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    Rakuten

Rakuten

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Overview

Rakuten has a rating of 2.7 stars from 2,124 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Rakuten most frequently mention credit card, referral bonus, and family member problems. Rakuten ranks 5th among Cash Back sites.

  • Service
    187
  • Value
    151
  • Returns
    64
  • Quality
    121

This company does not typically respond to reviews

Positive reviews (last 12 months): 18.2%
Positive
2
Neutral
0
Negative
9
View ratings trends
61
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How would you rate Rakuten?
Top Positive Review

“Amazing Rakuten! Thanks so much Susan!”

Tetiana K.
5/7/24

Rakuten team are the best service I've come across in the US. We are refugees from Ukraine and we are very grateful to Rakuten for such joy as excellent service, impeccable work, patience, respect for the client and professionalism. I will be happy to buy everything only through the Rakuten service. This is a great savings and a great pleasure to know them! Thank you Susan!

Date of experience: 5/6/24
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Top Critical Review

“Thieves”

Cory C.
12/11/24

They never pay what you actually earned. I have yet to have a single transaction pay what was advertised. Even after purchases have been verified they just delete the payout for no reason. 100% scam!

Date of experience: 12/1/24
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Reviews (2,124)

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Reviews that mention popular keywords

customer service (796) customer care (55) shopping trip (51) customer support (36) response time (19) credit card (31) gift card (35)
Thumbnail of user gregv
New York
1 review
3 helpful votes
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December 13th, 2010

Seem to offer great prices but cannot deliver. You put the order in, complete all the buyer, credit card info and 24 hours later they tell you they do not have it available. Total waste of time!

Date of experience: December 13, 2010

Thumbnail of user viktoriiap
New York
1 review
2 helpful votes
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May 28th, 2019

Scam and not the company you may rely on.
Do not expect anything - they trick people like 1, 2, 3.
Made my purchase online 5/10/2019 for the crazy amount $3352 hoping to get a promissed cashback. Did not receive a peny until today 5/28/2019. Customer support is helpless and do not care about their custmer after all. I would use any chance to tell everyone do not trust them cuz it is so upset and unfair. Why you promote something you are not able to give!

Date of experience: May 28, 2019

Thumbnail of user robertd128
Georgia
1 review
2 helpful votes
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June 26th, 2015
Verified purchase

I Wish To Thank Ebates & Their Professional Customer Service Department.

The Response Time Was Extraordinary; But When I Inquired About What I Assumed Was An Oversight In Regard To A Recent Purchase, Imagine My Surprise When Ebates Responded As Follows:

"Ebates has yet to receive credit for this order from the merchant, but as we do not want you to continue waiting on this order, we have added this Cash Back to your account."

Quite Honestly, I Cannot Recall Ever Experiencing Such Kind Courtesy Quite Like This Within The Exchanges Of Business Protocol!

I Can Honestly Say That Ebates Shines With Integrity!

Date of experience: June 25, 2015

Thumbnail of user paulae3
Kentucky
1 review
0 helpful votes
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July 4th, 2015
Verified purchase

I made a purchase thinking that I was in my EBATES account, but actually I had forgot to open up my account. The next day I discovered my mistake. I contacted EBATES. A customer representative, Danielle, responded immediately advising me that a one time customer courtesy would be granted to award me my cash reward. EBATES made this exception even though it was MY error. The cash award was a significant amount of money. I can testify that EBATES truly puts the customer first which is a rarity in today's consumer market. Will recommend EBATES to all my family and friends. One happy customer!

Date of experience: July 4, 2015

Thumbnail of user feliciap4
Finland
5 reviews
5 helpful votes
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April 5th, 2012

I save SO much money with Ebates! I love getting a surprise check in the mail every few months, even if it's not for very much. Great customer service, too.

Date of experience: April 5, 2012

Thumbnail of user enidb8
New York
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
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August 4th, 2019
Verified purchase

Easy to use get some money back all good.
Subdued they can hook it up souls can go to store sight and once registered automatically be hooked into Rakuten

You

Date of experience: August 4, 2019

Thumbnail of user erickaw1
Florida
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 18th, 2014
Verified purchase

My experience on Ebates has been wonderful and Ebates customer service is wonderful as well. I now know that you can only use the coupons listed on the Ebates website to get your cash back, I thought I could use separate coupons as well but now I know---thanks to Alexis.

