Ibotta App makes around $88M per year in revenue, and it was valued at around $1B in 2019.
And all of that without selling any products and services by the company itself!
Even more surprising, the company actually pays you in the form of a cash back reward if you buy stuff from other companies and marketplaces through the Ibotta App!
How does Ibotta make money?
This is a critical question to ask, as the answer might open a wide opportunity for you to make money without having products to sell or services to provide by yourself.
And you are in the right place to find this answer!
In five minutes only, I will reveal to you how the Ibotta App business model works and how you personally can apply it to make money online without experience or technical knowledge like I did.
So, without further ado, let’s begin!
How Does Ibotta Make Money?
Ibotta makes money by getting affiliate commissions on the orders that people make from the merchants that Ibotta refers people to.
And this is a popular business model that is called affiliate marketing, and it is my favorite way of making money online.
And they convince people to buy from the original merchants through Ibotta and not directly from the merchants by offering people a cash back reward in case they purchased through Ibotta app or site.
Actually, this is the same model that most coupon and cash back sites follow, for example, Groupon makes money this way.
And the commission Ibotta would get is different from one merchant to other, and it depends on many factors such as the product purchased, the total order value, the seasons, …etc.
It is usually a percentage of the product price, ranging from 2%-15% or sometimes more.
The way how this model works for Ibotta, is that someone would visit Ibotta to find cash back deals from major marketplaces, such as Target for example.
And when they find a deal the product they are looking for, they click on a certain link to get the deal, and they end up buying that product from the original merchant through Ibotta.
And when that happens, the original merchant, Target for example, would give Ibotta credit for that order and would give Ibotta a commission that is a percentage of the order value.
And the same happens when any user buys from any marketplace such as Amazon, Walmart, Adidas, Nike, …etc., but through the Ibotta app or site.
And since Ibotta gets lots of users per day, maybe tens of thousands or more, and they are looking for deals on almost every product you can image, this means that there are many orders that come through Ibotta to different merchants and marketplaces.
And that’s how Ibotta makes lots of money online without selling any product or service by themselves.
And you might have this question:
How does Ibotta.com convince people to buy through them, instead of going to the merchants’ sites directly and order from there?
Simply, this happens because Ibotta offers them cash back deals that are difficult to find without buying through Ibotta.
And this cash value is usually a percentage of the order value, which varies from one offer to another.
And you have another question now:
How Does Ibotta.com Profit if it Pays Users Cashback Rewards?
Simply, they get a commission on each order that is higher than the cash back reward they pay to the customer.
For example, from the image above, they offer a cash back reward of 1% if you buy from Target through Ibotta.
But if you check out Target’s affiliate commissions, you will find out that Target pays a commission to Ibotta that might go all the way up to 8% of the order value.
This means that Ibotta might profit around 7% of your order value even though they pay you 1%.
On a $200 order, this would be $14 in profits.
And since thousands of people use deals that are listed on Ibotta, then imagine how much money in affiliate commissions Ibotta can make per day.
All of that without selling services or products by Ibotta itself.
Ibotta is just a middleman, they connect buyers with sellers through good cash back deals.
That’s what I like about Ibotta’s business model, they don’t need to manufacture, store, ship, provide customer support, or any of this stuff.
And now to the important question:
Can You Personally Make Money with The Ibotta Business Model?
Of course!
Almost anyone with a computer and an internet connection can make money with the business model of Ibotta.
I personally, among many other people, make the most of my money with the affiliate marketing model.
This is the most beginner-friendly method of making money online that I have found so far, and it comes with the least potential risk as it requires only a small investment to get started with.
Can you start a brick and mortar business for under $500 investment?
I don’t think so!
But what I know, is that you can start your affiliate business and potentially make money like Ibotta does for such a low investment.
You can create an affiliate marketing business at almost any scale you want.
And it even gets better.
You can choose a specific category of products to work on, instead of going after products in every industry like Ibotta does.
You can actually choose a niche for your business that you are interested in, such as: a hobby or a sport that you like, a passion or cause like meditation, yoga or veganism, a skill that you have like drawing Anime or playing piano, an art that you practice like singing or painting, …etc.
And you can promote any relevant product as an affiliate and get commissions on that, which could be a physical product, or even digital like a software, a video course, or an ebook.
I have started different affiliate business in different niches from basketball, to entertainment, to finance, to software tools, and more.
One example is a software tool that creates custom diet plans for everyone based on their gender, age, activity, body, …etc.
And I get a commission from the software owner everytime someone takes my promotion and buys that tool.
And you too can start your affiliate business in the niche you like and potentially make money with Ibotta’s business model.
The best thing is that you can start without prior experience and for a very low and affordable cost, as you will see in the following sections below.
Can You Make Money with Ibotta itself?
Yes, you can earn money from Ibotta itself with the same model they themselves utilize, affiliate marketing.
