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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
See positive reviews
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
See critical reviews

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 sams125
Montana
4 reviews
11 helpful votes
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February 3rd, 2014

Company is SHADY AS HELL. Sometimes they pay u cash back sometimes they dont. No reason as to why they didnt pay... AVOID!

They reply... 4 Me To Contact Them... UMMM. No... YOU GOT CREDIT FOR MY SALE N I GOT NOTHING

Date of experience: January 26, 2014

Thumbnail of user cristianm19
New York
1 review
1 helpful vote
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August 13th, 2018

Roxanna F. Helped me over the phone with customer service from ebates and she was more than amazing I couldn't of received better customer service she was awesome!

Date of experience: August 13, 2018

Thumbnail of user kimberlys364
Colorado
1 review
1 helpful vote
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June 5th, 2019
Verified purchase

I clicked the stupid Effin e button I let you download and a deal popped up, so I spent money, lots of money. There was a site-wide deal for free shipping over a certain price point... well apparently that made Ebates or whoever you are calling yourself this week rebate invalid, during double back... so they bombard me with emails because of the double, but you can't use it on the site you keep sending me to. The CSA was actual crap, and I asked for my account to be closed, and here I am still getting emails from you. You STOLE $30 from me. And I'm going to keep on bad mouthing you until I am made whole, or you change your name to rip-off-kuten for truth in advertising, probably why you dropped the bates part of rebates... imiright? You gave me an offer incompatible with the SITEWIDE sale that was going on, nor did I ever get the chance to choose, I would have paid the shipping to get the actual rebate I was expecting. I used to tell everyone about you, for the good, now I'm going to tell everyone how $#*!ty you treated me... also, I'm going to petition all of my favorite podcast to drop you as a sponsor, even if I have to pay them my damn self. This 30$ will end up costing you so much more. A happy customer tells 10 people, an angry one tells 100.

Date of experience: June 5, 2019

Thumbnail of user janines23
New York
3 reviews
10 helpful votes
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January 2nd, 2018

Ebates picks and chooses which rebates they want to honor. I push the E button before a transaction and sometimes the transaction still is not honored. I write to them identifying the order number, date and transaction and before I can blink they write me an email saying that they cannot find the transaction. I send them back a print screen of the transaction to prove it is on the up and up and they do not say that they are in error, they say: "We didnt find a shopping trip for this order, but as a courtesy we have added your Cash Back for this order." I do not lie. Either they are told not to honor transactions right off or they can't be bothered to do their job. Hey, if they don't want to work - find another job! I find it very frustrating and believe it or not I am an easy going person. The reviewer of this transaction was Tim R. I sincerely thanked him for honoring the transaction and the next thing I get is a thank you for writing a good review. Well, this is my review. I felt that I was being pushed to lie regarding the entire incident. If anyone from upper management would like to contact me - please do so. I have saved the emails I have received. Janine Schreiber

Date of experience: January 2, 2018

Thumbnail of user meganb28
Texas
1 review
0 helpful votes
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April 27th, 2015
Verified purchase

I contacted EBATES about a shopping trip that wasn't showing in my account, in less than 4 hours, my problem was solved and my account was credited. Thank you for helping me so quickly!

Date of experience: April 27, 2015

Thumbnail of user jians3
Singapore
1 review
1 helpful vote
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April 13th, 2020

Bought a Tiffany necklace using credit card and with shipping cost of 2500 (EMS delivery). The next day, received to make payment using paypal instead and seller will provide URL link for the payment (If no payment done within 5 days from the email then the purchase will be cancelled). Fair enough and I waited. Understand that seller do not work during weekend, on Monday which was 2 days after the purchase. No URL link was given instead telling me the cost (EMS) is not for luxurious item (come on all the item they are selling are all either precious metal of luxurious goods). They only will deliver with DHL (cost range between 8000 - ******* JPY) which is 30% on top of the item I've purchased. Then I emailed them, please inform me the final price of shipment and they quoted 13,020 JPY. Oh dear... seller is dishonest and give buyer too much confusion on the payment & shipment after the purchase. I have no choice but to cancel the purchase as the shipment alone cost SGD 180! Ridiculous! It was a disappointing first purchase from Rakuten Japan. Please dont get yourselve into troubles like this!

