its cashback offers. It has been around since 1997.
It used to be called Ebates, so if you have heard about Ebates, it no longer exists but has now changed its name to Rakuten – but it is the same site, just with an update and a new name.
It boasts 15+ million members in the US alone. But that isn't a good measurement of how great it is in terms of earning potential.
To truly gauge its earning potential, we have to take a closer look at how you will be able to earn rewards from it.
I have made a short video that gives you an inside look and shows exactly how Rakuten works. You can also read all the details below the video.
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Option 1 – Cashback Offers
Since it is a cashback site, then naturally, you can naturally expect there will be cashback offers.
As soon as you finish the registration process (which I will talk about later), you can log in to their member dashboard and start taking advantage of their cashback offers.
I will tell you, though, it certainly has a lot of cashback offers available, which is good, in my opinion.
If you are new to cashback offers, then the premise is simple. When you click a cashback offer, it will take you to the website hosting the offer.
For example, if you click on an Amazon cashback offer, it will redirect you to Amazon so you can start shopping.
Once you've bought an item, you will receive a percentage of the amount you've spent to purchase the product. It will be credited to your Rakuten account.
As I've mentioned, it has plenty of cashback options. It even has cashback options from hotels and booking sites. This is a good thing, especially if you frequently shop online.
One more thing that will help you avail of cashback offers conveniently is that you can download a Rakuten Google Chrome extension that will automatically apply the best coupons when you shop from some of their partner sites.
It's a nice bonus because you won't have to keep browsing the site to see if there are any available deals for the site. Simply visit the online store, and if there are any deals available, the extension will notify you.
That makes it more convenient and is something other cashback sites could learn from, in my opinion.
Option 2 – Referral Program
Rakuten will also reward you for inviting people to join the site. In fact, they reward you well.
For every person you invite who becomes a member of the site, you will earn $25, which will be credited to your Rakuten account. The referral must complete one cashback offer, though, before you can get the $25 referral fee.
Considering the conditions you need to meet to get the reward, it's not bad, really. $25 is a pretty significant amount for a referral program reward.
You can invite a person to join by sharing your referral link or by sending them an invitation email.
The good thing about their referral program, in my opinion, is that you can track whether the person you've invited becomes a qualified referral.
You will see a list of your referrals and whether they qualify or not when you go to the referral section of the dashboard. So if you have a lot of friends who shop online frequently, it can be a nice way to make some extra cash.
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How do you get paid?
Now, let's get into the other important part of the site.
When you complete an offer, you will receive a percentage of the amount you've spent to purchase the product. This will be accumulated in your Rakuten account balance.
Payments are sent every three months on their payment schedule. That should give you enough time to reach their payout threshold.
The payment will be made via check or PayPal. If you choose to have the payment sent via check, don't expect to receive it right away because it will be sent via postal mail, which can take some time to arrive.
If you choose to receive payment via PayPal, you’ll be asked for verification when you select this method. It will be issued to the account associated with the PayPal email address in your Account Settings. So make sure to set that properly.
Rakuten has also recently added gift cards as a reward option. You can choose from gift cards at top stores, including Grubhub, Ulta Beauty, and more!
What I like about Rakuten is that it has a relatively low payout threshold of $5, which, in my opinion, is very achievable. The only downside is that you will have to wait 3 months to receive the payment, and even more if you choose to receive it via check.
How much money can you make?
If you expect to earn a lot from Rakuten, you might be disappointed, depending on your definition of earning.
Although they do have plenty of cashback options, you won't be able to earn a lot from cashback websites, in my experience.
The good thing, though, is that since they have a lot of cashback offers, there is a good chance you will be able to avail of some of these offers, especially if you shop online frequently.
The main selling point of Rakuten, in my opinion, is not the amount of money you can earn from it but the many cashback opportunities they offer. Since they offer a lot of cashback options, you are bound to take advantage of at least one.
This can be very useful if you like to shop online because it will at least allow you to save a few bucks.
But all in all, the earning potential of Rakuten is relatively low, but it has plenty of deals you can take advantage of.
And it is one of the best cashback sites I have seen, and if you shop online anyway, why not get savings when doing it, because of the many shops Rakuten works with, you will likely find the online shops you use already.
You also receive a significant sign-up bonus ($10 cash bonus), which is a pretty nice head start, in my opinion. To get this bonus, you just have to make purchases through Rakuten for at least $25 within 90 days of joining.
Can you use it on mobile?
A good thing about Rakuten is that it has a mobile app you can download on your mobile device, so you can log in to their dashboard even when you are not in front of your computer.
This makes it much more convenient for you since, nowadays, online shopping can be easily done on a mobile device, so you don't have to sit in front of a computer to find the deals on the site.
