How to Earn Cash Back on Travel, Shopping & More with Rakuten

It’s hard to beat the simple things in life—reading a good book, watching the sun rise or earning rewards on Rakuten.

And nothing beats Rakuten when it comes to simplicity.

Rakuten is one of the many tools you can use to earn additional cash back or Membership Rewards points on top of your normal credit card point multipliers.

Sign up for a Rakuten account, link a credit card and begin shopping—earning extra rewards couldn’t be easier.

Let’s take a look at tips on how to use Rakuten to maximize cash back, how to use Rakuten to earn Membership Rewards points and how it stacks up against other online shopping portals.

Rakuten: A Brief Overview

Previously known as Ebates, Rakuten is an online shopping portal that offers cash back and shopping rewards with over 3,500 stores.

You’ll find well-known participating brands such as Apple, Under Armour and Dell Technologies, as well as airlines and hotels, including Marriott, IHG, British Airways, Etithad and many more.

By shopping at these merchants via the Rakuten portal, you’ll be eligible to earn bonus cashback rewards or even Amex Membership Rewards points if you opt-in. If you combine this with a lucrative rewards rate on a travel rewards card, you can double-dip in your earnings.

This makes using Rakuten an easy way to earn extra cash back or Membership Rewards points every time you make an online, in-store or in-app purchase. If you do this frequently enough, Rakuten rewards can add up to big redemption opportunities.

Rakuten is one of the few things in life that really is as good as it sounds. Rakuten earns a commission for advertising merchants on their site, the merchants benefit from your purchases and you earn cashback rewards in return. It’s a triple-win situation.

Getting Started with Rakuten: A Step-by-Step Guide

Here’s a step-by-step guide for how to use Rakuten.

1. Visit Rakuten.com

You’ll want to begin by going to Rakuten.com. Here you’ll need to start by creating an account.

2.  Choose How to Create Your Account

You can choose how you go about creating an account. Rakuten gives you the option to sign up with Google, Facebook, Apple or using your email address.

If you’ve been referred by a friend, you can enter their email address while signing up. This will enable them to receive a referral bonus once you sign up and spend at least $30 on purchases through Rakuten.

3.  Enable Cookies

For Rakuten to work, it’s essential to enable cookies in your browser.

This will allow Rakuten to track your spending via their shopping portal.

No cookies, no cash back.

4.  Begin Shopping with Rakuten

Every time you want to make an online purchase, you’ll need to go through Rakuten to be eligible for cashback rewards.

Simply find the merchant you’re looking for on Rakuten and visit their website through Rakuten’s shopping portal.

Once you make a purchase, you’ll earn cash back.

5.  Install the Rakuten Cash Back Button browser extension

To make shopping even easier, you can install the Rakuten Cash Back Button browser extension.

This allows you to visit the merchant’s website directly without having to go through Rakuten’s shopping portal first. If there’s a cashback offer, the Rakuten Cash Back Button will let you know automatically. You can then activate cash back on your purchase.

The Cash Back Button is available for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.

Once installed, you’ll find the Cash Back Button icon in your toolbar. The Rakuten Button extension is color-coded as follows to make finding cashback rewards even easier:

• Purple means that the merchant doesn’t offer cash back with Rakuten.
• Red means that cash back is available but not yet activated. Select the icon in your toolbar and opt to activate cash back.
• Blue means you’ve activated cash back.

The Cash Back Button will also provide you with automatic updates on the lowest price offerings for the product you’re looking at.

Maximizing Online Cash Back with Rakuten

Once you’ve set yourself up with Rakuten, you’ll want to ensure you maximize your rewards.

Let’s look at how to use Rakuten in-store as well as how to use Rakuten cashback multipliers in-app to maximize your earnings with every purchase.

How to Use Rakuten In-Store for Maximum Benefits

Although Rakuten is an online shopping portal, you’re not limited to earning cash back through online shopping only. You can activate in-store cashback rewards at thousands of merchants.

To do this, you’ll need to link the credit card you want to use in-store to your Rakuten account. Eligible card issuers include American Express, Visa and Mastercard.

