Kudos shopping portal/extension has revamped their payout structure: they now simply pay out the full affiliate commission received from the affiliate networks. Previously they had a more complicated system of multiplying your credit card rewards as a shopping bonus. You can read about the old system in our previous review; due to the new structure I’ve written a new review in this post, below.
Contents
Kudos Cashback App Review
The Kudos smart wallet is a rewards Chrome extension and Safari Extension which helps track which card is best for earning at any particular retailer when shopping in the Chrome or Safari browsers. They also offers rewards at thousands of retailers when you click through the Kudos extension before checking out. The app offers various other services such as showing your card numbers at retailer checkout so you can use the information at checkout with the retailer.
Once your cards are added to your Kudos wallet, the app will popup at checkout on retailer websites to guide you on which card to use at the given retailer. The app will also track how much rewards were earned from your shopping and the extra shopping portal rewards added on by Kudos, see below.
Kudos Shopping Portal
Aside from aiding customers in using the best card at a given merchant, Kudos also offers rewards at thousands of merchants when you click through their extension before checkout. They call their rewards ‘boosts’. Sometimes they’ll have a special enhanced offer ongoing which is called a ‘flash boost’.
You need to have the Kudos browser extension in order to get Kudos boosts. You can either click ‘activate boost’ which will popup on the bottom-right of your screen or you can browse and click to shop at thousands of merchants found on this page.
Retailers with a Kudos reward/boost offer include Walmart, Giftcards.com, Dell, Saks, eBay, Kohl’s, Groupon, Petco, Neiman, Newegg, and thousands more. It’s similar to what we see on other shopping portals.
A downside of the Kudos shopping portal is that, for now, they only offer payment in the form of Amazon gift card, not cash. Most other portals do offer cash payment via Paypal and the like. (Kudos says that cash/Paypal payment option will be added soon.)
Kudos 100% Rewards Rate
Kudos promises to pass on 100% of the commission paid by the affiliate network to the customers. They make money on other things like when people sign up using their credit card links, etc. The shopping portal feature is a draw for consumers who want to maximize their rewards and receive 100% affiliate commission back to their own pocket.
There are hundreds of shopping portals out there such as Rakuten, Topcashback, Cartera, etc. Most will keep part of the affiliate commission and pay out part. Many portals will also offer special limited time increased rates which can be even higher than the affiliate commission received; this is a loss-leader for the portal. Topcashback also says that they pass on 100% of the affiliate commissions.
$20 Referral Bonus
Kudos also offers a $20 bonus to those who signup using a referral link and make a purchase of $30 or more at a site with a boost offer from Kudos (e.g. Walmart, Giftcards.com, Dell, Saks, and thousands more). Once the purchase has been confirmed with the merchant (typically within 60-120 days), your reward will be issued.
My appreciation if you use my referral link. The signup link will prompt you to add the Kudos chrome/safari extension and then to signup for an account by adding your name and credit cards. In the signup process there will be a box for a referral code. Mine code is CEDAR_KUDOS and I appreciate if you use it. We’ll each get $20 if you signup with the referral code and make a purchase at a boost merchant. A referral code can even be added after the fact. No referrals in the comments below.
Our Verdict
Not many portals pass on 100% affiliate commission; readers point out that Topcashback also promotes a similar structure. Ultimately, the savvy shopping will always want to compare cashback/reward rates since portal rates vary all the time. Even a shopping portal who typically doesn’t offer the strongest rate might an excellent deal with a temporary increased offer.
The $20 Kudos signup bonus should be a nice and easy way of getting started. Just keep in mind that Kudos has a $30 minimum cashout amount. Also note, payout is currently only in the form of Amazon gift card, not cash.
My appreciation if you use my referral link; enter referral code CEDAR_KUDOS when prompted during account signup. You’ll get 2000 points ($20) if you signup and make a $30+ purchase after activating or clicking through the Kudos boost. You’ll probably also get a few extra dollars for adding Kudos to the browser, adding a card, and similar tasks. No referrals in the comments below.
Can you use one android browsers that allow extension. Kiwi browser. Others if I decided took
Kiwi or Yandex browsers for android allow Chrome extensions
When is Kudo supposed to actually pay out anything? I have multiple transactions going back to September and nothing has went into payment status.
I had a few which didn’t pay out – I assume because the items I bought weren’t eligible, but I never really went back and verified clearly.
what’s the catch? how do they make money then?
not another Honey situation is it?
This is such a weird logo. I always pass by it bc I assume it’s a pet shopping site. Are they calling their customers dogs?
Where is ieatdogfood??
I signed up and tried to use CEDAR_KUDOS in two different places. At signup, it reported Invalid Referral code and when it gave me a chance later, it reported An Error Has Occurred.
It’s unclear if I will meet the bonus anyway, I don’t see many stores here that I would shop at. Also, it seems like it’s very Apple-centric, which cuts me out; I have iNothing.
Chris.
Sorry about that. I’ve reached out to Kudos to get it fixed.
Also receiving the error about “Code Maximum Limit Reached”. Unsure if I should continue with account set up or if I will lose out on the $20 account opening offer. Has anyone proceeded after the error and seen if the offer still applies?
As FYI tried to use your referral code but it says max limit reached – not sure how often this resets
People have mentioned that in the comments of the other post. There isn’t actually any limit, it’s just some sort of error message apparently.
Thanks for that! I left it off in the signup but was able to retro-add
The 100% affiliate passthrough has been how topcashback works since they started years ago so this model is not unique. From topcashback:
How does cash back work?
When you make a purchase from a retailer featured on TopCashback after clicking through from our site, the retailer will give us a commission for sending you to their website.
We pass on 100% of this commission back to you as cash back which is actually paid by the retailer, then we’ll make your cash back ‘payable’ to withdraw and spend.
It’s a bit of fluff marketing and is basically meaningless. They could have a really high negotiated rate or a dismally low one because they don’t drive enough volume to the retailer. The “100% cashback” thing has really no bearing to whether they’ll offer a good or bad cashback rate compared to the other cashback sites.
You also miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
— Michael Scott
Wayne GretzkyDoesn’t TCB also claim to pass on 100% of the commission?
Slipped my mind. I’ll add a note. (It is strange, however, because often the networks pay something like 1.2%, and we don’t often see TCB do that. Maybe TCB pays 100%, but rounds it up or down. IDK. With Kudos they do seem to give the exact number.)
Currently, they are offering 4.2% on Wayfair and I frequently see rates with tenths. Also, it is important to note that not all companies give all shopping portals the same rate.
Unless it is on cashbackmonitor and I can really check if it compares at all, I will not be downloading this probably intrusive, privacy invading app.
Word to the wise, I’ve found that cashbackmonitor is almost always inaccurate. I only use it to see what portals have it as a shopping partner, not what the rates are.
Do you have a better CB comparison site?
have you tried ev reward to compare?
Savewise is the best imo…getsavewise.com
I am always on cashbackmonitor and haven’t found cashback wrong. btw i tried cashbackholic before but it used to crash a lot.