This happens by joining Ibotta’s affiliate program, and they will give you an affiliate link that you can use to invite people to create an account and start buying stuff through Ibotta.
And Ibotta will give you a small reward of $2 on every new user you bring to them.
However, this is a low commission, and I prefer that you work on promoting products that get you higher commissions such as the products on the big marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Target, Walmart, Nike, …etc.
Start Your Own Mini-Ibotta.com Site TODAY in 3 Easy Steps
To start a website that makes you money like Ibotta, you need to follow three steps:
1 – Select a Niche for Your Business
Your are building a business, and to succeed with it, you need to understand your audience and know what serves them, so that you make money eventually.
This is easier than going after all niches and products like Ibotta does, especially is that you don’t have a big team like Ibotta.
This niche could be related to:
- A hobby you have, such as: indoor rock climbing, playing video games, card tricks, …etc.
- An art, such as: pencil drawing, singing, playing an instrument, …etc.
- A sport that you like, such as: soccer, football, boxing, cycling, …etc.
- A passion or a cause that you care about, such as: yoga, veganism, dieting, …etc.
- A profession or skill that you are good at, such as: accounting, maintenance, graphic design, DIY works, …etc.
Almost anything you want.
Just to pick an example, let’s say that you have chosen your niche to be helping people choose the right running choose for them, which is one of the many product categories that are available on Ibotta.
2 – Create a Simple Affiliate Site Like Ibotta.com
Don’t worry at all!
Starting a website today is easier than it ever has been.
No need for technical knowledge, experience, or coding.
You can literally start an affiliate site in 30 seconds, without any technical knowledge, thanks to the available technology and tools, like the ones you will learn about in the next section.
But for now, it is important to understand that you need a website that you own if you want to make this a long-term success and income source, like Ibotta.com.
3 – Start Helping People in Your Niche Like Ibotta Does
Ibotta helps people in getting deals on the products they want, and that’s why people visit Ibotta and buy through it instead of going directly to the original marketplaces like Walmart or Amazon.
And you need to help your audience as well if you want them to take your recommendations and you get affiliate commissions like Ibotta does.
And to do so, you need to start adding useful content to your site that answers people’s questions and helps them find products and services that they can really benefit from.
Sticking to the same example we chose earlier, your audience might ask on Google stuff like:
- Best running shoes for men
- Best running shoes for women
- Best running shoes for kids
- Best running shoes for flat feet
- Best running shoes for plantar fasciitis
And so on.
And here’s your part of the job.
You need to research and find the answer to each one of these queries, and create a simple list article where you mentioned the top 5-10 shoes that you found, and tell your audience where they can buy them at a reasonable price.
And for each item that you found, you would link to the original store or brand website where people can buy this item, but you would link through an affiliate link, so that you get credited for the sales that you bring to these stores, and they finally pay you a commission.
Like this example from one of the sites that follows Ibotta’s affiliate business model:
And the more people find your website from Google or other search engine, and the more helpful your content is, the more money you can potentially make.
You don’t have to give people cash back rewards, you only need to help them find the best products that can really help them, and tell them where they can buy these products for the best price and service.
And with these easy steps, you can make money like Ibotta.com following their business model.
Need a Step-by-Step Help in Starting Your Ibotta-Like Business?
Although Ibotta’s model, affiliate marketing, is a beginner-friendly method of making money, but there are lots of outdated information about it on the web, and that might cause you to waste lots of time and money trying to figure out things.
And worse, there are some fake gurus that are selling training courses for thousands of dollars, and they don’t deliver enough value that is worth the price you pay them.
However, I have found the best place to learn affiliate marketing the right way, and at the lowest possible cost, which is where I personally started learning affiliate marketing the right way.
And this place is a platform and a great community that is called Wealthy Affiliate.
This platform gives you all of what you need in one place, such as:
- A step-by-step, proven-to-work affiliate marketing business plan.
- A detailed quality training on implementing that plan.
- An easy website builder and great web hosting service with premium support.
- Many affiliate research tools to find opportunities for making money like Ibotta does.
- Most important, the amazing and supportive community of more than 2 million like-minded entrepreneurs who are willing to help you whenever you ask.
And all of that for an affordable monthly fee that includes everything without upgrades or surprises.
Still not sure?
Here’s the deal:
This platform offers a 100% FREE Starter membership option so that you try it before paying anything.
And this free plan gives you access to the first level of the training (10 lessons), which will explain the whole business model in details.
This is where you should go if you are interested about starting a business that makes you money with the same model of Ibotta app and website.
Check out this review of Wealthy Affiliate in order to learn more about this platform and see how you can get started with the FREE Starter membership first.
Conclusion
Done!
I hope I was able to help you understand how Ibotta makes money online without selling anything by itself, and that you can use Ibotta’s business model to generate money starting without a prior experience with the resources and tools in the previous section.
If you still have any questions about anything in this article, please, ask me in the comments’ section below, and I will do my best to answer you asap 🙂