Written

For

The

Australian

-

How

savvy

shoppers

can

get

hundreds

back

from

online

purchases

Would you believe Australians spent $59 billion online last year, up from just $15 billion a decade ago? That's a staggering amount of money flowing through checkout pages – and yet most shoppers are leaving free cash on the table every single time they hit "buy now."

With Christmas around the corner and cost-of-living pressures still biting, I've been digging into a simple trick that savvy shoppers use to get hundreds of dollars a year sent straight back to their bank account: cashback rewards apps.

Here's how it works. Thousands of online retailers pay commissions to third parties who send business their way – it's called affiliate marketing, and it's the reason those social media influencer links are a mile long. Cashback rewards apps have flipped the model by sharing that commission with you, the consumer.

I put it to the test during the recent Black Friday sales. I'd been eyeing a top-of-the-line Korean cold press juicer (yes, I ran the numbers – payback period under two years compared to buying $9 juice bottles from the grocer). After finding the best price at a major Australian department store, I clicked through my three cashback browser extensions and picked the one offering 5 per cent back. Five minutes after my $650 purchase, I had an email confirming $32.50 heading to my cashback account.

And it's not just online shopping. I've noticed local restaurants, car insurers and even electricity providers offering cashback deals through these apps. Scan the barcode when paying and a percentage lands back in your account.

My one word of caution: don't let the cashback tail wag the shopping dog. The trick is to only activate cashback on purchases you were making anyway. Do that, and you're pocketing hundreds of dollars a year for a few extra mouse clicks. Why leave money on the table when retailers are happy to hand it to you?