How Can You Earn Cashback With TopCashback? Is TopCashback The Best Cashback Service?
Top Cashback is the UK's most popular cashback website and, in my view, probably one of, if not THE best, of the UK's highest-paying conventional cashback websites. I've earned over £2,300 in cashback since I joined!
So, First Things First, What Is A Cashback Site?
Imagine you're shopping online, buying things like clothes, gadgets, or even booking a hotel room. Now, wouldn't it be nice if you could get some of your money back after you make these purchases? That's where a cashback site comes in.
A cashback site is like a friendly helper that gives you a portion of the money you spent on your online shopping back to you. Here's how it works:
Sign Up: First, you need to sign up on a cashback site. It's usually free and easy to do. Think of it like creating an account for a game or a social media site.
Browse Stores: Once you're signed up, you visit the cashback site and look through the list of online stores they partner with. These could be household name big brand stores you're familiar with or smaller or independent shops.
Click and Shop: Let's say you find a pair of shoes you like in one of the stores listed on the cashback site. Instead of going directly to that store's website, you click on the store's link from the cashback site. This link helps the cashback site track your purchase.
Make a Purchase: You buy the shoes as you normally would on the store's website. You complete your order and pay the full price.
Cashback Time: After you've made the purchase, the store gives a little thank-you gift to the cashback site for sending you their way. This thank-you gift is a percentage of the money you spent.
Getting Money Back: Now comes the cool part. The cashback site gives that thank-you gift to you! This money adds up in your cashback account on the cashback site.
Withdraw Your Earnings: Once you've gathered enough money in your cashback account (usually, there's a minimum amount), you can withdraw it. This could be through various methods, like sending the money to your bank account, PayPal, or even getting a gift card.
Think of it like a little bonus you get for doing your regular online shopping through the cashback site. It's like getting some of your money back as a reward for being a savvy shopper. Just remember that it might take a bit of time for the cashback to show up in your account, so patience is key.
So, in simple terms, a cashback site helps you save money while you shop online by giving you back a part of what you spent. It's like an online shopping buddy that helps you put some of your spending back in your pocket!
What's TopCashback, And How Does it Work?
Top Cashback is the biggest cashback site in the UK and certainly one of the best cashback sites, in my opinion. Millions of members are all earning free money by using TopCashback when spending money at one of the cash-back sites partnered with online retailers. The site and app offer over 5,000 shoppers' favourite retailers, ranging from big high-street names to small independent companies, on which any purchases you make will earn cashback, which will be applied to your Topcashback account. The cashback offers are competitive, and it's unusual for rival cashback sites to be beating TopCashback on cashback rates as rates are checked regularly to make sure they are market leading, or at least matching that of their rivals so you can normally be pretty sure you're getting a good cashback rate on your purchases.
Here's How TopCashback Works:
TopCashback is a free service that allows you to earn money back, or "cashback", when you shop online from retailers featured on their site.
You earn cashback when using the TopCashback website or smartphone app to click through to the retailer you want to buy from. Once you've clicked through to the retailer, TopCashback will see you've clicked through to the retailer (tracked), and then it will be able to see any purchases you make with that retailer.
You'll be awarded a percentage of your purchase with that retailer as cashback, which is added to your TopCashback 'wallet', and once the retailer has confirmed the purchase with TopCashback, it will allow you to withdraw that money.
Will I Earn Cashback On The Full Purchase Price?
You'll be awarded cashback on your purchase, minus any shipping costs you've paid, and importantly, minus the VAT, so if your purchase was for £120, you'll only earn the cashback on the £100, as that extra £20 is the VAT paid.
Does The Cashback Have To Be Earned Via The TopCashback Website?
TopCashback rewards you cashback on purchases made via their website or mobile phone app (unless it tells you otherwise, as some retailers can't track app purchases, so make sure you read the information on the TopCashback page before you buy!)
