What Is Rakuten? How to Earn Cash Back on Everything You Already Buy

Rakuten (formerly Ebates) is one of the easiest ways to earn cash back or points on purchases you’re already making. You shop at the same stores you always do — Amazon, Walmart, Nike, Macy’s, hotels, rental cars — and Rakuten pays you a percentage of what you spend just for clicking through their portal first.

It’s not a trick. It’s how affiliate marketing works: stores pay Rakuten a commission for sending customers, and Rakuten shares part of that commission with you.

How Rakuten Works

1. Sign up at rakuten.com — it’s free, no credit card required
2. Search for the store you want to shop at
3. Click through Rakuten to go to the store’s website
4. Shop as normal — add to cart, check out, pay with any card
5. Earn cash back — Rakuten tracks the purchase and credits your account

Cash back is paid quarterly via PayPal or check. You can also opt to receive American Express Membership Rewards points instead of cash — more on that below.

How Much Do You Earn?

Cash back rates vary by store and change frequently. Some examples of typical rates:

• Walmart: 1-3%
• Nike: 5-10%
• Hotels.com: 5-8%
• Macy’s: 3-8%
• eBay: 1-3%
• Sephora: 4-8%
• Groupon: 10-12%

Rates spike during promotions — especially Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Rakuten runs its own “Double Cash [AFFILIATE LINK — Citi Double Cash — REPLACE WITH YOUR LINK] Back” events where rates temporarily double.

The Rakuten Welcome Bonus

New Rakuten members typically get $30-$40 cash back after making their first qualifying purchase (usually $30+). This alone makes it worth signing up even if you only use it occasionally.

Rakuten + Amex Points = A Travel Hack

If you have an American Express card, you can link it to Rakuten and choose to earn Membership Rewards points instead of cash back — at a rate of 1 Amex point per cent of cash back.

This is where it gets interesting. Amex points are worth 1.5-2+ cents each when transferred to airline partners like Delta, Air France, or ANA. So if Rakuten gives you 5% cash back on a $200 purchase ($10 → 1,000 Amex points), those points could be worth $15-20 in travel value instead of $10 in cash.

For serious points collectors, always choose Amex points over cash.

The Rakuten Browser Extension

Install the Rakuten browser extension (available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) and you’ll never forget to activate cash back again. It:

• Automatically detects when you’re on a participating retailer’s site
• Shows a pop-up with the current cash back rate
• Applies cash back with one click

This is the single most impactful thing you can do to maximize Rakuten earnings. Without it, you have to remember to visit Rakuten first — the extension removes that friction entirely.

Rakuten for Travel

Rakuten works for travel purchases too:

• Hotels: Booking.com, Hotels.com, Hyatt, IHG, and more
• Car rental: Hertz, Enterprise, Budget, Avis
• Flights: Limited, but occasionally available
• Vacation packages: Various travel sites

Stack Rakuten cash back with hotel loyalty points and credit card rewards for triple-dipping on a single booking.

Rakuten vs. Other Shopping Portals

Rakuten isn’t the only shopping portal. Airlines and banks run their own:

• Chase Shopping (formerly Shop Through Chase)
• American Airlines AAdvantage Shopping
• United MileagePlus Shopping
• Amex Offers (targeted discounts, different from portals)

Before any online purchase, check which portal offers the best rate. Tools like Cashback Monitor let you compare rates across all portals in one place. Rakuten often wins on cash back, but airline portals sometimes offer more miles for specific retailers.

Is Rakuten Safe?

Yes. Rakuten is a legitimate company owned by Rakuten Group, a major Japanese conglomerate. It’s been operating in the US since 1998 (originally as Ebates) and has paid out over $3.5 billion in cash back to members. Your personal and payment information stays with the actual retailer — Rakuten only tracks that a purchase happened.

Getting Started

1. Go to rakuten.com
2. Create a free account
3. Install the browser extension
4. Make your first qualifying purchase to earn the welcome bonus

That’s it. Rakuten is one of the few truly passive ways to save money — once the extension is installed, it works in the background on essentially every online purchase.

How this works in practice

Say you’re about to buy a $300 pair of running shoes from Nike’s website. Without Rakuten, you go directly to Nike.com, buy the shoes, and get nothing beyond whatever credit card rewards your card earns (say, 1.5% cash back, or $4.50).

With Rakuten: you open the Rakuten extension (or the Rakuten website), click through to Nike, and notice Rakuten is offering 8% cash back on Nike purchases right now. You complete the same purchase for the same $300 price. You earn $24 in Rakuten cash back, plus your card’s 1.5% ($4.50). Total reward on a purchase you were making anyway: $28.50 — versus $4.50 without Rakuten.

Now run the Amex points version: you’ve linked your American Express Gold card to Rakuten and chosen to receive Amex Membership Rewards points instead of cash. The 8% on $300 = $24 cash back = 2,400 Amex points. At 1.5–2 cents per point when transferred to an airline partner, those 2,400 points could be worth $36–$48 in travel value. The same purchase — just with Rakuten in the chain — turns into meaningfully more value.