Date of experience: August 18, 2014

Thumbnail of user gregd3
Texas
1 review
2 helpful votes
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February 17th, 2011

This site, although ships as stated,, had popups (never clicked) which will start charging on my credit card monthly, useually 9.95 a month or 12.95 a month for some useless service never authorise or approved. Amex will block the site if you catch it. Watch your bills. The bogus companies usually out of CA will say you autherized the service and all they can do in to stop futher charges. ( I always canceel popups if they are not blocked by my broozer)

Date of experience: February 17, 2011

Thumbnail of user march103
Kansas
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 14th, 2015
Verified purchase

Solved an issue with a referral. They were extremely quick, courteous and attentive to the problem. It was solved late at night, which was convenient for my schedule. Thanks again

Date of experience: January 13, 2015

Thumbnail of user anneb48
Louisiana
2 reviews
1 helpful vote
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November 18th, 2015
Verified purchase

Ebates is so easy to use. And I get a quarterly check from shopping at places that I normally shop- it's like free money! Give yourself the gift of Ebates.

Date of experience: November 18, 2015

Thumbnail of user josephl36
Ohio
6 reviews
16 helpful votes
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June 13th, 2014

I love this place. It reminds me a lot of amazon actually. I've purchased several things from this company and haven't had any issues when it has come to delivery or getting the product I ordered.

Date of experience: June 13, 2014

Thumbnail of user laureneg1
New York
2 reviews
2 helpful votes
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September 18th, 2014
Verified purchase

Ebates went out of its way to confirm my purchase. Even though I had the wrong store name. Simply amazing! I have been a member for a long time and would not shop online without Ebates!

Date of experience: September 18, 2014

Thumbnail of user laurene55
New York
1 review
1 helpful vote
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October 1st, 2017

I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the company and their customer service. If you're not using already, it's time to give it a try. Who doesn't want to be paid for their purchases!?!

Date of experience: October 1, 2017

Thumbnail of user lindao61
Pennsylvania
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 22nd, 2017

My email was acknowledged within a few minutes. Staff are knowledgeable, professional, courteous, wonderfully helpful. My questions addressed and issue resolved.

Date of experience: January 22, 2017

Thumbnail of user tommyr9
California
1 review
3 helpful votes
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October 3rd, 2013

Rakuten is a great place to buy random electronics and other "Japanese" products. I think it used to be Buy.com which if I recall correctly was not as good.

Date of experience: October 3, 2013

Thumbnail of user dorothyh104
Idaho
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
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October 3rd, 2018

I love Ebates, not only do you get money back, but they have one of the best customer service teams I have ever encountered. Always so helpful and friendly.

Date of experience: October 3, 2018

Thumbnail of user lindah808
Florida
1 review
0 helpful votes
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April 18th, 2019

Needed help from Ebates as I misplaced my last check and Ebates took care of replacing it. Thank you Ebates. Great customer service! They communicated with me right away.

Date of experience: April 18, 2019

Thumbnail of user johnw219
Texas
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 4th, 2014
Verified purchase

I had a problem with a vendor cancelling my Ebate after a purchased item was exchanged at the original vendor location (SAKS) for a different size (same exact product, just a smaller size). Diane at Ebates reviewed the situation and promptly reinstated the Ebate Cash Back amount back to my account. Ebates looks out for its customer -- I was completely impressed.

Date of experience: August 4, 2014

Thumbnail of user markm133
Rhode Island
1 review
8 helpful votes
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May 28th, 2014

As many others have mentioned, you really have to be on top of things to make sure you are getting the cash back for each purchase. I've been using them for about a year and have made at least 20 online purchases through their site during that time. Without exaggeration, I would estimate that only half of those purchases actually earned me cash back. When I make a "Where's my cash" claim, the usual response is along the lines of "we don't have a tracking ticket proving you used the link on our site to shop at the retailer". I could understand that happening once or twice in the beginning, but after that I've made it a point to be sure I followed their instructions meticulously. And yet, just last week I made a $400 purchase at Sears online and I apparently didn't use the Ebates link to get to the Sears site for my purchase. The response to my claim was the typical excuse. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), that was the last straw. The aggravation of the entire process isn't worth the average 3% discount.

