I Tried Rakuten and Here's What I Think

I used Rakuten to get cash back for my holiday shopping. It wasn't difficult to install or use on my browser. It was about like downloading an app on your phone difficulty wise. From there it did everything relatively automatically. I used it for getting gifts from, Tractor Supply, and Gamestop . I earned a total of $42 between getting cash back and getting cash from a referral. So here's what I learned.

Amazon doesn't allow rakuten to be used on their site.

I know its a huge bummer that you can't use it on the world's largest e-commerce site. The strange thing is they used to allow it. The only thing I can figure is someone else gave them a better deal than Rakuten.

Some non participating sites give you 1%

If it isn't one of their advertised sites you will still likely get 1% cashback anyway. There are some exceptions but not many.

You can make a lot of money referring people.

Husband and I combined made 80$ just for me referring him. Note however, they typically only give 20$ a referral but its 20$ more than you had! Link if you want to try it.

You can get cash back for subscriptions

I didn't use this but it is an option that can be beneficial. One cool thing is you can get this cashback for signing up for cable services.

You can't double up on browser extensions.

This means no you can't use Honey and Rakuten at the same time so if you use multiple money saving extensions pick what will save you the most. I had to make this choice for my most recent Ulta order and Rakuten lost the battle. This isn't always the case though just do your math and find your better deal.

You can connect your debit card!

If you prefer to shop in person you can connect your debit card to get cash back for in store purchases as well. You won't get it for every store but it's definitely worth your time to set up.

Final Thoughts

I personally think it's worth your time to set up on your laptop or phone and use it on most sites and stores. There is a fair amount of money to be made and it's free to sign up. If you want to set up an account and try it use my link and it will give you cash back. The amount will vary but right now it's $25.