Ibotta makes a shady offer to users saying they can reward them with cash for shopping on items they buy on an ordinary day.
Sounds great at surface level but when one digs a little deeper all the lurking strings come in to play – and not in a nice way.
To even unlock the list of items users can get money for purchasing they has to complete a task. The user has to take a poll, play trivia or post on Facebook or watch a video ad.
This tactic is reminiscent of illegal video streaming websites where users have to do any of those aforementioned tasks only to be utterly disappointed when their video doesn’t load and their information is stolen and sold.
It gets worse.
Ibotta users only make $0.25 or $0.50 for each purchase. This is quite awful considering grocery stores are littered with these types of discounts or better deals.
Somehow, Ibotta has amassed 700,000 desperate shoppers. The sad part is that the average active user is only making $5 a month.
It won’t be long before people realize that they’re buying stuff they don’t need just to earn a few measly dollars. Or maybe not, you can ever discount the stupidity of humanity.