Rakuten: Cash Back & Deals

I have been a customer of Rakuten since it was eBates, and use them most frequently for Black Friday shopping since that’s when I do most of my online purchases, and since that’s when retailers offer the biggest cash back percentages. However, I have used them a few times for other purchases. Not only have they helped me score some hidden sales, but I have also gotten cash back on rock bottom prices. One of the purchases was on henna for my hair that was out of stock for some reason at all the usual retailers, including Vitacost. Through Rakuten I was able to find my usual Star Botanical organic brand, in stock, and at half the price of the usual price of retailers that were sold out. I was floored! The product was fresh and undamaged, and arrived quickly from the seller. Also, I was recently able to find an expensive fitness item that my son wanted for his birthday for several dollars below both MSRP listed on the manufacturer and big big box store websites, plus get cash back. I can’t always find what I’m shopping for, but when I do, it’s always worth it. I have never had any issues with Rakuten sellers, either. The only small item I wish Rakuten could change: they have a cash back notification for my Mac, but don’t offer that feature for iPhone, so I’m sure I’ve probably missed a few cash back opportunities when I’m shopping from my phone because I forget to check their app. Otherwise, I highly recommend Rakuten for nearly effortless shopping discounts.

Cash back rewards are the best kept secret for helping people find savings where they thought they didn’t have any. This is an amazing app, I highly recommend it to everyone. Thank you Rakuten, I’m very happy with the situation! I only wish more retailers got involved and that the cash back rewards were higher for some retailers, but maybe if more people participate, that could happen. Rakuten is a win-win for everyone! So far no downsides. It does what it says it does. No hidden catches. Just be really careful if you use your mobile phone to pay attention when making sure if something is eligible and that for in store purchases, you have gone through the app first so it records the sale! Its easier if you’re on your desktop or laptop if you have the Rakuten button installed because it will pop up but I missed out the first few times in store and online with purchases on my mobile phone before I realized that part wasn’t automatic (unless it’s dining in or delivery orders I think?) , that you have to go through the app to get it. Thanks again!

Things started out great, as usual. I was delighted to QUICKLY earn $50+ dollars on my first check. Second & third checks, however, were less than half that amount. Which was perplexing so I checked things out. Seems there were A LOT of my purchases going “unrewarded”. Therefore, I started updating the data in “MISSING CASH BACK” which is extremely time consuming. They list EVERY time you use the app, even when just browsing, as a potential for “missing cash back”. Plus you need order number and subtotal; both have to be looked up from the actual store you made your purchase from. You can imagine the amount of searching and time it takes to file a submission for each MISSING CASH BACK submission. And we aren’t talking 1 or 2, we are talking 9 - 10 monthly that fail to get rewarded. So after diligently submitting MULTIPLE requests things were moving along, although at a much less satisfying rate than my first check (hmm). Finally, the last straw fell when after my last round of Missing Cash Back submissions were all responded to with the same thing: “ your purchase was not coved!” What gives? I’ve been buying the same things the whole time. I finally gave up, at the urging of my partner, as it’s not worth the .35 cents you get (or not get) for each laboriously completed and submitted MISSING CASH form. The only thing that will be missing from now on is ME- from the Rakuten app!

I’ve been using this app over two years since it was Ebates, it’s legit for the ones thinking it could be a scam. I have saved a lot of money and get some extra from referrals so it is one of my favorites... but... since their change to Rakuten I’ve had a lot of issues about referral bonuses that have been deleted with no reason and their response is always that my friend has another account when it is not true, and it’s exhausting having to make requests every time this happens because my friends think it is not legit. I have had requests for weeks without a satisfactory solution and lately all my friends that had joined with my link disappeared from my referral list. I’ve been waiting for over two weeks for a solution and nothing have happened. Sent again the same request trying to get another agent and quicker response and she said I had to wait for the first ticket to be responded, I understand but two weeks without any clue about what’s happening with my account it’s not a good customer service. Many of my friends already completed the promotion and I still don’t receive my bonuses. It’s very disappointing having to contact the customer service so often because the app is not working well.

Awesome app but sad my account got inactivated. Their terms/conditions don’t specify what you can/can’t for them to be able to inactivate. My account along with two of my Friends accounts got deleted by Rakuten because they though It was “fraud.” When I referred my two friends, all three of us were supposed to receive $40 back. One of my friends didn’t have a PayPal account and didn’t want a paper check through the mail so I helped him link his Rakuten account with my PayPal, and the other friend forgot his password for PayPal so I also helped him link his account with my PayPal so that when they received the $40 cash back, it would fall on my PayPal. Once I received that money I would pay them in cash but Rakuten assumed I was using these accounts to receive this money for myself and all three of us ended up not receiving any money for this misunderstanding so they spend money and didn’t get anything back. It’s not their fault. I read the term and conditions but I didn’t see anywhere that it said I couldn’t link my PayPal on their Rakuten accounts to help. Y’all need to specify on the terms/conditions. Note : I received a response saying to contact customer service and that they were here to help and I contacted y’all but still no response.

