ShopBack Review: Is it a Scam? How to Earn Cash Rebates?

Do you shop online at Lazada, Shopee, Zalora, Agoda, Booking.com, Sephora or use apps such as Food Panda, Klook, or AirBnb?

If yes, then you’d be glad to know that you can earn cash rebates — yup, real cash! — when you shop and make a purchase on these online stores using the ShopBack rebates program.

Can I really earn cash rebates?

The simple answer: Yes!

I’ve been a member of the ShopBack cash rebate program since 2016 and the good news is, I’ve already withdrawn cash of more than PHP 7,000.00 ($140.00) — with PHP 27,000.00 ($530.00) more waiting to be withdrawn — which proves that this program is legit. After I requested a withdrawal via the ShopBack app, the cash was automatically deposited to my bank account (with BPI – Bank of the Philippine Islands) in just a matter of days.

Do you want to receive FREE PHP 100.00? ShopBack currently has a promo wherein you’ll get free PHP 100.00 when you sign up as new member. Just click here to register an account to get your free PHP 100.00 cash!

Is ShopBack a scam?

Definitely not.

It’s a legitimate company founded in Singapore in August 2014 and even though it appears to be a relatively young player in the industry, it has already grown to become a large firm backed by various multinational funders. It has received more than $40 million of funding so far, the most recent was $25 million in 2017, in a funding round led by Japanese finance and credit card company Credit Saison.

If that’s enough to prove their credibility, take note that they have real brick-and-mortar offices currently set up in Singapore, Australia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, and even the Philippines.

ShopBack now claims to have over 5 million members in seven (7) Asia-Pacific countries, including Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand. The company has partnered with hundreds of companies and, in the Philippines, they are partnered with Bank of the Philippine Islands, Globe Telecom, AirAsia, Philippine Airlines, etc.

My ShopBack rebates earnings update

Shopback certainly is the real deal. Below you can see screenshots of my account since I’ve signed up as a member in 2016.

As of December 2019, as seen in my account screenshot below, my total earnings have already grown to PHP 34,592.04 ($678.00), up a few thousand pesos from when I last monitored my Shopback account in July 2019.

I’ve successfully withdrawn PHP 7,043.63 ($135.00) and have Pending Earnings of PHP 11,408.88 ($224.00) and Available Balance of PHP 16,139.53 ($316.00).

I checked what those terms mean and, according to ShopBack:

• “Available Balance” – total amount available for withdrawal
• “Pending Earnings” – total cashbacks earned from purchases and bonuses from promotional activities that are pending confirmation. They will be added to “Available Balance” once confirmed.

As of July 2019, my total earnings have reached PHP 26,171.40 ($510.00), as seen below.

Back then, I’ve already withdrawn and received cash of PHP 7,043.63, while PHP 13,171.09 is considered “Available Balance” with PHP 5,956.68 more as “Pending Earnings”.

As of December 2018, I’ve already earned a total of PHP 19,900+ cash rebates from ShopBack, with PHP 9,385.87 as Available Balance and PHP 3,477.48 as Pending Earnings.

Below are my cashback earnings back in April 2018, with total lifetime earnings then amounting to PHP 12,386.49.

Back in May 2017, my account showed total earnings of PHP 7,181.84 (screenshot below). The payout of PHP 4,271.38 was deposited directly to my BPI bank account just a few days after I withdrew it from my Shopback account.

Here’s another screenshot of my account when I started become a member in 2016. As of that time, I’ve already earned a total of PHP 3,854.57 (see “Total Earnings” bar below). I cashed out PHP 1,162.10 and received the cash payout in my bank account.

How to earn cash rebates?

Shopback has partnerships with various online shopping and e-commerce websites such as Lazada, Shopee, Zalora, Agoda, Booking.com, Food Panda, BeautyMNL, AirBnb, Klook, Philippine Airlines, AirAsia, and dozens of other online retailers.

When you purchase from these apps or websites, Shopback earns affiliate income which they share with members like us as cash rebates.

The cash rebate is a certain percentage of the total transaction amount. For example, if you bought an item worth P1,000 from Lazada and the cash rebate rate is 8%, you’ll get P80 cash refund.

* (The cash rebate may vary depending on the Shopback promo and it could be a fixed amount, say P270.00 cashback in AirBnb, or a percentage sometimes reaching up to 100% of your transaction amount!)

Here is an example of the cash rebate I earned from products I bought via Shopee. I spent PHP 5,366.00 using the Shopee app and received the following confirmation from ShopBack. It says that I earned a total of PHP 53.66 from my purchase of PHP 5,366.00. That’s a 10% cash rebate! (see screenshot below)

How does ShopBank make money?

If ShopBank doesn’t sell anything and even gives users cash rebates, how exactly do they make money? Are they even profitable? They’re actually very profitable. According to CrunchBase, ShopBack earns an estimated $5 million annually.

But how exactly does ShopBack make money? Their FAQ explains it this way:

“ShopBack is partnering with over 500 local, regional and global stores. These partnered stores pay ShopBack a commission for every approved transaction directed through ShopBack. ShopBack then shares part of this commission as Cashback awarded to you.”

Simply speaking, whenever ShopBack sends a visitor to their partner e-commerce sites and that visitor makes a purchase there, ShopBack earns a certain commission or affiliate income from that transaction.

This commission is earned every time they refer traffic that converts to a sale, and according to Shopback, a sale on their partner websites via their traffic is made every two (2) seconds! That’s a lot of commissions every time!

