TopCashback Review: Earn Cash-Back When You Shop Online

A seemingly endless number of online shopping portals reward you for online purchases. Some let you earn airline miles, while others offer hotel points or transferable credit card rewards. Meanwhile, several cash-back portals give you a percentage of your purchase back in cash, generally through PayPal, bank transfer, or a check in the mail.

TopCashback is my favorite cash-back shopping portal. It offers competitive cash-back rates at most merchants and has several payout methods. These include merchant gift cards and virtual Visa and American Express cards, where the portal gives you a small bonus over redeeming for cash.

As such, TopCashback can be a valuable addition to your online shopping tools. Let’s look at how to use TopCashback to get a rebate on (almost) everything you buy online, including at popular merchants like Apple, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Zara.

How Does TopCashback Work?

TopCashback is an online shopping portal that lets you earn cash-back when you shop with many popular merchants. When you click through TopCashback before you shop, the portal receives a cut of the sale from the merchant and shares a portion of its commission with you.

This is the same way most online shopping portals work. But in the case of TopCashback, you’re rewarded with cash instead of airline miles or credit card points. Before you shop, consider what rewards are most important to you, since you cannot take advantage of multiple shopping portals at once.

Like all shopping portals, rewards earned with TopCashback are earned in addition to rewards earned with a credit card.

Hot Tip:

Use a shopping portal aggregator like CashbackMonitor.com to check earn rates before you shop. These websites let you compare payouts from cash-back, travel, and bank shopping portals, ensuring you get the most value from your purchases.

How To Earn Cash-Back With TopCashback

Using TopCashback is simple. First, sign up for a free account. While the program doesn’t usually have a sign-up bonus, check with your friends to see if they already have a TopCashback account. Using their referral link (more on that soon) could give them a cash reward.

Once signed in, find the merchant you’d like to shop with. You can use the search bar at the top of the screen to search for a specific merchant. Alternatively, use the “Categories” drop-down menu at the upper left corner of the screen to search for merchants by type.

Once you find a merchant, you’ll see its earn rate at the center of the screen. Note that some purchases may earn more cash-back than others — in this example for Apple, Beats-branded products earn 4.04% cash-back while all other purchases earn 1.01%. Make sure to read the merchant’s page so you’re aware of any exclusions.

Then, make your purchase as usual and watch your email for confirmation that you’ve earned rewards. In my experience, you’ll get a notification 2 to 3 days after you pay. However, it can take longer to withdraw your funds as the site usually requires the merchant to pay TopCashback first.

Note that you’re usually limited to U.S. purchases with TopCashback, so make sure you’re on the American website for the merchant you’re shopping with before you buy. However, the portal has Canadian and British websites for customers in those countries.

Start every online purchase at TopCashback, and you can rack up cash-back quickly. Since I started using the portal years ago, I’ve earned over $500 using it for everyday expenses.

Bottom Line:

Click through TopCashback before you make a purchase online to earn cash-back. However, you might not earn if you close your browser and return to the merchant to make a purchase.

Earn More With The TopCashback Browser Extension

You can make earning with TopCashback even easier with its browser extension. You can add the extension to the Chrome, Edge, or Firefox browsers, and you’ll be prompted to activate TopCashback when shopping with a participating merchant. This way, you don’t need to go to TopCashback’s website and find the merchant manually.

You can download the extension on TopCashback’s website for free.

Earning Cash-Back on Hotels, Rental Cars, and More

TopCashback supports several travel companies, including most major hotel chains and rental car agencies. For example, IHG, Hilton, and Marriott are all available, with Hyatt being the only notable hotel exception. You’ll also find Expedia, Booking.com, and other online travel agencies on TopCashback.

Earning cash-back with these companies differs from an ordinary online purchase. In most cases, you earn cash-back after you checkout of a hotel or return your rental car. Check the TopCashback terms and exclusions for the merchant you’re shopping with before you book so you know what to expect.

Hotels and rental car companies on TopCashback include:

Unfortunately, most online travel agencies (OTAs) often exclude flights from earning cash-back. However, they can offer a competitive rate on hotel bookings and rental car stays.

Some of the popular travel agencies on TopCashback include:

Finally, you’ll find a handful of airlines on TopCashback, but you may only earn on specific routes or classes of service. Check the terms and exclusions on your airline’s TopCashback page for more information.

Some airlines on TopCashback include:

TopCashback Highest Cash-Back Guarantee

TopCashback guarantees that it offers the highest cash-back rates to its members. If you find a higher payout with another popular cash-back shopping portal, you can submit a claim to TopCashback and it will match the higher rate.

Specifically, TopCashback will match rates from BeFrugal, Capital One, GoCashBack, Honey, MaxRebates, Mr. Rebates, Rakuten, and Tada. It will only match monetary rewards (not airline miles, for example), and you cannot match bonus cash-back promotions from supported portals to TopCashback.

If you find a higher payout for a specific merchant elsewhere, use TopCashback to make your purchase as usual. Then, head to the Highest Cash Back Guarantee page and open a claim. You must submit your claim within 7 days of purchase.

TopCashback Mobile App

TopCashback has a mobile app for both Android and iOS that lets you earn cash-back on the go. It’s free to download on the Google Play and Apple App Store and brings much of the TopCashback website’s functionality to your phone.

You can use the mobile app to earn and withdraw cash-back from your account. This works the same as if you were shopping on your computer: find your merchant on the app and make your purchase as usual.

TopCashback Refer-A-Friend Programs

You can earn bonus cash-back when you refer friends to TopCashback. At the time of writing, you can earn $10 every time you refer a friend who’s new to TopCashback. You’ll earn this bonus after your friend earns $10 in cash-back within their first year of joining. This offer changes frequently, sometimes offering a higher bonus around shopping holidays.

Head to TopCashback’s refer-a-friend page to get your referral link. From this page, you can share your link directly to X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, and a QR code unique to your referral link is available at the center of the screen.

Bottom Line:

Refer your friends and family to TopCashback, and you can earn $10 in bonus cash-back when they earn their first $10 in the first year of opening their account. Your $10 bonus will become payable when their first $10 in cash-back is payable.

Withdrawing Funds From TopCashback

Once you earn cash-back, it’s easy to withdraw it. Just click your name at the upper right corner of the screen and select “Cash Out” from the drop-down menu. You can also choose your payout method from this screen.

You have various options for withdrawing cash-back earned with TopCashback. The most straightforward options are PayPal or an ACH transfer to your bank account.

However, you can also redeem for a merchant gift card or a virtual Visa or American Express gift card. Doing this will give you a small bonus on your payout. Note that some options have higher minimum payouts than others.

TopCashback generally takes a day or 2 to process payouts, so request in advance if you need your cash-back quickly. For example, I recently requested a $24 payout to my PayPal account on a Friday afternoon and received it Monday morning.

Final Thoughts

Shopping portals are a great way to save when you shop online. Click through a portal before you shop, and you can earn bonus points or cash-back, depending on which portal you use.

TopCashback is a great option for those seeking extra cash-back, thanks to its vast list of supported merchants, various payout methods, and high earning rates at popular stores. I’ve used the tool for years and earned over $500 in cash-back.

That said, you don’t have to limit yourself to a single portal. Make sure to use a tool like CashBack Monitor to scan for the highest payouts across all portals before you shop. You might also consider using an airline, hotel, or credit card portal instead, especially if they offer a higher payout than TopCashback.