Never had an issue with Ebates/Rakuten till now. Within 1 week I had 2 larger shopping trips where, for whatever reason, my Cash Back didn’t get applied to my account, The first time I hit “Missing Cash Back” and filled in all the info. Within seconds my cash back was applied to my account. Cool! Worked great. A week later, I had another large shopping trip never get credited to my account. Thankfully I kept the email I received from Rakuten (the “Congratulations—your shopping trip is complete. Your cash back will be applied to your account within 1 week”. ) email. I again filled out the “Missing Cash Back”, but this time got a response that the cash back would not be credited for possibly one of about 12 different reasons mentioned in the automated email. None of which applied to my order. I responded asking for an EXACT reason my cash back was being denied, as there was absolutely no reason it should have been. I got a response the next day saying they were forwarding my issue off to another level to look at. That was a 5 days ago. Still can not get anyone to respond with a status. I even forwarded them the email I received FROM RAKUTEN telling me the Cash Back would be applied. Nothing. Crickets. If this was a couple bucks I wouldn’t care, but it is $60 worth of cash back. Seems a little too coincidental that this happened on a $60 cash back order vs. a $6 one. Never using them again!

I just tried one more time after leaving and making this review and now I could no longer login at all. It doesn’t let me login because it says I’m inactive. So, I try to join because maybe they had me on Ebates and not this new company. Once I try to join it then says member already exists. So, I guess this app is just a lost cause now. I usually make large purchases and if there’s so many problems before even shopping then that’s not a good sign for me to trust them with such large transactions. What a shame, I enjoyed it when it lasted! Goodbye Rakuten! Last review: I used to love this app and couldn’t imaging shopping without using it. I couldn’t but to recommend others because that’s how amazing it used to be. Now, it’s just a freezing mess. As soon as I open the app I’m logged in then I select a store and it’ll ask me to re-login (why login again?? -*shrugs unnecessary) . I’ll try to re-login and it just freezes every time. I’ll close the app and try again. Still the same issue!!! Okay something has got to give! I also have missing money that I was supposed to receive the last quarter but ever since they switched companies it seems to have disappeared. There used to be proof there and suddenly it said $0. So, all around I’m very upset. I’m not giving a 1 star because I’m hoping the bugs and issues will get fixed. Also, once upon a time this was my fav app. Please fix ASAP! Apparently, there are many others having the same issues. Thanks

My sister referred me to Rakuten several months ago. We were each supposed to get a $40 referral bonus after I made a qualifying purchase. I was busy and wanted to make the purchase sooner than later so I authorized her to log into my account and make the purchase for me. She used her credit card and I paid her back. It is as if I made the purchase. Neither of us ever got our referral bonus (it’s been five months) and both our accounts got suspended for fraudulent activity. Customer service took more than a week to respond (they must have a lot of problems) and was unhelpful. After reaching out a second time the company is still unwilling to reactivate my account, saying a transaction like this is “high level abuse” of their referral program. Now that this retroactive interpretation of abuse has been communicated to me, they still will not reopen my account. If you read the Terms & Conditions, it says they can withhold or cancel any cash back or referral bonuses and their decision is final. You simply can’t trust that Rakuten will fulfill its stated obligations. They could claim anything is abuse (since examples are not exhaustively enumerated in the T&C, and my incident certainly was not) and suspend your account, revoking all the cash back you’ve ever earned. I would recommend BeFrugal as an alternative to Rakuten, as there have been no problems with them and you can earn points on top of cash back.

I can’t help but wonder if this is a scam. I was initially so excited, so I referred 4 people. With each referral and my own referral, the sign up bonus will show up in my account, only to disappear a week or two later. I’ve had to email each time to have it come back. It makes me suspicious about this app, especially since they aren’t very good at responding. I will not refer anyone else until this situation is fixed and I feel assured that this problem is fixed. In fact, until then, I will actively advice AGAINST using this app. Update: Rakuten emailed me to inform me that I can’t have more than one user. I explained I DO NOT have more than one account. I live on a campus of 1,000 people, which is why some of my referrals have the same address as me (which I did include my room number so that shouldn’t matter). They have not responded and are now ignoring all of my attempts to reach out. They are also telling all of my friends on campus that I referred or the one that referred me the same thing. They also explained that these are different households. Rakuten will not respond or follow up their end of the referral process. I am now shopping for a different cash back app that is more cooperative and easier to communicate with (Rakuten ONLY allows email), after which we will all be switching. My advice - go with a different app. This company is dishonest and uncooperative.

If I could give this company negative stars, I would. This company used to be Ebates. I signed up with Ebates in 2016 to see what kind of cash back opportunity they provided. The opportunity seemed “dead” compared to others. I chose a different cashback company and cancelled my membership in 2016. I recently received an invitation for $40 cashback from Rakuten. I was excited to see what cashback opportunity was available. After I signed up and saw the cashback opportunity, I was convinced to use the service. I won’t deny that they have the best cashback deals that I have seen online, thus far. I made some purchases and was credited the cashback and $40 promo. I also couldn’t wait to share the link with others. The next time I opened the app. the $40 had disappeared from my account. My referrals thought Rakuten was not legitimate because of that action. I tried to convince them that it must be a glitch in the system. I contacted customer service and was told that they would not honor the invitation because I had previously opened an account with Ebates in 2016 and closed that account the same year. I asked them to remove my information from their company and deactivate my account if they would not honor the invitation, because I did not feel comfortable with their business practices. As of today, they still have not honored the $40 invitation and have not deactivated my account or removed my personal information from their systems.

