Cashback sounds simple: you buy something you were going to buy anyway and get part of the price back. Behind that sentence sit a few moving parts, and knowing them helps you keep the money instead of losing it to a small mistake. This guide follows one purchase from the first click to the payout, using the way daily cashback handles it.

Who pays the cashback

The shop does. Online stores pay a commission to partners who send them customers, and a cashback portal passes a share of that commission on to you. The shop gets a buyer, the portal earns a fee, and you get part of it back. Nothing is added to the price you pay, so the shop's own price and shipping stay exactly as they are. daily cashback is an information portal: we do not sell goods ourselves, we show you where the cashback is and what the conditions are.

Step 1: Create a free account

You need an account so that the cashback has somewhere to land. It costs nothing. Without an account the shop cannot be linked to you, and there would be nothing to credit later. Use an email address you check, because confirmations and payout messages go there.

Step 2: Find the shop and compare

Open the shop page on our site, for example from the country overview or a category such as travel. On the page you see the current cashback rate, offers we found, and notes on shipping and returns. This is where saving the most is decided: a high rate with expensive shipping can be worse than a lower rate with free delivery. Look at the whole picture, not only the percentage.

Step 3: Click through to the shop

Use the shop button on our page. The click sends the shop a small piece of information, usually stored in a cookie, saying that you came from the portal. That is the moment the purchase can be linked to your account. If you go straight to the shop's address in a new tab, the link is missing and the order is invisible to us.

Step 4: Shop as usual

Add items to your basket and pay the way you normally would. Do not leave the shop to compare at another site and then return through a different link, and keep other cashback or coupon sites closed. A later click can replace the first one, and the credit then goes elsewhere or nowhere.

Step 5: The order shows up as pending

A short time after the purchase the shop reports the order. It appears in your account as pending. Pending means the shop knows about the order, but it is not yet certain that you will keep it. The shop waits through its return period first.

Step 6: The shop confirms

Once the return period has passed and the order stands, the shop confirms it. This usually takes 30 to 90 days, depending on the shop. Items you send back or orders that are cancelled are taken out of the calculation. Only then does the cashback change from pending to confirmed.

Step 7: Payout

Confirmed cashback can be paid out from 20 USD by PayPal. Payouts are checked by hand before they go out, which protects the system against misuse and mistakes. If your balance is below 20 USD, it simply stays in your account until you reach the limit.

Where cashback gets lost

• Opening the shop from a search result or an email instead of our page.
• An ad blocker or strict browser setting that stops the tracking click.
• Using another cashback or coupon site in the middle of the session.
• Returning items, which removes them from the amount.
• Buying something the shop excludes, for example gift cards in many stores. The conditions on the shop page say what does not count.

If an order does not appear, our guide on missing cashback explains what to send us and how long to wait before asking.

A small example

This is an example, not a real offer. Suppose a shop pays a rate that works out to 4 USD on a 100 USD order. You see 4 USD pending after the purchase. You keep the goods, the shop confirms after 60 days, and the 4 USD becomes confirmed. With other confirmed orders you reach 20 USD and request a PayPal payout. If you had returned half of the order, the cashback would have shrunk with it.

How to get the most out of it

Treat cashback as one part of the price. We check the shops every day and show cashback, current offers, shipping and returns side by side, so that you can pick the combination with the lowest cost for what you actually keep. The full conditions, including when cashback does not apply, are in our terms of use, and the how it works page gives the short version.