A little over a week ago I shared how you can earn an additional 10% back IN STORE at Walmart (and online) using a new Facebook application called Endorse. Have any of you tried it yet? I’ve already got cash back sitting in my account and should receive my first check very soon!
Endorse isn’t just about recommending your favorite retailers though. You can endorse many of your favorite brands directly — even some surprising ones such as:
- Bud Light, Cuervo Gold, and Captain Morgan Coconut Rum — all staples at our Saturday college football game day parties!
- Walt Disney World — just another reason to spend some time at the happiest place on earth!
- Southwest Airlines — save on those rising airfare costs!
- AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas — have a date night for a bargain!
Endorse has just made POPing your receipts even easier. As an exclusive offer for Deal Seeking Mom readers, now you can email them in! This way you can hang onto those originals for exchanges, returns, rebates, etc.
POP by email is easy:
1) Take a picture of your receipt with your smartphone, camera, or scanner. One receipt per photo. Save the receipt to make sure we can use the image.
2) Email the photo(s) to [email protected].
3) Endorse will process your receipts and update your rewards balance. If we are not able to process your receipt image, we may email to ask you to try taking another image, or to send us the receipt in one of your free Endorse mailers.
Tips for taking good receipt images:
1) Flatten out your receipt, lay it on a flat table, and hold your camera directly over the receipt—taking these steps will give us the best chance of successfully processing your POP.
2) Make sure to include all 4 corners—we need to be able to see the entire receipt in order to process it. If your receipt is too large to fit in a single picture, send it to us in one of your mailers.
3) Always select the largest file size available to give us the best chance to read the image.
Checks are mailed automatically as soon as your earnings reach $25, so get started today. You’ll receive 10% cash back on your endorsements, and the best part is that when just 5 friends follow and purchase your endorsement, everyone gets 10% back and yours is FREE!
Karen G
Okay…so I get 5 of my friends to sign up underneath me and we all endorse Target. Then I make this large $500 purchase and turn in my POP. Then, my 5 friends send in their Target receipts. This would make my $500 bill completely free since Endorse would pay me back for my purchase?
Would this be repeated?
Sounds like Tara isn’t going to have to pay for anything at any of the stores because of us all endorsing the same pages she is endorsing. Cool deal if this is how it works.
Steven Carpenter
Karen-
You get it. The goal is to make this happen every time your mini-group shops for the same endorsement and POP’s. The math works like this: If you spend $500 at Target and your 5 followers also shop and POP at Target, you will be rewarded with the average that they spent. If they each spent $100 on average, you would get $100 back, rather than the $500. You can easily get that increased, the more you and your followers spend at Target.
Sara
When you say “endorsing” a product… what do we have to do, over and beyond clicking on the Endorse button, to qualify for the 10% back?
Steven Carpenter
Sara-
You simply need to click the “endorse” button for the products you love, buy them wherever you shop, and then POP- send in the receipt to us.
That’s it and just the beginning.
The more followers you then get for those endorsements and the more loyal you are by buying them over time, the more rewards you will be eligible for. The more you can focus on the product endorsements the better the service will work for you over the long term.
Dee
Steven-
Is there somewhere that explains this program in detail? I just signed up on FB and read what I could and I have to say that I still don’t get it! Do I have to buy something in order to endorse it? How do I get rebates? Do I have to have a smartphone? (waiting on iPhone 4S!) Lots of mystery here, but I would love to know more. Thanks!
Steven Carpenter
Hi Dee-
I’m sorry we weren’t more clear on the site. As I mention to everyone, we literally just launched and we are hard at work at all the details of Endorse, FAQ’s, a blog, etc.
Endorse pays you 10% cash back every time you buy your favorite products, shop at your favorite retailers, and eat at your favorite restaurants. The way it works is you click the “endorse” button first on your favorite things, then buy them as you normally do in the real world, and then send in your receipts as your “proof of purchase.”
You can do this through the free mailers we send you or by taking a picture of your receipts with your phone and emailing it to us. You do need a camera phone to do this, so just use the mailers that should arrive any day.