I’ve been a loyal Ebates (now Rakuten) customer for the past 4 or so years with a total rebate amount of $2500 or so and have referred others as well. I have also told everyone I know about it. In the past few months, I’ve noticed that while I use this app/site the same amount as I did before, I’m only receiving emails about the shopping trips and the actual money back maybe 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 times I use it. If I look at the log of shopping trips, there are maybe 2 reimbursed out of maybe 6-8. I’m not sure what they’re doing but whatever it is probably isn’t affecting their reimbursements that they get from the merchants. I’ve seen some of their responses on here that tell others with negative experiences to “contact us about missing transactions.” We shouldn’t have to contact them about missing transactions when we’ve used their site to purchase something. They should be doing it as promised and not just applying the rebates when and if people ever contact them about it. That’s shady and I for one don’t have time to do that nor do I have the time to screenshot and keep up with everything. That’s their responsibility. So, unless it changes, I’m probably going to stop using them because at least then there won’t be an expectation from me that I’ll be getting any money back.

So I’ve been using Ebates for 6 years now. This is the first time where I feel like they aren’t what they were. Is it because they are now owned by Rakuten? Around last Thanksgiving, few days before and also on Black Friday I purchased some things from J Crew totaling almost $400. The rebate was 6% - I even have the email Ebates sent me advertising this. Well- one order never came through. I sent them multiple “missing cashback” messages to no avail. And I just noticed the second order, they’re showing I only spent $35 so they are rebating me back $3.50 even though my entire order was $175. The funny thing is Ebates has no problems when the rebate amount is less then $10. In the same month, I bought an area rug for $291 and they had no trouble issuing its rebate of $5. Your business promises that in exchange for us going through your website, you will rebate us a portion of our purchase, the assumption is *everytime*, NOT *sometimes*. Those are the goods you advertised. In exchange, I assume these retail companies are paying you a commission for bringing them more business. I went through Ebates anticipating money back. You didn’t deliver. There’s absolutely no incentive for me to continue shopping through Ebates. The last thing I want to do is lend support to and propagate a business that *selectively* chooses when to fulfill its promise.

So I’ve gotten back around 80$ this year since starting to use Rakuten. After doing some googling this is an app made by one of the largest banks in japan who also do a lot of other things with their money. This app works like Honey but it also gives you a percentage of you’re money back in purchases. I only use it when I’m buying something anyway and it happens to have an option for it but even then it’s been nice to get random cash back and coupons. I recommend using the Firefox browser extension instead of the app because sometimes the cash back is only offered through a browser and not the app which is weird and a little confusing. Other than that it is pretty amazing, if you add a debit card and use it in person at stores offering cash back (specifically in store cash back, confusing at first I know) it will automatically add that to you’re Rakuten account. This is essentiallly selling the same information You would get from a frequent shopper card but you get part of the cash from the sale! Enjoy!

I don’t know what happened to my account. And now I cannot login to my account anymore. I told to my family and friends who had and used Rakuten. They also had the same issue. Now let me tell all customers a true, and this is a real thing just happened to my family and friends. This website is a scammer's website. I have joined and used this site for several years. After that I recommend it to my family and friends. They also registered and used this website. However, when the cash back on their account reached a certain amount, this site started to play rogue. I have just discovered that this website not only freezes my family, friends and my accounts, but also confiscates all the accumulated cash back. When this website obtained personal information such as my family, friends and my email information, name, phone number and address, it began to restrict and freeze the accounts of all people related to me. It turns out that this is the real purpose and marketing means of this site. It deceives us consumers. Now I don't care about the money, I just do my duty to tell the truth because it violates the basic rights of consumers. I show my personal experience to let more consumers no longer be hurt and deceived. Consumers with the same experience can call 311 to report and complain.

Not that I need to do shopping everyday, but I like to see when Rakuten releases new cash back percentages. That makes me want to go visit that website and see what kind of sale they have, and take advantage of both sale and cash back. I do a lot of online shopping that all I need to do it click activate, and they’re doing the hard part for me. Which is, looking for the most up to date coupons and getting cash back. I rave about it to all my friends and family. Sometimes it’s a small percentage given back, but boy do they add up over time! It’s a nice chunk of change in your mailbox every few months. I recently was missing cash back so I reported it. They use an automated messaging system on the app. I normally hate speaking to an automated messaging system because it never understands the questions I ask back. But, this one, was 100% the easiest and most helpful system. It got straight to the point, and was able to track my missing cash back within a couple minutes. I wish all websites/apps were this simple to use!

I agree with the person below me. When I started using Raketun I love it because I do ALOT of online shopping. I had my referral bonus disappear for referring my friend , I got an email that said I received the $30 referral bonus. She even got a check with the $30 bonus. But it disappeared from my account. Customer service said the same thing, the person has another account... not true. And some other excuses I got as well. But I have copies of the emails from Raketun from OCTOBER where it says I earned the $30 for referring someone , then it just disappears from my account. And in OCTOBER my friend even got her check with the 30$ for me referring her. This makes people I refer think it’s a scam. Because it doesn’t make sense and customer service just gives me Excuses every time I inquire about it.. so I just gave up on it. I wish I could give it 5 stars , that is my only issue ... and it’s quite a big issue if you ask me.

