Food is a major part of everyone’s budget and should be a primary focus when we are looking to cut our cost of living so we can do more living.
In the good ole days you sat down, cut out coupons, and organized them in such a way that they were easy to find. My mom used to use an index card box and organize all her coupons to make sure she was getting a good deal in the grocery store.
As digital coupons and coupon apps became the norm, instead of the exception, people began to abandon the old school cut out coupons.
Now, there are dozens of different cash back and coupon apps for groceries out there. All of these apps have pros and cons, and it can be difficult to choose which one works best for you.
As part of my on going effort to identify and try out EVERY single coupon app out there, I put together this mobiSave review to help you understand the app and how it might be helpful to your money saving strategy.
What is mobiSave?
According to their website, mobiSave is a “patent-pending mobile coupon solution designed by Brand Markets for Brand Marketers,” but for you, it’s going to be much more than that. The app is a great way to get some cash back on your grocery bills even i.
It is one of the newer programs, but there are millions of shoppers that are currently using mobiSave. It has great reviews with only a few complaints.
Getting Started with mobiSave
If you want to give mobiSave a try, getting started is easy. Simply download the free app on your smartphone and create an account, which should take about 3 minutes.
All you will have to do is include an email, create a password, and then answer simple questions like your zip code, gender, and the size of your household. After that, your account is created and ready to go.
Now it’s time to start saving money! Before you hit the grocery store, start browsing through all of the offers from mobiSave. You can easily view the dozens and dozens of “coupons” that mobiSave has available.
They are all like the traditional coupons that you’re used to, anything from 25 cents off to around $3 depending on what you’re buying.
You can filter the offers by categories to see if there are deals that you want to snatch up when you head to the store. They have several different categories to make your browsing easier, groupings like food, baby, entertainment, and more.
If you want a deal that you want to take advantage of, all you have to do is save the deal to your profile, and that’ s it. It will save it in your account until you purchase the item. After you’ve decided which offers you want to use, it’s time for the best part, the shopping.
With mobiSave, you won’t have to do anything special while you’re in the store. Simply buy your things like you normally would. Just make sure that you buy the exact item of the offer. If you buy a different brand, you are not going to get any of the rewards from the deal.
Once you’ve crossed off every item from your grocery list, comes the important part. Now you need to take a picture of your receipt and upload it through the app, this is how mobiSave verifies that you bought the item. Just take a well-lit picture on your phone, and they will credit you the amount for your offers. It’s as easy as that.
When you want to get all of the money that you’ve earned from your purchases, getting a payout is simple. Go into the app, click on the payout option and they will get the money to you in less than 24 hours, usually, within a few hours, you’ll have your cash back transferred to you.
There are new offers on the app every month, which means that you’ll need to check every month to see all of the different offers available. At the beginning of each offer cycle, sit down and see which ones you want to take advantage of. If you have the time, plan some of your meals around which items you can get cash back on.
The Advantages of mobiSave
If you’ve used any other cash back app or website, all of this sounds identical to the other programs out there, but there are a few unique characteristics of mobiSave that set it apart.
The first, and most important one, is that you can shop anywhere. This is something that most rewards programs don’t allow. With most other apps, they limit your shopping to specific participating stores, but with mobiSave, you have the freedom to shop anywhere.
The only restriction is the store has to give you an itemized receipt (which gives you over 250,000 different shopping options). This is a huge advantage for anyone that is looking to trim down his or her grocery budget as much as possible.
A lot of the other apps require you to go to stores that you wouldn’t go to otherwise, and most of these stores are more expensive, which means that in the end, you are not saving much money.
Another important advantage to take notice of, is that there is no minimum amount required for you to get a payout, and once you request the payout, you’ll have it quickly.
With most cash back programs, you’ll have to wait until you have a certain amount accumulated before you can receive your money, but with mobiSave, at any point that you want your cash, all you have to do is ask, even if it’s only $0.50.
You’ll also find a lot more of the items you love and even some generic items that you won’t find with other apps on the market. Some of the other apps have offers for more obscure or lesser-known brands that you wouldn’t buy otherwise, but mobiSave does an excellent job at compiling deals on items and brands that you probably already buy.
Because the entire program is done through the app on your smartphone, a lot of people ask the same question, “what if I don’t have a cellphone signal?” and that’s a great question, but with mobiSave, you have nothing to worry about.
As long as you refresh the offers list when you have a signal, you can continue to browse the offers offline, which is nice for any grocery stores that are cellphone dead zones.
The Disadvantages of mobiSave
There are a lot of pros to the cash back app, but there are a few cons as well. None of them are complete deal-breakers, but there are areas that the program could use some improvement.
The biggest one is the number of deals that are offered. They do an excellent job at picking some of the best offers on products, but they offer fewer “coupons” than competitors like Ibotta or Checkout 51. Sure, the competitors’ deals aren’t always useful, but there is a lot to choose form.
Another shortcoming is with their payout technique. Unlike other apps, you only have one choice on how you receive your money. When you want to get the cash back from mobiSave, you have one option: PayPal.
That’s it. Other services give you different options like PayPal, Venmo, directly to a bank account, or even a physical check (if you want to wait on it). You won’t have the luxury of any of those options with mobiSave. It’s PayPal or nothing.
After you pick an offer to use in the app, you’ll only have seven days to redeem those e-coupons. After that, you won’t be able to use them until you save the offer again.
For most people, this isn’t a huge disadvantage, but it’s something that you need to be aware of when shopping for your groceries.
The Verdict
If you’re looking for a simple way to get some money back on your groceries, this is an excellent way to do it. If you’re a couponer or you want to be a couponer, but don’t’ want to invest the time, mobiSave is an excellent way to do that.
You won’t have to sit down and flip through the coupons and clip them out. All you do is scroll through your phone and click on the ones you like. It will take 3 minutes, and you could save around $5 each trip, but most people won’t save that much.
You won’t be able to quit your job because of all the savings from the app, but it’s nice to have the app downloaded, and you can always check the app right before you go grocery shopping and see if there are any items you already planned on buying.
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