I haven't gone full-bore into paying with my phone, but I did use Pay with Ibotta on a recent trip to Olive Garden. I'll share what I did wrong so you're not stressed out the same way I was …
Apps that allow you to pay with your smartphone have matured. Think Venmo, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and more.
I'm a bit behind the curve when it comes to mobile phone payments. (I understand that checks are fuddy-duddy now and that cash has its limits, too, but … credit cards? Are those on the way out, too?)
I do use some apps to save money. Ibotta is one of them.
Ibotta recently introduced a feature called Pay with Ibotta. It allows you to … pay with the Ibotta app, and get cashback for doing it.
How Pay with Ibotta works
Setting up Pay with Ibotta was straightforward.
- Download the Ibotta app. I already had downloaded the Ibotta app so Step 1 was already taken care of. (Download the app for free if you haven't already!)
- Browse the Pay with Ibotta retailers. On the Home screen, scroll down a few sections to the Pay with Ibotta section, and tap on View All. This will show all of the stores that use Pay with Ibotta currently. (Olive Garden was one, but as I'm writing this it isn't anymore, unfortunately.)
- Link a credit card, debit card, or other payment app like Google Pay. Go to the Account screen in the app, and then tap on Payments in the list. On the Payments screen, tap on Payment methods and enter the information. This part was easy enough.
- Tap on the store when ready to pay. This begins the process of moving the money around. After tapping on Pay with Ibotta, you'll enter the amount of the payment. (If you're in line at the grocery store, it's best to have this screen ready to go so that you're not “that person” who's holding up the line.)
- Confirm the payment and show the code to the person ringing up your purchase. What's happening behind the scenes is that Ibotta is buying a gift card in the exact amount of your purchase, but doing it in such a way that they have extra money to give you a rebate.
- Complete the payment and get your cashback. Pay with the electronic gift card from the Ibotta app, and you're done! The cashback goes right to your account after that.
Watch this one thing when using Ibotta with restaurants
That's how Pay with Ibotta is supposed to work.
When using it to pay a restaurant bill, though, it's best to slow down to read the instructions on how to deal with the tip.
I did it wrong, and as a result I spent an extra 15-20 minutes getting my bill paid, and having to wonder during that time if I was going to have to pay twice. Here's what happened:
You can include the tip when you enter the amount in Ibotta. I entered the amount of the bill (without the tip) and then entered the tip amount. No issues there.
You can use the entire amount of the gift card at payment. With the purchase and tip added to the gift card that Ibotta produces for you, you can spend it down to nothing (as you should be able to).
What caught me was entering the amount on the payment kiosk. I entered the full amount of the gift card, rather than just the purchase amount. The kiosk machine gave me an error and then refused to let me use that card over the next several tries. Eventually, the manager had to help me with the payment, which then went through (and I apologized for taking up her time with this).
There was a screen on Ibotta that explained how to do this. I guess I read it too quickly, or misread it. But in the end it makes sense: Normally the server takes my credit card, swipes it, and then brings me back a receipt where I add the tip. The initial amount entered is the purchase amount, not the total amount with tip. That's why the system errored on me.
Pay with Ibotta works as advertised
I was happy to get back an extra $3 and change from my Olive Garden bill (in addition to being able to stack my credit card rewards and Olive Garden loyalty club points on top of it!) but it would have been a bit quicker had I read the directions more carefully!
I am reading over what not to do when paying with the Ibotta app. Where it says in bold What caught me was entering the amount…ok in this section, so behind the scenes Ibotta is buying a gift card for whatever amounts the normally sell their gift card for? It doesn’t produce a gift card for the amount of your exact purchase? If the gift card was $30 and your tip is $5, does it go through and buy yet another gift card for additional tip amount. I am nervous about this process? Like rather keep cash as a tip nervous, ha. Loyalty points, I get texts and emails, please tell me about this option, maybe it is only available in certain areas? Thank you for your time.
Hi Christy. All of the “gift card magic” happens behind the scenes. It’s a few extra steps to save a few percent on the meal.
As for the tip, whether Ibotta buys one gift card or two, I don’t know.
The one piece of advice (that I didn’t heed the first time) is to slow down and read the instructions that are on your phone when you use Pay with Ibotta. Just doing that would have worked.
Good luck!
Thanks for this post! Do you have any experience using this at grocery stores? If so would you happen to know if your purchase can include gift cards? For example I want to stack my savings by purchasing a Southwest gift card at Kroger to earn extra fuel points but then use Pay with ibotta to get cash back for the purchase as well. I can’t seem to find anything online that says whether this was allowed or not. Thanks in advance if you have any information!
That’s a really good question, Kate.
I checked the Pay with Ibotta terms and there’s no specific mention of restrictions on what may be purchased.
I do know that particular merchants may have restrictions on gift card purchases. Most merchants won’t let you purchase their gift cards with gift cards. One gas station I went to wouldn’t let me purchase a gift card with a credit card. I had to use cash or debit.
Anyway, I reached out to Ibotta for more information.