ShopBack keeps a certain portion of the commission while sharing a certain percentage with the user that made the purchase on the partner website. This is the cash rebate we earn from ShopBack.

How to sign up with ShopBack

If you want to earn your cash rebates right away, follow these simple steps.

1. Sign up for a cash rebate account here. It’s free and, as you can see from my earnings history, you can really earn money.

2. Before you shop on the website of Lazada, Shopee, Zalora, Agoda, Philippine Airlines, Booking.com, etc., you must first login to your ShopBack account.

3. Once logged in to your ShopBack account, click the link corresponding to the online shopping store you want to visit for your purchase. You MUST do this step, otherwise, your cash rebate won’t be credited to your account. For example, if you will purchase from Lazada, you must click the Lazada link in the Shopback website.

WARNING! For Lazada and Shopee purchases, ShopBack only pays cash rebates when the purchase is made via the mobile app (website purchases don’t earn rebates). Again, the purchase must be made through their mobile app and NOT through the desktop version or the mobile website version.

What you need to do is open the Shopback app FIRST then click either Lazada or Shopee buttons there, which will redirect you to the Lazada or Shopee app which must be already installed on your phone.

For you to successfully earn cashback, do NOT directly purchase from the Lazada or Shopee app without clicking through ShopBack first.

4. After clicking the link on the Shopback website, you’ll be redirected to the actual website or app of Lazada, Booking.com, Zalora, Agoda, etc. You will see a popup similar to the one below before you are redirected to the shopping website or app. Once redirected to that store, you can now do your online shopping as per usual.

5. After your successful transaction with the online retailer, your cash rebate will be credited automatically to your account a few days. Wait for official confirmation that your cash earnings are ready for withdrawal.

That’s it! You may now withdraw and enjoy your cash rebates!

How can I withdraw my ShopBack earnings?

You can easily withdraw your earnings by visiting the “Withdraw Money” section in your ShopBack account. You need to add a Philippine bank account or Paypal account or Globe G-Cash to withdraw your earnings.

At present, ShopBack can transfer earnings to an account with the following local banks:

• BDO
• BPI
• Metrobank
• ChinaBank
• East West Bank
• PNB
• RCBC
• Security Bank
• UnionBank
• UCPB

When can you withdraw your ShopBack earnings? Take note of the following:

1. The minimum withdrawal amount in the Philippines is PHP 200.00. This means you need to have Available Balance of PHP 200.00 in your ShopBack earnings before you can request a withdrawal.
2. Only those confirmed earnings (in the “Available Balance”) can be withdrawn. Unconfirmed earnings (in “Pending Earnings”) are still under validation and need to be confirmed and moved to “Available Balance” before they can be withdrawn.
3. Withdrawal requests are processed and deposited to the selected accountwithin 7-14 working days. According to ShopBack, they do not charge withdrawal processing or service fee. Members can monitor their withdrawal requests under the “Withdrawal History” section. Ongoing withdrawal requests are marked as “Processing” while successful withdrawals sent to the member’s bank or Paypal or G-Cash account are tagged “Paid”.

Unfortunately, Shopback warns that earnings expire if the member’s account remains inactive, that is, no successful transactions were made through ShopBack for a period of one (1) year. Given that, make sure you use ShopBack to earn cash rebates before the expiration date or, better yet, withdraw your earnings ASAP!

How to earn ShopBack rebates with Shopee

Take note that the ShopBack cash rebates on Shopee are only available if you use the Shopee app. Purchases made via the Shopee website (desktop or mobile web version) are NOT eligible to receive the cashback.

For successful Shopee cash rebates using ShopBack, follow these instructions carefully:

1. Download the ShopBack mobile app and login to your account.
2. Make sure you also have already installed and are logged in to the Shopee app.
3. On the ShopBack app, click through the Shopee link so you can be redirected to the Shopee app. Do NOT directly purchase on the Shopee app without clicking through from the ShopBack app! If you do that, you won’t earn your cash rebates.
4. Once you’ve confirmed you clicked through the Shopee link on the ShopBack app, shop as usual on Shopee to earn your ShopBack cash rebates. For every new purchase transaction, make sure you return to the ShopBack app first before clicking through to Shopee.

If you closed the Shopee app before making the purchase, open the ShopBack app again and click through to Shopee to ensure you’ll earn your cash rebates.

How to earn ShopBack rebates with Lazada

Just like Shopee, Lazada cash rebates are only available to ShopBack users who will purchase only from the Lazada app. Purchases made directly on Lazada’s website (desktop or mobile web version) are NOT eligible for cash rebates.

For successful Lazada cashback, follow these instructions:

1. Download the ShopBack mobile app and login to your account.
2. Also install and login to the Lazada app.
3. On the ShopBack app, click through the Lazada link so you can be redirected to the Lazada app. Again, take note: you must NOT directly purchase on the Lazada app without going through the ShopBack app first. Otherwise, you won’t be eligible for cashbacks.
4. Once you’ve confirmed you clicked through the Lazada link on the ShopBack app, shop as usual on Lazada to earn your ShopBack cash rebates. Every time you’re making a new transaction, return to the ShopBack app and click through to Lazada.

If, for any reason, you closed the Lazada app, go through the Lazada link on the ShopBack app again to ensure you’ll earn your cashback credit.

UPDATE 2019: Here’s a list of active online shopping stores and websites with partnerships with Shopback where you can earn cash rebates.

Do you want to receive automatic PHP 100.00 cashback? ShopBack currently has a promo wherein you’ll get free PHP 100.00 when you sign up as new member. Just click here to register an account to get your free PHP 100.00 cash!