Rakuten Refer a Friend Offer Summary
About Rakuten
Rakuten is a cashback shopping portal with around 3,500 UK partner retailers. Click through Rakuten before shopping at a partner store and earn a percentage of the purchase back as cashback, paid monthly via bank transfer or PayPal.
Sign Up Bonus Details
Sign up via my referral link and you'll get £25 once you've spent around £60 across multiple Rakuten partner brands within 90 days of joining. Rakuten measures the threshold as £50 excluding VAT, which works out to about £60 on most everyday purchases. The rare VAT-exempt items like books or children's clothing count at their face value, so £50 of those is enough.
The qualifying spend has to be across more than one purchase, and Amazon is excluded. Once you cross the threshold, both the £25 referral bonus and any cashback you've earned along the way credit to your Rakuten account.
Cashback then goes through Rakuten's standard 60-90 day pending period before it confirms and pays out monthly via bank transfer or PayPal.
Bonus amount: £25
Qualifying amount: £60
Hold period: 90 days
Payout time: 75 days
How to get your bonus
Step 1
Click my Rakuten referral link and accept cookies on the Rakuten page.
Step 2
Sign up using your real name and a valid UK address.
Step 3
Make purchases through Rakuten at multiple partner brands (excluding Amazon) until you've spent around £60 (£50 excluding VAT).
Step 4
Complete the qualifying spend within 90 days of signing up.
Step 5
Once your purchases track and confirm, the £25 referral bonus credits to your Rakuten account alongside the cashback you've earned. Cashback pays out monthly via bank transfer or PayPal.
Refer a Friend Bonus
Once you're a Rakuten UK member, you can refer friends using your personal referral link from inside your account. You earn £25 for each successful referral, with no cap on how many friends you can refer.
Your friend qualifies once they've made multiple cashback-earning purchases adding up to £50 excluding VAT (around £60 gross) across non-Amazon Rakuten partners within 90 days of signing up via your link.
You'll find your referral link inside your Rakuten account under Refer a Friend.
Referrer reward: £25
Referee reward: £25
Worth knowing
Key features
- Around 3,500 UK partner retailers including most major high-street brands
- £25 sign-up bonus via referral link after £60 qualifying spend
- Monthly payouts to bank transfer or PayPal
- No cap on referral earnings
Things to consider
- Qualifying spend is £50 net of VAT, which is around £60 on most everyday purchases
- 90-day window to complete the qualifying spend
- Spend must be across multiple non-Amazon partner brands
- Cashback typically takes 60-90 days to confirm before payout
- Tracking can fail if cookies are blocked or you don't click through cleanly
- Smaller UK retailer catalog than [TopCashback](https://scrimpr.co.uk/offers/topcashback/) or [Quidco](https://scrimpr.co.uk/offers/quidco/)
Important Information
Eligibility: UK residents, 18+, new customers only unless stated.
Minimum spend: £60
Hold period: 90 days
Payout time: within 75 days of qualifying
Tracking: cashback tracking can fail if cookies are blocked or you don't click through cleanly. See my cashback tracking guide if you've had problems before.
Full T&Cs: Rakuten's offer terms →
Frequently Asked Questions
£25 once you've spent around £60 (£50 excluding VAT) across multiple non-Amazon Rakuten partner brands within 90 days of joining via my referral link. The £25 credits alongside any cashback you've earned along the way.
Rakuten measures the qualifying spend net of VAT, so for standard-rated items you actually need to spend around £60 gross to clear £50 net. For VAT-exempt items (books, children's clothing, most food) the gross and net values are the same, so £50 of those is enough.
No. Amazon purchases are explicitly excluded from the qualifying spend, even though Rakuten does offer some Amazon cashback. The qualifying £50 ex VAT must come from other partner brands, across more than one purchase.
The £25 bonus credits to your Rakuten account once your qualifying purchases have tracked. The cashback (including the bonus) then goes through Rakuten's standard 60-90 day pending period before it confirms and pays out monthly via bank transfer or PayPal. Expect roughly 2-3 months between completing the spend and seeing money in your bank.
Same rules as other portals - blocked cookies, browsing the retailer before clicking through Rakuten, or another browser extension overwriting the affiliate cookie. Click straight through from Rakuten to the retailer and finish the purchase in the same session. My cashback tracking guide at scrimpr.co.uk/save-money/cashback-not-tracking-fix/ covers the common fixes.
It's worth signing up because the £25 bonus is one of the bigger UK welcome offers, and Rakuten occasionally beats the others on specific retailers. For day-to-day use, TopCashback and Quidco usually have the better rates and the larger retailer catalogs - so check Scrimpr's cashback comparison before each purchase to see who's paying most.
You will be directed to the Rakuten website. T&Cs apply.
Advertiser Disclosure
Scrimpr may receive compensation when you click on links and sign up with featured partners. This does not influence my rankings or recommendations, which are based on independent research and analysis. All offers are verified before inclusion.