Website users can install a TopCashback browser extension that runs in the background while browsing the internet. When you go to a partnered retailer's website, the extension will pop up and offer you the opportunity to earn cashback at that website. It's handy as it's fast and the easiest way you can earn cashback on your purchase, and it has earned me extra cashback that I otherwise would have forgotten to earn!
Does TopCashback Only Offer Website/App Cashback?
TopCashback's main cashback earning channels for you to use are the website and app. It rewards you mainly for your online purchases. It's not great for earning cashback in physical stores, although it does occasionally offer some in-store cashback earning opportunities, but this isn't their bread-and-butter way for you to earn cashback, and I've earned virtually nothing with in-store opportunities.
They do offer the TopGift Card gift card cashback option. This rewards you with cashback for buying a gift card from them, which you can then print off or store on your phone for using as the payment method for an in-store purchase.
This works fine and is an option, but you'll typically find higher rates for gift card cashback, with faster cashback payouts, by using a dedicated gift card cashback service such as JamDoughnut. It's rare for TopCashback to offer a better rate than JamDoughnut or its competitors, but it's always worth checking to see which service offers the best gift card cashback rate before you buy, as rates change frequently!
How Does TopCashback Make Money?
TopCashback makes money by charging retailers to use Its Platform and for advertising opportunities. However, it actually passes all the cashback earned on purchases made through its platform to its members and doesn't keep any of it, so what you earn is all yours!
TopCashback earns revenue from advertisements and sponsored links displayed on their website and commissions earned on zero cashback offers. They may make an extra commission on a service you may take out; they'll pay you any cashback offered, but may an extra 'sign up' bonus or similar.
They may also make money directly from the retailer by increasing the retailer's trade or website traffic. They may also earn money from cashback that hasn't been redeemed by its members after a set amount of time and also make money on premium account members who pay £5 a year for a higher level of cashback and more offers.
They'll also often make a small percentage of profit on gift card sales, and also, if you choose to cash out your wallet to a gift card, they'll likely earn a small commission on that gift card purchase from their gift card supplier.
Overall, though, TopCashback doesn't make money from your actual purchase made through their service; they claim that 100% of the cashback earned from that purchase goes to you!
What Can I Earn Cashback On With TopCashback?
The answer is pretty much anything and everything! The sheer number of retailers working with TopCashback means that you are likely to be able to earn cashback on a high percentage of your cashback purchases, but not all. It is a bit of trial and error; some retailers offer cashback with TopCashback, and others don't. Often, the smaller the retailer you are shopping with, the lower the chance of cashback, as smaller companies may not have the profit margins to be able to pay out cashback.
If you can't find a specific retailer, it's worth checking if it's available on a rival cashback services site, as some cashback sites have exclusive retail partners. If you don't find the retailer on another site, search for the product on Google Shopping to see if another retailer also sells it, which does work with a cashback site! You can earn cashback on physical products bought from online retailers, and you also can find cashback deals on services and non-physical products as well. For example, you might earn cashback for taking out a new car insurance policy, taking out a free trial of a service, or perhaps signing up for a new internet or TV service provider, an airport parking booking, a new phone contract, maybe a new credit card or bank account or booking a hotel or holiday; there are lots of different options.
You'll often get higher cashback rates on non-physical purchases; as an example, if you sign up for Sky TV at the time of writing this blog post, I could earn up to £130 cashback on a new subscription, so a decent amount of cashback, or I could earn £6 cashback taking out a FREE Experian credit account, which is literally money for nothing! You can also earn cashback by purchasing gift cards from TopCashback via its TopGiftCards service. Once you buy a gift card, the gift card is available almost immediately for you to spend or give as a gift, etc. The cashback from the gift card purchase is allocated to your TopCashback account immediately, and the cashback is set to payable straight away, which puts it in the same type of instant cashback you'd get from sites such as JamDoughnut.
Does TopCashback Always Work Properly? What Might Go Wrong?
