RakutenCashback Sites
£25 Free Cash + £5 Free Amazon
Value
£30
Rakuten is a global cashback site that pays you a percentage of what you spend at over 500 partner retailers in the UK, including Argos, eBay, Boots, John Lewis, and Booking.com. Rakuten Group, the Tokyo-listed parent company, has been running cashback platforms internationally since acquiring US pioneer Ebates in 2014, and is one of the world's largest in the category. UK cashback launched in May 2022.
Founded
2014
12 years old
App Store
4.2 ★
185k reviews
Google Play
3.9 ★
74k reviews
Live offers
1
Worth £30
Rakuten at a glance
Rakuten Marketing Europe runs the UK arm of this Tokyo-listed cashback group, paying a share of retailer commission back when you shop through its links. Quidsy lists the welcome free cash offer for new members. Best as a second cashback platform alongside Quidco or TopCashback, since the UK retailer roster is smaller.
Last checked:
- Best cashback rate
- 5% with Adidas
Current Rakuten offers
Rakuten cashback rates
Best visible rate right now: 5% with Adidas.
RetailerRate
- 5%
Adidas
1.5% sale items
- 4.50%
JD Sports
- 3%
Superdrug
Existing customers. 2 tiers available.
- 3%
The Body Shop
- 1.87%
Sainsbury's
Existing customers (Orders Over £45). 3 tiers available.
- 1.50%
Boots
- 0.75%
Ocado
2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th purchase. 2 tiers available.
- 0.75%
PlayStation
Other console purchases. 3 tiers available.
- 0.75%
Waterstones
Existing customers. 2 tiers available.
- 0.75%
Iceland
- 0.75%
Just Eat
Existing customers. 2 tiers available.
- 0.75%
Currys
Review notes· 5 min read
Rakuten details
Rakuten is a global cashback site that pays you a percentage of what you spend at over 500 partner retailers in the UK, including Argos, eBay, Boots, John Lewis, and Booking.com. Rakuten Group, the Tokyo-listed parent company, has been running cashback platforms internationally since acquiring US pioneer Ebates in 2014, and is one of the world's largest in the category. UK cashback launched in May 2022.
Rakuten works best as a second cashback platform alongside TopCashback or Quidco, not a replacement. The UK retailer roster is smaller than the big two, but there's a useful niche around One-Off Cashback on financial products (current accounts, insurance, mobile contracts) where Rakuten sometimes has deals you won't find elsewhere. If you're already shopping at mainstream UK retailers online, or you're opening new financial products and want to stack cashback with other sign-up bonuses, it's worth a free account.
If you mostly shop at independent UK retailers or want the widest possible coverage, stick with TopCashback or Quidco first.
Is Rakuten legit?
Yes, Rakuten is a legitimate cashback site. It's the UK arm of Rakuten Group, a publicly traded company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange that's been running cashback platforms internationally for over a decade. UK operations are run through Rakuten Marketing Europe Limited (Companies House registration 05751526, active since 2006), based at 7 Savoy Court, London.
Cashback sites aren't FCA-regulated, and they don't need to be. Rakuten never holds your money like a bank would, it tracks your purchases at partner retailers, the retailer pays Rakuten a commission, and Rakuten passes a share of that commission back to you as cashback. Your bank account is linked so payouts can be sent directly when you withdraw.
The trust model here is operational rather than regulatory. The things that matter are: do purchases track reliably, do payouts arrive, and is the company solvent? On all three, Rakuten has a long international track record and a parent group that publishes audited financials.
The most common complaints are the same as for any cashback site: occasional tracking failures and rate changes set by retailers. Neither is a legitimacy issue, but worth knowing before you rely on a specific deal.
What does Rakuten do?
Percentage cashback at 500+ UK retailers
Earn up to 60% back when you shop at partners including Argos, eBay, Boots, John Lewis, and Booking.com. Rates vary by retailer and rotate with promotions.
