How to use Rakuten to save money on travel and increase your travel points

Rakuten is one of my favorite travel tools but it often gets overlooked. I think a lot of this has to do with it’s name. It sounds weird and does not describe what it does. Their deals also sound too good to be true and we’ve been conditioned to be cautious with all the scams out there. This is one of the only times where “it sounds too good to be true” does not apply. This is legitimate and it should be used by everyone.

What is Rakuten and how do they make money?

Rakuten is basically a shopping portal. It used to be called Ebates which was a much better name. Rakuten was a similar Japanese company and they took over Ebates and changed the name. I think this was a massive mistake. Before I signed up for Rakuten, I saw the commercials and still didn’t really understand what it was. I was aware of Ebates and I had no idea that two companies were pretty much the same.

It’s very simple to use. You make sure the company you are going to shop with is on Rakuten, you enable the cash back (more on that in a second) and you purchase the item or service like you normally would. You then get cash back based upon the advertised percentage. That’s it! Like I said, it sounds too good to be true and I think that’s partially because people don’t understand margin and cost of acquisition.

Companies sell products or services for much higher than what they cost. I think most people know that but they probably don’t know how much things are marked up. They also don’t understand the cost of acquisition. Advertising is incredibly expensive. It could cost $30 to get one person to buy something for $20. The goal (hope) is that this person becomes a regular customer and they repeat that $20 purchase (or increase the total amount) over and over again. Thus, over time that customer becomes profitable. Most consumers are lazy and they don’t want to price shop. So they’re willing to spend a lot of money to try to get that first customer in the door.

Rakuten is just one of the many ways a company has to reach customers. Company X will pay Rakuten a commission to get a customer. Rakuten then gives you a portion of that commission in the form of cash back. It’s a great way to get customers. Look at it this way, if you are going to buy something at either Lowes or Home Depot, you may choose Lowes because they are on Rakuten and Home Depot is not. You may not be thinking about buying anything at Nike but then you notice that Nike is 10% back on Rakuten so you decide to check it out. You then buy something and Nike gets a sale they wouldn’t otherwise have.

This company has been around since 1997 and they took over Ebates in 2014. So they’ve been around for a long time and they’ve paid out over $2 billion dollars. They partner with a ton of great companies that you probably use all the time and a bunch of newer companies that are trying to break out. It’s also very easy to use as I’ll show you in a second. So why doesn’t everyone use Rakuten? I think it’s a combination of bad marketing/name and the too good to be true aspect.

Sign up and get $30 for free

You’d think this is a service that sells itself but as I’ve indicated, they have some issues. As a result, they entice people by offering a $10 sign up bonus. But it gets even better than that. They have an affiliate program where you can get a $30 sign up bonus if you sign up through links like mine. Again, they do this because that $20 difference is a lot cheaper than what it would cost for them to acquire new customers through advertising. Many companies have done this over the years including Paypal and Amazon.

The way this works is that you use this link: www.rakuten.com/r/JEFTRA4

Two people indicated that this didn’t work for them for some reason. When you click on the link, you should see a page that says: Get your $30 bonus today! Jef invites you to join and get a $30 bonus when you spend $30.” If you do not see that, do not sign up. Contact me for more info. I’m not sure what happened but two people got the regular sign up bonus and not the $30 one. Please note that I use these Rakuten funds to support this site and to fund giveaways in the Facebook groups so your support is not only appreciated by me, but by your fellow travelers.

Signing up is easy and you don’t need a credit card. You can get your payments by Paypal or check. It really shouldn’t take you more than two minutes to sign up. From there, you need to spend $30 to get your $30. It doesn’t have to be done all at once or all with the same company. You also have some time, usually 3 months, to get your bonus. Once your purchases total $30, you’ll get your $30 in addition to your other cash back.

There’s nothing to pay for and nothing to cancel

I am pretty cautious so if I am promised something for free but then I have to give a company my credit card, I usually will just avoid it. Same thing with free trials and anything else along those lines where you have to cancel something. With Rakuten, there’s nothing to cancel. If for some reason you don’t want to use it anymore, just stop using it. You don’t have to give them your credit card to use it. You only give them your credit card if you want to use an in store offer (see below). Even then, they aren’t the ones that are charging your credit card. I know some people are a little weirded out by how good Rakuten is, but there’s no risk since they really can’t do anything towards you without having your credit card.

How to use Rakuten online

Rakuten is very easy to use and you have a few different options. You can go through Rakuten.com and then search for the company you want to shop with. Let’s say I wanted to buy something from CVS. You can navigate to that or you can search for it on Rakuten’s website. You then click on CVS and you’ll see a screen that says “cash back activated”. In just a few seconds, you’ll be redirected to CVS. Buy whatever you want as your normally would. You can use coupons and whatever credit card you want. It really doesn’t impact anything.