Every so often, you'll find a cashback transaction hasn't tracked properly, and it isn't showing up on your account. If this happens, you can submit a cashback claim, and customer service will then contact the retailer to confirm the transaction and then once the claim has been agreed, the claim is updated, and you'll have the cashback allocated to your account, or not if the claim is denied. You can also find that the retailer can decline some cashback claims, which can be annoying! The most common reason for this is that you've used a discount code on your purchase that hasn't been authorised or issued by TopCashback, and as you may have already received a significant discount, you can't then receive cashback as well. You may also find a transaction denied if you've clicked on a different cashback site after clicking through TopCashback. The cashback paid out by a retailer will be paid to the most recent cashback service you clicked on before paying for your order, so it might be that the cashback will show up on the other cashback service; however, I have found that if you click on too many cashback sites, the retailer's system gets confused and doesn't pay out on any cashback site!
If you have been a bit click-happy, I suggest signing out of the retailer's website, clearing the cookies on your computer, clicking back into TopCashback, going to the retailer again, signing in, and refreshing the process. You should then have no problems!
How quickly Does TopCashback Pay You Your Earned Cashback?
Like all similar sites, the cashback you earn will typically appear in your account within 24 hours. This will then show as pending until the retailer confirms the transaction with TopCashback, and then once approved, the cashback will be marked as payable. It can take several weeks, even months, for the cashback to become payable, and this can be for several reasons. One of the main reasons for the delay in payment comes down to the returns period the retailer offers the customer. If a company offers you a sixty-day returns period, then any cashback you've earned won't be available until the return period has closed; otherwise, the retailer could be paying out large amounts of money on cashback to then have the goods returned, which they refund and you've then just received a refund, plus been paid cashback which leaves the retailer out of pocket, so you won't get paid till the returns period has closed. Equally, if you've earned cashback on a holiday you've booked for next summer, you can expect that this cashback won't become payable until after you've been on holiday, again to ensure that you have not been paid cashback on a holiday that you then cancel, so it's not some scam to delay paying you out, its simple economics!
How Is My TopCashback Cashback Paid To Me?
Cashback can be paid out in a few different ways. Firstly, you can withdraw your available funds via a bacs payment/bank transfer to your bank or have the money sent to your PayPal account if you prefer. Your cashback rewards can be boosted by transferring your payable cashback into a 'Reward Wallet', and this wallet allows you to exchange your cashback into gift cards that can be redeemed at hundreds of high street stores, including supermarkets, and you get up to 20% bonus for doing this which is a great way to earn even more extra cash on your shopping!
What Are The Different Types Of TopCashback Account Options?
Topcashback offers UK members the option of having a classic account or Premium membership/ Plus membership. The classic account is free to use, and you'll be able to earn cashback at the advertised rates and withdraw cash to your Reward Wallet with a 10% bonus. If you choose to go with a premium account, you'll pay £5 a year, which is taken from your cashback earnings, and for that, your offered higher cashback rates, extra promotions, and you'll also get a reward wallet bonus of 20%, so if you are someone who is likely to use TopCashback reasonably often, then Premium is absolutely the way to go as you'll likely earn extra money and benefit from the best offers and payout bonuses, which will ultimately increase your annual cashback earnings. As a premium member, you'll also earn a higher New Member Welcome Bonus.
New Member Welcome Bonus
TopCashback offers bonuses to a new customer who has been referred to the cashback service via a friend link. This referral bonus is split between the person referring the new TopCashback member and the new member and becomes payable once the new member earns £10 or more payable cashback. There are often bonuses for the new member of between £10 and £15, and the referrer, depending on what account type they have, will earn between a £20 and £35 bonus, so it is worth referring your friends and family to join up as well!
If you'd like to join TopCashback, we'd be grateful if you used our TopCashback link, as any referral payments go towards our website operating costs.
What Else Should You Know About TopCashback?
