How Cashback Sites Make Money (and How to Start One)

How do cashback sites make money?

Cashback sites make money from affiliate commissions. When a member clicks through to a store and buys, the store pays the site a commission through an affiliate network, and the site passes part of that commission back to the member as cashback. The site keeps the difference, and coupon sites work the same way, except that the hook is a discount code instead of a cash rebate.

The model is simple to explain and hard to run well: tracking breaks, commissions take weeks to confirm, some stores ban cashback traffic, and disclosure rules apply. This guide covers each, then shows how an offerwall adds a second earning stream to the same points balance.

How a cashback purchase turns into money

Every cashback purchase follows the same chain:

1. The member clicks “Shop now”. Your site sends them through your affiliate tracking link for that store, with the member’s ID in a sub-ID parameter so the network can tell you who bought. Click IDs and sub-IDs explains the parameter.
2. The network records the click and the store’s site sets tracking that remembers it, usually a cookie.
3. The member buys inside the store’s attribution window, and the store reports the sale to the network with the commission amount.
4. The network reports the sale to you with the sub-ID, through a report, an API or a postback. You credit the member’s share as pending cashback.
5. The store validates the sale after its return period and either approves or declines it.
6. The network pays you once the store has paid the network, and only then should the member’s cashback become withdrawable.

A site that shows “8% cashback” on a store paying 10% keeps 2 percentage points of every order, before payout fees, declined sales and support costs.

Where coupon sites differ

A coupon site earns the same affiliate commission, but the member clicks through to reveal a code rather than to collect cashback. Many coupon sites keep the whole commission and add cashback only as a loyalty feature. The weak point is the code itself: if a member copies a code and buys later without clicking your link, or the code leaks to other sites, the sale is credited to whoever set the last tracking cookie, which may not be you.

Why cashback tracking breaks

Most missing cashback is not fraud. It is tracking that never fired or was overwritten. The usual causes:

• Another click came later. Most programs pay the last affiliate click. If the member clicks a coupon site, a browser extension or another portal after yours, the commission goes there. What is attribution? explains last click.
• Browser privacy features. WebKit’s tracking prevention documentation says Safari blocks all third-party cookies by default, deletes cookies created in JavaScript after 7 days without user interaction, and caps those cookies at 24 hours when it detects link decoration from a tracking click. Programs that rely on that kind of tracking lose Safari sales.
• Ad blockers and cookie consent. Blockers can stop the redirect or the store’s tracking script, and a member who rejects cookies on the store’s banner may never be tracked.
• Device and app switching. A member who clicks on a laptop and buys on a phone, or whose click opens the store’s app instead of its website, often loses the cookie on the way.
• Excluded products and codes. Many stores pay no commission on gift cards, some categories, or orders that use a code the store did not issue to affiliates.
• The store does not accept cashback traffic. Some programs refuse incentivized traffic entirely, so clicks track but sales are declined.

Tell members to click through right before buying, turn off other cashback extensions, buy in the same browser, and keep the order confirmation.

Cookie windows: how long a click counts

The cookie window, or conversion window, is how long after a click the store still credits a purchase to you. Each program sets its own, so show it on every store page. Amazon is a good example of how short and specific these can be. Its Associates Program Policies (updated April 14, 2026) say a session starts when the customer clicks a Special Link and ends after 24 hours, when the customer orders, or when they click another Associate’s link, with a longer window for items added to the cart during the session.

The same Amazon policy also shows why you must read the terms before listing a store. Section 6(g) says an Associate may not offer any person “any consideration, reward, or incentive” for using Special Links and names money, rebates, discounts and points among the prohibited forms. It also rules out a “rewards” or loyalty program that pays people to visit Amazon through your links. So a standard Amazon Associates account cannot pay cashback. Many other programs say in their terms whether they accept cashback, loyalty and coupon sites, and some accept them only with approval. Checked on October 29, 2026.

Why cashback stays “pending”

Cashback stays pending because the store has not finished validating the sale. Until it does, the sale can still be cancelled or returned, and the commission can still be taken away. Affiliate networks name this stage differently, but the idea is the same everywhere:

Two details matter for your cash flow. Awin’s publisher training on the payment process puts the average approval time at 30 to 45 days, says some advertisers, such as hotels, confirm only after the stay, and says publishers are paid only once the advertiser has paid Awin. And impact.com’s guide to reversed actions lists reasons a brand can reverse before locking, including returned items, consumer fraud and consumer error. Checked on October 29, 2026.

