If there’s one thing I’m a sucker for, it’s cashback reward apps.
The way I see it, if you can monetize your data and loyalty when purchasing things you already buy anyways, you might as well make some free money when you can.
My love for free rewards is the reason I’ve written posts like my Rakuten review or posts on money-saving browser extensions.
However, one of the downsides to many of these apps is that you have to remember to actually use them.
Between scanning receipts or pre-selecting stores, most reward apps require at least some effort.
That’s why today, I’m excited to take a look at the Pei app.
If you want to earn free cashback and Bitcoin, this app is an absolute must-download.
Time to break down how everything works in this Pei app review.
For even more ways to save, checkout:
- Capital One Shopping – Automatically apply coupon codes at checkout and earn credits which are redeemable for free gift cards. Note, Capital One Shopping compensates us when you sign up using the links provided.
- Drop – Another easy way to earn free cashback for shopping online.
Let’s get to it!
Pei App
Name: Pei
Description: Pei is a free reward app that lets you earn cashback and Bitcoin for shopping at your favorite stores
Offer price: Free
Operating System: Android & IOS
Application Category: Reward Apps
Author: Tom Blake
Overall
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Earning Potential
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Ease of Use
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Reward Options
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Partner Stores
What Is The Pei App?
If you’ve ever used apps like Drop or Dosh, you’ll know exactly what the Pei app is.
In a nutshell, this is another Fintech app that pays you for connecting your credit/debit cards and shopping at partner retailers.
Companies want to encourage shoppers to visit their stores. That’s why they partner with apps like Pei to create an easy, trackable system that rewards consumers for their loyalty.
If you’re an avid shopper and live in the United States, downloading the Pei app is a solid way to earn free cashback or Bitcoin.
After all, the Pei app works at more than 110,000 locations across the United States and is growing rapidly in popularity.
The question is, how do you get started?
How Does Pei Work?
If you want to get started with this nifty rewards app, the entire process is pretty straightforward.
1. Install PEI & Signup
The Pei app is available for free for both Android and IOS devices. Again, you have to live in the United States to use this app.
Once you install the app, you just need to provide your name, address, and email address.
If you want a free $5 bonus, use the Pei referral code pei2020 when signing up. This will credit $5 into your account as soon as you open it.
2. Link Cards
Like Drop, Pei requires you to link your credit and debit cards to the app so they can track your spending to detect when you shop at an eligible merchant.
The fact that Pei accepts debit and credit cards is nice, and it’s important to note that Pei rewards are stackable with many other reward programs.
So, if you have a favorite cashback rewards credit card, you usually don’t have to worry about voiding those rewards.
Plus, Pei also lets you link an unlimited number of cards, so no playing favorites!
As for security, the Pei app is safe to use.
Pei uses the same level of encryption as popular Fintech and investing apps like Acorns and Robinhood.
Additionally, Pei uses 2-factor verification and 256-bit encryption and doesn’t store any of your personal information.
Once you link your cards, you’re ready to start earning rewards for your spending!
3. Shop & Earn
As mentioned, Pei works at over 110,000 locations across the United States, which is pretty sweet for such a new app.
Additionally, here are some popular stores that work with the Pei app:
- Lyft.
- Target.
- Uber.
- H&M.
- Game Stop.
- Sephora.
- Starbucks.
- Chipotle.
- Nordstrom.
- Trader Joe’s.
- Taco Bell.
And many, many more.
You can earn up to 20% cashback for shopping at partners, although most partners pay 1-2% cashback.
Honestly, this matches a lot of reward credit cards you’ll find, so I don’t think it’s a weakness for Pei.
Besides, this is free money, and the Pei app usually stacks with apps like GetUpside and other similar apps you so you can really push your savings here.
Pei also has a “spend $20 get $2” category that rotates through different retailers, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a nice 10% cashback bonus at select stores.
Cashback is awarded in the form of points, and again, it’s entirely automatic so you never lift a finger.
4. Redeem Points
Your rewards can take up to 7 days to appear in your Pei account depending on your bank and the merchant. You can view your existing balance under the “Points Earned” tab.
You need $25 to cash out through Pei, which is steep. This is the unfortunate nature these days of many passive income apps and reward programs.
However, if you earn approximately 2% cashback from shopping at Pei partner stores, you can definitely hit this $25 redemption limit at least once per year (probably more if you do most of your household’s shopping).
To cash out, you have 2 options: PayPal or Bitcoin.
PayPal is obviously quite straightforward since you just use the email associated with your PayPal account.
For Bitcoin, Pei uses a batching system to group transactions to prevent individual members from paying transfer fees on their Bitcoin.
