Rakuten: Refer A Friend & You Both Get A $40/4,000 Membership Rewards Bonus

Update 11/27/24: Offer is back. There is also a better $50 offer for signing up via SoFi if you’re in P1 mode.

The Offer

Direct link to offer (my referral link)

  • Shopping portal Rakuten (formerly called eBates) is offering a referral bonus of $40. When you invite a friend to become a member and they spend $40 you’ll both earn a $40 bonus.

Our Verdict

The best referral bonus in the past has been $30. The nice thing about eBates/Rakuten is that you can convert cash back into American Express membership rewards as well at a 1¢ = 1 point rate which is nice. A lot of readers also seem to have less tracking issues with eBates/Rakuten than other portals, but the rates they offer are generally lower as well (use cashbackmonitor to compare). Definitely worth signing up for an account if you don’t already have one

Please do not share your own referrals in the comments below, instead you can share them on this linked post (if using one of these, make sure it says $40 and not lower).

Post History:

  • Update 4/29/24: Back again
  • Update 11/20/23: Deal is back
  • Update 5/8/23: Deal is back through 5/15/23. (Rakuten is also currently offering this week 15-20x back at online retailers such as Dell, Saks, Zappos and more.)
  • Update 11/30/22: Offer ends tomorrow, 12/1/22 at 11:59pm ET
  • Update 5/9/22: Deal is back for May 8th through May 16th.
  • Update 11/19/21: Deal is back Reposting 5/14/21 as this deal is back (might be targeted to some links, our link below works). Also a good time to sign up now for Rakuten if you want to take advantage of the 15% stores deal and the free hat/shirt deal. Hat tip to Chase-ing UR points
    William Charles
  • On November 27, 2024, 20:19
Tags: rakuten

View Comments (98)

  • Rakuten is a big scam.

    My P2 referred me and I made a purchase from Walmart of $30+. The bonus was pending and a few days later changed to ineligible. On my end, it says the purchase don’t qualify (I don’t read that anywhere) and on P2 account it says that I didn’t make the purchase within the time frame (I made the purchase a few days after getting the referral). I sent an email and I didn’t get a response and the phone number doesn’t work.

    So be aware, they won’t pay.

  • P1 and my P2 both have $40 links so I'm pretty sure everyone does.

  • when I click the referral link it only says “Get an extra 10% Cash Back today!
    Asher invites you to join Rakuten with an extra 10% Cash Back on purchases made in your first 7 days.” Doesn’t mention the $40 offer anywhere yet

    • Yep, looks like it's 10% now. The referral offer is constantly changing. I'll update as Expired.

    • Yes many of the blogs seem to have misinterpreted the current offer. The referrer (blog/you/I) get $40. The new referee gets an extra 10% cash back up to $50 for the first 7 days (so $500 spend).

    • Same here Jake. I think what once was in fact is now different. Chuck should revise the description as it is not accurately reflecting the current offer.

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