iBotta, a damn good grocery app.
A couple months ago I was looking at a local Facebook yard sale sight and I see an ad for a shopping app. iBotta. The ad claimed the poster made $900 since November (which would have been 2 months). The eyes automatically rolled. Yeah right. I am one of those peeps that initially disbelieves all these money making scams...but kinda deep down hopes one would actually work. So I had to take a look at what they were saying.
There were pictures of the app included...waitaminute....you can get money back from any store, any brand milk, eggs, cereal, bread...and produce?? No one gives you coupons on produce. This showed bananas, tomatoes, lettuce and onions. Hmmmm. I buy those things pretty regularly. I saw the poster got a $5 referral bonus, so I figured that was her ploy. I went to the actual site.
I went to the actual site. This looked pretty good. Lots of stores I use regularly, both here in sarasota and up north when Im in Amesbury. And lots of brands I use regularly...and lots of any brands any store....and BEER!! They are giving rebates on BEER! Ray will be so pleased :)
Decided to download the app and give it a whirl. This was the first week in January. So on my first trip i did my normal shopping, came home and picked a few things I had bought. Didnt look at it ahead of time because I didnt want to buy for the sake of getting a rebate. It was pretty good! Lots of anybradn rebates, got a $10 sign up bonus! and a $2 new user bonus! Sweet. It only took 2 weeks to meet the $20 minimum payout via paypal. Just two shopping trips.
IBotta also has bonuses if you have team members...they help you reach the cash goals..usually $20-$30. So I joined a group and found some team members. A lot more than I had expected really. Team members have to friend you on Facebook, then they appear on your team within 2-3 days of friending....which means since these are strangers and you dont really want to follow their daily antics on facebook, you have to remember to unfollow them all but keep them as friends. Unless you actually become friends with a few by chatting...which I did. Im a motormouth....as you can tell.
I soon learned thru the group that there are other apps you can use along with iBotta and with coupons you can stack up deals and end up with free items or some you actually make money on. Bananas kept resetting at 50c rebate. I ran into target one day for some lunch items as it was next to a job we were on and got 2 bananas for 47c. Used cartwheel and red card on top of that and ended up getting back 9c with those two bananas. I know 9c...big whoop. It adds up! There was a shampoo on iBotta with a 4.75 rebate. It cost 4.94 at walmart and with anothe apps $1 back you ended up with 81c in your pocket...plus shampoo. I did this 2x, but others on the group claimed to have done it 5-6 times...guess they wanted a year or two woth of shampoo ;)
So now that I have had this app for two months...my total rebates earned? $140.75. A far cry from the $900 the original poster claimed, but certainly worth keeping the app. I also wondered if Im spending more money, trying to do the stacks and what not. I compared my spending and found that I spent $60 more in groceries this year than last for the first two months. Some things have gone up a LOT. Thats to consider. Plus I have rebates on the other apps of about $15 so far to add to athe 140.75...so I am actually ahead of hte game about $90 it seems.
So what are the cons? There’s always cons! :) The main thing I see is the any brand products seemed to have tapered off. The first month there were a LOT of everyday items milk, eggs, cheese, cereal, butter, bread, produce...they lure you in for sure! But now, we just reset with new rebates on Wednesday and the any brands....butter, diapers and hamburger buns. thats it. Doubt I will use any of those. Also the bonus levels are harder to obtain....15 items and $25. Now your team will hit the $25 in two days (as was my case)...but you yourself have to do the 15 items and they have to be brand names. Not so easy. I find I can usually do this once a month..but level 2 is hard to hit.
All in all its a great app! I’d give it 4 1/2 stars. Much much better than others I have tried that I’ll rate in days to come.
And of course...here’s a referral link :D Saw that one coming didnt you? You will get $10 bonus after you use the app and complete one rebate. I’ll get $5 (of my $140 i have collected so far...only $10 is referral bonuses...got both my daughters to join.)
https://ibotta.com/r/rfycdhs