Fetch Rewards: Functional Working App, Small Dollar Amounts

[james.hendrickson]

Guys,

I've been on a big - shave as much of the fat from my budget as possible kick recently. Since I've been posting my experience with other apps, thought I'd go ahead and send an initial report with my latest experiment.

A couple of weeks ago, I got Fetch Rewards - an online "savings rewards/scan your receipts and get points" type app. Just briefly, its a free app that's available on the Apple store (I have an iphone). How it works is you download the app, sign up, link your credit cards and bank accounts. The app scans your accounts and awards you points for eligible purchases. You can also manually scan in your receipts for additional points.

Here are some positives:

1. The app works just fine. There aren't any glitches, loading issues or receipt scan issues.
2. Its pretty much passive, you just scan in the receipts and collect the points.
3. The app lets you exchange points for Amazon, Target and Starbucks cards, so the Fetch rewards points are actually convertible into something you might use.

Here is my dashboard:

Here are some negatives:

1. The reward points themselves aren't worth much. Every ten points is worth about a penny.
2. It takes a while to get to 3,000 points, which is the minimum you'd need for a decent giftcard.

So, using fetch rewards isn't going to make much of an impact on your overall finances - it just marginally reduces the cost of the goods you buy.

My conclusion: Fetch rewards it makes sense only as part of the strategy where you're using multiple savings apps. So, using fetch in conjunction with Ibotta, Bumped or any other cash back app, is probably the right way to go. Otherwise the time you invest probably isn't worth the return.

[bjl584]

On its own, it probably isn't worth doing.
Used in conjunction with other apps and rewards programs you might start to see some tangible savings.
Of course, managing all of that becomes a part time job in itself.
I guess one needs to ask themselves if the time and effort required is worth it

[kork13]

The simplest and best paying receipt-snapping app that I've found is the Amazon Shopper Panel app. They limit how many people get access to the program at a time, but DW & I were able to get in after just a 1-2 week wait. You submit just 10 receipts per month, then you get a $10 Amazon credit at the start of the next month. They also occasionally send out a short survey or two, typically worth an extra 25-50 cents of credit. Easy, effective, and I'm on pace for an easy $125/yr.

The other programs I have/still use are Google Rewards (short 30 second surveys for Google Play Store credit, long-term average of 30 cents per survey. ~$35-$40/yr); Pinecone research ($3 cash per ~10min consumer research survey. ~$100-$120/yr); and Receipt Hog (comparable to your Fetch Rewards app, receipts = points = cash. ~$40/yr).

[james.hendrickson]

The simplest and best paying receipt-snapping app that I've found is the Amazon Shopper Panel app. They limit how many people get access to the program at a time, but DW & I were able to get in after just a 1-2 week wait. You submit just 10 receipts per month, then you get a $10 Amazon credit at the start of the next month. They also occasionally send out a short survey or two, typically worth an extra 25-50 cents of credit. Easy, effective, and I'm on pace for an easy $125/yr.

The other programs I have/still use are Google Rewards (short 30 second surveys for Google Play Store credit, long-term average of 30 cents per survey. ~$35-$40/yr); Pinecone research ($3 cash per ~10min consumer research survey. ~$100-$120/yr); and Receipt Hog (comparable to your Fetch Rewards app, receipts = points = cash. ~$40/yr).

Kork, signed up for the Amazon Shopper Panel app & got on the waiting list - thanks.

[kork13]

I guess one needs to ask themselves if the time and effort required is worth it

I've asked myself that question quite often.

As I mentioned above, DW & I use a few different programs for a bit of extra money. At this point, it's almost become a game, simply out of habit. In each case, it's pretty easy (though Pinecone's surveys are more lengthy). Although the reward is fairly minimal (at best, maybe $350/yr), the time for most of them is no more than a minute or two as I'm emptying my pockets or sitting around waiting or otherwise. In general, I don't view the time & effort as a meaningful cost, while $350/yr is at least enough to pay most of my internet bill.

Another consideration is the question of what information about myself am I giving up in addition? That is a less quantifiable cost, though "big data" companies could almost certainly quantify what it's worth. Receipts often have my name, or a portion of my credit card number, or at the very least my spending habits. Google Rewards sends me surveys based on my location data (which they're already pulling out from who knows how many other apps). Pinecone is probably the 'cleanest' in that respect, given that I'm only giving up my opinions & the demographics of my family (zip code, income & ages of my family members).

[scfr]

"link your credit card and bank accounts" = nope

[GoodLiving]

I use Fetch but there's no way I'm going to link a credit card or bank account, I'll scan the receipts. I also use the Amazon panel. With Fetch they also have some targeted high point items like when I got $1550 of points = $15.50 for buying Bryers ice cream.