Upside, best known for giving cashback on gas purchases at participating gas stations, is expanding its market to grocery stores, as of June 23. Grocery offers are currently available only in the DC metro area, and are largely similar to gas offers – but there are some slight differences. Not all users have access to grocery offers yet, but it’s worth checking if you have the app!
Grocery Offers
Upside’s website has an excellent FAQ about grocery offers. In brief, the process is similar to gas offers: open the Upside app; claim an offer from a participating grocery store; do your usual shopping (and be sure to pay with a credit or debit card, as cash and gift card payments are not eligible for cash back); upload a picture of your itemized receipt; profit $.
There are some important differences as compared to gas offers, though. Grocery offers are eligible for 7 days, instead of the usual 4 hours on gas offers, and you can only claim two grocery offers per week. Grocery offers also cap out at 10%.
For obvious reasons, grocery offers also intrinsically work differently. Gas offers provide cashback in two different forms (a ¢ / gal discount as “cash back” and a separate ¢ / gal discount in “Upside credit” – covered in more detail in our review of the app). Grocery offers only provide “cash back” (i.e. no “Upside credit”) and do so in a tiered manner: you get x% cash back (up to $y) on a $z+ purchase. Perhaps more clear is the example given in the FAQ: “3% cash back at Megamart (up to $5) on a $50+ purchase”.
Do note that, by the terms, “gift card purchases are not eligible for cash back”.
Participating Grocery Stores
Helpfully, Upside has provided a map of the initial list of participating grocery stores, available at this link. A list of the available store (but not their locations) is as follows (a parenthetical indicates the number of locations, if greater than one): Aldi, Bestway Supermarket, Dawson’s Market, Giant Food, Great Wall (2), H Mart (2), Harris Teeter, Lotte Market (3), Megamart (3), Mom’s Organic Market, New Grand Mart (2), Safeway, Whole Foods.
Our Verdict
Depending on your grocery shopping habits & budget, the purchase and “cash back” limits can be an obstacle. And, as noted in our initial review of the app, uploading receipts can be a pain. Upside’s modals asking you to refer users can also be annoying if you use the app frequently.
However, the grocery offers seem well-designed to be sustainable, and – in my opinion – a little bit of manual work for some easy money is well worth your time if you frequent any of the participating grocery stores.
If you have any experience with Upside’s grocery offers, or even general comments, feel free to reply below!
