CashCrate Review - An Objective Review Of CashCrate

This in-depth CashCrate review is based on my experience with making some extra cash from the offers at CashCrate.com. I've been a CashCrate member since 2008, and on the whole have a positive impressions of the site. I don't think it's perfect however, and this isn't one of those CashCrate reviews that just shows the positive side – I'm trying to be objective here, and will discuss both what I like, and don't like so much, about CashCrate.


What Is CashCrate?

First of all, for the uninitiated, what's CashCrate all about anyway? As noted in my brief introduction to CashCrate, this is a 'get paid to' (GPT) site, where you can make small amounts of money (generally from a few cents to a few dollars) each time you carry out an action, such as completing an advertiser's survey, signing up with a website etc (we'll talk more about exactly what it involves later). CashCrate is free to join, unlike some other GPT sites.

New offers are added regularly, so you may be able to make a fairly steady ongoing income from CashCrate, although this does depend a lot on where you live, and how many offers are available to you. You can also make money by referring others to the site – you get a special link, and if other people join CashCrate through your link, you'll get a commission. Your account is credited each time you complete an offer, survey etc (and it's successfully validated by CashCrate), and once your balance reaches the minimum threshold of $20, you get paid by check. Easy!


Can Anyone Join?

CashCrate is a US company, but is open to members over age 13 from around the world. However, those in English-speaking countries will get more offers, since there is more demand here from the advertisers. But even if you don't make a lot from the offers, you can still make money by promoting CashCrate to those who do live in English-speaking countries, thanks to the generous referral scheme (more details below).


How Exactly Can You Make Money With CashCrate?

So, let's take a more detailed look at the different ways in which you can earn money via CashCrate. Basically, companies (advertisers) either want your opinion (surveys), or they are offering free trials of their products or services. If you sign up via CashCrate, they get a commission from the advertiser, and (providing the transaction tracks properly and is confirmed as valid by the advertiser), CashCrate passes some of that commission on to you, as a reward for joining up through their link.

The easiest way to make money with CashCrate is to complete the surveys, offers and sign ups that are regularly added to the site in the member's area. These involve clicking through to a merchant's site, and registering for whatever it is that's on offer – it may just be for an email newsletter or surveys, or it may be for a free trial of a product or service. The offers you get will depend on where you live, and the language of the country you live in – English-speakers will get the most offers, and of those, people in the US seem to get more than those elsewhere. But even if you live outside the US (as I do), there are still some good offers to be had, so you can still make money – but maybe not quite as much as the Americans. If you're in the US, there's also a 'daily survey' which pays $0.80 each time if you qualify. Some people are making around $200 a month just by doing these offers and sign ups, which is a nice bit of pocket money.

After you sign up for an offer, or do a survey etc, it is marked as 'pending'. After the advertiser has confirmed to CashCrate that the transaction is valid, it will be fully tracked, and the payment will be added to your balance.

You can also make some cash by shopping online via CashCrate's affiliate links in the 'Go Shopping' section – in this way they're just functioning as a regular cashback site (you get from 1 – 20%, depending on the site). So if you're going to be buying something from one of the stores on their list anyway, you might as well go through their link and get a little bit of money back!

Finally, you can make money with CashCrate by referring others through your unique link, and it's a two-level referral scheme, so if the person you refer makes a referral of their own, then you get paid for that too. Also, the payouts are tiered, so the more people you refer in total, the more you make. If you know how to promote stuff effectively online you could potentially make quite a bit of money doing this. I want to stress though, that this isn't some dodgy MLM scheme where all the income comes from signing up others, and you absolutely don't have to refer anyone to make money – you can make a very nice side income through the offers alone. But if you have a website, or want to add your link to your email signature, forum posts etc (obviously don't spam anyone) – then it can be a good way to boost your earnings, while helping others find a way to make some extra cash too. I've written a separate post with more details about the CashCrate referral scheme here.

So, there are three basic ways to make money with CashCrate - completing offers and surveys, referring others, and getting cashback when you shop online.




Is CashCrate A Scam?

No, CashCrate isn't a scam, although it's understandable if you're wary, since so many survey sites and similar opportunities are scams, unfortunately. CashCrate is a reputable company – your details are safe with them, surveys and other things you do are generally tracked very accurately, and your account credited as promised, and payments are made on time. You won't make a huge amount of money with CashCrate, but neither do they promise that you will. CashCrate is good for a bit of extra cash, but you won't be giving up your day job!


