By: John Shepler

Have you taken advantage of shopping rebates to make a little extra money? This has always involved mailing in your store receipt with a coupon form that has your name and address. Some weeks or months later you get a small check or a store discount. It’s nice “found” money that you can use to support your favorite cause. Wouldn’t it be great if these rebate opportunities came around more often and didn’t involve a lot of busywork and having to pay for a stamp?

You’re in luck!
Ibotta has brought the world of shopping rebates into the smartphone era. It’s so easy to use. You simply open the app to see what offers are available (there are lots of them), unlock the rebates you want, scan the product barcode when you shop and then take a photo of your store receipt when you’re done. In usually a few hours, Ibotta has verified your purchases and deposited the rebate money in your account.

Everyday Shopping at Your Favorite Stores
What makes this exciting is that the rebates are for items you are going shopping for anyway. You don’t have to buy stuff you don’t need. Do you use coupons to save at the cash register? That’s another way to get “free” money. The problem is that you have to find the coupons in the first place and then make sure you bring them along to the store. No coupon. No savings. By having everything on your phone, you don’t have to clip or keep track of paper coupons or rebate forms. It’s all done electronically.

How Much Are These Rebates?
They can vary from 25 cents on up to $5 or more per item. That’s comparable with paper coupons and mail-in rebates. You’ll find that your savings mount up quickly because there are so many rebates on things like milk, eggs, cereal, hand soap, paper towels, cookies, juice, even beer. Different stores have different rebates available. Many are for $1 or more.

Now the Most Fun Part: Cashing Out
When you get a balance of $10 or more, you can “cash out.” You simply push the button and your money is sent to your PayPal account almost immediately. You also have the option to redeem for gift cards, if you prefer.

Teamwork Pays Extra
Want more money for no more effort? Join a team and you’ll get bonuses when the you and the team meet a monthly goal. For instance, the April level 1 bonus is $5. You earn an extra $5 when you personally earn $10 in rebates and your team earns $20 in rebates. This is all tracked automatically by the app. You can check your own and your team’s progress any time.

Let’s Team, OK?
How do you join a team? Glad you asked! It’s really pretty easy. If you already have the Ibotta app, then simply connect your Facebook account. All your friends who do the same will be automatically added to each other’s teams.

If you haven’t joined Ibotta yet, then please sign up through my personal Ibotta link. Make sure you see the code: rpgfyue in the referral box so we’ll be teammates. You’ll be able to set up your account in a couple of minutes and get a link to the free Ibotta app for your iPhone or Android smartphone. Join using the Facebook option and you’ll automatically have friends with Ibotta accounts added to your team.

Helping Elephants
I really like this application because it doesn’t cost me anything, just a little extra effort when shopping, and you get a substantial amount of rebate money. As you can see by screenshot image, I have earned over $22 in a little over a month. My wife and teammate, Barbara, has over $61 in rebate earnings.

We’ve committed to using our Ibotta rebates to support the FAE Hospital in Thailand and have already used Ibotta cash for a contribution to Nancy Nortell’s “Help Asian Elephants Get Medical Treatment” fundraiser on CrowdRise. If you are not already one of the FAE supporters on Facebook, you’re invited to come and join us.