Want to earn a little extra money each year for Christmas gifts, vacation spending, or other extra expenses? Brandclub is a free shopping rewards app that gives cash back for quick surveys AND when you purchase brands you love.

This summer, I downloaded a couple of cashback apps to see which ones are worth using. Brandclub is the one where I have been able to earn the most money (by far) with the least amount of effort. It’s not without it’s faults, but in 6 months, I have cashed out $250 to my venmo account from Brandclub in 6 months.

While it’s mainly a shopping rewards app, you could earn $300+ per year just for spending 2 minutes per day taking the surveys. 

Disclaimer: this is not a paid post. Everything posted is my opinion and I am not working with Brandclub to write this article. My affiliate link IS included, but feel free to join without using my referral. I’m just trying to share the information. 

What is Brandclub?

Brandclub is a free shopping rewards app that awards cash back for buying brands you already use, both online and in-store. It works a little differently than traditional coupon or rebate apps, focusing on brand loyalty rather than one-off deals.

There are a few ways to earn using Brandclub. 

• Complete up to 3 surveys every 24 hours
• Link retailer accounts and earn for purchases you make
• Purchase daily deals to earn 50%-80% instant rewards/rebates
• Referring friends
• Affiliate commission (have not done this)

How to earn with Brandclub

Download the free app. The app isn’t the most intuitive to use, but once you have it figured out, you can get to the features you need pretty easily. In-store and online purchases count, as long as you use your retailer account during purchase. There is no way to enter paper receipts after the purchase. 

Step 1: Link retailer accounts

If sharing your purchase data makes you uncomfortable, this app (and most cashback apps) probably isn’t for you.

Click on “Accounts” in the app to link retailers by entering your retailer account log-in information. These include (but not limited t0) Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, Whole Foods, Sephora, Home Depot, Petsmart, Chewy, and Kroger. If you don’t shop at any of these stores, this app may not provide much value for you.

You will typically be given a reward for linking your account, though the reward isn’t available to cash out until you make a purchase through the retailer. So don’t bother setting up accounts for stores you never shop with.

Brandclub scans your accounts for past and future purchases to reward your for the purchases that you regularly make. Qualifying brand purchases typically earn between 1 cent – 50 cents (approx 1%?), which doesn’t seem like a lot. However, if you purchase 40 items at the grocery store and some or most of them qualify, that can earn you a couple of dollars for each shopping trip, without any extra work or change in your purchase habits. 

One of Brandclub’s standout features is its retroactive rewards. New users often discover they already have rewards waiting from recent purchases.

Sync your accounts

The app doesn’t scan your accounts for purchases until you click on the (+) icon at the bottom of the main screen. It typically takes 2-5 minutes to sync/scan your accounts, but you don’t have to remain on that screen for it to compete the sync. You don’t have to do this daily…it can be once a week or less, as it does scan past purchases. I do not know what the limit is for how far it will go back.

Issues with sync? Scroll below to the Issues section.

Locked vs Unlocked Rewards

This is what was most confusing to me at first. When you purchase a brand, you will be given a “locked” reward. The locked reward doesn’t become unlocked (ie, available for cashout) until you purchase the brand again to unlocked it. This is how it rewards brand loyalty. 

For example, if you purchase 2 bags of Doritos in one order, the second bag will unlock the reward for the first bag, and will earn a locked reward for itself. The next time you purchase Doritos, that locked reward unlocks and is available for cash out at any time.

A locked reward will expire 30-60 days after being earned. An unlocked reward will expire 180 days after it is earned (so cash out more than twice per year).

Step 2: Join “Clubs” for Brands

Click on “Join” to join clubs for Brands that you purchase. While I don’t know exactly what benefit this provides, it seems to affect which surveys you are given and what rewards are available for you. It takes less than a second to join each club, so I’d suggest just joining as many as you can from the start.

It’s a mindless activity, but you can always join more later if you get tired of clicking “Join” and then “X” for each. Occasionally you’ll be given special rewards for joining certain clubs, but I haven’t noticed any consistency for this. 

Note: these are ones below I HAVEN’T joined…there are many more regular brands that I’ve already joined.

Step 3: Complete surveys

Click on Surveys to earn money. This is mindless and easy. Each survey is about a brand and has the same 6 or 10 questions for each. It takes less than 2 minutes per day.

You can complete 3 surveys within a 24 hour time period. Survey rewards start at 50 cents each (with an occasional higher offering). The per-survey amount reduces by 5 cents over time.

