Cashback comparison 2014: Starthere vs. Qwibble vs. Shopping VIP vs. Cash Rewards vs. Chill vs. Prplness vs. Lyoness
neil on 10/07/2014 at 3:46 pm, filed under Cashback
Image Source: Wikipedia
Cashback sites are a great way to make purchases cheaper for consumers. Some websites that you make a purchase from are willing to pay a commission to affiliate networks and other website publishers to gain sales. The idea behind cashback sites is, as a website publisher themselves, they are refunding a portion of the commission they’ve made from the merchants back to the consumer.
We last compared cashback sites in June of 2013. Since that time, Bucksback has shut down its website with no explanation and is not responding to queries.
Two new sites have been offering cashback deals to Australians. Shopping VIP opened in late 2013 with their focus on providing a small number of high quality retailers to their VIPs (aka members). Meanwhile, Lyoness is not a new company but now offers a standalone cashback service for online purchases which differentiates itself from its more controversial “shopping community“.
| Starthere | Qwibble | ShoppingVIP | Cash Rewards | Chill Cashback | Prplness | Lyoness* | |
| Amaysim Unlimited | $40.00 | $39.00 | N/A | $24.00 | N/A | $23.00 | N/A |
| Apple | 1.00% | N/A | 1.50% | 2.00% | N/A | N/A | 1.00% |
| Appliances Online | 1.00% | 1.60% | N/A | 2.00% | N/A | 1.50% | N/A |
| ASOS | 3.50% | 5.60% | N/A | 7.00% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Big W | 2.00% | 3.20% | N/A | 4.00% | 3.20% | 3.00% | N/A |
| Bonds | 4.50% | 7.20% | 7.00% | 7.20% | 7.20% | 6.00% | 2.00% |
| Booktopia | 3.75% | 6.00% | 5.50% | 7.50% | 6%% | 3.75% | 2.00% |
| Dan Murphy’s (spirits / wine) | 4.15% | 5%/6.65% | 5%/6% | 5%/7.5% | N/A | 5.25%/6% | N/A |
| Deals Direct | 2.50% | 4.00% | 3.00% | 5.00% | 4.00% | 4.00% | 2.00% |
| GraysOnline (non-auction) | 2.50% | 4.40% | N/A | 5.50% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Groupon | 2.50% | N/A | N/A | 4.00% | N/A | N/A | 2.00% |
| Hotelclub | N/A | 9.60% | N/A | N/A | 7.20% | 6.00% | 1.00% |
| Hotels.com -Merchant Hotel | 3.00% | 4.80% | N/A | 4.80% | 4.80% | 3.00% | 2.00% |
| Kogan | N/A | 0.60% | 0.50% | 0.60% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Lenovo | 2.30% | 3.60% | 3.00% | 2.80% | 2.80% | N/A | 1.00% |
| Menulog-Home Delivery | 1.50% | 2.40% | N/A | 2.40% | 2.00% | 1.50% | N/A |
| Rebel Sport | 3.75% | 6.00% | 5.00% | 6.00% | 6.00% | 4.00% | 2.00% |
| Shoppingsquare | N/A | 1.60% | N/A | 1.60% | 1.60% | N/A | N/A |
| Stawberrynet -New Customer | 7.50% | 12.00% | 12.00% | 15.00% | 12.00% | N/A | N/A |
| Surfstitch | 1.50% | 2.40% | 3.00% | 2.25-8% | 8.00% | 4.00% | 1.00% |
| The Iconic | 5.00% | 8.00% | 8.00% | 10.00% | N/A | 8.00% | 1.00% |
| The Mens Shop | 5.00% | N/A | N/A | 8.00% | N/A | N/A | 2.00% |
| Member Fees (annual) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Minimum Cashout Amount | None | None | $20 | $5 | $20 | $25 | $15.00 |
| Pricematch | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Sign Up Offers | No | No | No | No | $2 credit | $5 credit | No |
Information current as of July 10, 2014.
Note: 7/8 Lyoness cashback adjusted. Lyoness appears to offer an immediate cashback rate and then a further rate that is dependent on an opaque referral scheme.
Starthere:
At the founder level (former Moneybackco members), the average is bumped up to 5.5%. Top rates for 7 merchants .
No minimum cashout amount.
Multiple tiers of membership.
For new or casual users (white level), average cashback rates are poor at 3.16%. Top rate for only 1 merchant (Amaysim).
Qwibble:
Competitive cashback rates (avg 4.88%). Top rates for 7 of our sample merchants.
No minimum cashout rates. For our sample merchants, the average rate is 4.88%.
Shopping VIP:
Competitive cashback rates (avg 4.91%) .
Not all of the popular merchants listed.
High minimum cashout. You would need to make $408 in purchases to receive your first cashout.
Cash Rewards:
Very competitive cashback rates (avg 5.3%). Top rates for 17 of our sample merchants.
— $5 minimum cashout amount.
Chill Cashback:
Competitive cashback rates (avg 5.3%). Top rates for 4 of our sample merchants and the best overall average rate.
Not all of the popular merchants listed.
High minimum cashout. You would need to make $337 (inc $2 credit) in purchases to receive your first cashout.
Prplness:
Pricematch other cashback website’s rates.
Not all of the popular merchants listed.
High minimum cashout. For our sample merchants, the average rate is 4.07%. You would need to make $492 (inc $5 credit) in purchases to receive your first cashout.
Lyoness:
Poor average cashback rate of 3.25%. 1.58%
High minimum cashout. You would need to make $462 $950 in purchases to receive your first cashout.
2014 vs 1013
Cashback averages mostly stayed the same with the exception of Prplness which dropped by almost .5% and Chill Cashback which doubled their cashback average from 2.68% to 5.35%. Qwibble removed their minimum cashback while Cashrewards set a negligible $5 minimum cashout level. Despite a promise in the comments of last years cashback comparison, Chill has kept their $20 minimum cashout. To their credit, they have increased the amount of merchants on their site.
Winners & Losers
Cash Rewards, Starthere (Founder Level only)
Starthere, Prplness, Shopping VIP, Lyoness
For the second year in a row, Cash Rewards provide the best value along with a large selection of retailers. They are also the only site to offer cashback with eBay. If you have founder status at Starthere then definitely check their site before your purchase. If you don’t have founder status then don’t bother. Qwibble & Chill are hit and miss but worth checking. Don’t bother with Prplness, Shopping VIP or Lyoness.
Always compare retailers at each cashback site before purchasing. Rates often vary and some sites list retailers that others don’t.
Footnote:
We’ve move the cashback bar to underneath the thumbnail/Go to Deal button so its easier for users to remember to claim cashback.
