A cashback site is a platform that offers its users the opportunity to receive cashback in the form of credits when they make purchases on partner websites. These refunds, generally between 2% and 5% of the purchase amount, are credited to members’ accounts. Once a specific threshold is reached, users can request a transfer to their bank account or receive a check.

Some cashback sites offer more generous refunds, up to 10% of the purchase amount, depending on the agreements in place. These platforms often include hundreds of partner sites and have hundreds of thousands of members. For example, eBuyClub has paid out more than €6 million to its members since its inception and collaborated with more than 1,800 merchant partners in 2015.

The economic operation of a cashback site relies on affiliate marketing: by partnering with merchant sites’ affiliate programs, the platform earns commissions on purchases made by its members. A portion of these commissions is then paid back to users. Cashback partner sites identify member shoppers through affiliate links or specific email addresses containing the cashback site’s domain.

Some partnerships are established specifically for the cashback site, particularly with merchants who did not initially have an affiliate program. Paid cashback sites may occasionally use controversial recruitment methods on the order confirmation pages of partner sites, where the latter are paid for each new sign-up from the cashback site.

In short, cashback sites offer consumers the opportunity to recoup some of their online spending, thus creating an attractive financial reward system for online shoppers.