Recently, a very well known cashback site (ok, it was Quidco) published an entry on their Quidblog suggesting that you shouldn’t use PayPal as a payment option.  The main reason behind their argument seemed to be that they were getting a lot of complaints from people about how long it was taking to get the money into their account each month.
 
I guess this surprised me a little, a heavyweight site like Quidco putting the boot into the behemoth that is PayPal, why offer it is an option at all if they’re just going to tell their customers not to use it?  Judging by the comments left on Quidco, their customers seem to have a very low opinion of PayPal.

God knows, PayPal is far from perfect, in fact just last month I had an 18p payment from Quidco into my PayPal account (a decidedly ‘light’ shopping month!), for which PayPal charged me...18p!   Well I guess that was my own fault, because I hadn’t set my minimum payment level in Quidco to something sensible like a tenner.

BACS is an attractive option, especially now the banks are rolling out the new system which should mean most transactions are completed the same day, but would you trust your bank details to some of the cashback sites out there today?  Ok, you can be pretty sure your details are safe with a well established site like Quidco (well, as safe as any secure site can be), but what about other less well established sites?  Frankly, the fewer sites that know my bank details the better as far as I’m concerned in these days of online fraud.

I guess it all comes down to personal preference and trust at the end of the day.  If you trust the site, then go ahead and hand over your bank details and use BACS, you’ll certainly get your cash a lot quicker.  If not, then opt for another payment option like cheque or PayPal,  wait a bit longer for your cash and keep your bank details to yourself.

...and remember if you use Quidco and PayPal, set your minimum payout to a sensible level , otherwise you’ll just be donating your cashback straight into PayPal’s coffers.

We've launched our new homepage today, we think it's a big improvement and we hope you'll agree.  Of course, you can still search for your favourite retailers, after all that's a major part of what Cashback Guide is all about, but now we've made it easier for you to find all of the other important information on the site.

First up, we've written an entirely new introduction to cash back article, it's a great place to start if you've no idea what a cashback site is or how you should go about using one.  We've also placed some other popular links near the top of the page so you don't have to go hunting around to find them.

The 'who offers cashback' section serves up a random selection of the most popular retailers and  cashback sites at Cashback Guide.  You may find some surprising offers amongst this lot and it changes regularly so you should see something different every time you visit.

That's not all, we're now spotlighting the latest testimonials and cashback site reviews on the homepage as written by you.  So, if you want to see your name up in lights then make sure you contribute reviews regularly - your fellow cashbackers will thank you for it!  We're also displaying the latest blog and  forum entries, so you can keep up to date with what's being said and who's saying it all in one place.

Next up is our cash back news section, which brings you all the latest updates from the cashback sites as they announce them, you won't have to miss a thing.

Cashback Guide currently searches the retailers and offers from over 30 cashback sites, and now you can easily see which ones by checking out the 'supported cashback sites' section at the bottom of our homepage

We're as keen as ever to hear from you, so don't forget to let us know what you think of the changes at Cashback Guide.

Oh and finally, if you haven't already checked it out, take a look at our new Demo for a 60 second tour of Cashback Guardian in action.

We've created a short demo of Cashback Guardian in action so you can see how it can save you time and money whilst shopping online. If you want to give it a try, you can download it here...

We've added a review for Cashback Points to Cashback Guide, you can check it out here. Here's what they have to say about themselves...

“ Cashback Points provide members with exclusive cashback rewards with UK retailers. With our unique partnership with leading high street shops - Cashback Points can offer cashback at hundreds of online shops in the same way as high street reward cards. Unlike loyalty cards - Cashback Points offer a higher level of monetary cash compared to loyalty cards. Cashback Points is funded by advertisers - with a share going to our members - the scheme is free and open to all UK residents. ”

Recently Microsoft have announced that they will be offering shoppers cashback on all online purchases made - as long as they do so by using their Live search engine. This is Microsoft's latest attempt to wrestle some search engine market share from the seemingly unstoppable Google.

This would effectively turn Microsoft's Live search engine into one big cashback site with, at launch, 700 retailers.  Microsoft claim the cashback available would be between 2% and 30% dependant on the retailer, and this would be paid to the customer via PayPal or cheque.

Currently this is only available to residents of the United States, but should it prove a success you can be sure that it will coming over to the UK, and this raises all sorts of interesting questions, like...

Would Microsft be receiving any kind of affiliate fee from the retailer Read More »

We've added a review for Earn-Some-Cash to Cashback Guide, you can check it out h Read More »

We've added a review for Fluid Rewards to Cashback Guide, you can check it out here. Here's what they have to say about themselves...

“ Welcome to Fluid Rewards the newest cashback site on the internet. Earn free cash by joining competitions, search websites, shopping, take out free trials and much more! You can be earning loads of cash in no time! Join up today its totally FREE and you get 50p by just registering! ”

We've added a review for fullPiggy to Cashback Guide, you can check it out here. Here's what they have to say about themselves...

“ Receive 100% of the 'middlemans' fee in cashback for shopping online, taking offers and much more. Free to Join. No joining fee or annual subscription! 100% cashback rates shopping at over 1,000 online retailers. Over £1,000 available for taking offers. Highest Cashback Promise we will match any offer. Receive Payment by BACS, Paypal or Amazon Voucher. Small payment fee from earnings, not charged.”

Cashback Guide is now including offers from froggybank in their search results.  You can check out the review for froggybank here.

Some of the retailers they have include: Tesco, Currys, Comet, WHSmith, Read More »

We've added a review for Ecasher to Cashback Guide, you can check it out here. Here's what they have to say about themselves...

“ Ecasher helps individuals and families save money Ecasher is a unique cashback site that truly pays you back as you spend. It's simple: when you make purchases on websites affiliated with Ecasher, a percentage of your purchases are given back to you in your Ecasher account & with No Mininum payout you can withdraw your Ecasher saving when ever you want. This is our Ecasher cash back promise: WE SHARE at least half of every £1 we earn when you shop and buy products using Ecasher.co.uk Try it. We think you'll agree, online shopping has never been so easy or so satisfying. This is the new way to find the best selection and the best savings online! ”