(EXPIRED) 30% back on first Slide app purchase, 7% back for existing users

Topcashback is offering 30% cash back on your first Slide app purchase or 7% cash back for existing users. This stacks on top of the standard 4% back on gift cards so it can make for some outstanding deals for some brands. There are some moving parts here, so the deal may not be for the faint of heart or those who can’t be patient and follow up if necessary, though my experience has been good so far.

The Deal

• Shopping portal TopCashBack is offering 30% cash back for new Slide app users on their first purchase (note the terms indicate that you can not pre-fund your account or you will miss out on the 30%). Existing users get 7% cash back.
  • Direct link to this offer on TopCashBack
• If you’re new to the Slide app, you can get $5 off each of your first 4 orders when signing up through a referral link (and the person who refers you will also get $5 off each of our next 4 orders as well). Feel free to sign up with one of our links:
  • Stephen’s Slide referral link.
  • Nick’s Slide referral link

Key Terms

• Cash back is not eligible on pre-funding the Slide Balance and unfortunately the transaction of funding the account does count as a first transaction, therefore making the user an “existing user”. Translation: don’t pre-fund for your first purchase
• New customer bonus is only valid on a single gift card purchase.

Quick Thoughts

The Slide app is owned by Raise and sells first-hand gift cards to major retailers with cash back (not secondhand cards as can be the case on Raise).

Slide offers a standard rate of 4% cash back across the board.

When buying gift cards, you have two basic options:

1. Buy a merchant gift card directly with your credit card
2. Pre-load your slide account with your credit card and then use the pre-loaded money to buy the merchant gift card.

You earn additional cash back for pre-loading your Slide account with money (2% cash back for pre-loading with a debit card or 1% for pre-loading with a credit card). Essentially, you either straight up by a merchant gift card with your credit card and get 4% cash back or you sort of deposit money to your Slide account with your credit card or debit card and use that money to buy the gift cards you want. The advantage of pre-loading is that you earn a bit more cash back.

If you’re new to Slide, skip the pre-loading on your first order because there have been reports of that action making you an “existing customer” who would then only qualify for 7% cash back (and indeed the terms at TopCashBack note this). If you are new to Slide, for your first order you just want to buy a merchant gift card with your credit card. For future gift card purchases after the first purchase, you may want to pre-load for the extra 1 or 2% cash back.

The biggest deal here is obviously for new users. Since Slide offers gift cards for many popular stores, you can essentially pick a store and get a total of 34% cash back; that’s 30% cash back from TopCashBack for clicking through from TopCashBack to place your first Slide order and 4% cash back from the Slide app itself. The 4% back from Slide is available right away in your Slide account, but the 30% back from TopCashBack takes many weeks. I started with Slide in early November and my cash back from my first order is still pending with TopCashBack more than a month later.

Note that while I’ve had very good experiences with TopCashBack and they have generally been good about honoring big payouts even when they were an error, there is obviously some risk of things going sideways. It’s always worth looking before you leap and being sure you are ready to follow up if required. Any portal is only as good as the merchant ultimately paying out the new user bonus.

To give a concrete example, Slide offers Southwest Airlines gift cards. If you are new to Slide, here are the mechanics:

1. Sign up for Slide through someone’s referral link and create an account (by using a referral you get an additional $5 off each of your first 4 orders)
2. Click through TopCashBack on your phone to go to the Slide app and buy a gift card.

Assuming you click through TopCashBack when making your first purchase with the Slide app and you purchase a $105 Southwest gift card, you should receive:

• $5 off for a net cost of $100 (instant discount)
• $30 back from TopCashBack (takes many weeks)
• $4 back from the Slide app (available right away)

However, if you are an existing user you would only get 7% back from TopCashBack (you will get the $5 discount for each of your first 4 orders when signing up through a referral).

Whereas in the past as a new user you could pre-load your account (for an additional 1-2% back) and still get the 30% back on first purchase from TopCashBack, there are reports that you can no longer double dip with the new user offer, so don’t pre-load on your first purchase.

As I said, I started buying from Slide just last month. I was able to sign up for Slide through a referral link which gave me an additional $5 off each of my first 4 orders and the 30% back (actually 31% back at the time) is pending in my TopCashBack account. YMMV because there are a lot of moving parts and this is a big offer, though it isn’t the first time that TopCashBack has offered this much for new Slide users (they have previously offered 31% and 32%). Slide offers some very popular merchant gift cards. In travel-related cards, some that may interest travelers include Amtrak, Airbnb, Carnival and other cruise lines and Southwest Airlines.

H/T: GC Galore

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