Date of experience: April 13, 2020

Thumbnail of user eilenem
California
1 review
1 helpful vote
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July 10th, 2017

I made several purchases with a vendor that was suppose to provide a "rebate" per transaction. This vendor also participated in their bonus days where, if one were to make a purchase on given days, bonus earnings could be had. But the earnings did not automatically post. In fact, EBATES Customer Care had to intervene. Keeping good records helped of course but without the expert help of Allison at EBATES, I honestly don't think the ending to my experience would have been a positive one. Allison diligently and patiently kept working with the vendor to make sure every single transaction was reviewed and credited properly. The process took a few months but Allison and the EBATES team kept me constantly informed of the status. I cannot give enough praise for the service I received from EBATES, and especially, Allison. AMAZING service from one very incredible company! I can honestly say EBATES is one company that still provides the "human" factor in helping out their members! Thank you EBATES and thank you Allison for seeing this matter all the way to the very end! I can't wait for my next "Big Fat Check" in August!

Date of experience: July 10, 2017

Thumbnail of user catm121
Arizona
3 reviews
1 helpful vote
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December 13th, 2023

TLDR: They gave me 2$ instead of 10, never let me cash out and then tried to charge my card

I applied the rakuten browser extension before checking out. After I bought something, I checked the rakuten balance and it said it needed to verify with the merchant that I actually made the purchase. Several days later I asked support why the cash back still said pending. They had a promotion going on at the time that said you would get a 10$ "welcome bonus" if you spent more than 10$ with rakuten, but when I check the pending status it says less than 3$ is pending, so I asked about that too.

Another day later the support emailed me telling me to screenshot the entire order confirmation email I got from the merchant. I did, and emailed it to them. Another day later I saw that the cash back was done pending! But it was less than the amount they owed. It was like 2$, and the order price listed had changed as though they manually edited the amount I had spent? I said whatever, and had to figure out how to input my card info to get the money but I was already suspicious of the site now.

I found the wallet tab where I could put my card info to receive the money, but I gave it my cashapp card which has no money in it because I didn't trust it. The second I finished putting in my card's number, before I put in my billing address or ever hit enter, I got an alert on my cash app that someone tried to charge me money. Thankfully there's no money in my cashapp! Anyway, then it said I'd need to "earn" 5$ worth of cashback to cash out which I should've already had but they scammed me out of it and tried to charge me money.

Tip for consumers:
Waste of time! Try Honey instead. Drops the cash back instantly into your paypal.

Products used:
Cash Back

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: December 13, 2023

Thumbnail of user latoyaw5
Minnesota
1 review
1 helpful vote
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December 9th, 2015
Verified purchase

EBATES IS A LIFE SAVER AND A SHOPAHOLICS DREAM! I LOVE IT SO MUCH THAT I DOWNLOADED THE APP ON THE WEBSITE SO IT AUTOMATICALLY SHOWS ME THAT THE STORE IS PART OF EBATES AND I ACTIVATE THE CASHBACK!

LOVE LOVE LOVE EBATES!

Date of experience: December 9, 2015

Thumbnail of user courtneyh19
Connecticut
9 reviews
15 helpful votes
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March 20th, 2014

No doubt it has great prices on lots of items but the website is not easy to use. Need improvement. Hope it will last

Date of experience: March 20, 2014

Thumbnail of user robr1
Utah
3 reviews
4 helpful votes
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January 26th, 2010

I order a certified refurbished IBM T43 laptop. The laptop arrived and the battery wouldn't charge beyond 23% and the wireless card wouldn't connect unless I was sitting right next to my router. Really... if I was 10+ feet away it wouldn't connect. I guess by "certified" they meant certified worthless. I returned the laptop for replacement and it took them forever to send me a replacement. I received canned email after canned email every time I requested status of my replacement. They finally sent me a replacement after filing a complaint with the BBB and threatening to report the transaction to my bank as fraud. buy.com will never see another dime of mine.
Another something interesting, I posted a review of the laptop on their site explaining the issue I had with the battery and network card. It was there for a few hours and then they removed it. Let me be clear, there was no profanity, no vulgarity, nothing offensive in the review. I merely explained that the battery wouldn't charge and the network card wouldn't connect. So you can't trust the product reviews because apparently they remove them unless you're raving about the product.

