Splender Delivers on Cash Back & iConsumer Update
Disclosure: Sign-up links in this post are personal referral links.
Late last year Cartera (the company behind most of the mileage portals), launched a new cashback portal called Splender. I was one of the first major blogs to test and review this portal and my experiences were generally good. Since they wanted to gain market share, for much of the holiday season Splender had the best rates at a number of retailers.
Today they still have the highest rates at some merchants. For example they are paying 2% at eBay which is the best (other than iConsumer’s limited 4%) and they consistently pay the best rates at Newegg and some other stores. In other words, while my use of the portal has died down, it is still one of my go tos.
Much like Ebates, Splender doesn’t pay you cashback as soon as it becomes payable, but instead sends a check on a certain date. The first payment date for Splender was January 28, 2016 and on that day I received an email saying my check was in the mail. (You can also choose to receive funds via PayPal if that works better for you.
All Is Good
Yesterday the check finally came in the mail and all of the cashback earned over the holidays was accounted for. In other words, Splender not only had great rates, but they delivered on their promise. Since I know a lot of you were exposed to the portal from this blog, I thought a good follow up was in order. With so many portal choices out there, it is important to know that a company is reliable. Splender seems to be.
If you haven’t yet joined Splender, you will get $5 after signing up and spending $50 through the portal.
iConsumer Update
Another newish portal we have seen come onto the scene is iConsumer. They made a splash by offering 8% and then 16% cashback at eBay with a limit of $20 per month. The cashback amount is now down to 4%, but it is still double the next best option.
I have been using iConsumer for about a month now and have found that the purchases I have made (primarily through eBay) have all tracked and are shown as pending in my account. So far it looks like their tracking system is working and like they will deliver. I still have not been paid of course, but I am hopeful since everything seems to be on track with them.
For now, I am using iConsumer until I hit my limit of $20 earned in a month on eBay and then am using the next best option after that. (Currently that is Splender at 2%.) If another portal that I have more experience with has the same payout or is close to iConsumer, then I will choose the other portal. I am still being cautious, but am feeling more optimistic.
If you sign-up for iConsumer they give you 100 shares of their stock, which at this point is worthless and probably won’t ever be worth anything. You also earn stock for every cashback transaction, but I would simply use this portal for the cash and forget about the stock. If some value eventually materializes then fine, but I definitely wouldn’t count on it.
Conclusion
My strategy of maximizing everything heavily relies on using shopping portals. While I now track all of my purchases in a spreadsheet, I really want to know the portals I choose to use are reliable so I don’t need to constantly follow up. (Hear that Discover!) After four months of solid use I can say Splender has never failed me and it is now one of my recommended portals. iConsumer isn’t quite there yet, but I am hopeful. Only time will tell.
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I like to go to to this website it will tell you what rebate site is offering the most.
http://www.cashbackholic.com
different
Splender cash back website has been suspended and will shut down.If you have under $10 dollars in your account be sure to update your Pay Pal account email address again.If you don’t do this by June you will not get the payout. I am glad i checked there was a diffrent PayPal email address besides my own even though i have used Pay Pal for pay outs before.
thx for a previous comment about how the bonus $ is internally tracked but not shown, but i haven’t asked the same question if an answer from splender were pertinently replied. their responses have been either a wait for 45 – 60 days w/o detailing as to why it’s not pending or tracking or showing at this time, or its rep. on tweeter pushed the issue back to the its CS as to why the bonus has not been tracked; so, splender hasn’t given me a clear answer… guess that i’m new to them & wish to see a tracked credit first to have confidence to further shop via their link. the pending credit for the $80 purchase has been tracked; now juist wait for the sing-up bonus is tracked or paid before having confidence to further use the portal
Tam. Sounds like you are asking the same question over and over. Not just here, but also at Splender who already responded with the same answer. You dont need to contact them again on tweeter & facebook to see if may get a better result. Basically, its a waiting game.
oh well, the same old reply from splender below FYI: (any folks had previous experience that the sign-up bonus was tracked after a few days or after the qualifying purchase? or get paid after 45 days w/o tracking?)
per our previous responses to you, the $5 bonus will process approx 45 days after your initial qualifying transaction. Thank you.
8:16 AM – 8 Feb 2016
may try to contact them again on tweeter & facebook to see if may get a better result; then let you know. thx
Thx! Yes, I did tweet but they pushed it back to CS, who initially said that will take 45-60 days to post. As previously brought up, how would a credit be available 45 days then if not tracked or shown today? While a missing $5 sign-up bonus is not the end, I feel however they should have not falsely advertised but didn’t fulfill or honor. Did anyone or folks get the sign-up bonus tracked or paid in the past?
posted a bad experience or missing credit from splender to simply ask folks for suggestions here last night, but it was not posted or removed. may i ask why?
The first time you post a comment on the site it is held for moderation. With the Super Bowl, I didn’t have time to go in and approve comments last night. Both this comment and the previous one are now live and showing on the post. From now on if you comment and use the same name and email, the comment will go live right away. This is just a measure to protect from the thousands of spam messages the site gets every day.
Made a 1st purchase of $80 almost a month ago to take advantage of the $5 bonus offer for a 1st purchase of $50+ from splender, but they didn’t track / show a pending $5 bonus. Sent splender numerous emails… their reply was that it would become actual or available after 45 -60 days. My question to them is that how the $5 bonus could be paid out if they didn’t track or show it as pending at this time?
Any of you has advice or suggestion of how to get spender to fulfill its promise or offer? TIA
Have you tried tweeting them? They have been responsive on Twitter for me.
Hey Tam. The way it works is that the $5 bonus is internally tracked. You dont see it. Its a lacking feature set for Splender, but its definitely tracked. The only exception is whether your $80 purchase is tracked correctly and “available”. Otherwise you dont qualify for the bonus because the agreement is that you make a purchase over $50. I had to go through the same crap as you. Terrible design flaw. $5 showed up after 2 damn months AFTER the initial purchase became available.
[…] Portal Reliability Updates: Did Splender Deliver on Holiday Bonuses & Are iConsumer Purchases T… […]
If Catera could just get Amazon on-board my life would improve. In fact I might never leave the house, just order everything on Amazon. Well I guess I’d have to leave to house to take all those amazing trips I could get with the money I spend on Amazon.