Welp MagazineFetch Rewards is considered by most to be the best receipt-scanning rewards app. When it first launched, it competed directly with the Ibotta app, as you could only earn points by scanning receipts from supermarkets and grocery stores.
Fast forward to today and it has expanded beyond that, allowing you to get rewarded on every single receipt you upload. If you’re new to the app or haven’t used it in a while, you’re missing out on the new structure that lets you earn points fast.
In this Fetch Review, I’ll go over what exactly is Fetch Rewards, its pros and cons, comparisons to other apps like it, and whether or not it’s worth your time.
What is Fetch Rewards?
Fetch Rewards defines itself as a customer loyalty app, and its most common selling point is that users can receive free gift cards and cash (via Visa gift cards) simply for uploading their shopping receipts.
From a consumer perspective, it’s a receipt-scanning rewards app, similar to other apps like Ibotta, Receipt Hog, and Checkout 51.
All the ones mentioned are very popular today, but Fetch Rewards is in its own category, racking up tens of millions of downloads. The growth can be attributed to all the glowing positive reviews from current users, people referring it to family and friends, and a great sign-up bonus to encourage mass adoption.
Editor’s Note: If you’re thinking about joining Fetch Rewards, be careful which referral code you use. Generally, referral codes from bloggers, vloggers, and influencers will give you a better bonus of between 3,000 to 4,000 points. You can tell them apart from others because the code is branded (e.g. MONEYNINJA). Normal user referrals are a random mix of letters and numbers (e.g. AZW2Z4) and will give you only 2,000 points.
The company doesn’t make money from its user base. Instead, they generate income by having brands sponsor special offers within the app and selling shopping behaviors to companies in order to assist them in their marketing campaigns. Note that Fetch Rewards doesn’t sell your personal information. Rather, it aggregates your shopping profile anonymously with millions of others and provides high-level insights.
Fetch App: The Pros
While we mentioned earlier that there are other apps like Fetch Rewards, very few allow users to upload such a broad range of receipts. The app itself is also pretty easy to use, doesn’t take very long to upload a receipt (around 10 seconds on average), and offers a great selection of gift cards.
Other apps make you go through additional steps. Take Receipt Hog for example. It’s a good receipt app, but they force you to randomly answer survey questions after receipt submission which can be annoying (hint: you can skip this by closing out the Receipt Hog app after scanning your receipt).
Reward redemption ease is another strong area. I find that redeeming for gift cards takes seconds and the turnaround time for gift card delivery via email is typically within 1-2 business days.
The last upside I’d point out is the referral program. Generally, you and your friend will earn 2,000 points when your friend uses your unique download link or referral code to open an account and scan their first receipt.
Occasionally, this is boosted to 3,000 points and as high as 5,000 points. With these promotions, only the referrer gets the higher bonus. The bonus for the person you refer remains at 2,000 points.
Every 1,000 points is worth $1, so a $2 to $5 sign-up bonus is a strong incentive to invite people you know to the app.
Fetch App: The Cons
Gift cards are great and Visa gift cards are even better if you want something equivalent in cash. However, you can’t get actual cash. For a lot of people, this may be a minor point because they view Visa gift cards as good as money.
There are instances where it’s not preferred though. For example, purchasing gas with a Visa gift card can be problematic due to most gas stations placing a $100 – $200 preauthorization hold on the card. That’s not feasible if you’re redeeming a few dollars worth of Visa gift cards at a time.
Many people online claim that Fetch Rewards is their favorite side hustle. They brag about how they collect receipts from everyone they know and upload the receipts to their Fetch Rewards account. But without an actual cash back redemption option, you’re forced to either buy something you don’t like or sell the unwanted gift cards at a discount to earn real money.
Another negative is that although Fetch Rewards is happy to offer up points for every receipt, it’s only special offers or limited-time promos that give you an outsized amount of points. If you don’t have a need for the brands being promoted, you’ll earn just 25 points for each uploaded receipt. To its credit, the special offers are items from well-known brands that you probably use today.
Can You Save Up Your Points?
You can save up for your Fetch points and your points don’t expire as long as you use the Fetch Rewards app at least once every 90 days.
But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Keeping a large balance on mobile rewards apps is never a good idea. If you get hacked, forget to use the app, or the company behind it goes bankrupt, you could lose it all.
Plus, apps can change the rules at any time and you may be left with rewards that are worth a fraction of what they’re worth today.
Fetch Rewards vs Ibotta: Which Is Better?
There are many articles online and videos on YouTube that like to pit Fetch Rewards against Ibotta. The truth is, it’s not necessary.
Both are the best receipt-scanning apps available, especially for supermarket and grocery store receipts. There’s no rule for using both… and you should!
You can upload the same receipt to both those apps (and others) and get rewards twice. So far there hasn’t been push back to people doing this.
Creating fake receipts, using multiple accounts, or scanning other people’s receipts is a different story. Those are clear violations of the terms and conditions set by all the receipt-scanning apps and you’ll quickly be suspended with little chance of recourse.
What About Electronic Receipts?
Yes, some digital receipts or e-receipts are now accepted from major shopping sites like Amazon. Not every e-receipts is accepted though – perhaps the company thinks there would be too much fraud potential, like someone setting up their own online store to offer fake receipts.
Either way, if you want to upload digital receipts, then you can only do it for participating stores, and some of them (like Amazon) may expect you to connect your account for verification purposes.
Is Fetch Rewards Legit?
Fetch Rewards is legit and offers people the ability to earn rewards on something they’re already doing. Scanning receipts with your mobile device is simple and doesn’t take up much time. This app is definitely worth it.
I’m rating it 8 out of 10 stars for its ease-of-use, earnings structure, and valuable rewards choices.
What I’d like to see is for Fetch Rewards to catch up with the digital times a little more. The majority of people are shopping online now, even for groceries (I’m talking about you, Amazon Fresh and Instacart).
In the future, as more people shop online for everything they need, Fetch Rewards needs to incorporate earning points on all online receipts. Not being able to do so now is a bit annoying.
Overall, the company is legitimate and there isn’t really a catch. Fetch Rewards is selling information and overtly promoting companies, but that’s the nature of business. Mobile apps like Fetch Rewards wouldn’t exist without a way for the company to make money.
You may as well earn rewards for your part in contributing to aggregated data collecting. Fetch Rewards has banked over one billion scanned receipts already, so if people are out there hunting for your information, you’re a very small anonymous fish in a very large anonymous pond.
If you enjoyed this Fetch Rewards review, have comments, or think I’m completely off base (anything really!), let me know in the comments section!
