I’ve made £5,000 free cash after following Martin Lewis hack – and I use a little-known method to save even more

A SAVVY saver has cashed in over £5,000 by using a simple shopping technique and now says he “can’t believe he didn’t use it before”.

When Retail general manager Lakhan Chauhan began using cashback sites, he couldn’t have imagined it would turn into such a successful side hustle.

But after solely using website TopCashback for the past eight years, Lakhan, 49, has now saved £5,706 by making all his purchases through the app.

Cashback sites work by redirecting you to retailer’s websites where you can make purchases and earn free money on top.

Lahkan, from London, first found out about the money-making websites through consumer expert Martin Lewis.

He now uses Topcashback to buy everything from car and home insurance to broadband, TV and energy deals.

He even recently opened a stocks and shares ISA with Foresters Friendly Society and will earn £350 in cashback after a year for doing so.

It’s important to note that while cashback is a great way of getting extra cash, you are only making money if you use it for purchases you were already going to make.

“If you’re going to buy something anyway or travel somewhere anyway, you might as well get some cashback in the process,” Lakhan said.

“I can’t believe I wasn’t doing this before.”

Lakhan started using Quidco in 2010, another rival cashback website, but switched to Topcashback in 2016.

He’s earned £1,156 in last year alone by buying the bulk of his purchases via the cashback site, including his insurance, energy, phone, broadband and TV deals.

And he bags extra cash by referring his friends.

All the money he’s earned so far tends to be withdrawn as cash to put towards his mortgage and bills.

He’s used the cashback as spending money on trips abroad to Dubai and the Canary Islands as well.

But he’s also converted some of the money into holiday and food vouchers, which come with bonus cashback on top.

“If I’m going on holiday, I exchange the cash for vouchers with certain brands like hotels.com,” Lakhan said.

“I also get vouchers to spend on grocery shopping at supermarkets like Tesco.

“You don’t get as much back on the supermarket vouchers, but every little helps.”

But the best feature Lakhan has found that has helped him make extra cash is browser extensions.

Both Quidco and Topcashback have browser extensions you can download from their websites and onto your computer.

These extensions tell you if a website you’ve landed on offers cashback, meaning you won’t miss out.

So, for example, if you forget to use a cashback site and go onto a retailer’s website, you will get a popup that you could get cashback by shopping via a cashback app’s link instead.

How do cashback websites work?

Each time you click through a link on a cashback website and buy something from a retailer, that retailer pays out commission, which is relayed to you the shopper.

They do this because it means more traffic to their websites, which generates profit and potentially returning customers.

Topcashback’s website features 4,000 partner retailers, while Quidco has around 5,000 to choose from.

Most cashback sites are free to sign up to, although some let you pay a subscription to access more retailers or higher cashback bonuses.

For example, Topcashback’s “Plus Membership” is £5 a year and offers an up to 25% payout bonus if you transfer your cashback to an e-gift card.

Those without a membership get an up to 12.5% payout bonus.

Quidco customers can sign up to become a “Premium” member which offers better cashback rates for a £1 fee too.

According to its website, the average Premium member earns 40% more in cashback than those on a basic subscription.

Drawbacks to cashback websites

While cashback websites may seem like a no-brainer, there are some drawbacks to be aware of.

Different websites offer you better rates on different products, so it’s worth shopping around and signing up to several different sites to compare their deals.

For example, Kid Start is more tailored to shoppers looking to snap up cashback on children’s products.

Quidco can beat Topcashback, its main rival, on certain other products too – but not always.

For example, Topcashback, at the time of writing, was offering 12% cashback on hotels.com while Quidco was offering 10%.

Make sure you check multiple sites before making a purchase, especially more expensive ones, to ensure you get the best cashback deal.

Websites will offer you better rates on certain products, too.

For example, Lakhan said he tends to use Topcashback for insurance, energy, broadband and TV, but not so much retailers, which offer less generous cashback.

Another thing to be wary of is that you won’t always get cashback after clicking through.

With Topcashback’s website, Lakhan said this does happen very rarely.

He explained: “The website doesn’t always track click throughs.

“You can raise an issue with Topcashback and they do try and get hold of the money for you.

“On occasions I have been successful, but not always.”

One way of aiding your computer, tablet or smartphone in tracking click-throughs is by clearing the cookies.

Another obvious drawback to cashback websites is that you have to click through them to get the cashback, but you might forget and miss out on free money.

One way to avoid this is to download browser extensions like Lakhan does.

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