The Best Fetch Rewards Hacks to Max Your Money (Step by Step)

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Score big time with my 5 favorite Fetch Rewards hacks and my #1 tip to get free stuff and money in your pocket!

Author: Kari Lorz, Certified Financial Education Instructor

Author: Kari Lorz – Certified Financial Education Instructor

It can be hard to know which online shopping rewards programs are worth signing up for and even harder to keep track of all the different ways you can earn points or save money and get cashback. 

Fetch Rewards takes the hassle out of earning rewards. With this program, all you have to do is shop like normal, scan your receipt, and they’ll give you points for every purchase.

You can then use those points to get free gift cards, and they’re good gift cards that you’ll actually use too! Let’s go through the easiest Fetch Rewards hacks to earn points.

The best Fetch Rewards hacks

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5 best Fetch Rewards hacks

1. Welcome back inactivity points

When I first started using the app, I wasn’t so regular about scanning my grocery receipt. I noticed that if I didn’t log in for a while (maybe a few weeks or so), and then I would remember it and scan a receipt, I would get about 300 bonus points.

While this is good if you truly forget, you don’t want to make it a habit, as you can’t upload receipts older than 14 days. You don’t want those receipts to go to waste.

2. Referral bonus points

When you use Fetch, you can refer your friends, and when they sign up with your link and scan their first receipt, you can earn anywhere between 100 and 4,000 points. The amount just depends on what bonus they’re offering right then. This is one of my favorite apps to earn money from referrals, as everyone buys these items (and can get money for it).

To find your Fetch Rewards referral code, go to the “My Account” tab and tap “Refer a Friend” tab. Your sign-up info will look like this…

You can text it to someone, email it, or share it on your socials.

My points are lower in the above picture (compared to other screenshots), as I spent 52,500 points on a Target gift card to do a deal shown below.

3. Sign Up with a Fetch Rewards Referral Code

At the same time, when you sign up, make sure you do it with a referral code; you could get up to 2,000 bonus points when you do (that’s about $2 worth). But remember, the amounts vary by quite a bit, it just depends on their current promotion.

4. Daily Rewards Points

I’ve just started earning with this feature, which is fairly simple. Basically, you scan one receipt every 24 hours, and you get bonus points, anywhere between 5-10,000 points. I play every day now, and I usually earn anywhere from 5-15 points; but a few times, I’ve scored 50 points!

Here’s how you do it…

  • Step One: At the top of the app, you’ll see a countdown timer (time until you can play again), or it will say “to play” when you’re good to play again. Simply tap this.
  • Step Two: Scan your receipt as normal.
  • Step Three: Tap the center tab that shows the game.
  • Step Four: Then the wheel will scroll, and where it lands, that’s how many points you’ll earn.

While it is slightly inconvenient to spread out your scans and only do one a day, it’s worth the points. I just keep a “to be scanned pile” on my desk.

5. Earn special offer points

As I mentioned above, buying stuff just to get points doesn’t make sense. But if you’re not brand loyal, you can earn great points. In fact, this is the best way to earn points on the platform! For example, we chew gum, and we needed to buy gum as we were out. So I looked on Fetch, and they had an Orbit Gum deal going on. Here’s how it worked…

  • Deal: Spend $10 on Orbit gum and get 1,000 points
    • I bought three multipacks at Target for $3.89 each = $11.67 total
    • I got 39 Fetch Rewards points for each pack of gum and 1,000 bonus points for completing the special offer.

6. Earn points from Good Rx

You can earn big points when you search for the best price on your meds from Good Rx. 10,000 points on your first use, and then 1,500 points for each time after that. Here’s what you do.

  1. Search for your medication
  2. Find the best deal
  3. Select a coupon and use it at checkout
  4. Receive your bonus points within three days

Bonus – Enter Fetch Giveaways

While this isn’t a way to earn points, but it is a way to score big time! You can use your points to enter their sweepstakes & giveaways. Right now, they’re offering up a PS5! You can spend 100 points for one entry and up to 2,500 points for 100 entries.

My favorite Fetch Rewards hack (step-by-step)

Congrats, you got some great free gift cards! But what are you going to do with them? Please don’t blow them buying something stupid. Make those GCs do something important for your spending. My favorite Fetch Rewards hack is to combo Fetch with other offers.

For example, I save up points all year, and I do one of two things…

1. Use gift cards to stock up at the store when there are amazing deals

I usually do this 1-2 times a year. I wait for Target to offer a great free gift card deal on paper goods (toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, cleaning supplies, etc.). These are usually somewhere, like spend $50 or $70 and get a $10 gift card back.

Pro Tip: Stores usually have some type of price discount on an item every six weeks. So if your item isn’t on sale right now, it will be soon.

Then hopefully, P&G Rewards will have a rebate offer going at the same time. For example, if you spend $50 on P&G items, you can get a $10-$15 rebate (a prepaid Visa card).

