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Rakuten Review

Depends

Should I use Rakuten?

Since 1999, we've paid our members over $3.6 Billion in Cash Back. Join now for an extra 10% Cash Back boost. Shop 3,500+ stores using coupons or cash back! - rakuten.com

· 1 month ago

Join if you shop online often and can shrug off occasional missed tracking — it's free and often pays. Skip it if you need guaranteed, reliable rebates; slow and disputed payouts are a recurring complaint.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources: Reddit, Trustpilot, ConsumerAffairs, Quora, a California AG breach notice, and Rakuten's own pages.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free membership

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Frequent online shoppers at big chains
  • Coupon stackers
  • Patient savers okay with slow payouts

Not for

  • Anyone who needs cash back to reliably track — it often doesn't
  • Privacy-sensitive users wary of granting email access
  • Buyers expecting instant rebates at checkout
  • People unwilling to chase missing cash back with support

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Cash back can take months to pay and sometimes never tracks; the top complaint across review sites.

high

Rakuten USA filed a data breach notice in January 2021; public details are limited.

medium

Boosted rates and promos are described as misleading by some users; read exclusions before buying.

medium

A Google support thread flags that Rakuten requests access to your email upon joining.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free to join; $3.6 billion paid to members since 1999.
  • Cash back and coupons across 3,500+ stores.
  • Rakuten+ advertises at least 10% cash back daily.
  • 4/5 Trustpilot rating for Rakuten USA.
  • Some users report years of consistently good payouts.

Cons

  • Users report very slow cash back and misleading rates.
  • Reddit threads call it increasingly unreliable, with tracking disputes.
  • Some users now ask if it is 'pretty much a scam lately'.
  • Disputes leave some longtime members done with the service.
  • January 2021 data breach disclosed by Rakuten USA.

Sources & method

- 11 sources - 2021 US breach notice on file; recent CVEs hit sibling products (Viber, Kobo, Send Anywhere), not the cash-back portal itself.

official x2review x7security x2
  • Rakuten USA data breach (2021), California AG 'Notice of Data Event' filed on or about January 21, 2021.
  • CVE-2025-13476 — Rakuten Viber, Cryptographic information-disclosure flaw in Viber, a sibling product — not the shopping portal.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 11

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Free; $3.6B paid out, though payouts can lag.
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Join once, shop via app or extension.
  • Feature depth: 3/5. Coupons plus cash back; nothing deeper.
  • Support quality: 2/5. Multiple complaints about disputes and slow resolution.
  • Security posture: 2/5. 2021 breach notice; sibling-product CVEs.
  • 4/5 Trustpilot rating Rakuten (USA)
  • $3.6B Cash back paid to members since 1999
  • 3,500+ Partner stores coupons + cash back
  • 1999 Operating since formerly Ebates

Pricing

Free membership

$0

  • Cash back at 3,500+ stores
  • Coupon codes
  • Promotional 10% boost offers

Security

2021 US breach notice on file; recent CVEs hit sibling products (Viber, Kobo, Send Anywhere), not the cash-back portal itself.

  • Rakuten USA data breach (2021)California AG 'Notice of Data Event' filed on or about January 21, 2021.⁹
  • CVE-2025-13476 — Rakuten ViberCryptographic information-disclosure flaw in Viber, a sibling product — not the shopping portal.
Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources: Reddit, Trustpilot, ConsumerAffairs, Quora, a California AG breach notice, and Rakuten's own pages.

Free cash-back portal that mostly works, but payouts are slow and sometimes disputed — treat it as gravy, not guaranteed savings.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources: Reddit, Trustpilot, ConsumerAffairs, Quora, a California AG breach notice, and Rakuten's own pages.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Rakuten: Coupons, Promo Codes & Cash Backrakuten.com
    official
  2. Get 10% Cash Back, every day, with Rakuten+rakuten.com
    official
  3. Rakuten (USA) Reviews — Trustpilottrustpilot.com
    review
  4. Rakuten.com Reviews & Complaints — ConsumerAffairsconsumeraffairs.com
    review
  5. Rakuten has been consistently good for me — Redditreddit.com
    review
  6. Rakuten is becoming increasingly unreliable — Redditreddit.com
    review
  7. Is it just me or is Rakuten pretty much a scam lately? — Redditreddit.com
    review
  8. Rakuten alternatives? — Redditreddit.com
    review
  9. Rakuten USA, Inc. — Notice of Data Event (CA AG)oag.ca.gov
    security
  10. Rakuten Data Breach: What & How It Happened — Twingatetwingate.com
    security
  11. 7 of the Best Cash-Back Apps — NerdWalletnerdwallet.com
    review

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