You can also get your endorsed and purchased products for FREE by getting 5 others to do the same. After you endorse Walmart, you can then share it to your friends. When they click on the link, endorse, and buy, you get the “credit” for their purchases. If 5 do so, you get 100% back for your endorsement.
Laura C
Is there any way to do this without Facebook?
Steven Carpenter
Laura-
We are a Facebook app and committed to working with them on combining commerce with your social network. In order to use Endorse, you need to use Facebook.
jamie
Steven, I have a question or two on this as well. I just got around to signing up today but have receipts from past purchases, would those be honored? Not receipts from like last year LOL. Like grocery shopping this weekend? Or if I had a Disney trip August 29-31? It would be great if this was popped lol, but would understand if i was only able to send in receipts from the date I signed up. Also someone else asked about endorsing products and them buying them at Walmart or Target, how would that work. Thanks. Jamie.
Meagan
Hi Jamie,
Steven answered your first question in my post above. Check comments 26 and 27. The answer to your second question was answered comments 29 and 30. You get 10%back on your endorsed product and also 10% back on your reciept for the endorsed retailer (suchas Walmart, Target, Cvs, Walgreens, etc)
Amanda
I am loving the idea of Endorse! For right now, I’m happy being a “beta” user of sorts and don’t mind until the FAQs come out, as it seems like a great perk to me and research & devt for the retailers/manufacturers.
My question is if I endorse Publix and Gillette Venus razors, shop at Publix and I use coupon for the Gillette razor, what do I get back? 10% of “what I paid” out of pocket for the razor (brand endorsement) or 10% of “MSRP” of the item? Just wondering since “coupons” are cash by manufacturer in some way. And, the same with the store endorsement for Publix, 10% back on total out of pocket, or MSRP? (Using 1 item purchase as easier scenario).
Sorry if this sounds confusing, just curious. Hope this wasnt previously answered. I know Tara and many Deal Seeking Mom followers use coupons…
Steven Carpenter
Hi Amanda-
Thanks for your patience during our beta phase.
Two answers:
1) You get 10% off your entire retail endorsement receipt and you get “credit” for the product-level endorsement as well- so 10% off both. Shortly, we will have product-specific badges and rewards so the more loyal you to your products and brands, and the more friends you have endorsing and buying, the more cash back you will unlock. Right now, in our early days, we are making it easy with 10% flat cash back each time you buy.
Remember everyone, the bulk of the long-term value of Endorse is in endorsing specific products and not just endorsing Publix. Also, you get 10% back on those purchases wherever you shop, not just at Publix.
2) Your earnings are based on what you paid out of pocket, so net of coupons. The MSRP, coupon, and retail sales world is so complicated and since we are an advocate for you, our customers, we base our rewards on what you actually paid, based on the receipt.
Jean
Ok – So I have 3 receipts from today. And I just signed up and Endorsed all my favorite brands and stores. Sent you an email with some of my favorites that were not available to endorse. ;-)
Now – I scan a 3 receipts separately and email each to you. I will get 10% back on the sub total of each receipt (not including the tax).
PLUS 10% on the actual items on the receipts of the physical products I endorse.
Once my 10% back accumulates to $25 then I get a check in the mail?
Just wanted to double check and verify that I am getting this right.
Thanks
Steven Carpenter
Jean-
You get 10% off your entire receipt and you get “credit” for the product-level endorsement as well- so 10% off each. Not double credit. Shortly, we will have product-specific badges and rewards so the more loyal you to your products and brands, and the more friends you have endorsing and buying, the more cash back you will unlock. Right now, in our early days, we are making it easy with 10% flat cash back each time you buy.
Don’t forget, Jean, you get 100% for getting 5 friends to do the same. After you endorse something, you can then share the link with your friends. When they click on the link, endorse, and buy, you get the “credit” for their purchases. If 5 do so, you get 100% back.
Yes, once your rewards reach $25, a check will automatically be sent to you. I hope you make Endorse part of your weekly shopping process as the more loyal you are to your endorsements, the more valuable the services becomes.
