Earny App Review: Get Cash Back on Online Purchases

Overall Ranking

4.5/5

Overview

Price

3.5/5

Features

4.5/5

Ease of Use

5/5

Additional Perks

4/5

Earny makes it easy to get cash back on your regular purchases. We’ve found out where the app shines and who will get the most out of it.

Miranda Marquit

Editor's Note

You can trust the integrity of our balanced, independent financial advice. We may, however, receive compensation from the issuers of some products mentioned in this article. Opinions are the author's alone. This content has not been provided by, reviewed, approved or endorsed by any advertiser, unless otherwise noted below.

If you’re hoping to get cash back on regular purchases, there are a number of apps you can use–as well as credit cards.

One app you can use to automatically save you money on online purchases and make the most of your money is Earny. Here’s what you need to know about saving up to $300 per year when you make purchases with Earny.

What is Earny?

Earny is an app that focuses on getting you refunds on price drops. If you’re shopping and an item you buy drops in price later, Earny will do the work of getting you a refund of the difference. Earny can also track your Amazon packages and get you a refund if a package arrives late.

If you’re hoping to save money on regular purchases, Earny can be one way to get cash back and make the most of every purchase. There’s even a price tracker that can help you figure out when to buy so that you don’t spend more than you should, saving you money upfront.

It’s important to note that Earny mostly works by tracking your online purchases. You need to connect an email account, and Earny uses that to determine what purchases you made, how much you paid and then checks back to see if the price has dropped. If the price has dropped after you made the purchase, you get cash back.

Earny has more than 5,000 partners, including banks, retailers and others. You receive your cashback in the form of a payment from your bank or credit card issuer for price protection.

Product Features

Price Protection: Earny reviews your online purchase receipts and gets you a refund if the price drops after you make a purchase.
Watchlist: Add items to a watchlist to figure out when to buy. You can see the pricing history of the item, as well as get real-time alerts to see when prices drop.
Earny Hotels: You can also get access to hotel deals. If your price drops on a hotel room youve booked, Earny will let you know--and provide the information you need to cancel and rebook at the lower price.
Referral Program: Earny also has a referral program. When you share a URL with friends, and they make a purchase through the link you share, you get extra cash back.
Amazon Late Shipping: With this feature, Earny monitors your Amazon purchases, and you can get money back when a package is delivered late. This is one of the easiest ways to get money back as an online shopper.
ShopRunner Membership: The paid subscription comes with the opportunity to claim a ShopRunner membership, which offers free two-day shipping and returns.

Fees

Earny has a free version that will only track your purchases. It’s free to set up an account and install the purchase tracking extension in your browser. However, if you want access to other features, you need to pay for a subscription.

There’s a monthly subscription fee. However, if you pay an annual fee of $47.99, it works out to about $4 per month. Figuring out if it’s worth it depends on how much you get back in savings as a result of Earny. If you use the ShopRunner membership, which is valued at $100, you’re already ahead with the subscription. Earny claims that the average user gets $300 cash back each year.

It’s also important to note that, in addition to the subscription fee, Earny can take 25% of your refund amounts, so that reduces your overall cash back.

You can visit Earny’s website to sign up for an account (and add the browser extension) or you can download the app to a mobile Apple or Android device.

When signing up, you must link the email you use when doing your shopping. Earny works by using the purchase confirmation emails and receipts to determine your purchases and cashback. You have to allow the app access to your email in order to make it work.

You can only use one email address for each Earny account. So, if you have multiple email addresses that you use for purchases, you need to open a separate Earny account for each one.

It’s also possible to link your Amazon account and get refunds on price drops as well as late shipping. You need to link your Amazon account separately from your email in order to make this work.

Security

Earny insists that it uses best practices to safeguard your data. The app doesn’t actually save your email credentials. Instead, the app authenticates with the email provider. Earny also makes use of two-factor authentication to help keep your login safe, and there is also data masking, designed to protect you.

Mobile Support

Earny’s app is easy to use, whether you have an Apple or Android device. The app is intuitive and it can help you with your shopping on the go. It’s easy to set up your account and link your email using the app, although you can also set things up using your laptop or desktop.

Customer Service

The customer service support is fairly bare-bones. There are articles answering frequently asked questions, but they aren’t very detailed. You can also send an email to contact@earny.co. There’s no phone support of online chat to help.

Earny Pros and Cons

Big refund potential — Potential for big refunds without doing the legwork.
Lots of partners — A variety of partners, including major retailers.
Easy to use — The platform is simple and easy to navigate.

Subscription fee — To access all the features, you need to pay for a subscription.
No instant deposit — The money is not deposited instantly, but in the form of a payment from your bank or credit card issuer for price protection.

Earny Alternatives

The main alternative to Earny is Paribus. Paribus is similar in that it goes through your email looking for digital receipts and then will give you a refund on price drops. Like Earny, Paribus works with Amazon.

However, it’s important to note that Paribus is free. Paribus has fewer bells and whistles, but it works well and doesn’t cost anything. On top of that, Earny will share your information with its partners, which could lead to more emails in your inbox. However, Earny does work with credit card price protection, which Paribus doesn’t.

Another alternative is to take advantage of credit card or store price protection policies. These are becoming increasingly rare, but they still exist. The main downside to this approach is that it can be time consuming. You’re on the hook to review the price protection policies and do the legwork of getting your refund.

Learn More: Best Credit Cards for Online Shopping

Earny - Who is it For?

Earny is likely to work best for frequent online shoppers. If you buy a lot online, Earny might be a good choice, since you can get refunds when prices drop, plus get a refund if your Amazon packages arrive late. For someone who does a lot of online shopping, the cost of the subscription can be worth it.

For those who only shop occasionally, the price tag might not be worth it. You can get Paribus and keep things simple. You won’t get as much back, but you also don’t have to worry if you’re getting full value for the subscription fee.

Bottom Line

Earny is a solid app that can help you automatically take advantage of price protection policies. If you don’t mind paying the subscription, and if you buy a lot online, you can come out ahead and get up to $300 back in refunds each year.

Visit Earny