Back around Thanksgiving, my friend Russ told me about a cash-back grocery app called Ibotta. I immediately downloaded the app and checked it out. It seemed amazing! I could get $1.00 cash back on any gallon of milk?! Since we go through milk like it’s going out of style at our house, I couldn’t resist. Here were some of the first deals that I was offered:

I sung Ibotta’s praises. I posted about it on Facebook, urging all of my friends to sign up. I planned my weekly grocery list around what deals I could find on the app. In short, I was hooked. My balance started growing quickly.

One week, I ordered my groceries as usual through WalMart’s grocery pick up service, and tried to upload the receipt to Ibotta when I got home. I kept getting an error message that my receipt couldn’t be read, so I contacted Ibotta customer support. After much back and forth through email, I was informed that only Point of Sale receipts are eligible for rebate. Since Walmart grocery pickup receipts are printed on 8.5 x 11 paper, they were excluded. I advised Ibotta that I had submitted that type of receipt previously and it was accepted, but it was to no avail. I lost out on $6.25 worth of cash back on that trip, and it suddenly sucked the wind out of my Ibotta sail. I won’t give up using the grocery pick up service, so I made up my mind that I was done with Ibotta.

Looking back, I see that I really made the most money from a handful of referrals ($5.00 each), and from 2 boxes of Mucinex ($5.00 each) around Christmas when I couldn’t get over a nasty cold. As time went on, I found it harder and harder to find relevant rebates. Those tempting “any brand” rebates that I was so generously offered in the beginning shrunk down to things like “$.25 back on any brand sports drink.” I haven’t seen a cash back offer for milk in ages.

If you’re interested in giving it a shot, my account is technically still active, so feel free to use my referral code dkrnmls. (You’ll get $10.00 for signing up and verifying one rebate.) I’m just waiting to verify a couple of other rebates to reach a certain dollar threshold so I can cash out an even amount and be done with the service.

It was nice while it lasted, but in the end, it just wasn’t for me.