I referred 2 people at which time they were offering $40 per referral, both of which made the required purchases. The first referral I made showed up on my account as completed and my account showed the $40 and the second referral showed pending even thought that person completed her required purchase. She received email indicating she was going to get $40 because she met the required purchase. When I questioned why it was showing pending they said they didn’t recognize the email which was the same email she received information back from them, indicating that she met the requirements and would be getting the $40. Next thing I noticed they removed both my completed referral payment of $40 and the pending $40. I didn’t send a message indicating that I lost that first referral payment and I didn’t understand why and they said I’m not allowed to have more than one account but I only have one account. now I’m noticing both of those referrals are back on my account showing pending but I have yet to get my money and yet the first person I referred already received her check. I’m so disappointed in this app. It’s obvious that they can give it to you and then take it right back and you have no control over it.

I love this app! I wish people would realize how easy it is to use. Instead of using a store app, you just open this app and go to that store and shop and you can also save with extra promos, coupons and additional cash back. I have made hundreds of dollars with them. It’s also great to walk into some stores and receive cash back for just shopping at certain stores. For In store purchases, be sure to click on each individual store below the “in store” section to add to your account. I know that they use to pay you via check or PayPal. I suppose it is still the same. They my have more ways. Only downside to this app is that they changed their name. It was easier to tell people to go to Ebates but now it’s hard with a name like Rakuten because it is hard for most American people to remember and pronounce. However, the company has done a great job with the commercials teaching people to pronounce their name and become familiarized with their app and company!

I’m not one to usually write reviews but I am beyond fed up. I’ve used Rakuten for a few years and it started off great. However in the last year or so, I’ve noticed that my some of my purchases don’t end up registering despite me activating it. There’s also been times where the cash back I earned will disappear. I don’t shop a ton but the percentage of times stuff like this happens is pretty high. All of this results in me having to spend a lot more time babysitting my cash back and having to constantly chase after it. Most of the time I’ve been able to clear things up but other times I just give it up because it’s more trouble than it’s worth. it’s absolutely absurd how often this happens. By the looks of the reviews this has been a common occurrence for years which makes it seem like they have done little to remedy this. It absolutely should not have to be the customer’s responsibility to keep track of their mistakes. P.s. to whoever from the company is responding to all the reviews: please don’t give me the generic response of asking me to contact you. I’ve literally brought all of this up to you all every time I’ve had to chase after my cash back

I’ve been using e-bates for several years now after being turned onto it by my mom and sister. I even convinced my boyfriend (now husband). We haven’t made any purchases in a while and just ordered vitamins from The Vitamin Shoppe. My husband has done this before with no problems. This time he was so frustrated trying to use the Rakuten app! I ended up doing it for him and saw why he was so frustrated. The app has changed considerably since we last used it. It used to have very straightforward menus and navigation. Now it’s difficult to find the store you want to shop at. There used to be buttons at the bottom of the screen; one to see shops in alphabetical order or by type, another that listed your favorite shops, etc. This is now gone and has been replaced with a jumble of information. When I finally got to The Vitamin Shoppe site, the app froze up at least four times as I was navigating to the items I wanted to purchase and put them in my cart. I had to close and reopen the app numerous times to make the purchase. Please go back to your straightforward, less busy, less lockup-prone app.

I too was skeptical when my friend shared this app with me. But in just over a year, I’ve earned $150+ just by shopping normally my favorite stores. It couldn’t be easier - open the app, select your favorite store and shop as normal. As long as you use the app to get to your store, the rebates are automatic. Plus, you can still use any coupon codes you may have so you are not leaving anything on the table. I haven’t tried the In-Store shopping function yet, but I will very soon. Payment is by paper check or Paypal, or sometimes you have the opportunity to earn additional cash back if you choose to take payment in the form of a e-gift card to one of your favorite stores. You really can’t lose here! And their Customer Service is top-notch as well. Super quick response time, so resolving issues of missing cash back is a breeze (only happened twice so far, and both times was resolved within 48 hours or less). This is legit. Try it - you’ll be glad you did.

So I had heard about EBATES here and there and thought yeah, right. They’re going to give me cash back for shopping. Sounds like a scam but after some research it’s true! My first check was for about $14 but that’s $14 that I wouldn’t have received if I didn’t go through EBATES. It’s so easy!! (Laughing because I sound like an infomercial) Get the app. Click on it and see the store that you want to shop at or search for the store name if you don’t see it. EBATES sends you automatically to your selected store and also tells you how much percentage of money spent you will receive back. Done! The EBATES app is very easy to use. Finding the store names is a very easy process and so are all the various help/questions & answers sections. I’ve been referring all of my friends and hopefully they will decide to use EBATES too. Of course getting referral cash back would be nice but I truly want them to use EBATES because we can all need a little cash back reward for shopping. Thank you EBATES!

I will never recommend or buy anything from Rakuten again until I received my cash back. I am an old customer of Ebates and now Rakuten. I never have any issue with Ebates. I just recently purchased some items from Gilt City and spent about $2300 and Rakuten offering 15% cash back(about $400) . About 2 or 3 days after I purchased I went back to check for my cash back n it was not there. So I contacted the customer service n they said that I have two accounts, so they merged the two to one account. And Asked me to email them the order numbers and the amount. They said this will fix the problem but I have to allow it a few days. So I did, a week later I still didn’t see my cash back. I contact them once again, I spoke to the customer service and now they said that the order have not clear because it was not shipped out yet. I have to wait until it shipped. And they are not sure if will get the cash back because Thy have to wait for The store to respond back to them. And they tell me to call the store n so I did. Gilt City customer service said they have nothing to do with Rakuten, Rakuten offer the cash back. So, I got pushed back and forth . Now I feel like I have been cheated and Rakuten stole my money.

