ibotta is a new and free smart phone app that lets you earn real money for items you purchase at any of the following stores:
- Target
- Walmart
- Walgreens
- CVS Pharmacy
- RiteAid
- Kroger
- Safeway
- Publix
- Stop & Shop
- Fred Meyer
- King Soopers
- Ralphs
- H-E-B
- Meijer
- Vons
- Duane Reade
- Smith’s
- Fry’s
- Pick ‘N Save
- Dominicks
- Pavilions
- Tom Thumb
- Dillons
- ShopRite
- Giant Eagle
- QFC
- Harris Teeter
- Randalls
- Food 4 Less
- Hy-Vee
- CityMarket
- WinCo Foods
- 7-Eleven
- United States Armed Forces Commissary
Once you sign up, ibotta will start showing you offers you can redeem and how you can earn money for each particular item. You can earn money for taking polls, answering trivia, learning product facts, watching videos, and posting what you plan to buy on your Facebook wall. Then, when you purchase a qualifying item, just take a picture of your receipt with the app and ibotta will credit your account within 24 hours. You can also use coupons with these offers for even MORE savings. Once you earn $5,your money can be deposited into your PayPal account or donated instead.
After using this app for a couple of months-I’ve learned some useful tips:
Ibotta currently supports the following devices:
-iPhone 3GS and newer
-iPod Touch fourth generation and newer
-iPad 2 and newer
-Android devices running on platform 2.2 and newer (see minimum requirements below)
-Android devices running on platform 2.2 and newer (see minimum requirements below)
Android users: Your device must meet the minimum requirements below to run the Ibotta app:
- Camera with autofocus
- Network access to location data
- Portrait and landscape screen orientation
- Wi-Fi compatible
- Touchscreen
- OS 2.2 or higher
Please note: Ibotta does not support any device without a camera.
iPad 2 and iPod 4 users: iPad 2 and iPod 4 do not have the barcode scan function, therefore offers cannot be redeemed from retailers using text strings on their receipts instead of product codes. You will not see them load onto the list of available retailers.Windows Phone & Blackberry users: Unfortunately, Ibotta is not compatible with these mobile platforms. While we are still exclusively rolling out our iOS and Android platforms, we will be exploring new options in 2013.
Other Tips:
- Each Product offer is one-time use ONLY. Example: you purchased 3 MIO Beverage enhancers and have a $1 MIO offer in your ibotta account, you will only receive $1 regardless of the amount purchased. however, if you redeem that $1 MIO offer and receive ANOTHER MIO offer after redeeming the first, you CAN redeem the second offer as long as the 2nd MIO beverage enhancer is on a separate receipt.
- when you receive new products in your account be sure to complete the offers if you think you will be purchasing that product. Products can disappear or the values can change overnight!
- Not all products are available at every store. Before you purchase the product you can make sure that product is available to redeem by completing the offers associated with the product and doing the following: Click “redeem” then “pick Store” and you will see all products that are available to purchase at that particular store.
My Name is Josie and I live in sunny Southern California and I am a stay at home mom to three beautiful boys. We all know that living in California is a task of it's own and saving in California IS possible! I started this blog mainly to share all the awesome deals out there and show others how to save in any area of life. Even though you may make the commitment to be frugal and pinch your pennies doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice!
i was wondering what exactly do you scan ? the full receipt ? or the bar code at the end of the receipt ?
You take a picture of the entire receipt
I bought the Colgate OpticWhite mouthwash at Walgreen, but I cant redeem it. Do you know why?
Mayra….I did the same thing! It is not available to redeem at Walgreens which is a new change. l’ll be following Josie’s tip above to check the store’s available offers under “redeem” before buying them. I got a pretty decent deal at Walgreens even without ibotta..hope you did too!
if you buy 2 items can you submit twice or only once?
only once. Unless, after you submit the first offer you get the same offer (that has happened to me a couple of times) you can submit again… but it must be on a separate receipt.
I, also, have had a hard time redeeming through Ibotta. After five tries, I have been able to get credit for two. I had the same problem with Walgreens and the Optic White products. They aren’t there. They are on Rite Aid’s, Ralphs, Vons, ect. Frustrating.
Thanks for the extra info! I have had really good luck with ibotta and only 2 items out of many that didn’t fund but it was my fault. Either the item wasn’t available to redeem at the store where I purchased or I didn’t buy the exact item. For example, I bought a Digiornio but it had to be “rising crust” so I definitely pay attention to the small details too now…lol
I do love this app too…But I just wish we didn’t have to take a picture of our whole receipt. I only shop twice a month and it’s a very long receipt. So I normally have to take 5-6 pictures.
A great thing to do when you know you will be using Ibotta is to do a separate transaction with the eligible items so the receipt will not be so long.
Does anyone know this – Do you have to load the offer before you purchase the product?
I suggest you do.