There are also app-only deals that drop weekly, so installing the app will benefit you because you can gain access to certain deals that are not available if you log in to the site on a computer.
The mobile app is available in both the Android and iOS app stores.
Who can join Rakuten?
In theory, anybody can join Rakuten. Regardless of where you live, you can register as a member (and pretty easily, I might add).
You can register as a member using your Google or Facebook account. You can also register the old-fashioned way, which is by providing your email address and password.
In reality, though, if you live outside the US, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, and Japan, registering on the site would be pretty useless since the opportunities are more or less only for the countries mentioned above.
Overall, as long as you are eligible to join, it is very easy to get started if you decide to give it a go.
Can you get support?
If you want to get in touch with their support team, you can do so by using the contact form they've provided on their site.
They have also provided a comprehensive set of help topics (as you can see from the photo above on the left side of the contact form) to help you if you have any questions about the site.
And if you ever need to contact them, they do reply pretty quickly (based on my experience), which is a good sign.
I have been in contact with them a few times myself with some questions I had when I first joined, and they replied very quickly and were very helpful.
This shows that they do care about their members.
All in all, they have a very good support system in place for their members.
Final Verdict
Rakuten is a legit cashback site that offers plenty of cashback opportunities for its members. It has some good qualities and a few downsides as well.
But let's finish this review with a summary of its pros and cons to give you an overview of what the site offers. Hopefully, this will help you decide if you should join the site or not.
Pros:
- Plenty of cashback options
- Easy registration process
- Excellent support provided
- Offers a great welcome bonus
Cons:
- Low earning potential (as you save and do not, as such, earn)
- Only has offers for certain countries, even though you can join from all countries
- Slow payout process
The main strength of Rakuten is the volume of cashback options it offers. There are many deals you can take advantage of. You do have to wait 3 months before you can receive payment. This makes it a little less versatile, in my opinion.
Plus, the fact that the offers are only available to residents of the US, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and Japan makes it a less-than-ideal choice if you live elsewhere. So, if you don't live in any of the countries mentioned above, I recommend you check out the top cashback sites instead.
You will be able to find a cashback site that will allow you to receive payment regardless of where you live.
If you have any questions about Rakuten or experiences you would like to share, then feel free to leave a comment below – it would be great to hear from you.
Thanks! But to be more clear, can the rewards I earn from Rakuten’s referral program be also turned into Paypal cash like what I earn from the cash offers?
Yes.
I signed up and it’s not for me but they won’t let me cancel ?
I have not made any sales or anything and want to cancel but I just get ignored by customer support
I do not understand what you mean about not making sales? Rakuten is a cashback site and you do not make any sales there.
Hi had a women contact me wanting me to open up a shop on This platform with her referral code. Should I be alarmed ? Is this a scam ? We are located in Australia ??.
You cannot as such open a shop on Rakuten, so sounds like you should be careful of believing the one that reached out to you.
Hello. I want to add my two cents regarding Rakuten. I have been using Rakuten since 2019 and have always questioned if I am acutally getting my rebates as promised. As of November 2022, I have been making purchases which are linked to Rakuten rebates and have noticed that I have not been receiving my rebates. There a numerous transactions in which I have not received my rebates. I began the inquiry process via the HELP MIssing Cash Back link however the missing rebates are too many to submit one by one.
I contacted customer service, here is their reply:
“For these missing orders, please send along the order confirmation pages (that include an order number, products purchased, order date, and price breakdown showing product total, shipping, tax, and method of payment) so that we can look into this matter for you.
Member Services
Rakuten.com”
I am disappointed that I have to submit documentation for all of my transactions. The whole purpose of using Rakuten is for its simplicity in making a purchase and Rakuten providing the rebate as a purchase is being made.
The fact that I now have to provide documentation to prove I made a purchase so that I can get my rebate is ridiculous. Especially since they are requesting for me to submit each request one by one.
What is the purpose if have a transaction number?
To add insult to injury, all this additional work to get only 3% max rebate?
I will no longer use Rakuten. The additional work is not worth the so call “savings”.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. First of all, I just want to let you know that some of the info you shared in your comment has not been made public due to privacy reasons. But anyway, sorry to hear about your experiences. Unfortunately, I do not really have any good advice. I agree it sounds like terrible customer service and not realistic to provide everything they ask.
I definitely understand you are choosing not to use them anymore. Unfortunately, there is not much else I can say or do.
I bought a Dyson vacuum for approx $1000 dollars & Rakuten was suppose to give me 10% back but did not. I purchased around July of 2022. I’m giving up on getting this money back.
Sorry to hear that. Did you contact their support about this?
Mikael,
I don’t understand your comments. Do you work for Rakuten or is this your site?
I have nothing to do with Rakuten. I have just reviewed it here on my website as I love testing ways to earn online and try to help people whenever they comment or have questions.