Over a year of consistent use on clothing, electronics, home goods, and travel bookings, many Rakuten users report earning hundreds of dollars (or tens of thousands of Amex points) with minimal behavior change beyond clicking through a portal.

Which shopping portals should you compare before buying?

Rakuten is excellent but not always the highest payer. Before any significant online purchase, checking multiple portals takes about 30 seconds and frequently reveals a better rate:

• Chase Shopping — earns Ultimate Rewards points; often competitive for major retailers
• American Airlines AAdvantage Shopping — earns AAdvantage miles; worth checking if you’re building an AA balance
• United MileagePlus Shopping — earns MileagePlus miles; strong for travelers in United’s ecosystem
• Discover Cashback / bank portals — some banks have their own portals worth checking

The free tool Cashback Monitor (cashbackmonitor.com) aggregates current rates from most major portals in one search, so you can quickly see whether Rakuten, Chase Shopping, or an airline portal has the best rate for a specific retailer at that moment.

The rule of thumb: for cash back, Rakuten is often best; for airline miles, an airline’s own shopping portal sometimes wins. If you hold an Amex card and want Membership Rewards points, Rakuten via the Amex-linked option is almost always your best bet for that specific currency.

Pros and cons of Rakuten

Pros:

• Completely free — no subscription, no credit card required to sign up
• Works at 3,500+ stores, covering most major retailers and travel sites
• Welcome bonus is easy to earn and provides immediate value
• The browser extension makes it nearly effortless — you don’t have to remember to visit Rakuten first
• Amex Membership Rewards option multiplies value for points collectors
• Cash back pays quarterly via PayPal or check — reliable and predictable

Cons:

• Cash back rates fluctuate and aren’t guaranteed to stay at any particular level
• You must click through Rakuten for cash back to track — if you go directly to the retailer, nothing is earned
• Not all stores participate, and some retailers (particularly luxury brands) are absent
• Quarterly payouts mean you wait up to three months to actually receive cash back
• The Amex points option requires an active American Express card linked to your Rakuten account

Comparing Rakuten to a dedicated airline shopping portal

If your primary goal is accumulating airline miles — say, United MileagePlus or American AAdvantage — the airline’s own shopping portal may occasionally beat Rakuten’s rate for a specific retailer. For example, if United Shopping is offering 5 miles per dollar at a retailer where Rakuten only offers 2% cash back, and you value United miles at 1.5 cents each, the math favors the airline portal (7.5 cents per dollar vs. 2 cents per dollar).

However, Rakuten wins for most general shoppers because: (a) the Amex points option converts to nearly any airline via Amex’s partner list — so you’re not locked into one airline’s portal — and (b) Rakuten often has higher cash rates at major retailers like Nike, Macy’s, and electronics stores. The practical answer: check both before large purchases.

Frequently asked questions

Does using Rakuten cost me anything or change the price I pay?

No. Rakuten does not affect the price you pay at the retailer. You’re simply routing through their affiliate link, which earns Rakuten a commission from the retailer, part of which Rakuten shares with you. The retailer doesn’t charge more; Rakuten’s cut comes from the retailer’s marketing budget, not your wallet.

How long does it take for cash back to post?

Rakuten typically shows a “pending” cash back amount in your account within a few days of a qualifying purchase. Pending cash back converts to “confirmed” after the retailer’s return window expires — usually 30–90 days. Confirmed cash back is then paid out in the next quarterly payment period (February, May, August, and November). So if you buy something in January, the cash back may not hit your PayPal until May.

Can I use Rakuten for travel bookings?

Yes. Rakuten works with a range of travel partners including Hotels.com, Booking.com, IHG, Hyatt, car rental companies (Hertz, Avis, Enterprise), and others. Rates vary and not every travel brand participates. For flights, coverage is more limited — most airlines don’t pay affiliate commissions, so you won’t find AA.com or Delta.com earning Rakuten cash back. The best travel use of Rakuten is typically hotels and car rentals.

What is the “Double Cash Back” event?

Rakuten periodically runs promotional events — often around major shopping dates like Black Friday and Cyber Monday — where cash back rates at participating retailers temporarily double. These events are time-limited (sometimes just 24 hours) but can make Rakuten significantly more valuable for planned purchases. The Rakuten extension will typically show an elevated rate notification when a Double Cash Back event is active.

Does Rakuten work on mobile purchases?

Rakuten works in a mobile browser if you navigate to Rakuten.com and click through from there. The browser extension works on desktop browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge). There is also a Rakuten app for mobile, which allows you to activate cash back on mobile purchases. In-app purchases within retailer apps (like shopping within the Nike or Walmart app) generally don’t qualify for Rakuten cash back because the affiliate tracking doesn’t follow you into an app.

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