Cashback platform ShopBack has launched a new paid-for membership scheme called ShopBack Plus, which offers bonus cashback and priority customer service for a nominal monthly fee.
To be clear, the core ShopBack product remains free to use. A ShopBack Plus membership is for those who want the opportunity to earn extra cashback on top of the public rates, and see the value in paying for the privilege.
Overview: ShopBack Plus
ShopBack Plus is free for the first month, after which you’ll pay S$1.99 monthly. The fee will be deducted from your existing cashback balance by default, failing which your default linked card will be charged.
According to ShopBack, the key benefits of membership are:
- Preferential cashback rates
- 1.2X cashback on Plus Day (the 1st of every month, starting October 2024)
- Priority customer service responses
The first edition of Plus Day is scheduled for 1 October 2024, so we’ll need to wait and see whether it’s a genuine 20% bonus, or whether there’ll be a quiet reduction in cashback rates in the week leading up to it such that an extra 20% just puts you back to where you were before (you know, Shopee style).
Likewise, it’s impossible to comment on the priority customer service responses, since there’s no specific SLA mentioned.Â
What we can look at for now are the “preferential cashback rates”, which are available every day on selected brands.Â
| Merchant | Regular ShopBack | ShopBack Plus |
| Adidas | 3% | 3.5% |
| Agoda | < 5.5% | < 6% |
| Airalo | 18% | 18.5% |
| Allies of Skin | 8% | 8.5% |
| Amazon SG | < 5% | < 5.5% |
| Apple Store Online | 1% | 1.5% |
| ASOS | < 3% | < 3.5% |
| ASUS | < 2.5% | < 3% |
| Calvin Klein | 10% | 10.5% |
| Cotton On | < 5% | < 5.5% |
| Decathlon | 2% | 2.5% |
| element14 | 3.5% | 4% |
| Etsy | 1.4% | 1.9% |
| Far East Flora | < 2.5% | < 3% |
| FARFETCH | 1% | 1.5% |
| foodpanda | < 5% | < 5.2% |
| HipVan | < 3% | < 3.5% |
| iHerb | < 0.5% | < 1% |
| Kiehl’s | 12% | 12.5% |
| Klook SG | < 6% | < 6.5% |
| Love, Bonito | < 4.5% | < 5% |
| lululemon | 5% | 5.5% |
| MR PORTER | < 7% | < 7.5% |
| Pelago | < 7% | < 7.5% |
| REVOLVE | 6% | 6.5% |
| Robinsons | 2.5% | 3% |
| Samsung | 2% | 2.5% |
| Selfridges | < 2% | < 2.5% |
| Sephora | < 3.5% | < 4% |
| SHEIN | < 7% | < 7.5% |
| Swarovski | < 2% | < 2.5% |
| THE OUTNET | 1.5% | 2% |
| Tommy Hilfiger | 10% | 10.5% |
| Traveloka | < 8% | < 8.5% |
| VIPSHOP | 4% | 4.5% |
| vPOST | 3% | 3.5% |
| Yoox | 3.5% | 4% |
At the time of writing, the preferential cashback rate for ShopBack Plus members is an extra 0.5% above the public offer. To put that into perspective, assuming a S$1.99 membership fee and an incremental 0.5%, you’d need to spend at least ~S$400 per month to break even.
Given that you can subscribe to ShopBack Plus at any time, I suppose there’s no harm in joining just before you make a big ticket purchase, since you can always cancel it during months when you don’t plan to shop much online.
If you’re looking at travel bookings in particular, do keep in mind that OTAs can sometimes price higher when you click through ShopBack. It’s a good habit to comparison shop by clicking through ShopBack in one window, and using an incognito window to compare.
Conclusion
ShopBack has launched a new paid-for membership called ShopBack Plus, which at the moment gives an incremental 0.5% cashback at selected merchants. That may not sound like a lot, but then again the subscription fee is negligible (and free in the first month), so it’s not hard to get more value out of your membership than you put in.Â
The programme is also teasing a monthly Plus Day that starts on 1 October 2024, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on that to see how the upsized cashback compares to the regular rates too.Â
Would you pay for a ShopBack Plus membership?
Given the long cycle of cashback tracking and payment, you might have to remain as a priority member for months just for one transaction. And still risking not getting it. So this membership does not worth it.
Not worth joining as cashback tracking is buggy. I have multiple transactions clicked and not tracked. Even after I submitted proof they will reject w/o any explanation.