10% cash back from Rakuten for shopping online, plus $20 for new users

Black Friday and Cyber Monday might be over, but welcome to Green Monday — a term coined by the online retail industry. If you are doing any last minute holiday shopping today online, it is imperative to go through an online shopping portal first, before making actually making your purchase. Doing this can put quite a bit of cash back in your pocket and truly bring down the cost of the item you are purchasing.

If you are looking to shop online today, you’ll want to start at Rakuten first prior to actually going to the merchants website — to truly reap some great savings. Right now, Rakuten is offering 10% cash back at many popular retailers. Not only that, if you are new to Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates), they are offering $20 to all new members. And all you have to do is use their site within the first 90 days of registering — pretty easy.

Sign up for Rakuten now and earn $20

What is an online shopping portal?

Now, for those of you who have no idea what an online shopping portal is, here is my quick explanation:

It is an online website that you go to first when you are looking to purchase an item online. From the shopping portal, you’ll search for the desired store you are looking to make the purchase at and you will then be taken directly to the merchants website.

You’ll then continue to shop at that merchant the same exact way as if you went to the site first. Your purchase is tracked in the background and you’ll then earn points, miles or cash back (depending on the site used) for your purchase. There is absolutely no reason not to earn these extra points/miles or free money! It literally takes an extra minute of your time.

Real use practice

Right now you’ll see some highly desirable stores offering 10% cash back. This includes Overstock.com, Michaels, Banana Republic, JC Penny, Athleta, Lands’ End and many more.

So instead of going straight to Athelta.com, for example, to make your purchase, go to Rakuten first, search for Athleta and you’ll be taken straight to their website. It will have the exact same look and feel as you are used to, but your purchase will be tracked in the background. Let’s say you make a $100 purchase, this means you’ll receive $10 cash back in your Rakuten account. And if you are a new member to the site, you’ll receive an additional $20 as well, giving you an incredibly nice return.

So if you are new to Rakuten, make sure to sign up now to get the $20 bonus and continue to earn cash back on every purchase you make. If you shop online at all, this is a great way to truly earn free money.