Mr. Rebates
Free
Strengths
- Partners with over 2,000 merchants for discounts on shopping, travel, and more
- Several payout options
- Low payout threshold ($10 minimum)
- Attractive referral program
Weaknesses
- 90-day wait before your first payout
- No alternative earning options (such as taking surveys) outside of the referral program
Mr. Rebates is a cashback shopping portal that gives you cash back on your online shopping. They partner with over 2,000 stores to get you cashback when you shop at those stores through your Mr. Rebates online account.
Mr. Rebates gives you cashback when you shop through their portal. Simply go to their website, click on the retailer you’d like to shop with, and then shop as normal on the retailer’s website. You can then request your cashback and receive it via PayPal, check, or gift card.
Table of Contents
How Does Mr. Rebates Work?
Using Mr. Rebates is fairly easy. You start by registering for a free account. Once you’re registered with Mr. Rebates you have to be sure you’re logged in before you start shopping.
If you’re logged in, your email address will show in the upper right-hand corner.
After you’ve signed up and are logged in, you can begin shopping online at your favorite stores. Just click on the link to the store you want to shop at via the Mr. Rebates site. When you’ve added the items you want to purchase to your cart, just check out as directed.
The amount of the cashback rebate you’ll receive is equal to the percentage noted in the Mr. Rebates link box.
Note that you must click on the Mr. Rebates store link, shop, and complete your purchase through that same click-through if you want to receive your cash back rebate. If you don’t complete your purchase in that same session, you won’t get your rebate.
If, for some reason, you need to end your session before you complete your purchase, leave the Mr. Rebates site and start a new session with a new click-through when you’re ready to make your purchase.
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Mr. Rebates App
If you prefer to shop on your phone you can download the Mr. Rebates app and get all same functionality as the website. Including shopping, requesting your cash back, and managing your profile.
Getting Your Cash Back
Getting the money you’ve earned via shopping through Mr. Rebates is easy. After you’ve earned the set minimum of $10 in cash rebates with Mr. Rebates, you have the option to get your cashback.
You can choose from three different ways of receiving your cash rebate:
- A deposit to your PayPal account
- Your choice of gift cards from the Mr. Rebates site
- A check mailed to your address on file (if you live in the US or Canada)
It’s important to note that new users will have to wait 90 days from account opening before they can request their first payout.
After you’ve received your first payout, payments are processed at the beginning of the month following the month in which you’ve requested your cashback. So, if you request your cashback in September, your cashback request will be processed the first business day in October.
What Stores Does Mr. Rebates Partner With?
While it’s not feasible to list all 2,000+ stores that Mr. Rebates partners with here, we can list some of Mr. Rebates more popular partner merchants. Note that this information is subject to change.
- Nike
- Home Depot
- Aeropostale
- PETCO
- MAC Cosmetics
- Radisson Hotels
- shopDisney
- Dick’s Sporting Goods
There are even small discounts at Amazon and Sam’s Club. Unfortunately, big box stores Walmart and Target don’t give cashback when you purchase online through Mr. Rebates as of this writing.
However, you may find coupons on the Mr. Rebates site for Walmart and Target.
Start earning cashback Mr. Rebates
How Does Mr. Rebates Make Money?
So, it seems quite generous of Mr. Rebates to give you money just for shopping through the company’s online portal. You might wonder what’s in it for the folks at Mr. Rebates.
Quite simply, it’s a win-win. As is posted on the Mr. Rebates website, stores give Mr. Rebates cash when they refer people to shop at those stores. As long as the referred customer makes a purchase, Mr. Rebates gets some money.
Then the company splits that money with you as a reward for shopping through your Mr. Rebates account.
What Else Do I Need to Know?
Well, there are a few other things you need to know about this program before you can make an informed decision about using it.
Shopping Through the Mr. Rebates Site
The first thing to know is that you cannot use Mr. Rebates combined with other cashback programs.
Also, if you want to use coupons in conjunction with Mr. Rebates, there are some stipulations you should be aware of.
- You can use coupons listed on the Mr. Rebates site
- It should work to use coupons displayed on a merchant’s website if you accessed the website through Mr. Rebates
- Merchant coupons sent directly to you don’t usually work with Mr. Rebates
However, Mr. Rebates does encourage you to search the Mr. Rebates sites for coupons before you shop. You may find a coupon similar to the one you received directly from the merchant.
Also, it’s important when shopping on Mr. Rebates to do some price comparisons outside of the Mr. Rebates site. Some users report higher prices for items on cashback shopping sites than they’d normally get without using a cashback shopping site.
Referral Program
Mr. Rebates also has a referral program. Mr. Rebates will give you a referral link that you can share with family and friends after you’ve opened up your own Mr. Rebates account.
Every time you refer a friend to Mr. Rebates, and that friend signs up via the link you sent them and uses the program, you get a bonus equal to 20% of your friend’s rebate.
That 20% referral rebate applies to all of the purchases your referred friend makes via Mr. Rebates. It’s a lifetime earning opportunity for as long as your friend uses the site. This could really add up if you refer a lot of big shoppers to the program.
Gift Card Purchases
Also, it’s important to know that any gift card purchase you make through Mr. Rebates are not eligible for cashback. Only purchases of actual products or services qualify for the cashback bonus.
Start earning cashback Mr. Rebates
Mr. Rebates Pros and Cons
Now that you know the details of the Mr. Rebates program, let’s run through the pros and cons of using Mr. Rebates.
Pros
- Partners with over 2,000 merchants for discounts on shopping, travel, and more
- Several payout options
- Low payout threshold ($10 minimum)
- Attractive referral program
Cons
- 90-day wait before your first payout
- No alternative earning options (such as taking surveys) outside of the referral program
Other than the two mentioned, there are no glaring cons to shopping through Mr. Rebates. It works a lot like similar sites such as Rakuten. However, where Rakuten only pays out quarterly, Mr. Rebates allows you to cash out monthly after you’ve received your first payment.
Conversely, some stores pay out a higher cashback percentage via Rakuten than they do on Mr. Rebates. You may want to check each site for the cashback payout before you shop.
Although you can’t use both sites conjunctively to get a double cashback bonus, you can sign up for accounts at both Rakuten and Mr. Rebates. Then, just choose the site that gives you the largest cashback percentage for the store you want to shop at. Either way, Mr. Rebates is one of the best cashback shopping sites you can use.
(our full reivew of Rakuten has more on that site)
If you’d like to check out other alternatives, here is our list of top cashback rebate sites.
Conclusion
Using a free cashback shopping account like Mr. Rebates can be a great way to save or earn money on online purchases. Mr. Rebates offers cashback of up tp 40% at over 2,000 online stores.
They’ve got an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, and a long-time history of being a reputable cashback shopping site. There’s no sense in paying full price for online shopping items if you don’t have to.
One thing to always keep in mind is to not allow yourself to get carried away with “saving” money via cashback rebates. In other words, use programs like Mr. Rebates for items you’d planned on buying anyway. Don’t buy stuff you don’t really need or want simply for the cashback.
