Ibotta is No Longer Allowing You to Stack Coupons on Many Purchases
How does Ibotta work to earn you cash back, in light of all the recent changes?
No more coupon stacking with Ibotta!
Ibotta is a free mobile app that makes it easy to earn cash back on your everyday in-store and online purchases. There are multiple ways to earn at grocery stores, restaurants, and other brick-and-mortar retailers like Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Kohl’s, and more!
Ibotta recently made some changes… and not good ones! For some time now, Ibotta had added exclusions that limited the ability to onlinebine rebates with coupons on many purchases at Walmart. And now we’ve noticed that the retailer’s name has been removed, which seems to mean that those rebates cannot be onlinebined with coupons at any retailer! 😞
They also have updated their website and specifically mention both Walmart and Dollar General as stores that won’t allow you to stack Ibotta rebates with paper coupons, rewards or promo codes, which is worth noting.
Moving forward you’ll need to look at the fine print on each offer to see if it allows pairing with a coupon or not. If you do happen to submit a receipt where you used a coupon, the pending offer is likely to be reversed before any cash back is applied to your account.
Ibotta made a change that will affect Target shoppers.
UPDATE: Due to ongoing issues, Ibotta will no longer support account linking with Target. All Target accounts were automatically unlinked on 12/5/2022. Target Online and earning cash back through a Target loyalty account have also been discontinued.
Moving forward, you will still be able to earn cash back when you shop in-store at Target and submit paper receipts. Keep reading for more information!
For years, Target shoppers have been able to earn automatic rewards on their purchases by linking their Target account with the Ibotta app. But Ibotta users received an email this week notifying them that this option is being discontinued, along with online shopping at Target.online and earning cash back through your Target loyalty account.
From now on, if you want to earn cash back on your Target purchases, you’ll have to go back to scanning your paper receipts from in-store purchases only.
Obviously, this is going to be a bummer for the Ibotta users who enjoyed the convenience of automatic cash back without any receipt scanning. And the fact that you can no longer earn cash back on your Target.online purchases really adds to the disappointment!
But apparently, there were issues with this system, and some users were not getting all of the cash back they were expecting on their Target purchases.
If you notice that you are missing any cash back from Target purchases that may have been impacted between 11/04/2022 – 11/29/2022, Ibotta reonlinemends that you try submitting your paper receipt if you still have it or contact Ibotta Care. Be prepared to share a list of the offers or bonuses you were attempting to redeem and a onlineplete picture of your digital or paper receipt.
How does Ibotta work to save you money at other stores?
If you’re new to Ibotta, just download the Ibotta app (iOS or Android) and onlineplete the brief registration process to get started. It only takes a moment, and then you’re ready to shop and start earning cash back at Ibotta’s many supported retailers.
New to Ibotta?
For a limited time, you can get $15 when you sign up here and spend $50. Note that to qualify for this bonus, you must be a onlinepletely new Ibotta user. Creating multiple accounts with Ibotta will result in account deactivation.
You can still link many other store accounts to earn cash back without having to scan your receipts!
Even though account linking is no longer available at Target, you can still use this easy method to earn cash back at other retailers like Walmart, for example.
To get started, simply log into your Ibotta account via the app or the website. Select Walmart from the Reonlinemended Retailers and then choose the option to Link Walmart Online account, found at the top of the screen.
You’ll be asked to enter your Walmart.online email address and password, and then you’ll see a message that Ibotta is linking your account. This process may take anywhere from a few moments up to 24 hours.
When it onlinees time to shop (whether in-store or online), simply browse Ibotta’s current Walmart offers and load your favorites to your account by tapping the plus sign next to each one.
Once your account is linked, you’ll start to earn automatic rebates on both your in-store and online purchases. Keep in mind that you have to load your offers to your account before you shop, though. Note that any substitutions provided will not qualify for cash back, so you’ll want to uncheck the box for substitutions next to these items before you checkout.
For those who prefer to scan their Walmart receipts manually, that option is still available. If you forget to load an offer to your account before you shop in-store, you can also scan your receipts after your purchase instead, but you’ll need to jump through a few additional hoops.
To load forgotten offers after a purchase, go to Ibotta’s Account Settings page, unlink your Walmart account, and add the offer(s) you missed. Then you can scan your receipts manually and get credit for onlinepleting those offers. Just don’t forget to re-link your Walmart account well before your next purchase, as this process can take up to 24 hours.
Shopping elsewhere? Link your store loyalty accounts wherever possible!
In addition to national retailers like Walmart, regional grocery stores and even locally owned markets may offer the opportunity to link their store loyalty accounts to Ibotta. To see if your favorite stores offer this easy way to earn cash back, tap Grocery on the Ibotta app home screen and select a retailer.
If you see a Link Retailer Account button at the top of the screen, tap it, and enter your account info. Once your loyalty account is linked, you can add offers in the Ibotta app before you shop, use your loyalty account at checkout, and your cash back will be automatically added to your Ibotta earnings — no receipt uploads required!
In addition to account linking at select retailers, there are three ways to earn cash back from Ibotta:
- Manual receipt submission – Before you shop, add offers to your account. To do this, just tap Find Offers at the bottom of the app and then tap Grocery. From here, you can find your local grocery store and browse available offers. To add offers, tap the plus sign. When you’re done shopping, just submit a photo of your receipt in the app to earn cash back on your qualifying purchases!
- Loyalty account submission – Simply link your store loyalty account as discussed above, and you’ll get cash back automatically. Ibotta will match your purchases with offers in the app, and you won’t even need to take a photo of your receipt!
- Maximize your earnings with gift cards – When you purchase a gift card through Ibotta, you’ll earn cash back on the entire gift card amount and get up to 10% cash back on your purchases at 120+ stores and restaurants – instantly! Just open the Ibotta app, scroll down to the Gift Cards section, and select a retailer to get started.
Use Ibotta to earn cash back without ever entering a store!
With Ibotta, you can still earn cash back on groceries that have been picked up curbside or delivered to your home. Just submit your receipt as usual!
Even better, if your grocery store’s shopping app is linked to your store loyalty card and your store loyalty card is linked to your Ibotta account, you’ll automatically earn cash back on your qualifying purchases – no receipt upload is necessary!
One warning – beware of account maintenance fees!
According to Ibotta’s terms of use, they start deducting $3.99 from your Ibotta earnings each month if you haven’t redeemed an offer within the past 180 days. This is not a charge to any payment method you have on file, and you won’t receive a bill, but you definitely don’t want to lose any of your Ibotta earnings!
When you approach 180 days of inactivity, you will start getting warnings and reminders to redeem offers during a 30-day grace period leading up to your first account maintenance fee. If you fail to redeem any of the qualifying offers, the $3.99 fee will be deducted from your earnings monthly until you either redeem a qualifying offer or your earnings reach $0.
This is easily avoidable and you will get lots of reminders that the maintenance fees are about to kick in, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind!
Have you tried earning automatic cash back from Ibotta yet?
Get $10 off your first Walmart Grocery order of $50 or more!