I don’t know whether this is linked to amount of surveys completed, length of time on app, amount earned, per brand, or some other metric. For example, I started by earning 50 cents per survey in July, and in January, I’m now earning 35 cents per survey. I’m not sure how low surveys earnings go, but if it gets down to less than 25 cent per survey, I probably won’t continue completing the surveys.

However, if you manage to complete 3 surveys every 24 hours at an average of 35 cents per survey, you could earn almost $200 in 6 months from the surveys alone. Remember though, surveys start at 50 cents, then 45 cents, then 40 cents…so earnings could be higher. 

The trick is remembering to complete the surveys approximately 24 hours apart. It’s not based per day, so if you wait until 8 pm to complete the 3 surveys, you can’t complete the next 3 until 8 pm the following day. I was not good at setting up a regular time to complete surveys, so I didn’t earn nearly as much as I could have in the first 6 months of using the app. I finally set a reminder using the reminders app on my iphone so I wouldn’t forget, and am doing slightly better, but I still definitely miss days. Pick a time of day that you always have 2 minutes to spare, and you’ll be set. 

Step 4: Check the Daily Deals

This is OPTIONAL, but I’ve found some great deals through the Daily Deals section. It’s definitely where you earn the highest reward amount (50-80% of purchase price)

Every day at approximately 11 am EST, five new daily deals are posted. These are items you can purchase to receive an instant rebate of 50%-80%. Most of the items are not something I need or want, so I just ignore those. This is where you need to use discipline to purchase only the items you would need to buy anyway. Some of the best deals sell out within a few minutes, so check as close to 11 am as possible.

The daily deal will show which stores the purchase can be made from to qualify, but Amazon is typically one of the options. I have my Amazon account connected so that I can purchase these directly through my Amazon account in the Brandclub app. I prefer this method because shipping is free through my Amazon Prime account. Shipping fees may apply to items purchased through other retailers. 

To purchase: Click the ‘Buy’ button, add the selected product to your bag, navigate to your bag, and proceed to checkout. Once the order is placed, your account will sync to claim the reward.

The purchase takes a couple of minutes to go through. Occasionally the purchase will fail for some random reason or connection issue, and you’ll be notified in the app or via text message. If the deal hasn’t sold out, you can try again. It will often go through the 2nd time.

You can also leave the app, purchase the exact item (no variation) on your preferred retailer app, and then go back and sync your accounts to earn the reward. This takes longer, and the deal may sell out. 

After your purchase goes through, always go to “View Balance” and then “Activity” to see that the Instant reward applied as expected. If the deal sells out before your purchase goes through, it will list a regular purchase reward (of just a few cents), instead of the expected rebate. When this has happened, I’ve gone to my Amazon app and cancelled the purchase immediately, unless it’s truly something I was going to purchase THAT DAY anyway, regardless of price. 

Some examples of daily deals that I purchased: 

• LEGO Roses building kit: Paid $9.91, instant reward of $4.96 = $4.95 final cost after payout . This will be used for a Valentine’s gift.
• NIVEA Derma Comfort Caring Caring Body Wash (3 full-size bottles): Paid $15.75, instant reward $12.51 = $3.24 for 3 bottles, final cost after payout. I needed body wash, and I’m not brand loyal, so this was a perfect stock up opportunity for just over $1 per bottle.
• Mrs. Meyer’s All Purpose Cleaning Spray $4.79, instant reward $2.47 = $2.32 final price. This is something I use already.
• Quaker Chewy & Dipps Granola Bars, 58 count $10.70-5.35 = $5.35. Use for school lunches.

Other purchases include several Christmas gifts that I needed anyway (Rubik’s cube, baby toy, stocking stuffer candy) and other household or food items that I already buy regularly and/or need sooner than later.

Do not purchase items that you can’t use within a very reasonable amount of time, just because it’s a good deal.

Note about daily deals

• These are NOT coupons. You will pay full price, and will receive the credit of the rebate to your Brandclub account that you will then have to cash out. So don’t purchase items that you cannot afford without the rebate, or items you don’t need, just to get the rebate. 
• If you return the items, the rebate will be deducted from your account
• If your account doesn’t sync in time before the daily deal sells out, you will NOT get the rebate amount. You can cancel the purchase right away if you don’t get the deal. 

Step 6: Refer friends

Also optional, but you can earn $5 per friend that you refer if they sign up through your unique referral link and connect at least one active retailer account. You can find your referral link on the homepage. If this article has helped, I’d love it if you use my referral link as a thank-you to start your account!

Step 5: Payouts

Payouts are available via PayPal or Venmo, once you reach the minimum threshold. It’s relatively easy to cash out compared to some rewards platforms. There is a $1.50 transaction fee, which is a little annoying. 

