Brits turn down free money

A 'social experiment' carried out by a cashback website took to the streets to try to offer people free money. Despite the fact they were trying to give people sums ranging from £5 to £50 with no strings attached, over half of all those approached by researchers turned the cash down.

Some 55% of people rejected the free money, including 85% of those over the age of 50. Those aged 18-30 were the most likely to take it - and 70% of this age group accepted the cash.

They carried out the experiment in London, Manchester and Brighton, and found that Londoners were the most cynical - with 70% rejecting the free cash (compared to 60% in Manchester and 35% in Brighton).

This was a stunt carried out by TopCashback.co.uk, to highlight the difficulties it has persuading people that if they sign up and use a cashback website they will get an average of £356 back every year with no strings attached.

Natasha Rachel Smith, Global Head of Communications at TopCashback.co.uk said: "2015 marks the tenth year TopCashback has enabled millions of people across the UK to make money with no catch, yet 90 per cent of the population are still turning their backs on cashback. To highlight this, and to show that some things aren't too good to be true, we hit the streets to see how Brits reacted to being offered cash. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the public were sceptical of the offer."

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Why?

On the one hand, this is a very positive sign. In the vast majority of circumstances there's no such thing as free cash, so if an offer like this looks too good to be true, it probably is. If we have learned to approach this kind of offer with cynicism, it bodes well for our ability to resist a scam based on the false promise of a windfall.

On the other hand, however, it highlights how important it is to be able to spot the exception to the rule - which includes cashback websites.

If you regularly buy anything online - from the weekly shop to clothes, books, DVDs, presents, insurance and utilities - you can make money from your purchases by doing so through a cashback website.

There are a number of sites on offer. Topcashback regularly receives plaudits because it passes up to 105% of the cash it gets from retailers onto shoppers, and gets good feedback. Quidco is also a popular site, and also offers competitive payouts.

There are also a number of sites that enable you to raise money for a cause close to your heart. Easyfundraising, for example, will let you set up an organisation or cause you want to raise money for. You simply get supporters to register on the site, and any cashback is paid to the good cause.

How they work

You simply sign up and then when you want to shop you go to the cashback site and click through to the retailer (given that sites can have deals with thousands of retailers there's every chance you'll find your favourites).

When you buy anything, a proportion of what you spend will be credited back to your account. This proportion varies widely between retailers and the cashback sites themselves, but on average shoppers with Topcashback get 7%.

The money will go into your account on the cashback site, some will let you take it out immediately, but in others you will need to build up to a minimum level before the site enables you to withdraw it. While it is on the site it's not protected, so regular users say it's best to withdraw cash as soon as you can, just in case.

But what do you think? Would you accept the free cash available from these sites? Or is there something holding you back? Let us know in the comments.

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