Many towns and popular interstate off-ramps have at least one or two participating gas stations that let you get cash back on your gas purchases. Upside won’t sell your personal information or payment card details. It uses a third-party service called Plaid that securely links to your accounts. Upside is my current favorite app to save money at the pump. In my area, there are dozens of participating gas stations with cashback discounts ranging from 13 cents to 25 cents off a gallon. Getting the advertised cashback offer is as simple as finding a local business on the map and claiming the offer.
What Is the Upside App and How Does It Work?
Since you can quickly earn rebates, this app is an easy way to get cash back and save on groceries. However, gas, restaurant, and convenience store offers are most common. This discount option is one of the app’s newer features for getting cash back and has the least availability. For example, there are three partner gas stations and several restaurants in my city of approximately 20,000 residents. If you usually go to these merchants, you can easily save a few dollars on a purchase. There are also participating gas stations along several interstate exits where we usually stop during long-distance road trips.
Per Upside’s Terms of Service, a request for funds to your bank account or PayPal may take up to 10 business days. Earn up to 3x more cash back on essential purchases like groceries, dining and gas. To enter the special bonus promo code in the app, tap on the menu (the three horizontal bars) at the top left-hand side of the screen. A GasBuddy premium membership costs $9.99 per month What Is Cryptocurrency and lets you save up to 40 cents per gallon. Additionally, you can receive complimentary roadside assistance.
How Much Can You Earn With Upside?
There can also be a cashback maximum, but the discount can apply to most of your orders if you have a large family. This means there’s no rush to cash out, and you can wait until you reach the redemption minimum to avoid fees. If you need to scan your receipt, the offer will let you know when you claim it.
Gas Offers
All gas station offers a rebate of up to 50 gallons per transaction. Using codes, offers or promotions outside of Upside could affect your payout with them. However, you can combine it with credit and debit card rewards. You can cash out any time, and you’ll get your money within two days of initiating a transfer.
- Bank redemptions require a minimum threshold of $10, while PayPal’s minimum is $15.
- Apply the below promo codes to your account and save even more money every time you fill up at your local gas station.
- If you forget to activate the offer before making your purchase, you will not receive a cash-back reward.
- Even if you don’t get the rewards in the form of cash back, you can get them as gift cards to your favorite stores and restaurants.
- Even though you’re photographing your receipt, you must still pay with a credit or debit card.
Redemption Options
As a quick example, you can earn $2 cash back when you buy 20 gallons of gas with a ten-cent offer. Additionally, this card is accepted at approximately 95% of stores (according to GasBuddy). Keep in mind that the gas station discounts might be for different stations than the ones the Upside app partners with.
That said, Upside is expanding every day and could eventually rival more established apps. You can anticipate earning anywhere from one to 15 cents back per gallon of gas. Most restaurant and grocery store rebates are for 10% to 15% back.How much you earn depends on your spending habits.
Actionable Tips to Maximize Your Upside Earnings
GasBuddy offers a GasBack rewards card to save up to 25 cents per gallon at participating stations. The GasBuddy Gas Card is free and doesn’t require a credit check. The Ibotta app excels at helping you get cash back and save on groceries as well as merchandise. You can activate digital coupons for participating brands as you shop the store aisles.
Earn on what you need, spend on what you love
- The Ibotta app excels at helping you get cash back and save on groceries as well as merchandise.
- The available categories are gas, restaurants, groceries and convenience.
- However, you can get that same magical perk with cash back apps.
- That said, Upside is expanding every day and could eventually rival more established apps.
If you’re traveling, you can search nearby or several miles down the road so you know if there’s a participating gas station, restaurant, or grocery store on your route. However, the app shows you participating local gas stations where you can beat the pump price by as much as 25 cents per gallon. Make your purchase within four hours of claiming your offer (24 hours for grocery stores).
Yes, Upside is an easy and free way to earn bonus cash or gift cards on gas, restaurants, and purchases from grocery stores. With Upside, it’s possible to save up to 15 cents per gallon at gas stations nationwide. You can redeem your rewards for cash or gift cards with a $10 balance. The app is free to join, and you can also save money at restaurants and grocery stores. Gas and food are necessities that most people must include in their budgets.
Upside will start watching for the purchase to verify your cash back amount. You have 20 minutes to pay for your purchase when you check in. If the app doesn’t track purchases digitally from that merchant, you must upload a copy of your receipt within 24 hours.
The app has very positive overall ratings from users on the iOS and Google Play stores and a good reputation within the personal finance industry. However, we should note that our opportunities to test the app were limited and we didn’t earn enough after three weeks to test the payment process. Below, we calculated potential earnings for gas purchases by using average annual use numbers from the U.S.
But before joining those ranks, take note of the following to ensure you earn money when shopping with partnered businesses. I just transferred $ to my bank account- just in time to buy a nice lunch for my family. With gas prices as high as they are, it’s nice to get a little bit back.
You must meet minimum thresholds first (typically around $10–$15). Reviews also are generally positive, however there are complaints about minimal offers in some areas, difficulty contacting customer service and cash back claims getting rejected. Your best bet is to make sure you follow Upside’s directions exactly. Offers can expire or not work if you go to the wrong location. Upside says it can take up to 10 days to process the receipt and for the money to be available in your account.