I’ve been using ibotta to earn cashback for years and love how easy it is to earn money and generate extra savings on things I’d be buying anyway.

I most often use ibotta when buying groceries at stores like Ralph’s (Kroger Brand Grocery Store), Costco, Trader Joe’s and more. Though you can actually use the phone app to click through and get cashback from mobile purchases as well. I’ve also used them at non-grocery retailers like Buy Buy Baby, 7-Eleven, and Target.

In order to get cashback, you’ll need to activate the offer on your phone, buy it, scan the item’s barcode and then upload the receipt. It’s a bit of a process but once you get the hang of it, it’s not bad and the savings can really add up.

Here are my top tips and tricks for maximizing your earnings!

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Keep Your Eye on Bonuses

In addition to normal earnings, ibotta offers bonuses for when you redeem a certain number of rebates in a time period or several items from a particular brand (or set of brands).

My favorite bonuses usually come in the form of alcohol purchases. I love to try new kinds of wine and often will use the deal that my grocer offers of buy six bottles and get 30% off. If I also buy ibotta brands when I do that, I can save a few extra dollars on the bottles and usually stack them up to make me eligible for a bonus as well.

Check Before You Shop

I scan quickly through the app before heading to the store to see if any of the items on my list happen to be eligible this week. I also have a handful of staples that I always look out for just in case (can you really have enough frozen pizza on hand?!). Just be careful not to fall down the rabbit hole of adding to your list based on what you see in the app.

Be Open To New Brands

Cashback offers from ibotta are often brand-specific, so if you are open to trying a new one, you could have more opportunities to earn. It’s a delicate dance of making sure that the amount you’ll save by using the rebate is really more than buying your typical brand, so be sure the savings are worth it.

Double Dip on Discounts

You can use other coupons on your purchase as well and still get cashback. As long as the item shows on the receipt, you’ll get the ibotta deal. This means that even if you get an offer for a free item through a paper coupon or digital offer from the store or brand, you can still get the cashback and you’ll actually make money on the transaction. Yep, it’s the coolest.

Also keep in mind that if the brand is offering a discount on ibotta’s platform, chances are they are on a marketing streak and other coupons will be available elsewhere. If I find a deal on something I want to buy via ibotta, I immediately check out my grocery store’s app to see if they are offering a discount too.

Look for BOGO and Free Item Offers

Piggybacking on the point above, ibotta occasionally will have an offer for a totally free item or BOGO offer. Keep your eye out for those. It could be worth picking up a new item to try if it means no money out of your pocket.

Don’t Forget Household Items

It’s not just about food on ibotta. They have deals for non-grocery items too. It seems that grocery is their staple but slowly they’ve started to branch out to other household items sold at grocery stores. They also have quite a few deals with other retailers outside of grocers. So if you want to really get into it, check out those offers as well.

Link Your Shop Card

This point only works if your store is partnered with them and sometimes they have issues so be mindful when using this tactic. My grocery store does a deal with them where you can automatically like the offers to your shop card so that you can skip the barcode scan and receipt upload and just get the auto cashback for items you’ve added to your shop card. The system goes down from time to time so just keep your eye on it but it’s a good way to save yourself some time and maximize earnings.

Remember Online Retailers & Phone App Purchases

You don’t have to just shop in-store to get bonuses and earn cashback. Use the app to search for online retailers as well. I’ve used ibotta to make purchases and earn through companies like Grubhub, 1-800flowers.com, and Buy Buy Baby.

You can also use this feature for travel purchases through sites like Orbitz, Hotels.com and the Hotel Tonight app.

Be Mindful of Categories for Mobile Purchasing

Sometimes certain items don’t qualify for cash back – I usually find this is the case with things like diapers/wipes or items purchased with a gift card. Though it’s not aways the case. If you are spending a lot on these items or counting on the cashback for the purchase, just be sure to read the fine print.

Refer Your Friends

Lastly, you can earn bonuses by referring your friends. They want to expand their platform and will incentivize you to help.

If you are new to ibotta, I’d love for you to use my link to sign up!

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Has anyone else used ibotta to earn extra cashback from your purchases? Let us know about your experience in the comments!