Many of you have read my Ibotta Review and liked the idea of getting paid for going grocery shopping. If you happen to be one of those people, you will probably going to want to sit back and read my Receipt Hog Review. Because it's the same concept. But is it worth your time and does receipt hog work? Well, that's why you need to read the article silly. So let's dive into it.
What is Receipt Hog?
Receipt Hog ( Receipthog.com ) is basically a free smartphone app that is used to collect research on customer spending habits and preferences. This app is owned by InfoScout. InfoScout is a market research company that has developed a few apps that collects research information for companies using people's smartphones in return for rewards.
How Does Receipt Hog Work & Make You Money?
First, you need a smartphone, then you need to download the FREE receipt hog app at the Google Play or Apple App Store. Did you know you can get paid for downloading apps like this and taking surveys on Swagbucks.com? Now you do! Once you've done that you're ready to earn rewards. You basically need to take pictures of your shopping receipts using your smartphone and the receipt hog app. In return you earn rewards known as coins that can be redeemed for real cash via Amazon e-Gift cards or PayPal. I'll get into more details later about how the rewards work. But now you have the basic premise of the receipt hog opportunity.
How Do You Earn Receipt Hog Coins Quickly?
You earn coins in various ways. But it all depends on the type of receipts that you are snapping pictures with the app.
When you snap a picture of a qualified receipt using the app you can earn a sweepstakes entry for their monthly drawing. Their monthly sweepstakes drawing could earn you up to 5,000 coins!
You can also earn spins instead of coins, depending on the retailer on your receipts. If you earn a spin you can use it in the receipt hog app's Hog Slots area, which is like an online slot machine. When you use the spin you earned there, you have a chance at even more coins and 1 lucky winner each day will win the value of their last shopping trip in coins.
Receipt Hog rewards their active users by providing them additional ways to earn rewards including short surveys, barcode scans, and even more spins on the Hog Slots.
How Much Are Coins Worth In Real Money?
So you've read all the ways you can earn coins and how they can be redeemed as real cash using PayPal or as Amazon electronic gift cards. But you're probably wondering how the coins translate into real money. Well, let me break it down below. Just keep in mind that the values were presented at the time of this review. It may change by the time you read this and you may need to visit their site to get the update values.
The app gives coins based on how much was spent on the receipt. Here is the breakdown:
- If you spend $10 you can earn 5 coins
- If you spend $10-$50 you can earn 10 coins
- If you spend $50-$100 you can earn 15 coins
- If you spend $100+ you can earn 20 coins
Now in terms of actually redeeming the coins for cash, here's the breakdown:
- You need 1000 coins to get $5 (which is the minimum needed to cash out).
- You need 1800 coins to get $10
- You need 3200 coins to get $20
- You need 4500 coins to get $30
Swagbucks.com works in the same way, but offers more ways to earn rewards quickly. SurveyJunkie.com just pay you in straight cash if you don't want to deal with points.
How Soon Do I Get My Rewards?
So, assuming you have racked up enough coins to redeem an Amazon e-gift card or cash via PayPal, you may be wondering how long will it take to get my money. Well, it doesn't look like you have to wait long. Once you've requested your coin redemption for real cash, receipt hog will usually send it out within 7 days.
Receipt Hog Cheats & Hacks
So if you're a naughty boy or girl looking for a receipt hog cheat, here's one that you may want to try that probably won't get you in trouble.
Apparently some have suggested that you “break-up your spending at stores into smaller individual purchases. This way you can have more receipts to snap. More receipts at a lower total spends will allegedly bring in more coins than less receipts of a higher total spent. I'm not sure if this is true or not. But it might be worth a shot.
Receipt Hog Complaints
So far this all sounds pretty good. But nothing is perfect and neither is Receipt Hog. There are definitely some complaints or areas of concerns with this opportunity. They may not be deal breakers for you, but they're worth noting.
You're Can't Make A Living.
A lot of people that look to work at home are looking to replace or supplement their income so they can pay their bills. If that's you then Receipt Hog isn't designed for you. It's really more of a way to make a bit extra money on things you may purchase anyway. But you can't quit your job and depend on this app to support you. If you're looking to make that transition to a team then you may want to check out My Top Free Work At Home Recommendation.
