Kelly Miles, a 33-year-old mother of two, has found a method to earn additional money by organizing group travel for her friends. By strategically using cashback websites for her online purchases, Miles has accumulated over £1,000 in the past two years.
Cashback services offer a financial incentive, typically a percentage of the purchase price or a fixed amount, for customers who make purchases through their platform. Websites like Rakuten and TopCashback partner with retailers, and when a customer clicks through their link to make a purchase, they receive a portion of the fee the website earns from the retailer. This percentage usually ranges from 3% to 8%.
Miles, a manager at Citizens Advice, primarily leverages these sites for larger bookings, such as group holidays. She states that her biggest financial gains come from these group arrangements. She has previously booked trips to destinations including Majorca, Ibiza, Tenerife, Rhodes, Malaga, and Portugal. Her friends often refer to her booking services as a "fee" for her organizational efforts.
Miles began using cashback sites when she was a single mother seeking ways to make her limited income stretch further. She now consistently takes on the role of lead booker for her trips. The money she earns is saved for a Christmas fund for her two children, aged 10 and 12. A potential drawback, she notes, is that cashback can take several months to appear in her account, but this delay can be advantageous, with summer holiday cashback arriving just in time for Christmas.
In one instance, Miles booked a package holiday to Tenerife for herself, two friends, and their two children, totaling five people. By using the cashback website Rakuten for the £2,000 trip, which included flights and accommodation, she received a flat rate of £68, approximately 3.4%. Her friends promptly reimbursed her, and the cashback arrived a few months later.
She also applies this strategy to smaller holiday-related purchases. For example, she received £8 cashback on a £70 airport parking fee, an 11.4% return. Additionally, she used GetYourGuide through a cashback site to book a waterpark outing for the group, earning £8 back on a £160 booking. In total, for this trip, she earned £84 in cashback on a spend of £2,230, effectively covering nearly 19% of her personal share of the holiday costs.
Miles emphasizes that this method is a simple way for individuals to maximize their money, especially during times of financial pressure. She suggests that the accumulated cashback can serve as a buffer for emergency funds or future holidays. Data from Rakuten indicates that approximately half of cashback recipients use their rewards for holidays, with 38% putting the money into savings accounts.
Consumers can still shop for the best deals before engaging with a cashback service. For instance, one could use a flight comparison site like Skyscanner and then search for the same flight through a cashback website to secure the booking. Miles has used Trip.com via Rakuten to obtain around 7% cashback on flights.
Beyond holidays, Miles utilizes cashback for other significant expenses. She found a car insurance policy through a comparison site for £250, a considerable saving from her previous provider's £450 quote. By processing the payment via a cashback site, she received £45, resulting in a total saving of £245 on her car insurance.
Cashback websites typically earn a commission from retailers for referring customers. Users receive a portion of this commission. It is important to note that cashback claims can sometimes be denied if the retailer cannot verify the referral from the cashback company, though this is uncommon. Experts advise shoppers to prioritize the best overall deal rather than focusing solely on the cashback amount to avoid potential disappointment.