The growing popularity of Fetch Rewards—often listed on newer best grocery rewards apps lists next to other longstanding, popular apps like Ibotta—might make you wonder if it’s worth downloading. Here’s a look at what it offers.
How does Fetch Rewards work?
Fetch Rewards is a free mobile app where you earn reward points for taking pictures of your grocery shopping receipts. One thousand of these points are worth about $1 and are redeemed via gift cards for as little as 3,000 points, or $3. The gift cards can be selected from the big brands you’d expect to see, like Amazon.com, Best Buy, and Sephora.
You get 25 points just for scanning a receipt, but you can earn hundreds, maybe thousands more if your receipt contains a branded item that’s currently being promoted, like a certain cereal or beer. Uniquely, the rewards are automatic, so you don’t really need to know which product to buy, nor is there a specific store or outlet where the purchase must be made.
Fetch has hundreds of participating brands, so you can reasonably expect to get some points whenever you scan receipts from grocery stores, convenience stores, club wholesalers, or liquor stores. You have up to 14 days to scan receipts, and you can scan a maximum of 14 receipts within a seven-day period, per The Krazy Coupon Lady. Typically, there’s a sign-up bonus when you scan your first receipt, too (750 points when I tried it).
G/O Media may get a commission
You can also use eReciepts
You can also earn rewards with eReceipts, which allows you to link your Fetch Rewards account with apps from major online retailers like Amazon and Walmart. If you buy a participating brand from a linked website, you will earn Fetch rewards.
Not exactly money for nothing
You might be thinking—why would Fetch pay you to scan receipts? Because the information in your receipts is sold as valuable market research. Aggregated, real-time data from millions of receipts can help participating companies market and sell their products, so in exchange, they are willing to partner with the app by offering small rewards.
The company claims this data is shared anonymously. The app does not require your bank information, but you’ll be asked for your phone number, email address, date of birth, and home address when signing up (you can also link with your social accounts).
Bottom line
Ibotta is a comparable app that’s also popular, but for overall ease-of-use and a hands-off approach to automatic rewards, you might prefer Fetch Rewards. (On the other hand, Ibotta allows you to cash out rewards directly into your PayPal account, which avoids the hassle of gift cards). If you’re not too worried about privacy and you do a lot of in-store grocery shopping, the app can be a good way to claw back a few bucks every month.