I don’t know what the catch is. But I’m just mad I didn’t know sooner. I cannot even imagine the amount of money I left on the table!!! All I can think about is where I shopped in the last year and free money was just wasted!!! So much!!! Please note I haven’t been paid yet as in money hasn’t been deposited. I’ve made $25 in less than two weeks and I’ve been tame with the shopping. No work at all. Free money. **One warning - make sure you click on the actual cash back for the particular store that you’re shopping at (either online or in the store)and then the app activates a “shopping trip” and that’s how you get paid so big step to remember. That’s IT! No receipt pictures or downloads or entering anything. You link your credit card and the app tracks what you spend. Instant cash into your account. (I use PayPal) ***Minor annoyance is that I didn’t click and create the shopping trip a few times and missed cash back. Not sure if the cash back could be retroactive and applied or not so I wrote to customer service asking.

I am a huge Ebates/Rakuten fan and have told family & friends about the website and app for years; However, the changes and updates, that have taken place over the past months have stopped my usage of the app almost completely. The changes that occurred months ago, that changed the flow and setup of the stores on the app, made finding information on stores with information on stores offering “in store cash back” hard to locate. In the past, this was an option I chose quite frequently, now it’s difficult to even find where that information is located. However, it is the more recent app “up-dates” that have stopped my app usage. Regardless of my WiFi strength and/or cell phone signal, every-times I’ve tried to complete a shopping transaction, the stores’ website either freezes, refuses to load or stops completely. After months of shopping ‘trips’ that have failed to completely and ended only in a great deal of frustration and where I’ve ended up making our ages elsewhere,I figure it’s not worth my time and effort to use Rakuten’s services anymore. Such a disappointment!

I recently made a fairly big purchase through the app. The Ebates banner was on my top left screen so I knew I was in their system. I spent a good hour filling out all the info on a flower delivery website for an amazing 30% cash back. After all was said and done Ebate’s system didn’t register my transaction. I sent them screen shots with proof of everything in order for them to make it right. No response. So disappointed. ALSO, there were times I clicked on their links to stores to shop through. It doesn’t always work. I would notice that their “Ebates” banner would not be there despite using their “activated” links. I would have to go back and click on them again then cross my fingers that it would work. Ugh Ebates. Ugh. Update: They finally responded and fixed the missing cash back BUT why did this even happen? Thank goodness I had taken screen shots of my transaction details otherwise I would have been out of luck. Again.... make sure that banner is at the top left corner before checking out and be sure to make it quick because apparently the system kicks you out after a bit. And the biggest tip ... take a screen shot of your receipts/transactions. -_-

I joined Rakuten using a friend's referral link and made a qualifying first purchase. The time for my payment came around but suddenly my balance had disappeared and showed $0 instead of the $30 I had earned. It required numerous emails to Rakuten support, in which two different people were replying to me. The first person replying kept telling me I would not get a payment for three months and also that it would only be $5. The second person replying told me that I would be getting the $30 in 5 days. These conflicting answers combined with the amount of time and effort it took to finally resolve the issue left me with zero confidence to do any further business with Rakuten. From reading other reviews here, I’m sad to see that my experience is not unique. You should have a much more organized and consistent business model as well as better trained customer service representatives. I will be sure to warn everyone I know not to bother with Rakuten as the hassle is not worth what you may or may not get. If one person reads this and avoids this company then my experience was worth it to save the next person from going through what I did.

I have found that the cash back promotions are not always transparent, especially the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Most recent example- there’s a promotion for 15% cash back on beauty deals on Groupon. When you click the link to activate the deal, it takes you to Groupon which then displays deals under that category. I purchased 2 deals; however, when I checked my account, the cash back was missing. I went back to read fine details and didn’t find any mention, so I reached out to Rakuten and each time was told that my purchase did not qualify. I inquired where on their site is that information displayed (so I know for future purchases too); unfortunately, I received the same response from their customer service- that my purchase does not qualify. Just keep this in mind if you’re enticed by the high cash back rate advertised— and even after checking the fine print— you may still not get the cash back as advertised. I’m disappointed that their customer service was not able to provide additional support regarding this issue.

This is a great app! I’ve never experienced an issue, and whether I’m looking for just one particular product, or one of the thousands of stores E-bates partners with, I’ve always been able to find what I’m looking for with ease! If a store isn’t a participant, they’ll let you know, and some stores participate sometimes, and sometimes they don’t, so you should always check E-bates before ordering from any store on-line. You might be able to get up to 15% back on your purchase! I regularly recommend this app to anyone I talk with that doesn’t yet have, or use it, but so far I don’t think I’ve received any bonus money for my recommendations. That may be due to the people either not using my link, or waiting, researching, then just downloading on their own. It would be nice if everyone would use the link I send them, but I’m only in charge of me, so..... Otherwise, I’m 110% thrilled with E-bates!

Generally Rakuten works well, but you better hope you never have an issue, because you’ll never get it resolved. Customer service is wildly incompetent at best, and at entirely unresponsive at worst. I made a purchase over a week ago where I was promised 20% cash back, but was only credited about 1.5%. I immediately went into the app to try to email customer service, which was impossible to do because they hide the option very well. Once I was actually able to do it, I waited several days for someone to ask me what the problem was. I explained it very clearly and even provided screenshots of the issue, and their response was “you’ve already been credited.” I had to explain AGAIN in very simple terms that yes, I had been credited, but in the wrong amount. That was four days ago and I’ve yet to hear back despite a follow-up email. The only reason I bothered to make the purchase in question through Rakuten was because of the 20% cash back offer. If I had known they would stiff me and ignore my attempts to resolve, I would have used one of several other, more reliable cash back apps.