You can also use the Rakuten app. I personally don’t but you may find that useful. What I really find useful is the Rakuten browser extension. The biggest problem with Rakuten is forgetting to use it. I know so many people that have lost out on money because they forgot. This browser extension will automatically pop up to let you know that the website you are in participates with Rakuten. You then have the option of enabling the cash back. Can’t recommend this enough.

Regardless of what method you use, you should get an email fairly quickly confirming that you made a purchase that is eligible for cash back. Right now, they say something along the lines of “Success your (company name) shopping trip is complete). If you don’t get this email in 24 hours, you need to contact Rakuten. I suggest you save these emails until you get paid out.

Rakuten does a great job of helping you keep track of all of your pending cash back and all of your shopping trips. Just click on My Account and then click on “shopping trips”. That shows you every time you’ve ever visited a Rakuten merchant regardless of whether you bought anything. If you did buy something, you’ll see a check mark. You can then click on “cash back balance” and you’ll see all of your cash back that you’ve received and the cash back that is pending.

Please note that your cash back is only confirmed when the purchase is complete. For most retailers, that’s when you’ve picked up your items or had them delivered. For travel, it’s when the travel is complete. Rakuten will then pay out your balance quarterly. So yeah you have to wait a little but it’s free money so you can’t really complain.

How to use Rakuten for in store purchases

But what if you buy something in person? Rakuten is mostly for ecommerce but they also have in store cash back offers. These offers are usually different than the online offers. I personally suggest taking advantage of the online offers as much as possible. You can try something on in the store and then buy it online. If you have no other choice but to buy in the store, go to https://www.rakuten.com/in-store to check out the in store offers.

This is going to require a little more work. You have to link a credit card to Rakuten. Then you have to activate that offer. Then you have to shop at the store in person using that same credit card. Just like making an online purchase, be sure you get an email and be sure that this purchase shows up in your history. If you don’t see it in 24 hours, contact Rakuten.

Changing cash back rates and coupons

What’s exciting about Rakuten is that the cash back rates are constantly changing. A store that is only 1% cash back today might by 10% cash back tomorrow. That rates may stay like that for a month, a week or only a day. They usually don’t advertise when rates are going to get better or worse. However, there are some sales that are sitewide for about one week so that’s one of the few times where they’ll tell you when some of the best deals are going to end. Regardless, if you see a good deal, jump on it.

If you click on “hot deals” you see a number of promotions which could include clearance sales, coupons and promo codes in addition to the cash back rate. This is a great way to find some really good deals.

“Up to X% cash back” and exclusions

Have you ever been to a sale in a store that says “up to 75% off” and then nothing is even close to 75% off? Annoying right? Well you have to always be on alert for that “up to” phrase and you’ll see it on Rakuten. At least it’s easier to figure out. If you see a store that is 10% cash back, that means that you’ll get get 10% back. If you see “up to” it means that there are different categories.

Let’s use Walmart for example which pretty much always uses “up to”. If you go to Rakuten and search for Walmart, you’ll see a page that lists all of the different cash back rates on the left hand side. It’s really easy to see. Some categories are 1% some are 2 and some are 3. A few are just flat rates where you get a certain dollar amount regardless of what you spend. Some categories are excluded and you’ll see that right towards the top is says “Cash Back Terms & Exclusions”. Under that it will tell you what is excluded which for Walmart included groceries.

Stacking

As if there isn’t already a ton to like already with Rakuten, it also allows you to stack rewards and coupons. Most online retailers will have a promo code box when you checkout. If you don’t already have one, you can search for a code or you can have a browser extension that will check all available promo codes automatically for you. If one hits, it’ll be applied. You’ll then get cash back on the total price. This is called a stack. You are getting the discount on the promo code and then you are getting cash back on the total.

But wait, there’s more! Most credit cards have discounts that are individually targeted and are unique to each card. For example, Chase has Chase Offers. You have to activate the offer and then use the card associated with that offer. These will stack with Rakuten and other promo codes. Let’s assume you are going to buy from the Acme company which is 10% back on Rakuten, you get 5% off with a promo code and you get 10% back with Chase. You activate that offer, go through Rakuten, find the promo code and apply it and then use the credit card linked to that Chase offer.

Here’s how that would play out on a $50 item. The 5% promo code will bring that down to $47.50 so that’s how much you’ll pay. You’ll then get $4.75 from Rakuten and $4.75 from Chase (which will appear on your statement. So by the time you get all of your cash back, that $50 item will only cost you $38! Pretty cool huh?