Keep your eye out for special 'Global Bonus Events' on the site. These pop up from time to time, especially around bank holidays and special events, and you'll likely be offered deals such as 'spend £5 at any retailer before midnight tonight, and you'll get a £3 bonus on top of your cashback'. My top tip here is if you don't need anything from any retailers, buy a gift card for a supermarket or a retailer you use a lot for the minimum transaction amount allowed as part of the Global Bonus Deal, and you'll then get the gift card instantly, get the cashback amount of the gift card applied to your account immediately as well, together with the bonus amount and as it's a gift card purchase both the gift card cashback and bonus cashback amount immediately turn to payable, as there is no waiting time for gift cards, so you get your cashback straight away as well!
Keep your eye on the retailer pages on TopCashback, as you often find exclusive discount codes or promotion codes that you can use on top of receiving the cashback, which is super handy!
If you haven't shopped with a particular supermarket online before, for example, Sainsbury's, make sure you use TopCashback, as you'll often find cashback bonuses for first-time supermarket users. As I write this, Sainsbury's is offering £9 on a £45+ home delivery food shop or £10 for a first-time, click-and-collect purchase!
Is TopCashback The Best Cashback Service In The UK?
If you are only going to use one cashback site, then it probably should be TopCashback! It's perhaps the most generous cashback site and the highest paying UK conventional cashback site and was voted the cashback site of the year, again, in 2024, and that tells a very positive story!
It really depends on what you buy and where you buy it! The sheer number of offers and partnered retailers means that it's my first stop when buying something online, as I use the cashback rate on TopCashback as my initial cashback guide.
I'll then look at TopCashback rivals to see what they offer. Quidco is a very decent alternative to TopCashback, with lots of similar offers, and for the more mainstream online retailers, I'll check out Complete Savings as well.
Complete Savings is different as I pay £18 a month to use their service, and I do this because I can normally make a cashback bonus claim every month for £18, which wipes out my subscription fee, and as Complete Savings offers a minimum of 10% cashback for all its retailers, I can save a lot of money; but TopCashback does have a broader range of retail and service cashback partners, so TopCashback can be a better bet for certain purchases.
As I've mentioned before, I don't use TopCashback for in-store purchases, I stick to dedicated gift card cashback services for those type of purchases, and have made more money from gift card purchases than online purchases with TopCashback over the last year.
Can You Combine Gift Card Cashback With TopCashback?
I get asked this frequently: ' If I buy a gift card from a gift card cashback app like JamDoughnut, click through to the retailer via TopCashback, and pay for my purchase using my JamDoughnut gift card, will I earn cashback twice?'
That is a good question, but it is quite hard to answer with a yes or no. TopCashback often now has disclaimers that say that cashback won't be earned on purchases paid for by gift card.
The retailer doesn't want to pay you cashback twice, and so although the initial cashback might track and show on your TopCashback account as pending, once the retailer checks your transaction to make sure it qualifies for cashback, and they see it has been paid for gift card, they'll likely decline the TopCashback cashback request, and you won't get it!
That said, I've had a few transactions that I've made through TopCashback and paid by gift card go through, and I've effectively been paid cashback on the purchase twice, which is nice, so it can work sometimes!
Check to see if the gift card cashback service or TopCashback is offering the best cashback rate. If it's the gift card service, then use that and try your luck on TopCashback as well; you've got nothing to lose!
Remember that not all gift cards can be used online, so check before buying a gift card! Cashback is a fantastic way to save money on your purchases; it really can save you hundreds of pounds every year! TopCashback is a brilliant cashback service, and you absolutely should be signed up with it, but it's not the only one out there; make sure you sign up with several to make it easy to compare cashback rates and services and get the best possible cashback deal.
You can see all my recommended cashback sites on the 'Best Cashback Sites You Should Be Using in 2025' blog post here.
You can join TopCashback here. If you use this referral link, you'll earn a £10 cashback bonus when you've earned £10 of confirmed cashback.
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