Also, before the Ebates rep makes the reply of "I'd like to gather more information and help you.", I'd like to respectfully decline. It isn't my job to repeatedly hunt down order numbers, purchase dates, and shopping trip tracking numbers on purchases made 7+ days ago. If Ebates had a functional system in place and/or were a sincerely honest organization, they would be doing things right the first time and not asking their consumers to double as online shopping detectives.

Date of experience: May 28, 2014

Thumbnail of user tanyaa53
Arizona
1 review
0 helpful votes
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April 29th, 2019
Verified purchase

This is the easiest money saving tool! Automatically shows up when I visit a linked site. Gotta love not having to think about saving money, it just happens!

Date of experience: April 29, 2019

Thumbnail of user cheriv
Virginia
1 review
1 helpful vote
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November 26th, 2014
Verified purchase

Absolutely love the customer services with Ebates! Anytime I have a question or a concern they are back to me so fast and are always helpful!

Thank you!

Date of experience: November 26, 2014

Thumbnail of user jol81
New Jersey
1 review
0 helpful votes
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November 14th, 2018

I'm extremely pleased with eBates. The site is easy to use, the customer service is excellent and it's so nice shopping knowing that you'll be getting $$ back.

Date of experience: November 14, 2018

Thumbnail of user harukok
California
5 reviews
2 helpful votes
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May 11th, 2021

I have been using this site for 1-2 yrs now. It's nice to get cash back for purchases you will make anyways online. The cash back are small but it adds up over time.

Date of experience: May 9, 2021

Thumbnail of user chamikarar
Sri Lanka
1 review
1 helpful vote
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February 6th, 2020

I have joined with Rakutan before few month back referring my boyfriends recommendation. I have done several purchases through the Rakutan (30$) within this period. Once I ask the bonus (after purchase more than 25$) they have informed you abuse the agreement & we deactivate all your related logins. With this action they have deactivate my account, my boyfriends account & all referees account (around 10). Those all accounts has done purchases through Rakutan which gave income to them.

As per the terms they have right to deactivate any account, but we have right to as why? But still they failed to answer the reason for this case. They have closed the ticket without any feedback.

Hopefully this can be happened many users, as they are deactivating accounts once we done purchases only. Not initially.

Careful friends.

Thanks
Mahila

Date of experience: February 6, 2020

Thumbnail of user lauram274
Canada
3 reviews
15 helpful votes
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June 27th, 2017

Beware of this company's practices to not pay out the earned cash back money. Waste of time, nerves and lost money. I have not met anybody that has had a good experience with Ebates.

Date of experience: June 27, 2017

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From the business

Rakuten is the new Ebates! Rakuten is the premier Cash Back shopping site that pays you. Join today and start earning Cash Back at your favorite stores. How does it work? We pay members Cash Back when they shop at over 2,500 stores, plus find them the best deals and coupons. With over 12 million members and $1 billion in Cash Back paid out, Rakuten is the easiest and most rewarding way to shop. Become a member today and start shopping smarter. Follow us for the latest sales, member-exclusive offers and more.

Business History

Ebates is the pioneer and leader of online Cash Back Shopping. The company was founded in 1998 by two Deputy District Attorneys in Silicon Valley who used to prosecute online fraud & identity theft before starting Ebates (so you can be sure we are very into secure online transactions!). So go ahead, sign up and start shopping now. Joining Ebates is always free - you'll never pay us anything. And four times a year or more, we'll mail you a Big Fat Check, or transfer the money to your PayPal account if you'd prefer. We can even send the money to your favorite charity. All 100% free.

Company Representative

Thumbnail of user ebatess
Ebates S.
Typically does not respond to reviews

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