Ibotta Review: Earn More Cash Back When Shopping for Groceries

There are a lot of ways to save when shopping for groceries. Some are better than others. Some may suit your style. Some may not.

I like using cash back credit cards to make a little money back when shopping for groceries. I know some people who spend time clipping or printing coupons and earning cash back that way.

There’s a new way to earn more cash back when shopping for groceries. It’s called Ibotta (read like, “I bought a…”).

It’s a free mobile app that allows you to earn cash back (not points) for completing simple, in-app tasks and then buying specific grocery items. I signed up and downloaded the Ibotta app last week. I also had a call with the Ibotta team to learn more.

This is my review of Ibotta.

The Way Ibotta Works

1. Download app

2. View offers and complete tasks

3. Buy selected items

4. Upload receipt

5. Withdraw cash

6. Repeat steps 2-5 every week or so

Your first step is to download the Ibotta app. The app is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android users.

Once you have the app and sign up, you are presented with several products (things you’d find at Target, Walmart, Walgreens, etc.). I was presented with 64 different products.

If you see a product you want, touch it and you will be presented with different tasks you can complete to earn cash back when you purchase this item. The tasks are things like: watch a 30-second video, take a quick poll, etc. I found all the tasks to be painless and sometimes fun.

Once you complete a task, your potential earnings are banked into your running total. The more product tasks you complete, the more you earn.

I found four products of the 64 offered that I routinely buy: Jiffy Peanut Butter, Diet Coke, Carnation Instant Breakfast, and Oscar Mayer Deli Sliced Turkey). Completing all the tasks in these offers netted me $2.50 in potential earnings.

I haven’t fully earned the cash back until I actually buy the items. So, your next step is to head to the store and purchase the items.

Target, Walmart, Walgreens, and some place called Duane Reade are the stores currently working with Ibotta. More stores, like Kroger and CVS, are in the works.

Once you have your receipt, use your smart device to take a picture of the receipt showing the store name and items. Upload your picture to the Ibotta app and within a few hours, they will add the potential earning over to your official “Ibotta Earnings”, where you can then transfer the cash over to your PayPal account ($5 minimum).

More product offers are added to your Ibotta app each time you upload your receipt to redeem your cash. You can also like or dislike your current Ibotta offers so that you aren’t shown those types of offers in the future (think Pandora voting buttons).

The Earning Potential of Ibotta

Ibotta is presenting itself as a way to earn $20 or more cash back each time you go shopping. I suppose if you let Ibotta help you decide what to buy then that might be true. In my case, I was only able to find $2.50 worth of offers (earned on 4 products) that I could use.

Mrs. PT could probably add another $5.00 to the potential earnings, netting us $7.50. That’s not a lot in savings, but it’s $7.50 that we didn’t have before, and we aren’t spending more than we normally would.

Others are reporting more cash back earnings. If you hit up their Facebook page, you’ll see Ibotta users regularly reporting cash back earnings in the $20 range.

Ibotta promises to fine tune the offers to products that I like, so I guess the jury is still out on whether I can “train” Ibotta into giving me $20 worth of cash back offers each trip to the grocery store.

Additionally, Ibotta has a referral program that will net you $1 for each person that signs up through your referral link and completes an offer.

The Technology of Ibotta

The Ibotta app is simple, clean, and intuitive. Big pictures of the products on the offers page is key to making this app so user-friendly. It takes seconds to scan through the list of offers and make the “yep, I buy that / no, I’d never get that” decision.

Completing the tasks is easy too and all of it happens seamlessly there within the app. It’s not as easy as other cashback options, but it’s not a burden either.

One small complaint: I do wish the voting buttons were right there on the main “offers” page so you could quickly eliminate offers that aren’t well suited.

It takes me two clicks to get to the screen where I can vote on an offer. I don’t see why this couldn’t be incorporated into the main offers screen, or at least on the individual product screen.

The Need for Ibotta

The very first thing that comes to mind when looking at this app is the fact that people who pay around $100 a month for an iPhone (a $300 piece of technological wizardry) are using an app that will save them, at most, around $20 on their grocery bill.

I’m not making light of $20 in savings. But up against the ridiculousness of smartphone expenses, it seems a bit off, doesn’t it?

What I do like about Ibotta is that it gives us a quick alternative to couponing and it’s built into our phone. Some people are never going to sit down and clip coupons, but they will load this app and check out the offers. The tasks are simple enough not to be a barrier.

I think the biggest hurdle Ibotta has to clear is the receipt upload. It’s the one manual piece in the process that could be a big enough barrier to keep people from using it. I’m assuming Ibotta is looking forward to mobile payment solutions to eliminate the receipt upload thing.

The People Behind Ibotta

Ibotta is crushing it when it comes to customer support. Their Facebook page is filled with questions/comments/concerns from their user base. Ibotta is on top of all of it and handling the feedback real time.

This is impressive and should be encouraging for anyone who wants to give Ibotta a try.

Receipt Apps Like Ibotta

Fetch Rewards

If you like the idea of smart couponing but aren’t too fussed on completing tasks to access them, Fetch Rewards might be a great option for you. Once you download the free app, all you need to do to earn rewards is scan your grocery receipts.

It doesn’t matter where you shop, and there’s no need to claim an offer before you head to the store. If they offer reward points for an item, they will find it on your receipts and add it to your total. 

Though you won’t be earning cash like you do with Ibotta, you will earn points that you can cash in for thousands of  items. Once you accumulate at least 3000 points, you can begin redeeming them for everything from ice cream to Sephora gift cards, and even gift cards for charity.

They also have a referral program for friends and family. For every person you refer, you each will get 2000 points after your referral scans their first receipt. There is no limit to how many people you can refer.

Download the Fetch Rewards app to get started. Enter promo code FETCH3K to automatically earn $3.00 free.

Have you tried Ibotta or other receipt apps? Have you found it to be a practical way to earn cash back on your grocery shopping? Have questions about the Ibotta app? Fire away in the comments below.