No Dumb Phones Allowed
In this day and age, most people have smart phones. Even my parents have them. But there are a lot of folks that don't have them for whatever reason. These folks still use things like a flip phone, typewriter and a VCR. If you don't know what any of these things are then I've aged myself. But regardless you need a smart phone like an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy to use the receipt hog app to make money. If you don't have a smartphone, you can earn money using Swagbucks.com & SurveyJunkie.com.
You ain't reading my emails
Apparently Receipt Hog has an Email Connect Program so users that receive email receipts can still earn coins. But to participate you need to allow the Receipt Hog program to read your e-mails to collect information from e-receipts. Receipt Hog claims they only read the email of certain retailers with this program. But I think some people would be concerned about the privacy aspect of engaging in this program. Fortunately, it's not required to use receipt hog.
You better be active.
Apparently, after 3 consecutive months of inactivity,Receipt Hog may freeze or eliminate your account. I'm not sure if you receive an email before this happens. But it would really suck if you racked up coins that you were saving for later and they shut down your account.
Don't You Want Me To Share?
Unlike Ibotta, Receipt Hog doesn't have a referral program. Talk about dropping the ball. As many of you know I make a great living sharing companies I have researched that can help you make money. Most companies want you to share their opportunity so they can get more people in. The smart ones reward their existing members to recruit others. Setting up a referral program usually means everyone can win. But apparently Receipt Hog doesn't. So that sucks.
So Is Receipt Hog A Scam?
Receipt Hog does seem to work and people are making money. Even with the minor complaints I mentioned it may still be worth a shot because you can get paid some extra money for something you're already doing. But you definitely can't look into this as a way to make some real money. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this company. So please leave a comment down below.
What's A Good Alternative?
I've already mentioned Ibotta is a similar program you can try as well. But it still has the same limitations of not being able to make you real money and you still need a smart phone. Now if you're looking to make real money that can be used to supplement your current income or replace it totally, then you may want to look into my #1 Free Work At Home Recommendation. It's what helped me earn a full time income online and it's also the reason you found my blog. So you may want to consider it, especially since you have nothing to lose.
If that's not up your sleeve or if you want multiple streams of income, I would also encourage you to check out SurveyJunkie.com and SwagBucks.com.
I personally have found Receipt Hog almost laughable to a sense. The rigged hog slot spins only reward maybe 5 points, yet never land on the 100 and 500 coin awards. And 1/3 of the receipts I scan are either rejected as ‘out of date’ or past threshold even if I only scanned 2 from the same store.
Why can’t I use my 40 dollar visa??
I’ve tried on line and at a store and it won’t work??
You need to contact them about this.
Still cant connect email or amazon to this account … is anyone having this problem. i have receivedcash back so not gonna complain
I received my Visa card but cannot locate. Was supposed to be in my wallet but it’s not. Any one know how I can locate it
I have been using Receipt Hog Since 2016 I have cashed in $90.00 and about to cash in another $40.00. No you are not going to get rich off of it, but its free cash and it takes me no time to upload receipts. I’m not going to complain about a little free cash for really not a lot of time or energy spent. I sometimes forget or get busy and don’t do it for a while or would have a little more.
My first Cash out was in April of 2015.
I use the app weekly and since then I have Cashed out $250 to my PayPal account. So No I can’t quit my day job, but if someone handed you $40 bucks for the time it takes you to snap a few photos on a weekly basis, It would be silly not to take it. I have realized, because I have tried to turn family members on to this, that most people are lazy and won’t do any extra work.
I haven’t cashed out yet, so I can’t say whether or not it is a scam. No matter how legitimate this app truly is, I would never recommend this to anyone. I’ve been using this app for over 15 months, and I haven’t even racked up $25. I upload around 3 receipts a week, with them all averaging from $15-$20. All this might be worth tolerating if they had a referral program, like Ibotta or Fetch. Unfortunately, they don’t. This app is in no way worth the hassle and privacy loss.
