update: checkout 51 actually does pay!

back in march, i wrote about checkout 51, a grocery app which lets you save on groceries. the premise is that it has various rebate offers each week (e.g., $2.00 back when you buy listerine mouth wash). you take a picture of your receipt, upload it to the app, wait 24-48 hours for it to be processed, and the amount gets credited to your account.

it took a whopping 7 months for me to accrue enough for a minimum cash out. some of the problems i had were:

• many of the products didn't interest me -- e.g., cereal offers for a guy who skips breakfast daily is unlikely to be helpful
• many of its offers weren't offered at a time when the major stores were having a sale for said item
• i became really, really lazy when it came to grocery shopping on a weekly basis
• starting a month ago or so, the app must have became quite popular because offers were actually running out by the end of the weekend. when offers run out, there are no more rebates to be had.

some of the nice surprising rebates this year were:

• $1 rebates for a single grocery store bill of $60 or more
• $1 rebates for a single grocery store bill paid with visa of $20 or more. this one worked nicely with the pivot visa.

so in early october, i hit enough to obtain the minimum cash out amount of $20.

account balance -- you need $20 to cash out

i hit the cash out button, entered in my details. i clicked send, and i received a nice confirmation:

cheque requested

and then a few weeks later, as promised, i received my cheque.

cheque received

so i can now say confidently that checkout 51 is legitimate. i'll still browse it every now and then and upload receipts when i can. i'm not expecting to become rich off of the app by any means, but $21 is still better than nothing.