How can we help?

With Rakuten, you can earn on almost everything. If you didn’t earn Cash Back and think you should have, or didn’t get the amount you expected, keep reading to find out why it can happen and how to fix it.

Make sure the item was not excluded from Cash Back

Some stores exclude certain items, categories or brands from earning Cash Back. These are called exclusions. To check exclusions, search for the store on rakuten.com and click the name on the left side of the results. This will take you to the store page where you can see Cash Back Terms & Exclusions. Tip: Be sure to check exclusions before you purchase to make sure you earn Cash Back!

Check if the item category was eligible at the store you purchased from

Stores can also set different Cash Back rates depending on the item category. If you didn’t receive the Cash Back amount you expected, check to see if the store set a different rate for the item you purchased. This info can be found on the store page. Search for the store on rakuten.com and click the name on the left side of the results to visit the store page where you can see Cash Back Categories.

Did you use a coupon code from another site?

Using coupon codes that are not listed on Rakuten may void Cash Back. To be safe, stick to codes provided by Rakuten.

Did you cancel your order?

If you canceled your order, it’s no longer eligible for Cash Back.

Did you make any returns?

If you returned all or part of your order, the store will let us know and we will adjust your Cash Back accordingly.

Avoid using other browser extensions and coupon sites

Going to other sites, especially ones that offer shopping rewards and coupons, can void Cash Back.

Stick to one browser tab if you start your shopping from rakuten.com

To be safe, complete your order on the tab that opened from rakuten.com at the beginning of your shopping session. If you complete your purchase in a different tab or window, we may be unable to link your purchase to your Rakuten account.

Re-activate Cash Back if you’ve been away from your computer

If your shopping session is idle for too long, Cash Back can become deactivated. Also, be sure to activate Cash Back before you add anything to your cart--some stores don’t allow us to link a purchase to your Rakuten account if items were added to your cart before you activated Cash Back.

Use the extension? Make sure you activated Cash Back

If you use our browser extension, activate Cash Back before you start shopping. If you don’t see the Activate Cash Back button, then that store may not be available for the extension. You can try activating Cash Back from Rakuten.com. Learn more about stores and the Button extension.

Some stores take longer to confirm your Cash Back

The time it takes for Cash Back to be confirmed depends on several factors, including the store, store policy, reporting schedule, exclusions and returns. For travel, Cash Back will be added after travel is completed.

Try these tips to make sure you’re set up for shopping success:

1. Use a compatible browser. Rakuten is compatible with Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
2. Adjust the security settings in your browser. Clear your browser’s cache and cookies, and make sure you allow cookies on http://rakuten.com
3. Use the Rakuten App on your mobile device. You can install it for free on your iOS or Android device. Get the App.
4. Add the Rakuten filter list if you use an ad blocker like uBlock or AdBlock Plus. Ad blockers can cause Cash Back tracking issues, and the filter list helps us to determine your Cash Back eligibility. Get more info about the filter list and install it.

Remember to always start your shopping at Rakuten.com, or make it even easier by using our free browser extension and shopping in our App. You can earn Cash Back only by starting your shopping with Rakuten. Learn more about how to earn Cash Back.

If you double checked all of the information above and believe you should have earned Cash Back on your purchase, you can visit the Missing Cash Back form or Contact Us. We’ll be happy to help you sort this out.

My Account has several features to help you track your Cash Back.

My Shopping Trips

Creating a Rakuten Shopping Trip qualifies your transaction for Cash Back offers. Shopping trips also allow us to track your Cash Back. When Cash Back has been added to your account, you will see a check mark in the Cash Back column on the Shopping Trips page.

Shopping Trips are separated by month. To view your Shopping Trips within the last 3 months, you can change the month on the dropdown menu in the upper right hand corner.

View My Shopping Trips 

Learn More About Shopping Trips 

My Cash Back Balance

Your Cash Back Balance is updated every time you earn Cash Back. It includes all recently added Cash Back from online orders, credit card purchases, In-Store Cash Back and other qualified offers.

When your payment is prepared, your Cash Back Balance will be cleared and moved over to your Big Fat Check History. This happens every three months, in accordance with our payment schedule.

There is a 45-day window between the end of the payment period and when payments are delivered. Any Cash Back that is earned after a Cash Back posting period has ended will be added to your next eligible Big Fat Check.

View My Cash Back Balance 

Missing Cash Back 

My Big Fat Check History

You can see all of the Cash Back you have been paid in your Big Fat Check History.

