Ibotta is No Longer Allowing You to Stack Coupons on Many Purchases
How does Ibotta work to earn you cash back, in light of all the recent changes?
No more coupon stacking with Ibotta!
Ibotta is a free mobile app that makes it easy to earn cash back on your everyday in-store and online purchases. There are multiple ways to earn at grocery stores, restaurants, and other brick-and-mortar retailers like Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Kohl’s, and more!
Ibotta recently made some changes… and not good ones! For some time now, Ibotta had added exclusions that limited the ability to combine rebates with coupons on many purchases at Walmart. And now we’ve noticed that the retailer’s name has been removed, which seems to mean that those rebates cannot be combined with coupons at any retailer! 😞
They also have updated their website and specifically mention both Walmart and Dollar General as stores that won’t allow you to stack Ibotta rebates with paper coupons, rewards or promo codes, which is worth noting.
Moving forward you’ll need to look at the fine print on each offer to see if it allows pairing with a coupon or not. If you do happen to submit a receipt where you used a coupon, the pending offer is likely to be reversed before any cash back is applied to your account.
Ibotta made a change that will affect Target shoppers.
UPDATE: Due to ongoing issues, Ibotta will no longer support account linking with Target. All Target accounts were automatically unlinked on 12/5/2022. Target Online and earning cash back through a Target loyalty account have also been discontinued.
Moving forward, you will still be able to earn cash back when you shop in-store at Target and submit paper receipts. Keep reading for more information!
For years, Target shoppers have been able to earn automatic rewards on their purchases by linking their Target account with the Ibotta app. But Ibotta users received an email this week notifying them that this option is being discontinued, along with online shopping at Target.com and earning cash back through your Target loyalty account.
From now on, if you want to earn cash back on your Target purchases, you’ll have to go back to scanning your paper receipts from in-store purchases only.
Obviously, this is going to be a bummer for the Ibotta users who enjoyed the convenience of automatic cash back without any receipt scanning. And the fact that you can no longer earn cash back on your Target.com purchases really adds to the disappointment!
But apparently, there were issues with this system, and some users were not getting all of the cash back they were expecting on their Target purchases.
If you notice that you are missing any cash back from Target purchases that may have been impacted between 11/04/2022 – 11/29/2022, Ibotta recommends that you try submitting your paper receipt if you still have it or contact Ibotta Care. Be prepared to share a list of the offers or bonuses you were attempting to redeem and a complete picture of your digital or paper receipt.
How does Ibotta work to save you money at other stores?
If you’re new to Ibotta, just download the Ibotta app (iOS or Android) and complete the brief registration process to get started. It only takes a moment, and then you’re ready to shop and start earning cash back at Ibotta’s many supported retailers.
New to Ibotta?
For a limited time, you can get $15 when you sign up here and spend $50. Note that to qualify for this bonus, you must be a completely new Ibotta user. Creating multiple accounts with Ibotta will result in account deactivation.
You can still link many other store accounts to earn cash back without having to scan your receipts!
Even though account linking is no longer available at Target, you can still use this easy method to earn cash back at other retailers like Walmart, for example.
To get started, simply log into your Ibotta account via the app or the website. Select Walmart from the Recommended Retailers and then choose the option to Link Walmart Online account, found at the top of the screen.
You’ll be asked to enter your Walmart.com email address and password, and then you’ll see a message that Ibotta is linking your account. This process may take anywhere from a few moments up to 24 hours.
When it comes time to shop (whether in-store or online), simply browse Ibotta’s current Walmart offers and load your favorites to your account by tapping the plus sign next to each one.
Once your account is linked, you’ll start to earn automatic rebates on both your in-store and online purchases. Keep in mind that you have to load your offers to your account before you shop, though. Note that any substitutions provided will not qualify for cash back, so you’ll want to uncheck the box for substitutions next to these items before you checkout.
