You’ve probably heard of “Fetch Rewards” from a friend, seen it in a Facebook ad, or maybe even a TikTok video or budgeting group on Facebook.

Fetch Rewards has a simple offer: submit your receipts from any store and earn points to exchange for gift cards. In a world where every store has its own app, that sounds a little too straightforward and too-good-to-be true. It certainly leaves some room for speculation and, honestly, I can’t blame you. 

The idea of getting money for something as little as submitting receipts instantly shoots up red flags, but it is a legit service. It’s one I use and have successfully redeemed gift cards from. However, not everyone who signs up knows exactly what they “pay” to use it. Lucky for you, I’m going to answer some of the questions for you!

What exactly is it?

Fetch Rewards is a mobile app that allows you to log paper and electronic receipts. Every receipt gets a minimum of 25 points. They also offer ways to earn more points, like purchasing products featured in the “Brands” section of the app, buying special offer items that are advertised in the app, or referring friends for 2,000 points. 

To submit your receipts, you use your smartphone camera to take a picture. You can also link it to your Amazon and Walmart accounts and the app will fetch (haha) your online receipts for any purchases that qualify. 

Soooo.. what do I get?

Money! Well, digital money in the form of a gift card, at least. 1,000 fetch points is a rough $1 in credit, and most gift cards come in increments of $5, so it can take a while to earn points. If you just log receipts without buying any promo options, you’ll have to submit 200 before you get a $5 gift card, which takes some time.

What’s the catch?

First, it does take a while to earn points. I’m a pretty lazy Fetch-user, meaning that I remember to log about 25% of all receipts I get. However, I averaged four $10 gift cards last year! $40 is $40, but more active users can and do net a lot more.

You also have to give them some personal information, including:

• Email

• Phone number

• State

• Birthday

• Gender

• Amazon account sign-in (optional, for digital receipts)

The problem with giving them your information is that they can share it with their business partners and they do. The “free” money has to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, in today’s world, most of the information they ask for is already online and public, or likely already leaked. My biggest concern is typically giving out my email, but that’s just because I hate junk mail. You can get around this by having a junk email, which is my favorite way to deal with signing up for anything online!

What exactly do they do with my data?

Fetch takes data from your receipts and then uses it to provide rewards and personalized deals. They talk a lot about data security and user privacy, and say all user data that’s sent out to other companies is encrypted. They do monetize off your data by providing insights with the brands and retailers that partner with them, which these companies then use to enhance their marketing strategies. 

Overall, in terms of ‘safety’, Fetch is a real, safe way to earn points. 

Is it worth using?

Only you can decide this! For me, it’s easy and free, and the data they’re grabbing from me isn’t that important. The only real investment you put into the app is having to remember to log your receipts but, if you do, it only takes a few seconds. 

It might take a while to earn a reward, but some people earn over $100 in gift cards a year! Sounds like a cool deal to me. 

Here's the website if you want to explore the app a little more!