You’ll then need to add the cashback offers to your eligible card before making your purchases in-store. For this reason, it’s crucial to check in-store cashback offers before going shopping. That way, you’ll know where you can best earn cash back and activate the offer before getting started.

Shopping on the Go with the Rakuten App

Downloading and using the Rakuten app is another key way of maximizing your rewards.

If you’re already in a store and want to check or activate a cashback offer, you can do this using the Rakuten app. This enables you to link cashback offers at the last minute to your credit card, ensuring you never miss an opportunity to earn rewards.

You’ll also get access to mobile-exclusive coupons and offers using the Rakuten app. And when you’re near a store with cashback offers, the app will send you geo-push notifications to notify you.

Earning American Express Membership Rewards with Rakuten

Cash back isn’t the only reward you can enjoy when shopping with Rakuten. You can earn Amex Membership Rewards points for shopping with Rakuten.

Membership Rewards points earned through Rakuten are identical to Membership Rewards points earned with Amex—there are no differences. Membership Rewards earned through Rakuten will be deposited directly into your eligible linked Amex account, allowing you to use them in the Amex Membership Rewards program for business and first class flights.

When you sign up for Rakuten, you’ll be prompted to enter your Amex account name and password during the process. If you want to earn Rakuten Membership Rewards points, you can go ahead and give your Amex account details. Keep in mind you’ll need an eligible Amex card account, which includes all cards that earn Membership Rewards points—except for Amex corporate cards.

If you already have a Rakuten account, you can go to your account settings and navigate to the “How would you like to get paid?” section. Here you can select Membership Rewards as your earnings preference.

If you have any cash back in your balance, it will be converted automatically to Membership Rewards points for your next payment. $1 in cash back converts to 100 Membership Rewards points.

That means you’ll now earn the equivalent amount of cash back in Membership Rewards points. So a $500 purchase earning 2% cash back will now earn you 2X points per dollar spent, giving you 1,000 points.

Keep in mind that you can only switch to earning Membership Rewards points once. If you opt-in to earn Membership Rewards points, and then decide to switch back to earning cash back, you won’t be able to switch to earning Amex points again. So ensure you’re certain that you don’t want to ever earn Membership Rewards points in the future before making the change back to cash back.

Opting to earn Membership Rewards points is ideal if you’re looking to redeem your rewards toward travel purchases. When you opt into Membership Rewards points on Rakuten, you can stack your earnings with the points multipliers offered on your card, enabling you to double-dip on your earnings.

How Rakuten Stacks Up Against Other Cash Back Programs

Rakuten isn’t unique as an online shopping portal. However, it’s one of the best when it comes to flexible rewards, a user-friendly interface and the number of merchant offers available.

Major credit card issuers, such as Citi, Barclays, Chase and Capital One, all have their own shopping portals through which you can earn additional points, miles or cash back on your purchases. You’ll need to have an eligible credit card with the card issuer to access its online shopping portal, with the exception of Capital One Shopping.

When you shop through these portals, you’re effectively earning points with the card issuer and each of their partners. That’s because points can often be transferred between the card issuer and its partner airlines and hotels at a 1:1 ratio.

Major airlines and hotels—such as Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, Choice Privileges and Wydnham—all offer their own shopping portals. Using these portals, you can earn extra points and miles directly with the airline or hotel loyalty program.

In contrast, Rakuten enables you to choose between cashback rewards or Amex Membership Rewards points. If you go for Amex points, you’ll be able to redeem these toward travel purchases or transfer them to one of Amex’s more than 20 hotel and airline transfer partners. That means you’re effectively earning points with each of Amex’s partners when you shop on Rakuten.

If you opt for cash back instead, you can offset the cost of your purchases through cashback rewards while double-dipping on the cash back or points multiplier on your credit card.

Rakuten also has one of the highest number of participating merchants, with offers at more than 3,500 stores available. This is more than triple the number most airline and hotel portals offer.

Likewise, compared to PayPal Rewards, Rakuten typically has more lucrative cashback offers, making it superior.

Real-Life Tips and Tricks for Earning More Cash Back

There are some tips and tricks you can take advantage of when shopping with Rakuten.

