Great Canadian Rebates is a Canadian cash back site that offers a surprising variety of opportunities to earn cash back when shopping online. It also provides coupon codes, free shipping offers, cash back for (approved) credit card applications, and more.
The interface looks quite dated and can be clunky to navigate. But once you spend the time to figure it out, the cash back rewards available easily make the effort worth it, especially since there aren't any monthly fees or subscription commitments to worry about.
Great Canadian Rebates features
Here's an overview of Great Canadian Rebates's main features:
Why You Want It
Get a $3 sign up bonus + Refer a friend and earn 25% of their rewards.
Provinces
ALL
Features
Monthly Fee
$0
Mobile App
Available Retailers Estimate
900
Pay Via Cheque?
Pay Via PayPal?
Pay Via Amazon?
Pay Via Gift Cards?
Pay Via Electronic Fund Transfer?
Minimum Balance To Cash Out
$10
Pay Frequency
After a certain amount of time
Limited Payment Wait
58 days
Welcome Bonus
$3
Welcome Bonus End Date
N/A
Refer A Friend Offer
25% of your friend's earnings
Great Canadian Rebates product rating: 3.1 stars
Earning money on items you were going to purchase anyway is a pretty sweet deal – Great Canadian Rebates has cash back deals on groceries and meals, jewelry, hotel bookings, and much more.
Cash back is paid out via direct deposit, PayPal, or e-gift cards, but not via cheques. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait quite a while for that payout to happen, though, as GCR's policy is to wait 58 days to release these cash rewards.
Rating methodology
To calculate our Genius Ratings, we compare the features of the account or product in question with other similar products in Canada. We give each feature a score out of 5 based on that comparison. Once we’ve rated all the features, we run them through our proprietary algorithm to produce a final rating out of 5.
Learn more about our rating methodology.
The pros of Great Canadian Rebates
There's a lot to like about Great Canadian Rebates, but here are most noteworthy perks:
Pros
Multiple categories and earning opportunities
The dropdown menu starts with Apparel & Shoes and goes through Books & Media, Health & Beauty, Pets, and more, all the way down to Travel. But those are just the cash back categories. There are deals and coupon codes available for even more things, like credit card applications, free shipping promos, and internet services.
Flexible payment options
Great Canadian Rebates gives you the option of 3 different cash-out methods, leaving it to you to decide what you're comfortable with: e-gift cards, direct deposit, or PayPal. You should note that while the direct deposit and PayPal options both have a minimum requirement of $12 to cash out, gift cards have a slightly lower requirement of $10.
Bonus cash back for gift card cash-out option
To further encourage you to choose gift cards as your cash-out method, you can also get up to 4% bonus cash back every time you're paid out in a gift card. You can see the available gift cards as well as the bonus rate on their "About eGift Payments" page.
Referral bonuses too
When you refer a new member to GCR, you'll receive 25% of their cash back rewards – for three whole years. So if your friend makes $50 cash back every year during that time, you'd get $37.50 in bonus cash back from one referral. You'll be able to keep track of your referrals on your dashboard and receive the bonuses just like the rest of your cash back.
Canadian-owned and operated
Established in 2005, Great Canadian Rebates was and continues to be Canadian-owned and operated. This means that your money and business go towards helping the Canadian economy, plus you know that all associated retailers will ship to your Canadian address.
The cons of Great Canadian Rebates
There are a few things to keep an eye out for when it comes to using Great Canadian Rebates:
Cons
Outdated website design can make it clunky to navigate
The Great Canadian Rebates home page looks and feels rather old and clunky, and some might worry that the site isn't as trustworthy as something like the more modern Rakuten. You can rest assured that GCR is legit.
Long wait for payout
Though waiting for payouts isn't unique to Great Canadian Rebates, it can be frustrating, especially for first-time users. Having to wait almost two months at minimum for cash-outs is a long time. Plus, you have to wait until the closest business day to the 28th day of the month.
Great Canadian Rebates alternatives
Below you can see a side-by-side comparison of Great Canadian Rebates with some of its popular competitors:
 |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account | Great Canadian Rebates | GeniusCash | Rakuten | Paymi Rewards |
| Genius Rating | ||||
| Why You Want It | Get a $3 sign up bonus + Refer a friend and earn 25% of their rewards. | Earn up to $250 in bonus cash back + Level up your money & rewards. | Earn cash back with over 750 retail partners + $5 sign up bonus. | Earn up to 10% cash back with retail partners + Simple and free to use. |
| Monthly Fee | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Mobile App | | | | |
| Available Retailers Estimate | 900 | 20 | 750 | 100+ |
| Pay Via Cheque? | | | | |
| Pay Via PayPal? | | | | |
Show More | ||||
| Apply Now See more Great Canadian Rebates products Compare | Apply Now See more GeniusCash products Compare | Learn More See more Rakuten products Compare | Learn More See more Paymi products Compare |
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FAQ
Is Great Canadian Rebates safe?
Though the outdated look of the site can be off-putting for some people, GCR is a completely safe and legitimate cash back site. It's Canadian-run and has consistently paid out cash back bonuses since it began operating in 2005.
How does Great Canadian Rebates make money?
Like all cash back sites, Great Canadian Rebates makes money through commissions paid by the merchants they partner with. They pass part of this commission back to you in the form of cash back and other bonuses.
What gift cards can I get from Great Canadian Rebates?
At the time of writing, there are 42 different e-gift cards available for purchase and eligible for cash back from Great Canadian Rebates. There are 47 gift card issuers available for cash out options too.
What is the difference between "cash back" and "rebate"?
A rebate is an amount of money given back to you by a particular merchant that may or may not be provided instantly. Cash back is provided by a merchant or a third party and isn't typically provided instantly.
Editorial Disclaimer: The content here reflects the author's opinion alone, and is not endorsed or sponsored by a bank, credit card issuer, rewards program or other entity. For complete and updated product information please visit the product issuer's website.
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