I have been with them since Ebates. I have noticed that the customer service has become poor. I can NEVER speak with anyone lately, monies missing a lot or amounts added are lower than the percentages for that date. So I take pictures of the percentages at purchase… it’s unfortunate that I have to do that but it’s also unfortunate that I actually have to use the photos to send them each time my amounts are low. I had money “purposely” removed after complaining about missing money! And again have to contact them about more missing money! When I make larger purchases ie purchase for a washer and dryer over $3000 and was supposed to receive over $300. There’s an excuse for not receiving it or over $5000 for a trip and is supposed to receive over $500 for flight, hotel and car rental… the excuses is “that the merchant has not confirmed” so for that reason Ebates or Rakuten refuses to pay! THAT IS NOT RIGHT OR PROFESSIONAL… especially when now you have commercials advertising how you pay… also I’ve referred several people and yet to be paid!!!!

I was excited to be able to “earn” money back on items that I needed (or maybe wanted) to purchase. Sadly, more often than not most of “shopping trips” were lost. Many still showed up but I had to contact them and have them look into what happened. I was having to keep a ledger of the items, stores, dates, shopping trip numbers and whether I received credit for it. You couldn’t contact them too soon because some stores take much longer to give the necessary info before they can credit your account. Basically, it is very easy to forget about some of them, especially when you only have access to view your shopping trips for a limited amount of time. Then I’ve come to learn that sometimes the store feels that it doesn’t fit their requirements so they don’t approve it! I make sure to read all the fine print and bought within the guidelines and nothing. I was told, it’s the company’s doing. I wouldn’t waste too much time or expect to get a lot of money back from this company.

I used to be a devoted Ebates evangelist. I made hundreds in cash back christmas shopping and found using the app easy and worth the slightly more labor intensive shopping online. Since the switch to Rakuten I have had NOTHING but issues. The app never works to finalize orders, always error codes and because the transactions get past the point where the CC is run the pending charge hangs in my account despite me needing to exit the app, log into the sellers site directly and complete my order, losing the cash back incentive. Besides not earning a penny since the switch, my ebates, now rakuten credit card has also become a complete headache. Snafus with payments not registering, causing late fees and subsequent calla to customer service whose explanations for the errors are not only ludicrous (“your late fee was removed due to our error but it was added to your minimum payment due” ...what??) but I was hung up on after my last call disputing another billing error. I’m done with rakuten, it makes me so sad - Ebates was awesome, easy and never felt like a scam. Rakuten is a racket and I’m onto it now. Paying off the cc and calling it a day. Waste of my time and energy with zero payoff.

I wasn’t sure what to think about Rakuten at first; but I figured it’s absolutely worth a shot. Especially when it’s for free and no work involved. I honestly thought it had to be to good to be true. That it might be great for others, maybe for those who spend 1000’s online..unlike myself. But BOY WAS I WRONG. I Just open Rakuten, find the store I want to shop. I love that it clearly states what percentage I’ll get back, & opens the store’s website or App. Then I simply shop and check out as usual. That’s it! And i get a percentage of my money back. I love getting a my “big fat check” straight to my PayPal! My most recent check was over $90! Just for buying things my family uses anyway. Clothes to toiletries, Medical supplies Gifts to meal plans and everything in between. Even on takeout orders and trips. I just can’t say enough if you don’t have Rakuten, get it you won’t be sorry!

I've only been using EBATES for about 2 months & have already earned lots of $$ on what I would buy anyways. The deals are constantly being rotated/updated. I'm not one to just buy things because they're on sale, as I don't think your saving much if you're spending more just because you can. With such a wide variety of participating retailers, I've been introduced to many places/products I may not have been aware of otherwise. I needed almost a whole new wardrobe (lost a few sizes) & thanks to these great deals/cash back, I've been able to accomplish this quickly. My friends are always asking where I found such stylish pieces & can't believe the savings! EBATES has also made it possible to give much better gifts & surround myself with great quality furnishings for my home, pets, car, etc. LOVE earning cash back just for buying what I need anyways (even groceries) & being able to afford to do it in a more timely manner. LOVING EBATES!!

I saw the commercials for this app a couple years ago, to be honest I thought there had to be a catch, some fee or charge or anything negative... but I downloaded it anyway, didn’t hurt to check. Wow, BOY OH BOY, am I glad I did. It’s LITERALLY FREE MONEY! I swear you just go into the app, see if a store you’re already purchasing from is on there and then just click shop and do your normal online shopping and wake up and BAM , money back. Sometimes it’s little like .10 cents but sometimes it’s big like 10 dollars. With all the online shopping people do these days you might as well see if you could be earning money back for shopping there! So far I’ve gotten over 400 DOLLARS CASH BACK! Whaaa! Insane! Think about that. I would have bought all that stuff anyway, but now I have 400 in my account I wouldn’t have had before! THANK YOU RAKUTEN FOR EXISTING, I LOVE YOU & I tell everyone about you! I’m a forever customer xx

I am also one of those people who have used this app since it was Ebates and as long as it exists, I will continue using it! I moved in with my parents six years ago to take care of them and after about six months my dad started showing signs of dementia. Soon, our lives revolved around his care and we did everything possible to keep him at home. Saving as much money as possible was critical in us being able to do just that! He passed in June. Ebates/Rakuten was and will continue to be an important tool i use in helping me save money and maximize my mother’s modest Social Security and pension, combined with my social security. I am constantly trying to maximize any amount of savings I can find using specific credit cards to buy specific items and I’m so glad to have Rakuten as another weapon in my arsenal. Thank you for your help!

