A new cashback site has launched, giving shoppers the chance to earn rewards across thousands of retailers, but will it rival well-established sites such as Quidco and TopCashback?
Cashback sites pay you when you click through from them to buy goods or financial products online.
You'll typically get back a percentage of the amount you spend, but you can also find fixed cash bonuses.
Here, we look at how market newcomer My Money Pocket works and whether it's worth signing up.
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How does My Money Pocket work?
My Money Pocket is a free-to-use cashback site that allows you to make money while you shop or get a discount voucher on certain purchases.
Once signed up to the site, you're able to browse cashback offers and discounts for more than 4,500 brands, including Asos, Booking.com and Just Eat.
My Money Pocket says that, on average, members will be able to save £300 a year if they use the cashback site to do all of their online shopping.
Here's a snapshot of the deals available on the site (correct on 22 November 2019):
- Asos: 8% cashback
- Just Eat: 3.2% cashback
- Superdrug: 5.6% cashback
- Apple refurb: 1.6% cashback
How do cashback offers from My Money Pocket compare?
While My Money Pocket allows you to earn rewards from a wide range of retailers, the level of cashback it offers isn't necessarily the highest on the market.
We've rounded up some of the cashback deals on My Money Pocket and compared them with TopCashback and Quidco across five retailers.
The best offer for each retailer is highlighted in bold text below.
| Retailers | My Money Pocket | TopCashback | Quidco |
| Asos | 8% | 10% | 9.2% |
| Booking.com | 2.4% | 3% | 4% |
| Just Eat | 3.2% | 4.4% | 4.9% |
| Superdrug | 2.4% | 4% | 4% |
| Virgin Media 'Oomph Bundle' * | £156 | £195 | £200 |
(*This bundle includes: 270+ channels, incl. BT Sport, Sky Sports & Sky Cinema in HD, fibre with avg. speed 516Mb, home phone and unlimited 4G SIM. The offers quoted are correct as of 22 November 2019 but are subject to change )
- Find out more: 50 ways to make money
How long does it take to get your cash?
My Money Pocket doesn't specify how long it takes for your cashback to be paid and says that it will vary depending on the type of product you buy.
For example, taking out a bank account or an insurance policy could take longer than ordering a takeaway.
My Money Pocket says that it will chase up any 'undue delays' in your payments.
TopCashback and Quidco give a little more certainty about when you're likely to receive your money. TopCashback will pay within six to eight weeks, while Quidco estimates the time it will take for your cashback to be ready on a purchase-by-purchase basis.
Four cashback site pitfalls to avoid
While cashback websites can be a great way to earn while you shop, there are several issues that could affect how much cash you can make.
Here are four cashback site pitfalls to avoid:
1) Avoid the wrong cookie trails
When you use a cashback site, your online journey is tracked by small files called 'cookies' that contain useful information about your browsing history.
To get your cashback, there must be a clear 'cookie trail' which shows that the cashback site led you to the retailer's website.
Before you use a cashback site, it's important to delete your cookies. This will erase any earlier records of you being on that site so that you can create a new cookie trail between the cashback site and online retailer.
If you don't do this, there's a risk your cookie trail won't be clear, which could leave you without any cashback.
2) Watch out for cashback site fees
While most cashback sites are free to sign up to, some charge fees if you want to upgrade to a premium account which offers benefits such as improved cashback rates and the removal of sponsored ads.
TopCashback Plus, for example, will take the first £5 of cashback you earn in the year. Quidco Premium, charges a £1 retention fee for each month that you're active on the site, which means that you could be charged up to £12 in a calendar year.
Some sites may require you to earn a significant sum of cashback before you're able to transfer the money into your bank account.
3) Cashback sites don't always offer the best bargains
Be sure to shop around before settling on a cashback site deal.
Although a £300 home insurance policy with £75 cashback may sound like a bargain, it's not worth it if you can get a similar policy with another provider for £150 instead.
You might be able to get a better deal using discount websites like MyVoucherCodes.
4) Beware late or failed cashback
Cashback can sometimes take many weeks to reach your account. In some cases, the transaction may fail to track altogether.
This is commonly due to a lack of a cookie trail, but could also be down to issues with the affiliate links that transmit the payments between retailers and cashback sites.
If you fail to receive money owed to you, contact the site as quickly as possible via its official cashback claim link.
For more advice and tips, check out our guide to cashback sites.
Updated 26/11/2019: to reflect changes to the fees charged for Quidco's Premium membership.
