Earn Cash Back Buying Groceries with Checkout51
Sign up for Checkout51.com.
Checkout51 is a digital alternative to clipping coupons and bringing them to your local grocery store. This service is perfect for people who are:
- Too lazy to cut out coupons.
- Forget to bring their coupons.
- Too embarrassed to use coupons.
- All of the above.
Here is how Checkout51 works:
- Browse your offers and buy products at any store – yes, any store in the US or Canada.
- Upload your receipt using Checkout51 – online or with their smartphone app.
- We’ll confirm your purchase and credit your account – usually in 1-2 hours, or sooner.
- When your account reaches $20, you can cash out and we’ll mail you a check.
It really is that simple. They publish new offers every Thursday morning and all the coupons are good for a week until Wednesday night at midnight PST/PDT. You can take a look at the list of coupons whenever you want and see if there is anything you want to buy.
Here are this week’s offers (offers might have changed if you are reading this after May 28):
On my last trip to the grocery store, I spotted Kettle Chips on Checkout51, so I bought a bag.
Here is my store receipt (I also bought a $500 Visa gift card), but that’s not important…
From the Checkout51 app, I can read the terms for the offer and upload my store receipt to receive cash back.
You have to upload the entire receipt, no matter how long it is.
Take a picture of the top portion of the receipt and click the Add Section button.
Take a picture of the middle portion and click the Add Section button.
And take a picture of the bottom portion and click the Finish button.
Your receipt images will be uploaded to Checkout51’s servers.
Now, select which items you purchased (Checkout51’s staff will verify the receipt images with the items you selected here).
After checking the necessary boxes, click the Claim It button.
The app will show you how much you will earn if all the items you checked are listed on your receipt.
You can track your pending approvals from the Checkout51 app.
You will also receive a confirmation email with the details of your transaction.
Minutes later, I received a notification on my iPhone that my receipt was processed and my cash back was approved, Woo Hoo!
No more pending receipts in my Checkout51 account.
The notification section is a great way to track all your recent activity.
Click on any item from the notification section to see more info about that transaction.
You will also receive an email about your approved transaction.
I had the chance to speak to Pema Hegan, one of Checkout51’s founders (he actually called me from their headquarters in Toronto, Canada). Here is what he shared with me:
- They started in Canada in December 2012 and have roughly 700,000 Canadian users.
- They expanded to the US in January 2014 and have roughly 1,300,000 American users.
- They work directly with manufacturers to provide exclusive Checkout51 coupons that you cannot find anywhere else.
- Checkout51 receives a small payment every time you “redeem” a coupon online or through their smartphone app (pay for performance model).
- The largest check ever requested was over 1,000 Canadian Dollars from a woman who had been accumulating cash back over 6-7 months.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
Sign up for Checkout51.com.
I’d like to know how they are making money off the purchase of a gallon of milk or a package of strawberries. What manufacturer would be paying them for that?
They might not be making money off every single offer, it might just be there way to give out some cash back. They only pay you when you accumulate $20 or more, so give away 50 cents won’t cause much trouble. That’s what I’m thinking.
Interesting. Downloaded the app. Will report back. Looks pretty clean.
Thanks Geoff, let me know what you think. I’ve used it for a few days and think it is a really cool idea. So simple too.
Hi Grant, If you enjoy cash back grocery deals, you might also want to check out SavingStar. We offer new deals every including our Healthy Offer of the week for 20% back on fresh fruits and veggies, and our Friday Freebies for 100% cash back on items like yogurt, candy bars, pasta, and more. Currently we work with over 100 chains nationwide, with more to come this summer. Thanks, Josh from SavingStar
Thanks Josh, I’ll look into SavingStar soon. The more cash back companies the better.
the flaw in the scheme is with a physical coupon, you get the instant money off the desire item and the receipt shows almost zero dollar. i dont want to pay full price of an item, then wait for the money to come back at $20 increment
Good point, but some of these offers are exclusive to Checkout51 and cannot be found anywhere else. Plus you earn points/miles/cash back on the entire purchase, then receive a rebate later. I agree it’s not instant gratification but doesn’t it sound cool to get $20 checks in the mail? Woo hoo!
Just realized that this is a fabulous to data mine down to almost extreme detail. Individual grocery items? Dang. Not that there is really any privacy anymore but this new app might take it even one step further…..
I don’t think Checkout51 has any interest in keeping all your personal information and shopping history. They just want to see that you bought an item between XX/XX and XX/XX and will credit your account a few dollars.
My wife was especially stoked on this one, thanks Grant!
I’m glad I could help. Happy shopping!
Another one that has the same concept is Ibotta!
Interesting, I’ll give that a look too. Thanks Star!
Been doing this every week but I usually only get 1-2 items. I’m up to 8.25 so far. It appears they don’t really give you new items unless you buy items. For example, the items I buy – 1 to 2 per week – are replaced with new stuff, but all the stuff I didn’t buy because I didn’t want it is still there. It’s slow going, but it’s easy and even with only buying the ‘staples’ they have each week (apples, milk, yogurt, eggs, etc…) that will get you about .75 a week and get you a couple of 20 dollar checks each year.
It’s a slow process, but it’s like free money if you don’t go out of your way to buy items on the list. I think the coupons stay in your account until you redeem them or a period of time before they are replaced by new coupons. I’m up to $3, I have some catching up to do :)
Can you earn cash back for buying Visa gift cards at grocery stores with Checkout 51?
You can only earn cash back if you purchase items that are listed on the Checkout51 app. Only those items will earn cash back.
I got burnt one time when I forgot to upload my receipt when the offer was live. I tried to upload a day later and they wouldn’t accept it. So make sure to upload your receipts soon after you shop so you don’t forget them or else, they won’t accept it once the offer is no longer available even if your receipt shows you bought it when offer was live.
Good advice Ellen, you must have purchased the items on the last day of the week when the offers were about to end.
Take a look at Ibotta as well. This is often store specific however there are greater possibilities of racking up money quicker through referrals and bonuses. My wife and I were able to collect about $130 in 3 months just doing our regular spending (milk, bread, beer, cleaning supplies, etc) and maximizing product and teamwork bonuses.
This is my go to and use Checkout 51 and Snap as a backup.
I’ve used Ibotta a few times, but I think it is more confusing with more moving parts than Checkout 51.