In some instances, you’ll pay a small fee, but this isn’t common.
If you’re a fan of free Bitcoin rewards, I also suggest checking out our Lolli extension review to earn even more Bitcoin for shopping online.
Pei also offers several free gift card options including Amazon, AMC Theaters, Nike, GameStop, and more.
Need somewhere secure and easy to deposit your Bitcoin?
Other Ways To Make Money With Pei App
I wanted to update our Pei app review since there have been some awesome changes to this platform to help you save even more!
1. Cashback Boosts
Another way to earn more cashback with the Pei app is to activate cashback boosts.
This boost lets you earn an additional 1% cashback on everything you buy with a specific card for 48 hours (up to 500 points in bonuses).
Note that the merchant doesn’t have to be a Pei partner store for cashback to credit.
To activate this boost, you need to earn points from using the app and doing things like:
- Inviting friends to the Pei app.
- Shopping at the same retailer 5+ times.
- Linking a new card to the app.
- Shopping at sponsored/preferred merchants.
You need 20 points to activate a cashback boost. If you just use the app and put in some effort, this should be easy to accomplish, and you can save these boosts for a major shopping trip.
2. Try The Pei Browser Extension
As mentioned, money-saving browser extensions that help you save more money online are pretty awesome.
So, the fact that Pei has created a new browser extension is definitely great news for this platform.
Like Honey and Rakuten, Pei’s extension helps you earn rewards automatically when you shop online.
The extension currently supports more than 8,000 retailers, and you earn bitcoin or cashback for shopping at Pei partners.
You can also earn bonuses for sharing links with friends right from the extension, which is also an awesome feature for this extension.
3. Deals Dashboard
Another new Pei feature is the deals dashboard, which lets you find the best prices for products online and in-store.
The deals dashboard lets you search for specific products and merchants to start your shopping search.
You can also filter for products by:
- Ratings.
- Price.
- Cashback %.
- Under or over $100.
- New products.
Searching for products is nice because you get a list of stores offering cashback and some deals on prodicts.
If you’re shopping for a big-ticket item, I especially recommend trying out this feature to see if you can find a significant discount at a retailer you don’t normally think of.
What’s more is that Pei has also rolled out a new price drop feature:
This is awesome because if the price is something is too high, you just save it to Pei’s price drop list and wait for a better time to buy!
Ultimately, it really seems like Pei is starting to compete with the big boys like Capital One Shopping, and it’s nice to see this platform is becoming more robust.
4. Shop Online At Pei Merchants
I wanted to update our Pei app review since the platform has made some big changes lately.
Now, it’s possible to shop at Pei merchants online from your computer and to earn cashback.
There’s actually an impressive number of merchants and cashback rewards, including:
- Walmart – Earn 2.8% cashback.
- Walgreens – Earn 1.4% cashback.
- CVS – Earn 0.7% cashback.
- Booking.com – Earn 2.8% cashback.
- Foot Locker – Earn 5.6% cashback.
Ultimately, it looks like the Pei app is now a nice middleground between reward apps like Drop and reward websites like Honey or Rakuten.
This is the best of both worlds in my opinion since it adds flexibility to how you earn rewards.
5. Trade Bitcoin & Earn Interest!
There’s been a massive update to the Pei app that I saw on Twitter today, so I had to update our review.
According to Pei, users can now trade Bitcoin directly in the app and also earn 4% APY on holdings, calculated daily.
This is a massive update for the app because it not only makes it easier to buy Bitcoin, but it also lets you put your crypto to work to generate passive income.
This is a similar concept to BlockFi, which lets you earn interest on your Bitcoin holdings to benefit from having crypto.
I think this update bodes very well for the future of the Pei app, and really, it cements Pei as an app for people who want to earn crypto.
I still think this is an awesome cashback app, but it’s clear that crypto is now the focus of the platform.
Pro Tip – Put Your Crypto To Work With BlockFi!
BlockFi lets you earn up to 8.6% APY interest on your crypto. There’s aslo up to a $250 account opening bonus going on right now!
Earning Potential
The easiest way to calculate how much money you can make with this app is to just download it, view the complete list of merchants, and do some guesswork.
Cashback amounts are subject to change, but if you check the Pei partners you shop at most frequently and estimate how much you spend per year, this is a good ballpark guess.
Again, most offers just pay 1% to 2% cashback, and your earning potential is truly limited by how often you shop.
If you use the new deal dashboard and extension, you can also increase your monthly earnigns with Pei.
Ultimately, I wouldn’t be surprised if you can earn an easy $50 to $100 per year with this app (or even more) if you pay attention to where you shop and use all the features.