Please note that there are a small number of times where using a coupon code now found on Rakuten will void the cash back. You’ll see this under exclusions so be sure to read that. The one that I’ve seen recently is Expedia. I haven’t seen too many others but this can change anytime.

You still need to compare prices

A high cash back rates doesn’t always mean you’re getting the best deal. I know some people don’t like to do math but you always, always, always have to do the math. You also have to compare prices. For example, Priceline has 8% cash back on hotels on the day I’m writing this. Expedia has 6%. So book on Priceline right? Nope. I just booked 4 hotels for a trip coming up and while Priceline has a lot of good hotel deals usually, one hotel was $200 more on Priceline than Expedia. Had I just blindly booked with Priceline, I would have overpaid by a lot even with the extra cash back.

So what does all of this have to do with travel?

I’ve already dropped a few spoilers but Rakuten is one of the best ways to save money on travel. As explained above, these cash back rates do change but Expedia and Priceline have some of the best cash back rates although there are other sites. On the day I’m writing this, the cash back rates for Expedia and Priceline are as follows:

-Expedia: Cars 1.0%, Cruises 3.0%, Flights $1.25, Hotels 6.0%, Packages 2.0%, Things to Do 10.0%, Vacation Rentals 6.0%

-Priceline: Cruises 4.0%, Flights $3.00, Hotels 6.0%, Rental Cars 6.0%

So as you can see, Priceline wins hands down if you were booking a rental car or cruise today. I wouldn’t even bother booking just flights on either. Hotels are equal so I would book on Expedia as they have a rewards program so that will juice your return.

Rakuten also partners with hotel chains so if you’d prefer to book direct for whatever reason, you’ll se brands like Best Western, Extended Stay America, Hilton and others. If you want a vacation rental, VRBO is on there but Airbnb is not. Other online travel agencies like Hotels.com, Orbitz and travelocity are partners as well.

If you want to book tours and activities you’ll find Vegas.com, Big Bus Tours, Groupon, Seasame Place and plenty of others. If you want to book a cruise, you can book direct with Celebrity, MSC and Princess cruises although you’ll likely better better value on Expedia and Priceline.

They might not have every single company you want to deal with, but they have a ton. Even companies that sell luggage, parking and tours. I highly suggest checking out everything they offer at https://www.rakuten.com/travel-vacations

When it comes to travel, please note that cash back is not available on taxes, insurance, and any carrier and resort fees. So if 5% back on a $100 booking will likely net $3 and not $5.

Travel Hackers love Rakuten

Travel hackers love Rakuten for several reasons. First, they love to save money. They know that the less they spend, the more they can travel. So that cash back can help fund future trips. More than that though, Rakuten allows you to earn more points per dollar. Let’s assume you buy a trip on Expedia for $1,000. As you know, you won’t get cash back on all of that so let’s say the cash back will be based off of $800. 6% back on $800 is $48. You’ll then get points on Expedia. Let’s say that is $42 (hypothetically). So you paid $1000 for a trip but you got back $90 in cash back and Expedia rewards.

However, your credit card will just see that $1,000 charge so you’ll get rewards based upon that rate. If you used a card that gets 3x travel, you’ll get 3000 points. But since you’re net expense for the trip is just $910, you are actually earning 3.3x! Travel hackers are always looking for ways to juice their rewards and Rakuten is one of the easiest ways to do this.

They also love stacking so even if the purchase has nothing to do with travel, they will still look to save money and earn more rewards. Let’s assume they are buying stuff from CVS. CVS also has language under the exclusions that indicates that coupon codes “may” void the cash back. Seems to be iffy but they do include coupon codes on Rakuten that are safe to use so let’s assume you buy $100 worth of items that includes all sorts of coupons that allows you to save $150. So you’re buying $150 worth of items for $100. CVS is a 10% cash back store right now so you should get $10. Let’s also assume you have a chase offer for 10% off at well. That’s $20 back. So you bought $150 worth of stuff for $80. CVS also has a rewards program so if this purchase qualifies, you’ll get 2% ExtraCare Rewards.

If you paid for all of that with your Chase Freedom Flex Unlimited card, you’ll get 3% back at pharmacies. Since you earn that on the purchase, that’s 300 points. 300 points for just $80 and $150 worth of stuff plus some ExtraCare Rewards is a really nice deal. So that’s why travel hackers love Rakuten.

Conclusion

I know this is a lot to take in but the headings should help. Take it one step at a time and just focus on signing up and getting your free $30 first. Don’t buy things just because you are going to get cash back. Buy things you would have bought anyway. Price compare and do the math to make sure you’re getting the best price. Stack those rewards to turbocharge your deal. If you have questions, ask away in the Facebook groups. If you’re not already a member, our link is at www.rakuten.com/r/JEFTRA4