Rakuten is one of the best cashback shopping portals where you’ll find the latest Rakuten coupons, promo codes, and other bonuses to help you save money. Shop at your favorite brands and earn cash back every time you make a purchase.
I’ve earned thousands of dollars in cashback over the years with Rakuten. If you’re a new user, you can get a $40 bonus when you sign up with this exclusive link.
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About Rakuten
Rakuten Group, Inc. is an ecommerce and online retailing company based in Japan. Founded in 1997 by Hiroshi Mikitani, the firm has more than 70 different services and is often referred to as the “Amazon of Japan“.
One of their offerings is a cash back site called Rakuten Rewards (formerly known as Ebates). Rakuten Rewards is an online cash back and shopping rewards company that lets users earn cash back just for shopping online like they normally would.
Rakuten also offer coupons, promotions, and bonuses all the time, so users have many opportunities to save money when they shop at their favorite stores.
Current Rakuten Promotions
Offer #1: Rakuten $40 Sign-Up Bonus
Join Rakuten with my exclusive referral link and get a $40 sign-up bonus after you spend at least $40 within 90 days of account opening (bonus down to $30 after 12/8/24).
How To Get $40 Bonus:
- Open a Rakuten account using this link.
- Spend at least $40 in total purchase(s) within 90 days of signing up.
- Receive a $40 bonus added to your next Cash Back payment.
Sign-Up Bonus Terms & Conditions:
- Only new members are eligible for the Referral Sign Up Bonus. Not combinable with other offers including the Welcome Bonus.
- You must reside and be located in the 50 United States, District of Columbia, or Canada.
- Qualify for a $40 Referral Sign Up Bonus when you sign up to become a new member using your referrer’s referral link and make Qualifying Purchase(s) totaling at least $40 within 90 days of signing up.
- One Referral Sign up Bonus per eligible new member.
- Referral Sign Up Bonus will be added to your next Cash Back payment, provided that you are a Qualified Referral.
- You will not be a Qualified Referral if you cancel, return, or exchange your Qualifying Purchase, if your Qualifying Purchase hasn’t earned Cash Back, or if your purchase is found to be fraudulent, abusive, unethical, suspicious, or otherwise inconsistent with our Refer-A-Friend Program Terms.
Offer #2: Earn Membership Rewards® Points with Rakuten
Earn American Express Membership Rewards points when you shop with Rakuten.
Instead of earning cash back on your purchases, Rakuten members that are American Express cardmembers with a card enrolled in Membership Rewards can earn points instead.
How To Get Earn Membership Rewards Points:
- Create a new Rakuten account or login to an existing account.
- Navigate to Rakuten’s American Express page.
- Click on ‘Get Started’ to switch from Cash Back to Membership Rewards point.
- Link an eligible American Express card to your Rakuten account.
Offer #3: Rakuten Referral Bonus
Invite friends to Rakuten using your referral link and each of you will get a $40 referral bonus after your friend spends $40 or more.
Ninja Note 7/11/24: Rakuten no longer offers the “invite-a-friend” program. New users need to go through a Rakuten partner like us.
How To Get $40 Referral Bonus:
- Invite friends to Rakuten using your referral link.
- They join and spend $40 or more within 90 days of signing up.
- Get a $40 referral bonus added to each of your account.
Referral Bonus Terms & Conditions:
- Qualify for a $40 Referral Bonus when anyone whom you refer (a “Referee”) signs up to become a new member using your referral link or other method supplied by Rakuten during the promotion period.
- You may qualify for a Referral Bonus more than one time.
- You and your Referee(s) must reside and be located in the 50 United States, District of Columbia, or Canada and comply with the Refer-A-Friend Program Terms.
- Referral Bonus(es) will be added to your next Cash Back payment, provided that your Referee(s) are Qualified Referral(s) according to the Refer-A-Friend Program Terms.
The Bottom Line
The $40 sign-up bonus matches the highest amount ever offered by Rakuten. Normally, sign-up and referral bonuses are $30. I’ve seen the $40 version usually pop up around Thanksgiving and Christmas, so having this offer return in the middle of the year is an uncommon event.
From my observation of Rakuten bonuses over the years, it looks like $30 is now the standard referral bonus and will return once this limited-time offer ends.
Rakuten ranked first in my list of the best cash back apps. I’ve been using it since 2002 when it was known as Ebates (anyone else remember that?). It’s an easy-to-use shopping site that has generated thousands of dollars in cash back for me – just for adding a small step to my online shopping process.
Cashback shopping portals change their cash back percentages all the time, so you should take a look at the various portals to see what’s paying the most for the store you plan on buying things from.
Besides Rakuten, my other go-to cashback shopping sites are TopCashBack ($25 bonus), and RebatesMe ($35 bonus), BeFrugal ($30 bonus) and Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus).
