Make Spare Change in your Spare Time: My Review of Rakuten and InboxDollars
Earn money in my spare time? Like a Bigfoot sighting, having spare time (and money) could be rare event. Who has it?
Think about time spent waiting at the airport, riding the train into work or how about arriving at your doctor’s office on time for your appointment but having to wait over an hour anyways?
What are you typically doing during this time? Playing games, watching videos or even shopping?
Why not get paid to do some of these activities?
I am not promising millions of dollars but if you are like me and wouldn’t walk past a penny without picking it up (maybe pre-Coronavirus?) – this info is for you.
After doing some research, I found a two sites that I am currently using and wanted to share with you.
Rakuten – Easy Money
Rakuten, formally known as EBates (rhymes with “REBATES”), is a company that offers cash back rewards for on-line shopping.
This isn’t a new concept. My grandma would find rebate offers in the newspaper for different products she would buy from the store. She would spend time cutting the offer from the paper, buying the product from the store, cutting out the UPC from the product packaging which was required to send in with the rebates offer.
Of course, she would spend the time to address the envelope, affix a stamp to it, walk it to the mailbox and wait for the check to come in the mail. She would then take the check, deposit into the bank (this is when I would get the lolipop from the nice Teller). When she had enough, she would save and buy savings bonds. She was a smart cookie.
I did not inherit her patience, but Rakuten allows me to practice the same frugal habits.
I prefer to shop on-line for groceries, hotel reservations, travel stuff and other things that we need. Therefore, it makes sense to receive a cash incentive for purchases we need to make especially when they are retailers we already use like Petco, Amazon and Target.
Given the current pandemic situation, some of us are using these on-lines services more than normal and now is no time to leave money on the table.
How it Works:
By clicking on the links that Rakuten provides (also known as affiliate marketing), they receive a percentage of that “sale” in which they will share a portion with me. You are probably clicking on affiliate links all the time and not realizing that people are earning money through your purchases.
Rakuten was just brilliant enough to offer an incentive for using their affiliate links.
Why didn’t I think of this??
Tip: On top of earning cash back for everyday purchases, if you use a credit card that also offers cash back or travel rewards, the savings can become significant.
How to Get Started:
1. Start by signing up using my Rakuten referral link (see what I did there?)
By doing this, I get $ after you get $ – like pimping you out except legally and less invasive.
You can use your email address, Google or Facebook account to sign up.
Side note: I don’t use my main email account for InboxDollars since I always fear a lot of spam which I have not encountered yet, but just in case.
2.Complete your profile and be sure to set up your “Account Settings”. After that, choose how you want to be paid (via PayPal, check or American Express Rewards).
3.Search for your favorite products or stores to find the best cashback deal which range from 2% up to 20%.
*Be sure to check out the links under “Hot Deals”.
As an alternative to searching, you can install a Chrome or Firefox browser extension which is what I use so that I don’t have to make an extra effort to search for the store or product to see if they are a Rakuten participant.
The browser extension alert will pop up in the top right corner of my browser to let me know a deal is available and I can either activate it or decline.
I earned $5.13 in January for simply buying groceries. This may not sound like a lot but why leave free money on the table?
InboxDollars – OnLine Rewards Club – More Money
I’ve tried a few sites that offer payment for taking surveys, providing product feedback and for watching videos and InboxDollars is the easiest to use and is actually kinda fun.
They offer various ways to earn such as “Scratch & Win” tickets, answering trivia questions and even sometimes just playing a game. Who knew Mahjongg was so much fun???
You can even get paid for watching, or in my case, playing videos for background noise while I am working.
Payments range from pennies to dollars and sometimes over $20 bucks if you sign up for specific services. I recently signed up for StashInvest.Com which is an on-line savings and investment app and received $20.
How it Works:
Similar to Rakuten, InboxDollars earns their revenue by driving potential consumers to different products and services. There are also companies who need feedback either by collecting it through surveys or product samples. They pay InboxDollars who in turn, share a portion with you. Recently, I earned $1.25 by watching an ad and providing feedback.
How to Get Started:
1.Sign up! Please use my invitation link: InboxDollars.
2.Complete your full profile especially the interests and household section. This way you are matched to surveys that are within your demographic.
3.Get familiar with the site and figure out your favorite activities so you can start earning! Personally, my least favorite activities are the surveys but they can be big earners.
Super easy. If you are using other sites and recommend them, let us know by submitting a comment below!