I’ll also look for printable coupons online too for these items to help save money at the register.

Luckily enough, as I was writing this article, this exact deal came up, so here’s how the deals stacked.

  • Deal Part 1: Target – Buy three household items (Downy, Bounty, Charmin, Tide, Swiffer, Hefty, Ziploc, etc.) and get a $10 Target gift card
  • Deal Part 2: P&G Rebate – Spend $50 (Swiffer, Mr. Clean, Secret, Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Gillette, etc.) and get a $15 prepaid Visa (or spend $20 and get a $5 prepaid Visa).

P&G Good Everyday rebate

At the beginning of the week, I redeemed 52,500 points for a $50 Target gift card. It takes three days to process and send you the gift card.

On Friday, I went to Target and bought…

  • 2 Charmin toilet paper for $19.99 each
  • 1 Bounty paper towel for $16.99
  • TOTAL: $56.97
  • Saved: $.34 using Target RedCard. No coupons were available.
  • FINAL TOTAL: $56.63

Paid with…

So in the end, I earned… -$6.63 (my own money spent) + $10 gift card + $15 rebate card (it’s processing right now) = $18.37 added to my wallet, and got three big paper products, all from using Fetch!

2. Use gift cards to help buy ingredients and supplies for big family meals 

Holiday meals can set you back big time and could easily eat up a whole weeks worth of grocery store money. So I use gift cards to help cover the cost, so I stay on track with my monthly budget. I do this with either Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas morning breakfast or dinner.

ibotta always has great rebates on the exact items you need for holiday meals (green beans, stuffing, gravy, etc.), so this pairs well with Fetch Rewards too!

What is Fetch Rewards, and how does it work?

Fetch rewards is one of the easiest apps to earn money on! On Fetch, you earn points by scanning your receipts. You then redeem those points for free gift cards. It’s that simple; there’s no scrolling through endless offers, adding things, and verifying barcodes. When I say this is the easiest app, I really mean it.

I currently use six apps where you earn money from receipts, and Fetch is my personal favorite for ease of use and earning potential. I’ve tried many apps over the years but found that not all are worth the time and effort.

When you’re ready to earn points, all you do is…

  • Step One: Open the app
  • Step Two: Take a picture of your receipt, swipe up to submit
  • Step Three: Your Fetch Rewards points are on their way into your account.

Uploading receipts takes about 10 seconds to do.

Now when we’re talking about Fetch Rewards hacks, I don’t mean cheating the system (that’s a good way to get your account shut down); I’m talking about making the most of it, as so many people only use it 50% of the way and miss out on so many points and opportunities for earning. I don’t want you to miss out on one single point, so let’s jump in!

How much can I earn with the Fetch Rewards app?

Since I started using Fetch in early 2020, I have earned $105 in gift cards and have 67k points I have yet to redeem (worth about $65). And honestly, it’s so easy; scanning a receipt takes maybe a total of 10 seconds from opening the app to closing it up. Here are my earnings from the past two years , and some of my rewards – free gift cards.

I will admit that I wasn’t using it to its full potential in the beginning, so I could have earned even more Fetch Rewards points if I had been paying attention to stuff.

I’m so used to doing it now; it’s just a part of my regular routine when I log my purchases on my spending tracker. Yes, I’m a money nerd, and overspending my budget is not allowed, so I log my purchases every few days to make sure I’m on track! It’s not an inconvenience at all; in fact, I’m excited to scan my grocery receipts and rack up those points!

Easy but dangerous Fetch Rewards hack

While many small hacks help you earn points on Fetch, the biggest bang for your buck will be buying the special offers. These are items that their partner brands are promoting, and they want you to buy them.

For example, there’s a Kodiak products offer. This one has a fairly high purchase amount – $30 over two months. Unfortunately, my kiddo only eats about four waffles a week, usually her breakfast, so I probably won’t meet this offer requirement (unless I decide to stock up, which sometimes I do).

A word of caution, please don’t buy items just to get the bonus points! There’s zero sense in spending $30 on waffles to get 3,000, which is worth just under $3 (depending on what kind of gift card you redeem it for). Only buy products that you normally would buy, or you’re just losing money.

In addition to earning bonus points on special products, you may find offers for when you spend a certain dollar amount at a store. For example, my app shows me that if I spend $90 at Safeway (in one transaction), I’ll earn 900 points, which is great if you shop at Safeway. I don’t shop there often as it’s too expensive, in my opinion. If I did shop there to get this bonus offer, I’d probably end up spending more out of pocket.

There are always a lot of special offers in your Discover tab of the app, so always be checking back for deals.

We’ll go through all the other ways to earn points below. But first, a cautionary tale. Don’t try and cheat the system with fake receipts.

