We advocated going through the Topcashback portal for eBay purchases and getting them to match the 5% rate being offered by Inbox Dollars. This worked great until Topcashback changed the terms on their match guarantee and they’ll now only match a few top portals, not a small one like Inbox Dollars.
It just so happened that there were lots of eBay deals at that time and many of us had a high volume of eBay purchases with the expectation of getting 5% back on them.
Let’s clarify a few things:
Can I still get a 5% match for my eBay purchases?
No, under the new terms it won’t work. You best bet now is to go through Inbox Dollars directly.
When, exactly, did the Topcashback terms change?
Based on what Topcashback told a friend of mine, the exact time was Monday morning 9/21/15 at 04:23 am PST.
Can I get matched now that the terms have changed for purchases made before they changed the change?
Logically, you should be able to since at the time of the purchase the terms allowed it. Initially, they were denying the claims and we reached out to them on Twitter asking them to change this. They indicated on Twitter that they’ve rectified this and are now honoring such claims. Based on what I’ve heard from others, they are indeed accepting such claims now and possibly even rectifying old ones.
What do I do if they denied my claim?
While any future claims will hopefully go through without a hitch, previous claims had been denied. Here’s what to do:
- File a support ticket and explain that this purchase was made before the terms changed. This should hopefully get approved.
- If that doesn’t work, try replying to the support ticket and link in this tweet https://twitter.com/TopCashBackUSA/status/647323042692079616 where they clearly indicate that they agree to honor all claims for cashback from before the terms changed.
- If that fails, reach out to them on Twitter and they’ve been helping people there. To make it easier to explain what your issue is, just join the conversation that we started and tell them that you are having the same problem.
Can I file a claim for a purchase made after 4:23 am PST on 9/21/15?
According to the terms – no. BUT if you honestly did not know about the change at that time (we only found out about it the next day) you can try asking them if they’ll give you the match as a goodwill gesture. Try invoking their Fair Play policy and say that it’s reasonable to give some time to adjust to a not-well-advertised new terms. (HT: DNT) I’m hopeful that they’ll agree to match for purchases made over the next couple of days, especially in smaller claims, but we don’t know that for sure.
How long do I have to file a guarantee claim?
Per the terms: “You need to submit your claim within 7 days of your cashback tracking.” I interpret this to mean that the 7-days begins at the time you received the email of the cashback tracking.
See also Highest Cash Back Guarantee for Online Shopping Portals
View Comments (5)
Should not have told people to submit support tickets. Highest Claim Guarantees were fun while they lasted but the fact is we were using TCB instead of Inbox Dollar because of how reliable TCB is. It was always an exploit of TCB and they played along for a little while. To continue pushing it is bad form imo.
I see TCB/eBay removing the gift card category entirely in the near future and view submitting claim tickets to try and bully a match as equivalent to calling/footstomping in store for a supervisor.
Don't we always say this is a marathon and not a sprint...
Doc is suggesting to file support tickets for purchases that were made BEFORE the T&C change, but were denied because by the time someone looked at them the T&C had changed.
It was not an exploit, it was something very clearly stated in their terms that they do, and something that they advertise as being a feature of their website - this should be clear from the fact that they have a specific name for it (Highest Claim Guarantee).
I agree that submitting claims for purchases made after the change is bad form. At the same time, I think it was bad of TCB to stealthily make this change without giving users obvious notice and time to prepare for the change.
Also sounds like OP is saying DoC calling attention to the matching mechanism potentially grew in popularity suddenly and forced TCB's hand which ruined it for everyone. Pretty typical complaint of blogs that they cause deals to get shut down due to highlighting simple methods for the masses that ultimately get shut down. I however believe it doesn't really matter once the cat is out of the bag, someone is going to report on it and at least DoC continually finds new deals on a daily basis. Point is something else pops up, always does, just stay tuned. Sorry to OP if he used this a lot.
TCB didn't update their T&Cs fully until yesterday in my opionion. I submitted a support ticket yesterday and pasted below (got it at https://www.topcashback.com/Help/76 yesterday) and it clearly stated "these are their terms and conditions". I told them since they made changes in a different place, and no obvious notice was sent out to inform people, it is only good business to error on side of the customer. I told them they need to change the T&C on that page which they did either yesterday or today. Thoughts?
TopCashback FAQs and Help
Seen a higher cashback rate? We’ll match it!
You’ll be pleased to know that TopCashback has a Highest Cash Back Guarantee
This means that if you can find a better rate of cash back for your purchase from another online cash back provider, then we will match the rate if you choose to use TopCashback for the transaction.
Here are our terms and conditions
To ensure that we can fulfil our guarantee to TopCashback members, any claims against the guarantee must meet the following stipulations:
• The higher rate of cash back must be from a genuine and established cash back provider operated by a USA incorporated company. The company must be abiding by the terms and conditions of the merchant’s cash back program.
• The highest cash back guarantee only applies to cash back offers listed on TopCashback for which a directly associated online purchase has been made and where the cash back has tracked.
• The higher rate of cash back must be being offered on the same date as the transaction took place. That is, you cannot claim against a higher rate offered at a later day than your transaction occurred.
• You must be able to provide proof of the higher rate by means of providing a valid URL where the rate is offered.
• A cash transaction MUST be completed to be eligible for a Highest Cash Back Guarantee claim to be successful. Free Cash Back offers will not be eligible for submission as a Highest Cash Back Guarantee Claim.
• The transaction against which you're claiming must be showing up in your account with a cash back amount greater than or equal to 1¢.
• The site offering the cash back in relation to your claim must provide it as a monetary payout.
• Your claim must be submitted within seven (7) days of the transaction showing in your account.
• Only genuine claims will be paid and our discretion will be used in certain circumstances. If you're not sure whether your claim is eligible or not, then submit it anyway and we will do our best to ensure you get the highest rate possible.
• We do not match cash back sites that require a paid subscription.
• Please note we cannot accept Highest Cash Back Guarantee claims for Discover Card and MyPoints, or any other points related rewards sites.
how to file a support ticket? which option I should choose? I chose the incorrect tracked cash back and can not find the transactions.