Map network states to member states

Keep a row for every commission and give it the same states your members see:

• Tracked or pending: the network reported the sale; show the expected cashback but do not let the member spend it.
• Confirmed: the store approved or the lock date passed.
• Payable: the network has paid you or marked the commission payable. Only now move it into the withdrawable balance.
• Declined: remove it and show the reason the network gave, such as a return.

Show each store’s expected confirmation time. Members accept a wait they were told about. Reward hold periods covers how to set and tier holds, and the same logic applies to cashback.

FTC endorsement and disclosure rules for cashback sites

A cashback site recommends stores and earns money when members buy, which is a material connection under the FTC’s Endorsement Guides. The FTC’s plain-language FAQ, Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking, sets the practical standard:

• Affiliate marketers “should disclose your relationship to the retailer clearly and conspicuously on your site,” and the closer the disclosure is to the recommendation, the better.
• A disclosure reached only through a hyperlink is “easily avoidable” and so not clear and conspicuous, and a single disclosure on the home page “won’t be sufficient”.
• If paying for placement improves the editorial content of a review, the review could be deceptive. A “Top stores” or “Best deals” list that ranks stores by what they pay you, presented as neutral, has that problem.
• US law applies if it is reasonably foreseeable that your content reaches US consumers, and the FAQ notes that the UK and many other countries have similar rules.

In practice: put a short line such as “We earn a commission when you shop through our links and share it with you as cashback” near store listings and deal posts, label paid or featured placements as such, and do not hide the explanation behind a link. Do not pay points for store or product reviews: the same FAQ says you cannot make an incentive depend on a review being positive, and an incentivized review program is a risk you do not need. Affiliate disclosure rules covers wording and placement in depth. This is general information, not legal advice. Checked on October 29, 2026.

Adding an offerwall as a second earning stream

Store cashback only earns when members shop, and most members do not shop every week. An offerwall lets the same members earn the same points between purchases, by completing app, game and survey offers from advertisers. You earn a payout for each completed offer, credit the member’s share in your points, and the points sit in the same balance and go through the same payout flow as their cashback. What is an offerwall? covers the basics, and Offerwall vs affiliate links compares the two models in detail.

How to fit it into your existing system

• One currency. Use the same points and the same rate you use for cashback, so 1,000 points mean the same thing whether a member earned them shopping or playing. Setting your virtual currency exchange rate helps you pick one.
• One ledger. Store each offer credit as a row next to cashback rows, with its own source, status and hold. Credit only from the signed postback on your server, never from the browser. What is a postback URL? explains the mechanism, and publisher earnings and reversals covers what happens when a result is reversed.
• One payout flow. Members cash out the combined balance with the methods you already offer. Rewards site payout methods and gift card APIs for rewards apps cover the options.

If you are building from scratch, How to start a rewards website walks through the whole setup, from offer partners to first cashout.

Fraud risks on cashback and coupon sites

Paying members real money attracts people who try to take more than they earn. The main patterns:

• Buy, cash out, return. A member buys, waits for cashback to show, withdraws, then returns the item. The store declines the sale and you have already paid. The fix is the pending stage above: nothing becomes withdrawable before the commission is confirmed.
• Multiple accounts. One person opens many accounts to collect sign-up bonuses or farm offers. See Stop multi-accounting and VPN abuse.
• Referral farms. Fake referred accounts earn referral bonuses for the referrer. Pay referral bonuses only on confirmed earnings, as covered in How to prevent referral fraud.
• Cookie stuffing. Your members’ sales can be stolen by extensions or pages that plant another affiliate’s cookie after your click, and a dishonest site can do the same to stores. What is cookie stuffing? explains how it works and why stores treat it as fraud. Never use it yourself: it gets affiliate accounts closed.

How to add Sharklio to your cashback site

Here is how to add Sharklio next to your store cashback, with the same points and the same ledger.

1. Apply as a publisher at sharklio.com. Every application is reviewed by hand, and once you are approved, sites you add are live right away.
2. Add your site in the dashboard. Set the currency name and icon to match your points, use the same conversion rate as your cashback, and match the wall design to your site.
3. Put the wall on an Earn page with a signed link or iframe built on your server, or add the floating Earn button. On WordPress, follow How to add an offerwall to WordPress.
4. Credit points only on your server from the signed postback, as a pending row next to your cashback rows, and subtract them when a reversal arrives. The PHP and Laravel guide shows the handler.
5. Test your site before launch with a test user and a test postback, then link the Earn page next to your store list, as shown in Where to place an offerwall.

Frequently asked questions