Melinda
Why do I have to allow endorse to post messages, videos and photos as me on my facebook page? That does not sound good to me. I don’t like someone posing as me on my facebook page.
Steven Carpenter
Melinda-
We have no intention of posing as you nor doing anything in Facebook without your permission. This is the permission Facebook makes apps like Endorse use to enable you to share endorsements with your friends on your wall. You are in full control of that.
I understand if you do not want to use Endorse given that we are a Facebook app.
Julie
Melinda, when you ‘Endorse’ a product you DO NOT have to click the link that says post on Facebook.
You can simply click the BACK button on your browser and choose another product or company.
As a matter of fact, when I have done multiple “endorsements’, I may post the first one and not the rest. I don’t want by FB friends to be overwhelmed.
Melinda
Thanks for clarifying!
Kerri S
I have tons of reciepts to email in , but I had a question . How do you know who’s receipts they are when you email them in ? Do you go by the email you used when signing up ? Just a little confused on how the whole email thing works!
Steven Carpenter
Kerri-
We tie your receipts to your endorsements in two ways: 1) each mailer is individually coded so we know which mailers come from which Endorse user, and 2) for receipts that are emailed into us, they have to come from your email address you use for Facebook and are then tied to your endorsements.
Please make sure you have endorsed before you shop and POP to get your rewards.
Christa
OK so WHO is funding this? How is the company Endorse able to pay people a % for their purchases?
Steven Carpenter
Hi Christa-
The idea for Endorse is to connect brands to their most loyal and most influential customers. Right now it is very difficult for a brand to reward their customers at scale for buying their products. By bridging the gap from online to offline, we are creating value for both consumers and brands and we will charge brands for the service.
Endorse has some partnerships with leading consumer packaged goods companies and we are backed by the same venture capital firm that funded Facebook, Diapers.com, Dropbox, Angry Birds to name a few.
We will be around for some time so I hope you do give us a chance and check out the service.
Roxy
What happens if I find a receipt on the ground? Can I take a picture of it and send it in?
Tara Kuczykowski
That wouldn’t really be in the spirit of the program since the goal is to reward loyal customers.
Roxy
Right, but it is a valid point.
Steven Carpenter
Roxy-
We take fraud very seriously and we have built systems to watch out for it. This is an area we will continue to invest in to make sure we can afford to run the service for the 99.99% of you that are honest.
Patty S.
Is there a way to print a list of my endorsements so I can have them for quick reference?
Steven Carpenter
Hi Patty-
We send you an email each Friday evening with a list of all your endorsements so you don’t forget to buy anything when you shop each week.
Beth G.
Got the notice that the emailing option is now *not* an option. Hope the email option comes back soon – I’m a receipt saver and hate to send away the hard copy, and I think it’s going to be harder to convince friends and family to do this now.
Beth G.
Can we mail in *copies* of receipts if the copy is legible and shows all 4 corners of the receipt?
Patty S.
I emailed several receipts today, before receiving the notice. Will I have to now mail those receipts? I agree with Beth; I don’t like to send away the originals.
Beth G.
I have endorsed Meijer, went shopping there yesterday and bought some Muir Glen Tomatoes and Cascadian Farms cereal (which I have also endorsed). The Meijer receipt lists the UPC number, the just says ‘tomatoes’ and ‘cereal’. Does endorse check all the UPCs on my receipt? Or do I have to somehow flag that these were endorsed products? Or am I out of luck since the receipt doesn’t spell out the specific brand?
Iero
I use a pseudonym on facebook. If I signed up for Endorse through my fb account, do you pull the name you’d put on the check from fb, or is there a part of the sign-up process where I’d enter my legal name?
Melinda
I tried to do this several times, but the site is SO SLOW. I never made any headway. When will this be fixed.
Travis
I noticed that Safeway and Kroger are included under grocery stores, but do you know if the endorsement also applies to their regional chains like Vons or Dominicks?
cassandra knepshield
I just got my first check from Endorse today for $72.89! Thank you for posting!
Nicolette
About how long do you have to wait to see your reward amount posted?
Tara Kuczykowski
Right now it seems to be around two weeks from when they receive your mailer.