This app it terrible if you have any problems. It is totally unhelpful. Edit: the below reply is misleading. Rakuten advertises phone, email, and online chat as customer service options. The phone line is unmanned and the online chat is an automated bot only. While they may answer e-mails 24/7, it took 5 days to get an initial response. That response was a copy/paste link to marketing materials on their website. After that, it was another 2 days to get another unhelpful response. All that is to say, this app is 100% unhelpful if you have a problem. You have to go through e-mail. Further, the app does not retain records of referral bonuses that have been applied and once visible in the app if Rakuten decides to take them away from you. That is important because if Rakuten takes a referral bonus away, they require the referred person, not me, to contact them to clear up the issue. However, they will not tell you who the referred person is because of their “privacy policy.” If the app retained info on removed referral bonuses, I could do that. But since the info is no longer there I cannot.

I’m updating my positive review to gripe about the app change that immediately launches to each store instead of simply opening the deal page and showing the T&C of cash back. Yes, they are displayed before hitting “OK” and continuing to the site, but sometimes I have a choice of merchants and want to see the best offer amongst them (without being taken to the site). Once I see the offers then I can launch the store’s app if I wish. This causes extra navigation and is aggravating. I’ve been using Rakuten for a couple years, sometimes more than others. All offers have qualifying criteria easily available and cash back posts quickly from most vendors. Rebates paid promptly each quarter. I contacted CS once about an offer and the replies and prompt and helpful. This is one of the first and the largest clearinghouse of rebates and it may not pay as much as other apps, but I learned my lesson after buying a high ticket item with a competitor and due to purposely-restrictive rules, I never received the cash.

I just started using Rakuten, and while it’s a little annoying in a browser on a computer, it’s worth it. But today through the app, I wanted to take advantage of 4% back even on top of NYX’s 30% off sale. Maybe other websites perform better with it, and it certainly wouldn’t be as bad if you were making a small purchase, but I bought a lot and everything took an obscene amount of time to load. With cosmetics, 3/4 of your time is spent clicking on and looking at various shades, and when it takes 15 seconds for each of those to load, the wasted time adds up very quickly. The app also froze on me three times, forcing me to (slowly) log back in to my NYX account each time. I would have given one star, but we all love free money, and I like the fact that unlike, say, Ibotta, there’s a minimum blanket percentage back at the quite wide variety of stores that participate. In summary, it seems like a good service, but try and do your shopping on an actual computer unless you’re a fan of watching paint dry or similar activities.

Earlier this year I started using Ebates. It was going great and I got several of my family members using it. Since the switch to Rakuten I have had several issues. First it kept asking me to confirm my account for security reasons. No problem, I had to do that before and there were no issues. But this time it will have me confirm my account, but as soon as I click the account button, it will ask me to confirm it again (even when it was just confirmed). When it does let my account work, all of my cash back has disappeared (and on my next check I was supposed to receive over $60). I finally decided to sign out and sign back in. It keeps telling me I have the wrong password (I have it saved and update them if I do change it, so it shouldn’t be wrong), and when I requested a password change email, it wouldn’t send (I checked junk folders too). I have requested the email several times and it still hasn’t come. I never had any of these issues when it was still branded Ebates, and they only started once it was branded Rakuten.

I used to love this shopping app when it was Ebates and I never shopped without using the app but now that it transitioned to Rakuten the app is horrible. Whenever I shop online I always use PayPal as my method of payment and have never had any problems until the recent change. I log into a store, then choose PayPal as my method of payment, and then “Cannot connect to merchant” pops up so I log out of Rakuten, log back into my preferred store, choose PayPal as my method of payment and my purchase actually goes through but unfortunately it doesn’t go through Rakuten so no rewards back to me. I have noticed this happens every time Rakuten offers double cash back, my purchases never connect to the merchant. I am so tired of the frustration of logging in and shopping only to have to redo everything so my transactions can go through. I have decided to delete my Rakuten app and I’m now looking on the App Store for another savings/rewards app. I used to refer everyone I talked to but now I wouldn’t recommend this app due to the frustrations I have.

To start, I have used Rakuten for few years now and I have recommended them to at least 100+ people. Unfortunately as of late they have been adjusting and lower their advertised promotion percentage before payments. I have had specifically problem with purchases on Samsung store on their website. I have purchased major appliances including fridge, dishwasher and so on, on Ratuken. The last two items, dishwasher and bespoke vacuume, I purchase had 10% and 12% promotion cash back. I was awarded the right amount but right before the ch could being sent out they were changed to 3%. Contacted their support and was told their payment was approved and paid but not addressing the last minute lowering of the %. To me that’s misrepresentation. As usual once these companies get their name out they start cutting corners. Ratuken would have got 5 star as long as they fixed the issue but they completely misrepresent Be aware you may not get what you were promised.