Your most recent Big Fat Check and transactions are displayed. To view all previous Big Fat Checks, change the date on the dropdown menu in the upper right hand corner.

Learn More About Payments 

Track My Payment 

When you’ve clicked on a Rakuten link to earn Cash Back at a store — on Rakuten.com, in the Rakuten App or with the Rakuten Cash Back Button — you’ve created a Rakuten Shopping Trip. Your Shopping Trip is assigned a unique number, which we use to verify your purchase with the store.

Your purchases will earn Cash Back only if you start a Shopping Trip with Rakuten. If you don’t click on a Rakuten link to start a Shopping Trip, we have no way of showing the store that you are a Rakuten member.

Tracking your Shopping Trips

Sometimes you’ll start a Shopping Trip and not make a purchase; however, we’ll still have it recorded in your account for up to three months, should you need to refer to it. This number can come in handy if you ever think you have not earned Cash Back for a purchase and you want to ask Member Services to look into it.

You can always visit My Account to view your Shopping Trip history.

About repeat Shopping Trips

To earn Cash Back, you must click through a Rakuten link every time you shop. If you click through Rakuten and make a purchase, then return to that store later to make a second purchase, you must start another Rakuten shopping trip in order to earn Cash Back.

If you use multiple windows on your browser, the window in which you shop at the store must have come from a Rakuten link.

Missing Cash Back
Learn More About How to Earn Cash Back

To earn Cash Back, you must start shopping at Rakuten and click the link to your favorite store.

Activating Cash Back

You know you’re earning Cash Back if you click on a Rakuten link (on Rakuten.com, in an email, in the Rakuten App or with our Cash Back Button) and get a confirmation pop-up that Cash Back at that store is now active. Look for the pop-up confirmation before you shop.

Learn More About Rakuten Shopping Trips 

Where to Find Your Cash Back

You can visit Cash Back Balance to verify that you earned Cash Back on a purchase. We usually can’t report Cash Back immediately at the time of purchase because it takes time for the store to notify us that you placed an order. Depending on the store, this can take from a few hours to several days.

Once the store confirms that you’ve made a purchase, we’ll add Cash Back to your account and notify you. At that point, the amount will be viewable in Cash Back Balance.

Missing Cash Back
Learn More About How to Earn Cash Back 

All returns and cancellations are subject to each store’s specific policy. Returned or cancelled orders may void Cash Back and be deducted from your Cash Back Balance, depending on the store’s policy. If a store processes your exchanged order as a cancellation and a new transaction is created, the exchange may be treated as a cancelled order.

To ensure you receive Cash Back on exchanged orders, you can instead return the item and place an entirely new order at that store. Just make sure to start your shopping with Rakuten.

Visit My Account

Learn More About Rakuten Shopping Trips 

When you use Rakuten to book airline, hotel, car or other travel reservations, please be aware that Cash Back will be earned after your trip is completed.

Cash Back with Rakuten is always earned after a purchase is completed. When you first book a trip or rental, the travel company considers that to be a reservation, even if your credit card has been billed. Once you’ve finished your trip and the company confirms payment, your reservation becomes a completed order and the company will let us know. Timing can vary a little, but you’ll usually see your (often pretty significant) Cash Back in My Account within 3 months of your trip.

eBay

Why yes, you can earn Cash Back on your eBay orders! Just keep a few things in mind when shopping at eBay:

• Cash Back at eBay depends on the category and sometimes the rates can change. You can always check the latest Cash Back rates on the eBay store page.
• Cash Back is only eligible on completed Winning Bid or Buy It Now transactions. An item must be paid for to earn Cash Back.
• Limit of $50 Cash Back per order.

Amazon

As of March 2020, Cash Back is no longer available at Amazon. (We know, it’s a bummer.) The good news is, we have over 4,000 stores that do offer Cash Back, so you can definitely find a great deal and free, speedy shipping on anything imaginable!

You can use Rakuten on Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Microsoft Edge. Make sure you have the latest version of your browser so Rakuten can work properly.

Third-party browsers are not guaranteed to work with Rakuten and may prevent you from earning Cash Back.

Rakuten uses cookies to improve our site, enhance your shopping experience and provide you with recommendations based on your browsing activity and interests on this and other sites. Be sure to allow cookies from rakuten.com in your browser’s Settings for the best Rakuten experience.

Some popular browsers have changed their settings to prevent tracking of your browsing information. These changes are intended to increase your privacy, but they also impact our ability to track your orders to give you Cash Back.