Thanks for sharing your point of view and experience about them.
oh what the hell???? I’ve recently started to use this app and I thought all seems good but now I read on here not so, I found another app though called Shoppix that’s looking good I think, anyone with experiences with that? I’m just doing it to get a bit extra money for Christmas etc
I cashed my coins in for three 40.00 Visa cards. I have never received them and it’s been over a month. On my hog receipt account it says they sent me 3 of them so I keep telling it to resend me the email link. I have also emailed them 3 times with no response so I think receipt hog is a hoax
That’s weird Tracy. I would contact them on social media as well to see if they’re more responsive.
I got to level 13 and redeemed for $40 Visa Gift Card. Received the gift card via email. Tried to use it on line at 2 national retail chain stores and was declined both times. Receipt hog takes no accountability and says to contact their provider. The provider shows a $40 balance and never responded back to me about the problem. Very shady provider. Don’t redeem for the Visa gift card.
That’s weird. Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully this isn’t the norm.
I haven’t been getting my spins!!!
That’s interesting.
I agree with Joe’s comment.
I have been using Receipt Hog and Fetch for about 7 months or so. I have earned $45 on my phone and another $5 on my husband’s phone. I’m currently at level 10 and worked really hard to reached the amount of coins needed for $40. But, when I was about 200 coins close to the amount required, they started to evaporate my coins right on my eyes. As I refreshed the page I saw the balance dropping multiple times. It was 15 and 20 coins at a time. When I finally got enough to cash out at $40. I cashed out and it’s been 3 days that payment has been processing. I uploaded several receipts since then and I had 55 coins. I came to check my balance and again a saw the number going down to 35 coins as I refreshed. I have contacted them and it’s been 5 days and no response.
Wow that’s really shady Ariel. Keep us posted as to what happens.
Been with R Hog since August of 2018. I been uploading my receipts left and right, and so far I ain’t even close to making squat!! I been wondering,”how long does it take to even make any dollars anyway??” I mean, geez, it’s not like I have one dollar receipts each time. Goodness but I’m beginning to think this app is a total waste of time. Week after week and months, I can’t even get close to making $5?? I’m going crazy. Plus them, win free coins? Sure is a rip off!!
That’s crazy June. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Ive been using R-Hog for almost a year and have only netted $25 total. My biggest complaint is the dumb scam drawings! No one ever wins those and its a way for the app to slow users down from making any real progress or cash. They also cap you at a certain number of receipts each week then only give you 5 coins for receipts worth 10 or 20… Yet another way to slow users down. Inbox dollars is the worst of all! The two best are fetch and ibotta! I’ve consistently made lots of extra money effortlessly. I still use receipt hog bc it only takes a second to snap the receipts and even $5 every 3 weeks is still free money. Bottom line Ibotta and fetch are the way to go.
Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s always interesting to read how one person loves a company like ibotta or inboxdollars and then another hates it. That’s why it’s important for people to try things out themselves to see what works for them or not.
This app. is now available in Québec. As you may or may not know, french is the official langage here. And so are the receipts we send. With the date in the french format which is: DAY/MONTH/YEAR.
You can imagine how they read it, wherever they are in the US. So, one after the other, they refuse them, and I have to write to them that their reading of the date is incorrect. I am still trying. 367 coins now…
That’s crazy. You would think they would train their staff to understand these nuisances. SMH. I hope they get it together.
I’ve used Receipt Hog, Wal-Mart Savings Catcher
and Ibotta. Savings Catcher is totally effortless, as you just take a picture of the bar code at the bottom of the receipt. Then you can use it at the checkout once it has applied to your account. Receipt Hog is pretty effortless as well (just take a picture of the receipt and rate the business), but since I cashed in, it’s taking forever to rack up coins. Ibotta seems to be the time taker for me. You have to go through screens of eligible products, which we don’t use that many of anyway. They tend to discontinue some we actually do use regularly. Alcoholic drinks on the other hand, seem to be plentiful on that app. You also have to be careful to pick the exact name on the product, or it won’t count (such as the pork loin roast we bought once that didn’t show up). Once you select the item(s) you bought, you have to scan in the bar code on the actual product. If you don’t record it right away, and you already threw away the packaging, you can’t use it. So for me, Ibotta is the difficult app to use
Thanks for sharing your detailed insight and experience Sheila!
Tried to post a comment and when I said it wouldn’t take, but this is a scam. So it probably won’t take this either
Nope your comment is good.