Date of experience: January 26, 2010

Thumbnail of user kimk87
Florida
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
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July 31st, 2019
Verified purchase

Get site save money for buying what your gonna buy anyway love this site I've saved hundreds of dollars I look forward to getting my checks

Date of experience: July 31, 2019

Thumbnail of user davidb2434
Florida
1 review
0 helpful votes
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July 31st, 2019
Verified purchase

Rakuten is so easy to use. Install the extension to your browser and it lets you know when you're on a site that offers cash back or coupons.

Date of experience: July 31, 2019

Thumbnail of user taniag20
New York
1 review
0 helpful votes
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April 24th, 2019
Verified purchase

Online services were great. However I received check to redeem savings and am unable to cash. Is there a way deposit directly into my account?

Date of experience: April 23, 2019

Thumbnail of user kathys35
VI
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 11th, 2014
Verified purchase

From day one, it's been nothing but a pleasure. With money being tight, it's wonderful to be 'rewarded' for purchasing items that are needed.

Date of experience: June 10, 2014

Thumbnail of user courtneyj44
Wisconsin
1 review
0 helpful votes
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April 29th, 2019
Verified purchase

Having much more fun shopping and getting paid to do it! Rakuten is a nice way to save money on the items you already buy.

Date of experience: April 28, 2019

Thumbnail of user cindyr21
Georgia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 18th, 2014
Verified purchase

Always find what I am looking for and being able to save with the coupons and get money back... just makes it that much better!

Date of experience: August 18, 2014

Thumbnail of user fredericof
Brazil
1 review
1 helpful vote
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August 17th, 2014
Verified purchase

The Ebates is a great website, honest and does exactly what it promises.
I was very well attended by attendants when I needed help.
Just perfect.

Date of experience: August 15, 2014

Thumbnail of user theresas13
Texas
1 review
1 helpful vote
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September 13th, 2014
Verified purchase

I had a question about my cash back status and got a response within 24 hours. That is REAL customer service! Thanks to Rachel.

Date of experience: September 13, 2014

Thumbnail of user victorian8
California
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 8th, 2014
Verified purchase

I always get a prompt response to any issues that arise. My cash back checks arrive as promised! It's just silly not to shop via Ebates!

Date of experience: December 8, 2014

Thumbnail of user josieh7
Michigan
1 review
2 helpful votes
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December 30th, 2016
Verified purchase

I had forgotten to use ebates for a recent purchase and when I contacted customer service they were very helpful in crediting my account

Date of experience: December 30, 2016

Thumbnail of user janetm96
Arkansas
1 review
2 helpful votes
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January 22nd, 2017

EBates has been sending me checks for years! Skeptical at first, I am now a firm believer in them and recommend them to others.

Date of experience: January 22, 2017

Thumbnail of user jenf14
Massachusetts
1 review
0 helpful votes
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May 11th, 2016
Verified purchase

I had an issue that was my fault, and customer service responded first thing the next morning with a resolution. I am very impressed.

Date of experience: May 10, 2016

Thumbnail of user lg83
Michigan
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
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June 6th, 2019
Verified purchase

Great customer service when needed. Easy cash in my PayPal account every quarter. Have had really good cash neck percentages on some stores recently.

Date of experience: June 5, 2019

Thumbnail of user danar58
Maryland
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 6th, 2018

Was amazed at how quickly I got a response to my email. Not only that, it clarified a point for me, and made everything more than whole.

Date of experience: February 6, 2018

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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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