ibotta: Step by Step on How to Redeem a Rebate!

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If you’re anything like me, when a new money saving program comes along it’s easy to get overwhelmed and just not even try it. That’s the way it was with ibotta. I thought, it’s too much trouble, too much to remember and I can’t do it!

But once I did my first rebate, I realized it wasn’t hard at all. Here’s step by step instructions on how to use ibotta and hopefully if you’re not familiar with this app or have questions about it this will help.

First you need to sign up with ibotta HERE. You’ll need a smart phone such as an iPhone or Android. Once you’ve signed up here’s the steps to get a rebate.

Once you have it downloaded, open the ibotta app. You’ll see something like the picture below:

After you have the app open and you see the screen above, you’ll want to click on the grocery tab. We’re gonna use the Grocery section for this tutorial.  After you click the grocery tab, you’ll see a list of stores on the next screen.

This list will show which stores are particpating in ibotta and how many rebates each store has. There are several. Next, click on store you’d like to shop. In this case, I clicked on Walmart.

Once I clicked on Walmart, a screen opened up showing all the items available for rebates. At this point you can scroll through the pages to view them all. I already knew what I wanted to buy and clicked on the Yoplait Yogurt.

After you click on the item you want to buy for the rebate, the next screen will feature that item and will show you what tasks you need to perform to earn it.  You’ll see between 1-3 circles below the item. Each circle will have a value. In the case of the Yoplait Yogurt there is only one circle worth $1.00.

Below is an example of what the circles might like under other items:

Each circle will tell you what you need to do to earn it’s value. You might have to take a survey, learn a fact about the product or maybe share something on facebook.  You decide how many tasks you want to do to earn money. The more tasks you perform the bigger your rebate will be. With the yogurt I just had to click the circle and learn a fact about it to unlock the $1.00 rebate.

Once the rebate is unlocked it’s time to head to the store!

Pick up your item at the store and make sure you get a receipt, you’ll need it. Once you get home it’s time to get your rebate!

When your ready to submit your receipt you’ll open your ibotta app and click on the “redeem tab” at the bottom of the screen.

When that screen opens you’ll see a list of stores and the amount of rebates you have chosen for each. Click on the store you want to redeem from. A new screen will appear with “verify” and “submit receipt”  on it

You’ll need to click verify first, this will bring up the scanner and you’ll use your phone to scan the bar code of the item to verify it’s the right one for the rebate. The scanner feature will automatically come up on your phone when you click “verify”.

Once you’ve verified, you’ll need to click on “submit receipt” and use your phone to scan your receipt.  After you’ve submitted your receipt, you can click the “activity tab” to confirm your submission. You’ll see a message stating your receipt is pending.

It only took about 30 minutes for my receipt to be verified (it could take a little longer) and then this messaged appeared in my activity log. To view your activity log just click on “activity” at the bottom of the screen.

I received a message stating I had earned $1.00 at Walmart. You can also see that my Lifetime earnings at the top of the screen changed from $26.00 to $27.00 (I haven’t been doing ibotta long).

I also received an email letting me know I had earned $1.00 at Walmart.

It’s really not that hard and once you do your first rebate, you have the hang of it! I know it seems like alot of steps but it goes pretty quickly. Sign up for ibotta HERE today and give it a try ….. nothing like free money!

Here’s a few key points:

• You can use coupons and other rebate programs with ibotta
• Each rebate can only be used once on one product
• Once you reach $5.00 you can either purchase giftcards or request a transfer to your PayPal account. Just click on the “cash out” tab at the bottom of the screen.
• If you don’t have a PayPal account you can set one up when you cash out 🙂

If you still have questions don’t hesitate to give me an email: patsy@consumerqueen.com.