One-Off Cashback on financial products
Fixed cashback amounts on bank accounts, insurance, mobile contracts, and broadband. Often where Rakuten beats other cashback sites.
Browser extension
Activates cashback automatically when you visit a partner site, so you don't lose cashback by forgetting to click through.
Bank or PayPal withdrawals
Withdraw your confirmed cashback to a linked UK bank account or PayPal within a few working days.
£25 welcome bonus for new members
Spend £60 at a qualifying partner retailer within 90 days of signing up to claim £25. Amazon doesn't count towards the £60 threshold. Standard Rakuten cashback at Amazon is £1 per order, so most new sign-ups pick up a small Amazon top-up alongside the welcome bonus.
Pros and cons
What stands out
4 pros- Strong on One-Off Cashback for financial products, often with deals you won't see elsewhere
- 500+ UK retailers including most major high-street and travel brands
- Browser extension means you rarely miss cashback you've activated
- Owned by a publicly listed parent group with a long international track record
Worth knowing
3 cons- Fewer UK retailers than TopCashback or Quidco, so it's better as a second platform than a primary one
- Some cashback rates are lower than competitors for the same retailer (always compare before clicking through)
- Welcome bonus takes up to 90 days to confirm after qualifying spend, patience required
Rakuten is worth signing up for, but as your second cashback platform, not your first. The £25 welcome bonus is a quick win for any UK shopper planning a £60+ purchase at a partner retailer, and once you're in, the One-Off Cashback section is where the platform earns its place on your bookmarks bar.
I keep Rakuten installed specifically for those One-Off Cashback opportunities. When a bank or insurance company is offering cashback through Rakuten that isn't available on TopCashback or Quidco, it's worth knowing. The browser extension does the work of remembering, you visit the retailer, it nudges you to activate, you carry on shopping.
The UK retailer count is smaller than the big two cashback sites, and a few percentage points of cashback rate can swing either way depending on the merchant. That's why a quick rate compare before any major purchase is a habit worth building, regardless of which platform you start with.
If you're picking just one cashback site, start with TopCashback or Quidco. If you want a free £25 and a useful second platform with a specific edge on financial products, add Rakuten too.
Rakuten FAQs
Rakuten earns commission from retailers each time a customer makes a qualifying purchase through one of its links. Retailers pay Rakuten a percentage of the order value as an affiliate fee, and Rakuten passes most of that back to the customer as cashback. The platform keeps the difference, plus any commission from One-Off Cashback deals on financial products. There's no fee for shoppers to use Rakuten.
New UK members get £25 added to their cashback balance after spending £60 or more at a qualifying Rakuten partner retailer within 90 days of signing up, as of May 2026. Amazon purchases don't count towards the £60 threshold. Rakuten's standard cashback at Amazon is £1 per order, so doing a few Amazon shops via Rakuten during the welcome window can add up to £5 of regular cashback on top of the £25 bonus, which is how the offer reaches around £30 total.
Cashback usually appears as "pending" in your Rakuten account within a few hours to a few days of placing an order. It then moves to "available" once the retailer confirms the transaction, which typically takes 30 to 90 days depending on the retailer's return window. Travel and insurance purchases can take longer because confirmation is tied to the booking date or policy start. If cashback hasn't tracked within seven days, you can submit a missing-cashback claim from your account.
Declined cashback usually means the retailer didn't confirm the transaction, often because cookies were blocked, a discount code was applied that voided the affiliate, or the order was cancelled or returned. If it's declined and you have the order confirmation email plus the date and time you clicked through Rakuten, raise a missing-cashback claim via your account dashboard. Rakuten passes the claim to the retailer for review. Outcomes aren't guaranteed, the retailer has final say, but providing the order ID and clickthrough timing improves your chances.
Next step
Choose your route with Rakuten
£25 Free Cash + £5 Free Amazon is the strongest live Rakuten route we have listed right now.