Apple’s technology is called Intelligent Tracking Prevention 2.0, and it affects the Safari browser for both MacOS and iOS (Mac, iPhone and iPad). Technical details can be found here.

While most of our store partners have made the necessary changes to ensure your orders are tracked and you receive Cash Back, some are still working on it. In those cases, tracking may be blocked when using this browser.

How to tell which store websites are blocked by the browser

To see whether a store’s tracking is blocked by the browser, visit the store’s page on Rakuten. We’ll let you know if there’s a tracking problem. Otherwise, just shop as you normally would to continue to earn Cash Back.

What to do if a store doesn’t offer Cash Back in your mobile browser

If a store doesn’t offer Cash Back in the browser you’re using on your mobile device, we recommend using the Rakuten App to shop at that store.

What to do if a store doesn’t offer Cash Back on your mobile device

If a store doesn’t offer Cash Back on your mobile device, we recommend shopping on desktop using the Chrome browser.

What to do if a store doesn’t offer Cash Back in your desktop browser

If a store doesn’t offer Cash Back in the browser you’re using on desktop, we recommend using the Chrome browser.

Still stuck? Contact us.

Cash Back can only be activated if we know where you’re shopping. Sometimes cookies, ad blockers and content blockers can prevent Cash Back from being activated.

COOKIES

If you’re using security or protection software, their settings must allow cookies from Rakuten and the stores where you shop. It’s how we know you’re shopping there, so you can earn Cash Back.

Here are a few tips to help you activate Cash Back:

For firewall software, like Zone Alarm or Norton Internet Security:

Turn off the ad-blocking option when you start shopping with Rakuten.

For other browser extensions linked to shopping rewards or coupon sites:

Turn off these when you start shopping with Rakuten. They may redirect your shopping trip from Rakuten and take credit for your order.

For browsers in private or incognito mode:

We recommend not using this setting since it prevents Rakuten from communicating with other stores and activating Cash Back.

For those using a VPN:

We recommend disabling your VPN while shopping since Rakuten cannot guarantee your Cash Back will be activated.

For network level traffic blocking, like Bitdefender and Pi-hole:

Try going to the settings of your software and create an exception for Rakuten.com.

AD BLOCKING SOFTWARE

Ad blockers block us from knowing where you’re shopping, so we can’t track your eligible orders for Cash Back.

For AdBlock

If Rakuten identifies this ad blocker, we’ll show you a message that asks you to Enable Cash Back. This will place Rakuten on a list that will allow you to shop and activate Cash Back.

If you still see ad blocker alerts after adding the filter, you can disable your ad blocker during your shopping trips, and then re-enable it after you’re done.

For AdBlock Plus, uBlock Origin and all other ad blockers:

To ensure we track your Cash Back, we recommend that you disable your ad blocker during your shopping trips, and then re-enable it after you’re done.

CONTENT BLOCKERS ON MOBILE

Content blockers on your mobile device block us from knowing where you’re shopping, so we can’t activate Cash Back.

To make sure Cash Back is activated, we recommend that you either shop with the Rakuten App or disable your content blockers while shopping.

To disable content blocking on your iOS device:

• Go to Settings and select Safari
• Select Content Blockers
• Turn off all content blockers
• Start your shopping trip from Rakuten again to make sure Cash Back is activated

When you’re done shopping, you can follow these same steps and turn on your content blocker.

Still having issues? Contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

Looking for the Membership Rewards® points that have been transferred to your American Express account? Here’s how to find them.

1. Log in to your American Express® account.

   Note: If you have more than one American Express® Card, make sure you select a card that’s eligible for the Membership Rewards® program. Click on the card icon in the top right corner to toggle between cards.

2. Select Rewards & Benefits from the top bar.

   

3. Select Rewards, then Points Summary.

   

4. Membership Rewards® points that have been transferred from Rakuten will appear under Your Points Activity as Rakuten Additional MR Points.

   

   Note: Points are transferred quarterly according to the Membership Rewards Points Transfer Schedule.

Still have questions? Member Services is here to help. Contact us

To get your American Express Membership Rewards® points, make sure you earn at least 501 confirmed points before the payment date. Points must be confirmed by the store before the payment date to be included in your points transfer. If your Earnings Balance is 501 points or less, it will carry over to the next payment date.

Getting Paid

Any confirmed points you earn on purchases, bonuses and other rewards will be transferred to your American Express account every three months. The time it takes for points to be confirmed depends on several factors, including the store, store policy, reporting schedule, exclusions and returns.

