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Regular readers will know that one of the simplest ways to save money on travel (or pretty much anything else) is to make any online purchases via a cashback site. If you were going to buy something anyway, it’s essentially free money back in exchange for an extra couple of clicks. I personally save £1,000s every year.

In the UK, the two main cashback sites are Quidco and TopCashback – but there are plenty of sites based in other countries too that it can pay to keep an eye on…

Getting hold of cashback earned in $USD (for example) is easy by the way – just cash out via PayPal.

Reason One: Benefit from more sign-up bonuses

Cashback sites usually offer some sort of sign-up bonus. These can vary, but right now you can get the following:

• TopCashback USA: $10 bonus (after earning $10 standard cashback). Sign up here.
• Rakuten: $40 bonus (after just SPENDING $40) – in other words, it’s a free $40! Sign up here.     

To make sure you get the $40 Rakuten sign up bonus rather than the standard $10, follow the steps below.

When you first click the sign up link, you might be asked if you are a resident of the EEA. Click “NO” – otherwise you will be taken to a different regional Rakuten subsidiary.

After clicking no, you should be taken to the Rakuten USA site, but will probably only be able to see the standard $10 bonus. All you have to do to get the $40 offer to pop up is to click on this link here again (or re-paste the link web address in the same browser window).

You should then see the following $40 offer and can sign up as normal:

Reason Two: Benefit from better cashback rates

If you are already familiar with cashback sites, you will probably know that the rates available can vary substantially. IHG hotels, for example, sometimes offer 10% on the the UK version of TopCashback, but at the time of writing it’s only 3.15%: 

Right now, you can get 6% if you use the USA version of TopCashback instead (and 15% if booking an Avid brand hotel):

Last week, you could have received 12% by booking through TopCashback USA, so it really does pay to keep an eye on things:

Bottom line

If you are new to cashback websites, I would recommend sticking with TopCashback UK and Quidco to begin with. TopCashback UK is also offering a £10 sign up bonus and Quidco a (miserly!) £1 at the moment.

If you are already familiar with cashback sites and are looking to really maximise your rebates, signing up to international sites like TopCashback USA and Rakuten can be a great help.

I’ve used InsideFlyer referral links in the article above, but if you would like to share your own in the comments below, please feel free!

Are there any other cashback sites you would recommend?