Doing The CashCrate Offers – Things To Be Aware Of

  • You'll get emails from the companies whose offers you sign up for. You can unsubscribe from these lists at any time, but it's a good idea to use a separate email address for this stuff, to avoid getting junk in your normal inbox.
  • Some of the offers involve signing up for free trials of a product or service. These often involve giving your credit card number as you sign up. This isn't anything dodgy, and you won't be charged right away – the idea is that hopefully you'll like the trial, and will want to continue, so your card will be charged once the trial period is over. If you want to do these offers (they tend to pay pretty well), but don't want to continue after the free period is up you MUST remember to cancel your membership with the merchant site before the first payment is due to be taken. So long as you cancel in time, you won't pay a penny – but if you forget, you will be charged, and are unlikely to get a refund, as you've already agreed to the payment being taken. So set a reminder to tell you to cancel in plenty of time. Another thing you might like to do is to use a prepaid Mastercard or Visa with just enough for the cost of the trial on it – then if you do forget to cancel, at least the charge won't go on your normal card. Be aware though that some advertisers don't trust people who sign up with prepaid cards, and may not validate the transaction. And remember – you don't have to do the offers requiring credit card details if you don't feel comfortable with that (though they are legit) – just stick with the other offers and surveys.
  • As well as the free trials with deferred payments, there are some trial offers that involve paying a small fee or a postage charge (for physical goods) upfront. Again, these are clearly marked, so you can just avoid them if you want – there are many other offers on CashCrate that are 100% free with no credit card details needed.
  • Some people recommend clearing the cookies from your browser before doing an offer, to reduce the chances of it not tracking. You could also use a different browser just for doing the offers, so you don't have to clear cookies from your main browser if you don't want to. Personally I don't bother doing this, and haven't had tracking problems, but it could be a good idea if you want to be on the safe side.
  • If you're also using other GPT sites, make sure you don't do the same offer on more than one site – this could cause your transactions on both sites to be rejected.
  • Use real information when signing up for offers – if you use fake phone numbers, disposable email addresses etc, your transaction is more likely to not be approved. Remember that you don't have to stay signed up to any of these sites – as soon as your transaction has been approved, you can close your account, unsubscribe from their mailing etc. You don't have to defraud the advertisers by providing false information.

CashCrate's Positive Points – What I Like

  • CashCrate is a legitimate way to make some extra cash online. In a sea of scams and rip-offs, it's nice to find a genuine opportunity for some extra income. This is a reliable company, and you won't get ripped off.
  • There's a really nice community feel at the site – it has a very busy forum, so you can chat with others who are making money with the site, and get quick answers to any of your questions. The support is great too, and the CashCrate blog keeps you up to date with new developments.
  • It's very reliable on the whole – I haven't had anything fail to track, although it does seem to happen very occasionally. CashCrate sends an email to when it tracks, so you know when your account's been credited – this is usually within a few hours of completing the offer.
  • As well as the three main money-making methods mentioned above, you can also get some extra cash and fun stuff from CashCrate via the regular contests they hold (which have cash prizes), and from CashCrate's points system - you get 1 point for every $1 made, and can also do points-only offers. Then when you get enough points, you can exchange them for prizes like gift vouchers, cameras, iPods and more (more info about contests, points and prizes on CashCrate)
  • You don't actually have to sign up for any trial offers if you don't want to – these are one of the ways to make money on the site, but certainly not the only way. There are plenty of other offers to choose from that don't involve giving any credit card details of phone number etc.
  • CashCrate doesn't spam you, or contact you by phone, or share your details with anyone else. They'll normally only contact you if you contact them first.
  • I also like the way the offers are listed in the member's area – it's very clearly laid out, you can clearly see how much each one pays, and there's a credit card icon next to those which require credit card details, so you can skip those if you like.
  • The site as a whole is nicely designed, easy to navigate and fast to load. This is in contrast to some other GPT I've come across!




CashCrate's Negative Points – What I Don't Like So Much

  • Occasionally offers don't track, so you don't get credit for your sign up. This is very rare (and happens with any kind of affiliate tracking system – it's not just an issue with CashCrate), but it's annoying nonetheless.
  • Although it's open to members worldwide, opportunities are more limited for those outside the US, and especially for those not in English-speaking countries. You can still make some money - just not as much.
  • Payment is by US dollar check only for most members (some US members can now opt for direct deposit) – this is a little annoying, as they do take a while to arrive (depending on your local postal system), and it would be nice if electronic payments via Paypal or bank transfer were available, especially for non-US members.
  • Some of the surveys and sign ups take a long time to complete, with seemingly endless pages of questions to answer – most aren't like this, but a few are. I normally just give up on those and forfeit the payment – if a survey or offer takes more than a few minutes, then it's not worth my time (unless it pays really well!)
  • You can end up getting a lot of email and junk mail from the companies you sign up with – this isn't CashCrate's fault of course (and you can unsubscribe at any time), but it's best to set up a separate email address for doing these offers, to keep them separate from your normal email. And remember to close any accounts that you don't want to keep after the offer has tracked and you've been paid – otherwise you'll be deluged with mail from an increasing number of advertisers!


Should You Join CashCrate?

If you're looking for a way to get rich quick or make millions online, then no, CashCrate isn't what you're looking for. You won't get rich here, and even if you complete all the available offers and refer loads of people, you'll probably still be coming up short of your first million : ) So if you're looking for the big bucks, you'll likely be disappointed with CashCrate. But if you just want to make some extra cash on the side, perhaps to supplement your main income, or to make some money as a student or stay at home parent, for example, then CashCrate is a good option. It's easy, legitimate and flexible, and new offers are added regularly, so the income can be ongoing, although of course it's not guaranteed. Just treat CashCrate as a nice small supplementary (but not guaranteed) income, and you won't be disappointed.