For those who prefer to scan their Walmart receipts manually, that option is still available. If you forget to load an offer to your account before you shop in-store, you can also scan your receipts after your purchase instead, but you’ll need to jump through a few additional hoops.
To load forgotten offers after a purchase, go to Ibotta’s Account Settings page, unlink your Walmart account, and add the offer(s) you missed. Then you can scan your receipts manually and get credit for completing those offers. Just don’t forget to re-link your Walmart account well before your next purchase, as this process can take up to 24 hours.
Shopping elsewhere? Link your store loyalty accounts wherever possible!
In addition to national retailers like Walmart, regional grocery stores and even locally owned markets may offer the opportunity to link their store loyalty accounts to Ibotta. To see if your favorite stores offer this easy way to earn cash back, tap Grocery on the Ibotta app home screen and select a retailer.
If you see a Link Retailer Account button at the top of the screen, tap it, and enter your account info. Once your loyalty account is linked, you can add offers in the Ibotta app before you shop, use your loyalty account at checkout, and your cash back will be automatically added to your Ibotta earnings — no receipt uploads required!
In addition to account linking at select retailers, there are three ways to earn cash back from Ibotta:
- Manual receipt submission – Before you shop, add offers to your account. To do this, just tap Find Offers at the bottom of the app and then tap Grocery. From here, you can find your local grocery store and browse available offers. To add offers, tap the plus sign. When you’re done shopping, just submit a photo of your receipt in the app to earn cash back on your qualifying purchases!
- Loyalty account submission – Simply link your store loyalty account as discussed above, and you’ll get cash back automatically. Ibotta will match your purchases with offers in the app, and you won’t even need to take a photo of your receipt!
- Maximize your earnings with gift cards – When you purchase a gift card through Ibotta, you’ll earn cash back on the entire gift card amount and get up to 10% cash back on your purchases at 120+ stores and restaurants – instantly! Just open the Ibotta app, scroll down to the Gift Cards section, and select a retailer to get started.
Use Ibotta to earn cash back without ever entering a store!
With Ibotta, you can still earn cash back on groceries that have been picked up curbside or delivered to your home. Just submit your receipt as usual!
Even better, if your grocery store’s shopping app is linked to your store loyalty card and your store loyalty card is linked to your Ibotta account, you’ll automatically earn cash back on your qualifying purchases – no receipt upload is necessary!
One warning – beware of account maintenance fees!
According to Ibotta’s terms of use, they start deducting $3.99 from your Ibotta earnings each month if you haven’t redeemed an offer within the past 180 days. This is not a charge to any payment method you have on file, and you won’t receive a bill, but you definitely don’t want to lose any of your Ibotta earnings!
When you approach 180 days of inactivity, you will start getting warnings and reminders to redeem offers during a 30-day grace period leading up to your first account maintenance fee. If you fail to redeem any of the qualifying offers, the $3.99 fee will be deducted from your earnings monthly until you either redeem a qualifying offer or your earnings reach $0.
This is easily avoidable and you will get lots of reminders that the maintenance fees are about to kick in, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind!
Have you tried earning automatic cash back from Ibotta yet?
Get $10 off your first Walmart Grocery order of $50 or more!
So many of Kroger’s “sales” are done by clipping a coupon. I wonder if those count as a coupon?
When checking the details of the offers that cannot be linked with coupons, they list – “this offer cannot be combined with coupons for the same product”. I also found this in Kroger’s FAQ – “Digital Coupons and Cash Back Offers may not be combined and are limited to one per item. Cash Back Offers and paper coupons may also not be combined on the purchase of a single item.”
Hoping this is helpful! 💕
Yes, I think so because a few weeks ago I had an offer reversed that I bought at Kroger with one of their $1 off when you buy 5 offers.
I was wondering the same thing as the above comment.
Hey there! 💕 It seems they cannot be combined. I did find these details in Kroger’s FAQ – “Digital Coupons and Cash Back Offers may not be combined and are limited to one per item. Cash Back Offers and paper coupons may also not be combined on the purchase of a single item.”