Connecting a credit card with a high cashback earning rate to your Rakuten account is a great way to double-dip in your earnings.

For example, you could connect the Citi Double Cash® Card and earn 2% cash back (1% cash back when you buy and 1% cash back when you pay) on all purchases. This is a great option for double-dipping on purchases that don’t fall within specific bonus spending categories. You’ll earn extra cash back on top of the already lucrative 2% you’ll receive with the Citi Double Cash® Card.

Alternatively, you could connect a card with a higher rate of cash back on specific bonus category spending, such as the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, which earns 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming service purchases.* Some of the best cash back cards can go a long way in offsetting the cost of your purchases.

You could also consider connecting a co-branded hotel or airline credit card to Rakuten.

Rakuten partners with a variety of travel merchants, such as Iberia, Aer Lingus, British Airways, Etihad, Marriott, IHG and many more. If you connect your co-branded card to Rakuten and make a purchase with the specific airline or hotel, you’ll earn points with the airline or hotel loyalty program as well as earn cash back from Rakuten. That way, you’ll earn the maximum number of points on your purchase and offset the upfront cost of the purchase through cashback rewards.

Downloading the Rakuten App is another key tip for maximizing your earnings with Rakuten. Having the app in hand means you can quickly search for and activate offers while in-store as well as benefit from geo-push notifications.

And when you do your shopping online, make sure that you have the Rakuten Cash Back Button extension installed so you never miss an offer again.

Finally, don’t forget to refer your friends and family. If they sign up and link your email address, you’ll earn a referral bonus as soon as they spend the minimum amount required.

* Cash back is earned in the form of Reward Dollars which can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon checkout.

Deals and Seasonal Offers

To maximize your earnings with Rakuten, you’ll want to take advantage of limited-time deals and seasonal offers.

When the holiday shopping season comes around, whether it’s Black Friday or the final days before Christmas, you can benefit from double cashback offers and more.

You can stack these offers with other seasonal or promotional coupons and discount codes to get the most out of your spending.

You can also activate card offers through Amex Offers and Chase Offers, allowing you to double-dip into your earnings.

If you already have a credit card that earns a high rate of cashback on non-bonus category spending, combining it with promotional offers through Rakuten will boost your rewards significantly.

If you know that major sales events and promotional offers are likely right around the corner, hold off on some of your bigger purchases so you can take full advantage of these offers and higher earnings rates.

Rakuten Cashback Payment Options

When it comes time to receive your hard-earned cash back, you have two options.

You can receive either a “Big Fat Check” or payment through PayPal.

A Big Fat Check is simply a physical paper check that will be mailed to the address in your account.

You can also opt-in to Rakuten’s Cash Back for Change program, having your cashback earnings donated to Rakuten’s nonprofit partner organizations.

In terms of fees and speed of payment, neither payment method has an advantage over the other. Payments are issued every three months on the following dates:

• Feb. 15
• May 15
• Aug. 15
• Nov. 15

Keep in mind that you’ll need a minimum of $5.01 in your cashback balance to receive a payment. If you have less than the minimum amount, your balance will carry over to the next payment date, until you’ve reached the minimum amount to receive payment.

If you’ve opted to earn Membership Rewards points instead of cash back, the payment schedule is the same. You’ll need a minimum of 501 Membership Rewards points in your balance to receive payment, otherwise, they’ll be rolled over into the next quarter’s payment schedule. Points will be deposited into your linked American Express account.

To choose your preferred payment method, go to your Rakuten account and select the “How would you like to get paid?” option. Here you can choose your payment method.

Your Path to Smart Shopping with Rakuten

The world of points and miles comes down to making your spending go as far as possible. If you’re not earning a return on your spending, you’re missing out.

Rakuten’s easy-to-use interface and sign-up process, combined with its lucrative offers and wide range of participating merchants make it an essential tool for making your spending go further.

Whether you earn cash back or Membership Rewards points, your earnings will accumulate with each purchase you make and could be the difference between making an award booking this year vs. the next.

So before you begin your next online shopping spree, sign up with Rakuten to earn a return on your spending.