Rakuten Payment Dates:

• February 15
• May 15
• August 15
• November 15

Earnings Balance

Your Earnings Balance reflects your current earnings, including both pending and confirmed points. The time it takes for points to be confirmed depends on several factors, including the store, store policy, reporting schedule, exclusions and returns. For more details, go to Earnings Balance.

Remember, your earnings on purchases, bonuses and other rewards need to be confirmed before the payment date to be included.

Want to track your payment? Track My Big Fat Check

Want to earn points instead of Cash Back? Here’s everything you need to know.

New to Rakuten? Sign Up for a free account to start earning. When prompted, enter your American Express account username and password. Once your American Express account is connected, you’ll start earning Membership Rewards points when you shop through Rakuten.

Already have a Rakuten account? Go to Account Settings and select Membership Rewards Points under How You Get Paid. Connect your American Express account by entering your user name and password and you’re all set!

Any confirmed Cash Back earned before switching to points will be converted to points and transferred on the next payment date.

You can only make the switch from Cash Back to points once. If you opt out of points later, you won’t be able to opt in again.

Earning Membership Rewards points with Rakuten is simple:

1. Start at Rakuten and choose a store. You can use our website, mobile app, or browser extension.
2. Activate Cash Back to start shopping. You’ll still see Cash Back deals, but don’t worry, you’ll earn Membership Rewards points. Once you make an eligible purchase, we’ll add points to your Rakuten account.
3. Get paid! Rakuten will transfer your confirmed Membership Rewards points every 3 months according to Rakuten’s current Payment Schedule.

$1 Cash Back = 100 Membership Rewards points.

To get your American Express Membership Rewards® points, make sure you earn at least 501 confirmed points before the payment date. Points must be confirmed by the store before the payment date to be included in your points transfer. If your Earnings Balance is 500 points or less, it will carry over to the next payment date.

Any confirmed points you earn on purchases, bonuses and other rewards will be transferred to your American Express account every three months. The time it takes for points to be confirmed depends on several factors, including the store, store policy, reporting schedule, exclusions and returns.

Rakuten Payment Dates:

• February 15
• May 15
• August 15
• November 15

Your Earnings Balance reflects your current earnings, including both pending and confirmed points. The time it takes for points to be confirmed depends on several factors, including the store, store policy, reporting schedule, exclusions and returns. For more details, go to Earnings Balance.

Remember, your earnings on purchases, bonuses and other rewards need to be confirmed before the payment date to be included.

Want to track your payment? Track My Big Fat Check

Yes, you need minimum confirmed earnings of 501 points before the next payment date to get paid. Points must be confirmed by the store before the payment date to be included in your payment. If your Earnings Balance is 500 points or less, it will carry over to the next payment date.

You must have an American Express Card enrolled in the U.S. Membership Rewards program. It must not be cancelled or past due. Here’s a list of eligible cards. Corporate cards or accounts are not eligible to participate.

You can see your current earnings any time in Earnings Balance.

Contact Us and we’ll be happy to help!

Why is the credit card program being discontinued?

Synchrony and Rakuten have mutually agreed to end the Rakuten Cash Back Visa® Credit Card program.

What can I expect from Rakuten?

As a Rakuten member, you’ll continue to earn Cash Back when you shop with the Rakuten app, browser extension and on Rakuten.com. We’re working on exciting new ways for you to earn even more Cash Back in the future, so keep an eye on your email for upcoming Rakuten Cash Back promotions and new programs just for you!

What communication can I expect from Synchrony Bank?

You received an email from Synchrony Bank on 7/28/22, and will receive a letter in the mail the week of 8/1/22 with full details about the end of the Credit Card Program.

What action do I need to take?

You don’t need to do anything. You can continue to make purchases and earn Cash Back with your Rakuten Cash Back Visa Credit Card through September 17, 2022. More information will be provided from Synchrony Bank about your card in the coming weeks.

What will happen to my Cash Back?

If you made eligible purchases using your Rakuten Cash Back Visa Credit Card, any earned Cash Back will be added to your Rakuten account and sent as part of your next Cash Back payment. For more information about your Cash Back, log in to your account at Rakuten.com.

Can I still earn Cash Back?

Of course! As a Rakuten member, you’ll continue to earn Cash Back when you make qualifying purchases via the Rakuten app, browser extension or on Rakuten.com, even after the Rakuten Cash Back Visa Credit Card program has ended.

Who do I contact if I have questions regarding my Rakuten Cash Back Visa® account?

For questions, you can contact Synchrony Bank at 1-855-697-4555.