Today I bought an item with a 50 cent Kroger/City Market digital coupon and submitted the receipt to Ibotta — I got my $2 back from Ibotta within minutes.
I wonder if this the start of the end for Ibotta. I also see that their “rebate” products have greatly changed from the beginning as well.
We’ll be sure to keep an eye out for any further details or changes that pop up! 👀💖
I’ve noticed my last 3 Meijer loyalty card purchases haven’t been credited by Ibotta either. I’ve had to use their customer support. Maybe the account linking with Meijer will be discontinued too
Bummer! Glad you’ve been able to reach out to customer support for help. 🙌❤️
I had the same issue for meijer offers and I unlinked the meijer account now cos I had to connect 3 times to CS for credit.
guess I’ll do the same thing
Unlinked myself under Profile and Settings. Easy. I’ll have to submit receipts but it’s better than going through CS each time
I didn’t see you also mention that if you use Walmart rewards, you cannot also claim the same offer on Ibotta. Since Ibotta and Walmart have been working together, I’ve had so many issues with getting credit. I got back over $500 in the past few years just casually using Ibotta when I would remember, but now it’s a hassle. Even if I have my Walmart and Ibotta linked, I don’t always get credit for purchases. When I try to go back and submit a receipt that I didn’t get credit for, it tells me the receipt was already submitted. Then CS makes me jump through hoops to get the credit. I’ve just given up. I had over $20 in rebates for one purchase, but CS wanted pictures of the products and barcodes. I submitted those and even scanned the barcodes to make sure they were valid items. The scanner said they were, but CS said they weren’t. I tried to submit screenshots of the barcode scanner saying they were valid, but they never got back to me until after the receipt was too old. Then they wouldn’t honor the credit because the receipt was too old.
Bummer! That does sound frustrating, Heather. Thanks for pointing this out. I do see that mentioned in the details through the link above. That has been added. ❤️🤗
I shop instore and scan my receipt in the car and have never had any issues. Fingers crossed.
SO glad it has been working smoothly for you, Patricia! 💖🙌
I have linked my Walmart Account to Ibotta. I had Dollar Shave Club free after rebate offer Limit 2 in my account. I ordered 2 Razors online on Wednesday and picked up yesterday morning. Till today there is no credit in my account and now that Razor deal doesn’t show up in my account. This is so frustrating.
DARN! SO sorry to hear about the issues, Sally. 😔Maybe reach out to customer service to see if they may be able to help. 🤞💖
There website is down. Cannot even contact them.
Oh no! I am able to click through to their site, but I do see a message that there’s a current outage and that they’re working on the issue. Hoping it is all fixed soon! ❤️🙌
I emailed them and attached all the pictures proving that I have bought exactly the same item they just keep on saying your item does not qualify. I should not have linked my account and just bought at store and submitted the receipt.
I am not linking any accounts for automatic payment, I tried one store and it didn’t work half the time, so learned my lesson.
Darn! Thanks for letting us know how this worked for you, Pat! 🤗 ❤️
I guess the Dollar General $5 off $25 Saturday coupons will cause Ibotta deals to be rejected as well?
They might as well do the same with Walmart! It’s always disconnecting from the Ereceipts and then it takes forever to get your online account to reconnect. I recently got a new cellphone and my email and Amazon accounts connected right up but I’ve been trying now for 9 DAYS to reconnect my Walmart account and keep getting the same “Ereceipts is undergoing maintenance” error everytime (but ironically it didn’t have any problems connecting with Amazon)!!! And they’re Support team is absolutely NO help, after emailing them EVERYDAY for 8 DAYS and getting the same response, I’m not trying anymore!
Does Ibotta consider Red card discounts, like 50% off salad dressing, a coupon?
And do they consider an offer like $15 off of $100 purchase a coupon that would reject all Ibotta rebates on that receipt?