I usually wait until I’ve reached the maximum cash out of $50 to my paypal or venmo, to reduce the amount of times I have to pay the transaction fee. You do have to link a credit card for identity verification to receive your payout. The data is secure (you only enter it once). I haven’t had any issue with this. If this concerns you greatly, this app may not be for you. There is a similar level of risk for any online or app purchases, paying at the gas pump, etc. 

Hits and misses

Even if I don’t earn another penny, I’ve cashed out $250 in the first 6 months of use with minimal effort between daily surveys (though I forgot MANY days, so it would be more), regular retailer purchases, and about 15 daily deals for items I would have purchased anyway.

What I like about Brandclub

• No receipts scanning. Other purchase reward apps require you to scan receipts, which is tedious and annoying (and can’t be done with Kroger pickup orders)
• Ease of Surveys. They are quick to complete (less than 2 minutes for 3 daily surveys). There are 2 different question sets I’ve received of 6 and 10 questions. You don’t have to verify that you follow the brands or anything, so just make a selection and click next
• So many brands included – even Kroger brand items. I regularly purchase Kroger brand items, which aren’t rewarded cash back in other apps. 
• Don’t have to pre-activate offers. Some apps require to you to activate offers BEFORE you purchase to earn. This doesn’t.
• Coupons don’t affect purchase reward amount. I use a lot of digital coupons when shopping at Kroger (which makes it cheaper than Aldi) and it counts the full price of the item for your purchase reward. So if I paid $1 after coupon for an item that is $3, my reward is based on $3 purchase, not $1. Yes, that’s pennies, but on a weekly, 40 item grocery purchase, that adds up over the year
• You can use your account on your laptop/desktop if you prefer. It’s not only app based. I haven’t done this much, but it is an option.

Issues with Brandclub

While it’s easy to earn, it’s not the most intuitive app to use, and it’s not without it’s fault.

• There’s a learning curve to effectively using the app and finding what you’re looking for
• Customer service is not helpful. You usually get the same response no matter what you ask, and it’s rarely helpful
• Accounts may become unlinked (must click Fix to relink) and may need log-in info added again. Sometimes it will still say there’s an error with log-in when there isn’t. My Kroger account wouldn’t link for 3 months or so, which is a lot of grocery purchases that I missed rewards for. Customer service said I needed to delete app or update app, re-add, change log-in info for that account, resync, etc. None of that worked, and it was a big pain. Every now and then I’d click “fix”, to no avail. Finally one day it connected and has been fine (maybe there was an actual app update)
• There isn’t transparency about how much you earn per purchase, future surveys, etc, so I can only give the information based on what I’ve experienced in the first 6 months of use. I have no idea how/if it varies between users. Results not guaranteed. I’ll update any major changes in the future.
• App updates not available when it says. It regularly would tell me that there was an app update, but there really wasn’t. Customer service was not helpful with this and would give an automated (probably AI) response

That said, Brandclub isn’t a fit for everyone. Rewards depend heavily on the brands you already buy. You may find opportunities limited if your favorite products aren’t included. Linking shopping accounts may also be a drawback for those who prefer not to share purchase data.

Overall, Brandclub can be a low-effort way to earn a little extra cash back, especially for regular online shoppers who regularly purchase certain brands. It works best as a passive rewards app you check occasionally rather than something that drives where or how you shop.

Try Brandclub now!

Looking for more useful cashback apps? 

I don’t go out of my way to use many cashback apps, and most are difficult to use, or too low-reward to make it worth it to me. The only “mindless” app I use regularly for online shopping is Rakuten. All that it requires is using their link for a retailer when making an online purchase. 

You don’t even have to start your cart using the link. I wait until I’m actually ready to make a purchase (not just browsing and mindlessly adding to cart. Once I’m ready, I open a new tab, go to my Rakuten account, enter the retailer, and click shop now. This takes me back to my retailer account – with my cart still intact. It’s not high reward, but it’s simple enough to take the extra step that takes less than 1 minute. 

My Rakuten earnings: 

$944.57 Lifetime Cash Back
Member Since 8/23/2007

I have forgotten to shop through the link mannnny times (or used the retailer app instead). Earnings would be higher with more consistent use.

Try it here. 

Get Rakuten Ebates Cash back for Online Shopping

Any other cashback apps I should try? If it earns less than $50/year or takes effort, I’m not likely to spend time on it, so only comment with the best!

We are not affiliated with Brandclub. Use at your own risk. I’m just sharing my experience. This author and Columbus on the Cheap are not responsible for an issues with using this app, or any other recommended service.