Don’t try to cheat – fake receipts can get you banned on Fetch Rewards

I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors of people uploading fake receipts to Fetch Rewards to get free points. I can tell you right now it’s not worth your time or energy. Fetch Rewards is very good at detecting fake receipts, and you’ll probably get banned. If that happens, there go all your points; you don’t get to redeem them; you’ve forfeited them.

Here are some of Fetch’s favorite fake receipts that they posted on their Instagram…

How Do I Get Started With The Fetch Rewards App?

  1. Register – be sure to use a referral code to get your free sign-up points. I’d be so grateful if you’d sign up by clicking here or by entering code 1BER3 when you sign up.
  2. Browse offers – look to see what gets bonus points in the Discover tab. If you’re not brand loyal, then you can easily shift what brands you buy to earn more points (i.e., Extra gum vs. Orbit gum). No need to add any offers here; you’re just looking.
  3. Buy stuff – Yup, go spend your money but hang on to that receipt!
  4. Scan your receipt – you’ll be awarded 25 points at a minimum for each receipt.
  5. Cash-out – you can cash out for some offers at 3,000 points, while most start at 5,000 points.

What receipts count for points on the Fetch app?

All receipts! Even gas station fill-ups and McDonald’s trips! While the app is built mainly to monitor shoppers preferred grocery brands & products, all receipts count.

At a minimum, each receipt is worth 25 points, whereas 1,000 points are around $1 (depending on what type of free gift card you redeem it for).

You can also connect your Amazon account, email, and other retailer accounts for eReceipts, and Fetch will scan those accounts for additional points. Easy peasy!

How to make the most of your receipts and earn even more

If you’re scanning receipts for one app, why not earn multiple times from that one receipt? As I said, I’ve tried many receipt apps over the years. Here are the ones I use on every receipt.

  1. Fetch
  2. Receipt Pal
  3. Receipt Hog
  4. CoinOut
  5. Amazon Shopper Panel
  6. Pogo (this one is fast becoming a new favorite!)

If I bought applicable items, I’d scan the receipt to ibotta, P&G Everyday Rewards, Swagbucks, and Inbox Dollars. I will also check out the Coupon.com app before I check out to see if I have anything in my cart that there’s a coupon for.

While I’ve tried many apps, some just aren’t worth the hassle or the low payout. For example, don’t waste your time with NCP Mobile (National Consumer Panel), Shopkick, Checkout 51, and Mekeena.

If you like getting free gift cards (and who doesn’t), there are lots of ways for you to earn them! You can take surveys for gift cards, or you can always turn in gift cards you don’t want at a gift card exchange kiosk.

Fetch Rewards hack FAQ

Can you cheat Fetch Reward points?

Well, you can try, but I wouldn’t advise it. If/when you do get caught, you’ll forfeit your points, and they’ll close your account.

How does Fetch Rewards make money?

Participating brands pay big money to know shoppers spending patterns and preferred brands. And what better way to learn the information than straight from customers’ receipts?

What are the best gift cards to redeem points for on Fetch?

Fetch has some really good options when it comes time to redeem your points. You can get a Target gift card (my favorite), an Amazon gift card, Chipotle, Starbucks, Apple, Google Play, Best Buy, Home Depot, Sephora, and even Jiffy Lube gift cards! They also offer prepaid Visa cards, which everyone can use!

Different gift cards are worth different points, with primo rewards like Visa prepaid cards will cost a little more than a Chili’s gift card, which is less popular. For example…

– Chili’s – $5 = 4,800 points
– American Red Cross (donation) – $5 = 5,000 points
– Amazon – $5 = 6,500 points
– Visa – $5 = 7,000 points

How can I get free Fetch points?

You can earn free Fetch points by referring your friends or scanning your receipts daily to earn daily bonus points.

Can you make fake receipts for Fetch Rewards?

Yes, you can make fake Fetch receipts and upload them, but I wouldn’t. Accounts frequently get banned for this.

However, if you’re out shopping and someone leaves their receipt at the self-checkout lane or in a shopping cart. You might be tempted to pick it up and throw it in the garbage. (So kind of you to pick help clean up! Maybe snap it first before you throw it away.)

Is it illegal to make fake receipts for Fetch Rewards?

It’s not illegal, but it goes against Fetch’s Terms & Conditions.

Do my Fetch points expire?

If your account is inactive for 90 days, your current points will expire. But it seriously takes just 10 seconds to scan a receipt; it’s so easy, so don’t let your account become inactive!

At the end of the day

Earning points with Fetch is an easy yes. It takes only seconds to join and start scanning your receipts, and there are so many possibilities to earn bonus points! I mean, you already spent the money at the grocery store; don’t you want to earn a little of that back? With the Fetch Rewards hack shared here, you’ll be picking out your gift card rewards in no time!

What Fetch Rewards hack are going to go after first?

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2 Comments

  1. Please add in Box Tops to your scanning cycle. Even if someone doesn’t have kids in school, they can pick whichever school (local or one where they know kids) by searching by zip code. Those scans really add up!