Other Pei App Reviews
Once again, I like to round out these review posts by seeing what the consensus is (if there is one) about the app in question.
The Pei app is fairly popular in communities like Reddit beermoney.
In fact, the CEO of Pei even chimes in on threads, and they’ve done gift card giveaways as a way of saying thank you in the past:
You can also find plenty of praise that looks like this:
Now, the Pei app actually changed from a $15 cash out minimum to $25 a few months ago, and this, alongside possible security concerns, stirs up threads like this:
I will say that the Reddit beermoney community is, in my opinion, notorious for wanting their cake and eating it too.
Pei is free money at the end of the day that takes zero effort on your part. Sure, a $25 limit is high, even for reward apps, but you can definitely hit it once per year or more if you regularly shop at their partners.
As for security, you have to be careful with any sort of rewards app.
You’re selling your data at the end of the day and linking your cards to yet another platform. Read their privacy policy and decide if it’s worth it or not.
If you want more peace of mind, it’s also worth noting the app has between a 4 and 4.8 star review on both app stores and thousands of ratings as well.
Pros & Cons
Time to wrap up this Pei app review by examining a few pros and cons of going with this rewards app.
The Pros
Undoubtedly, the main benefits of this app include:
- Absolutely passive income.
- Decent reward variety.
- 1% cashback boost option.
- $5 invite bonus.
- Works with thousands of stores across the country.
The Cons
While I think Pei is doing some awesome things and is making a name for themselves in the reward app space, there are a few downsides:
- High cash out minimum.
- Fewer ways to earn money than apps like Drop, that let you shop directly through the app or activate more boosts.
- The app still has some glitches and cashback sometimes doesn’t credit according to angry Redditors.
Frequently Asked Questions
I thought I’d wrap up our Pei review with a few of the most commonly asked questions people have about this nifty app.
1. Is Pei App Safe?
The Pei app is safe to use.
According to their policy: “Pei uses the same process as Acorns, Robinhood, and Transferwise to link to cards. Pei even takes it a step further by implementing a 2 factor verification process that utilizes end to end, 256 bit encryption.”
The bottom line is this app uses the same security protocols as other FinTech apps.
I still suggest reading the privacy policy so you understand what data you’re sharing. However, this app is legit and safe.
2. Is There A Referral Program?
Yes!
Pei has a $20 referral program which is the highest referral bonus I’ve seen in the world of reward apps I’ve seen besides Rakuten.
Now, this only gives the person who refers you $20, not new signups sadly, but new accounts get a $5 sign up bonus from my understanding!
Sign up for Pei with my link to help support This Online World and earn $5! 🙂
3. What Other Apps Like Pei Are There?
If you’re looking for some Pei altenatives to earn cashback, I suggest checking out:
- Drop
- Dosh
- Rakuten
- Bumped (great for earning free stock rewards!)
- Honey
- TopCashback
- Slide
You can also checkout our post on apps like Fetch Rewards for a list of grocery reward apps that are similar to Pei.
Again, I think Pei is best for anyone who wants to earn Bitcoin as a form of cash back for shopping.
If you’re just interested in PayPal cash, I think Rakuten is likely the better platform. But for crypto fans, go with the Pei app!
Final Thoughts
For the longest time, Drop was my favorite rewards app because it let you earn passive income at 5 stores of your choice.
These days, Drop takes a lot more work. That’s why it’s refreshing to see apps like Pei and Dosh going back to passive roots.
However, this passive nature comes at a price. You don’t have to put in any work for this app once you link your cards, but don’t expect to get rich either.
In my mind, the Pei app is a great set-and-forget app that you check out once every few months to redeem some fun prizes.
If you’re looking for more serious ways to make money, I definitely suggest turning to gig economy apps or different ways to make money online.
But, if you just want pure and free money for being a loyal consumer, download Pei and give it a try!
Thanks so much for reading! I hope this Pei review has helped clarify what you should expect from this rewards app.
If you want even more nifty apps and programs to save money, I suggest checking out:
- UpVoice – An easy way to earn $75 per year for browsing the web.
- S`more App – Earn $0.10 per day just for unlocking your phone.
- Mobile Performance Meter – Another easy $0.10-$0.30 per day for running your phone.
- MobileXpression – Earn $5 per month or so just for being part of this mobile research panel.
You can also checkout a recent video I made on passive income ideas for beginners:
Catch you guys in the next one!
Tom is a full-time blogger and freelance writer with a passion for side hustling, passive income, and the gig economy. His work has appeared on dozens of personal finance websites like Money Crashers, The College Investor, Investor Junkie, and more. This Online World is all about providing people with honest ways to make and save more money by using technology. To learn more about Tom, read his About Page!
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