This app is a SCAM!!!! Do NOT download it! They told me if I made a purchase of $30 I would receive $30! I never received the $30. Then they said if you refer someone you get another $30, once again I never received my second $30 after referring my mother. When I confronted them about the issue they claimed that I was being fraudulent because my mother made her own account as my referral but they claim I made the account just to scam them for a referral bonus which is FALSE and they deactivated my account therefore taking away all of the money I was supposed to receive from making several purchases on their app. They’re very rude and will do anything they can not to pay you! I did NOT scam them, I did NOT make a purchase on a separate account just to receive a referral bonus. My mom also made a purchase on her app and they deactivated her account too so she also lost the money she accumulated from her own purchases as well. I regret referring her because now she lost money. Absolutely horrible customer service! Don’t waste your time or money on the false lies.

I’ve received a few good checks from shopping on here. I do forget to go through the app first and then I wanna kick myself bc the cash back was good. Anyway the past few months I have been shopping through the app first and Macy’s has been 10% cash back a few times. Especially after thanksgiving. Every single shopping trip they did not acknowledge my 10% cash back. One trip they said I didn’t shop and gave me 0 when I did shop ! They should link our accounts like Ibotta does so we don’t miss any Cash back ! I have all proof of my shopping trips with 10% cash back and they still say no. Lol. It’s unfair. Unless they change and give us what we deserve they will lose me and I brag about them to everyone! Not anymore unfortunately. My last few shopping trips were not through them but through Ibotta. They give cash or gift cards. I already made $80 in a few months. Please change Rakuten it’s really not cool what is happening, not cool at all. :(

Love the concept and it’s pretty darn good in practice. The only things - sometimes the browser interface doesn’t work correctly with the store’s web site so I try to get everything I need in the cart and then open in Rakuten, but when I forget, then I lose $. Other day, chose a florist, app was being wonky, so went to Safari to get everything into cart, only to forget to go back to Rakuten to make the purchase. - Lost $6. Also, my mom hooked me up by talking this app up and sending me the referral and all that. I finally looked… mom is always right! But she never got the $30 referral credit even though I used the link… think it might’ve been bc I used Apple sign in, not my email address. But then cx service never responded to my request to resolve it. Which stinks for mom. I easily see a 5-star rating in the future though with improvements I’ve seen in even the past couple weeks.

I've been using Rakuten for years (every since they were Ebates) recently I did the refer people to get $40, they signed up for me and they spent $40 so I got $40 but then like a week later I checked my account and Rakuten took away my $120 (I referred 3 people in December 2020). Later, I refered 2 more people when it went down to $20 per referal and I got my $40 but they also took that $40 away from me, they took my money AGAIN! What's the point of the referrals if you're not going to give people their money? A lot of people are having this issue with not getting paid, I'm tired of it. I will no longer be using Rakuten, I feel like I got scammed just to sign new people up!! Plus, they have changed so much. They've dropped a lot of stores and you barely get money back now because a lot of products no longer "qualify" for money back. You could spent $200 and only get $0.07 cents back. It's not worth it at all. It's a waste of time and I'm going to be closing my account after all of these wasted years. They seem like scammers now.

I waited and waited for my “Big Quarterly Check” and never received. This went on for over a year. Every quarter I would check. No check, no bank deposit, no paypal deposit. I contacted company: it was a “whoops, you are correct So sorry. We will correct. We will send you instructions.” The instructions: make a spreadsheet identifying each item (not total purchased), price of item (exclude shipping fee), date of purchase, store AND how it was paid: check, debit, store credit card, visa, master card. And don’t forget to include the date RECEIVED! I don’t keep a spreadsheet of every purchase I make in a year. Sometimes it is dog treats on Ebay! Yes, I could list the HUNDREDS of items I have purchased during a two-three period from my most frequent stores, but not all. But how I paid for a container of honey from Ebay, how I paid for multiple items from JC Penny, Overstock and multiple others, I would be retrieving and printing hundreds of pages -as I would need to print the entire statement for every month for every financial source I have had and then start extracting transaction data.

I agree w the Cloudryer review. Ebates has become user un-friendly since they switched their name to Rakuten. We don’t get the refunds on purchases consistently and it’s too much trouble to write and ask for a rebate when it’s over a few dollars. Def don’t use it as much anymore, not worth the hassle (& the rebates are very low for the work involved). We used to purposely go through Ebates every time we booked a room through Hilton Honors (not expecting anything anymore) and only once did we get any credit (we have long stays and pay a lot for our stay, a big reason to use Rakuten). The one time we ended up getting cash back was only after we went through a long and hectic process having to prove all over again to that we went through them, stayed at the hotel, and paid in full.

Their customer service is the worst. I referred a few friends for their referral reward and my friend and I met the qualifications and did not receive anything. When we tried reaching out for help they first told us she did not qualify. After reviewing her purchase they ended up giving us our $30 but took it back the next day. When I asked what had occurred, they accused me of making multiple accounts to receive the $30. I referred my mom, my boyfriend and my sister. I thought the point of referring people was for your friends and family to enjoy the app as well, especially right now during the Christmas shopping. If they do not want to reward the people for the program they advertise, what’s the point of advertising the reward? Now they’re just ignoring my emails, and I’m also missing cash back from shopping. I’ve read the reviews and noticed that they’re doing the same to everyone else. Horrible customer service. There’s another app that has better cash back deals, use that one instead.