Chase rewards and a rakutan question

[simpsongal]

4th quarter category is paypal, dept stores, and chase pay. Last quarter it was gas stations and streaming services.

I think I'm done with this card and its lousy categories. They also take forever to announce the categories. DH has Discover, and his categories are like amazon, Walmart, and some other good stuff for 4th quarter.

On a related note, I'm not impressed with Rakuten - I don't think it's as good as ebates.  It's also annoying that I have to shop through the app, and if I'm browsing and adding things to my cart in my regular browser, it doesn't transfer the stuff in my cart when I navigate to the store through the app. 

What are the other online shopping cash back sites people like?

[sadlebred]

I also recommend downloading the browser plugin for Rakuten.

I've tried TopCashBack but have never successfully had them deposit any money, so that it shows in my balance on their site/app. Rakuten seems to be more reliable.

[Mrs.flang]

I try to check both rakuten and topcashback before ordering anything and topcashback always seems to have higher cash back. But it does seem to take a lot longer for the amount to move from pending to earned.

[mpc]

Sept 16, 2019 9:18:15 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

On a related note, I'm not impressed with Rakuten - I don't think it's as good as ebates.  It's also annoying that I have to shop through the app, and if I'm browsing and adding things to my cart in my regular browser, it doesn't transfer the stuff in my cart when I navigate to the store through the app. 

I'm super late to the game and only signed up right after ebates changed to rakuten. But in the past couple months of use I haven't had this problem. Maybe because most of my shopping is from a computer not a phone? But I did make an order from Carters through the app and I just had to sign into my Carters account for it to populate the shopping cart I had already filled. 

[ohgillian]

Sept 16, 2019 10:31:59 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

I also recommend downloading the browser plugin for Rakuten.

I've tried TopCashBack but have never successfully had them deposit any money, so that it shows in my balance on their site/app. Rakuten seems to be more reliable.

I'm surprised to hear this. That's not good! Anecdotally, I've used TCB for a few years (2 or 3?) and have found it super reliable. It's my go-to portal. Although I use Cashbackmonitor to check rates, TCB almost always has the highest rate.

[Susie]

I’m pretty over Chase’s rotating categories as well. I’m not going to cancel the card over it, because it’s no annual fee and it’s my oldest one, but I’m done rewards-chasing with it. They lost me when they moved a lot of the categories to things that are subscription/autopay based. I think EZPass was one this spring... I’m not looking to rotate those around quarter to quarter.

I use the browser plugin for Rakuten, and it’s fine except that it grinds safari to a screeching halt on my home computer. I have to use chrome instead.

[shaynaatl]

Agreed, Chase Freedom categories have been terrible lately.

[ska]

I'm a huge fan of freeshipping.com for cash back. They do charge $13/month, but have 10% cash back, rebates of shipping charges, and free return shipping labels. I signed up when I ordered my fridge so got $160 cash back that month and have always gotten more back each month than the fee. They offer the 10% on Target pickup orders, so if I remember and have the time-I do that for some things.

[maloney]

I hate this card.  So, I paid for our groceries with chase pay for the 5% rewards on 10/1 but it's characterized as 1%.  Fuck this card.

[puppyluv]

Does anyone even have good places that Chase Pay is accepted? Near me I have Starbucks, 5 guys, and Shell (which is the most expensive place by me to get gas), none of which I have ever used my chase card at.

[maloney]

Maybe I'm an idiot.  I thought Chase Pay was using your mobile wallet and paying that way.  But I looked on the website and it says I need to download a Chase Pay app?

[kitchenreno]

I'm not a fan of Rakuten either. I feel like I never see the cash back I expect to see. My 'shopping trips' don't show purchases made even though I definitely made them.  I could email them each time it happens, but that defeats the whole point of 'easy' cash back.

Also, I specifically purchased a large ticket item from a particular store b/c of the cash back "savings".  Then the cash back never appeared.  When I emailed to check on it, they told me b/c I used a coupon code, cash back isn't earned.  I don't remember that ever happening with Ebates - I used promo codes all the time when shopping.

[shortstax]

Here's something that might help:

You can buy giftcards directly from paypal. I tested it on a lowes gc before we made a big purchase and it worked: www.paypal.com/us/gifts/all

If you want a physical giftcard, Best Buy sells a lot in store and you can use the Chase Pay app to check out.