I love receipt hog. It is extremely easy to use. My account has not been cancelled as others have mentioned. i Have been a memeber for about year. I upload receipts every week and get my huundred coins. I believe receipt hog might be closing accounts for low volume users, since it does cost to have people on there there platform. Once again a great app to get some money back
Thanks for sharing your experience David.
Receipt Hog is just what it says it is a HOG!! I made enough points to get $60. I tried to cash out and they deleted my account. Emailed them 5 times with zero response. TOTAL SCAM, DON’T DO IT!!!!!!
I like your blog and how you interact so promptly with everyone. Hugs…RO
I’ve earned five times as much from ReceiptHog as I have from SavingStar, iBotta, Snap by Groupon (old grocery version) and Checkout51. Why? because every receipt is worth points. All other grocery receipts offer rebates on specific items only. It takes no time to upload a receipt and recycle it. I’m just a money-saving mom. Plus, you’re earning on stuff you buy anyway. Unless you don’t buy groceries, gas, coffee, clothes, ink, etc.
Since Nov. 2014 (3-years) I’ve made $260. I make sure and upload every receipt, which is great as then I have a photo record of what I’ve spent. We shop for fresh produce quite daily and earn at least 100 coins a week, on organic produce, flour, milk, dried beans, a few canned goods and other grocery purchases, plus more for hard goods and surveys the app has… $80-$90 a year isn’t much but it’s not zero either.
Yeah, you can definitely make some money and that’s good. It’s just not something you can really depend on for consistent large amounts of income.
I was with receipt hog for about 3+ years at the beginning was GREAT racked up coins fast but the changed everything I received around 80.00 all together but then they dropped me about 5 months ago
That’s crazy. Did they give you a reason?
It is a scam. As soon as I had enough points to earn a reward, they deleted my account and said they would let me know if they could allow me to “join” at a later date. I spent time doing this stupid thing and didn’t get what they said! Don’t trust them.
I’m sorry to hear this was your personal experience. Did they share if you violated their rules that you weren’t aware of?
Odd…….I read many,of the reviews above and see they are dropping people left and right. Yet, I signed up about 2 months ago with no problem and have not yet received the drop email. But, I have also not cost them anything as far as a payout, yet, either. Does not sound like it will be worth the effort to continue with this one.
Thanks for sharing your insight Sue.
been with them for a while. it takes a year or more to make that $30 tier for 4500 points, and worst of all, they just lowered the pay to $25 for 4300 points. whats next, upload receipts for 10 years for $5 or no pay at all?
Thanks for sharing your experience “Al bundy”. Lol
it says they award shopping reimbursements etc. How do we know they are REALLY doing that?
I have been with receipt hog for over a year. They just decided to dowin size their participants. I am highly unsatisfied with this app. Stay away is my advice
Hey Mary,
I heard the same thing. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Its really an easy app to use that doesnt take much time or effort to use. Combined with apps lime ibotta, and uploading receipts in my free time, just easy money to me, even if it takes a while to add up.
Glad you like it Jeff.
I was dropped as well. Not sure why?
They sent a note that they’re no longer profitable so they can’t afford to reward members.
Receipt Hog is dropping me as well. I’ve used it faithfully for a couple years & have only made about $40. Not with the effort, but I enjoyed using the app. Guess they want to drop those that use the app to save money.
Apparently it’s just going that route.
Aaaanndddd they dropped me. They are terminating my account because they are losing money! Seriously!!?!? They said they are doing it to a lot of people. I GOT $1. Message is below:
The time has come, sadly, for us to part ways. It’s not you, it’s…us.
What you need to know:
Next Monday, March 27th at 11:59PM Eastern, you will no longer be able to log into the Receipt Hog app. (We’ll help explain why further down in this letter).
If you have 200 coins or more, you WILL be able to cash out via PayPal or Amazon gift card before March 27th at 11:59PM Eastern. You will be able to redeem the exact amount of reward that you have earned, to the nearest dollar that you have earned. (For example, if you’ve earned a coin equivalent to $8.05, you will be paid $8.00, even though you have only reached the $5 cash out tier.)
At this time, your receipts and any answers you may have provided on surveys will no longer be used by Receipt Hog.
Why are we breaking up?
All jokes aside, we are disappointed to have to let you and a number of our Receipt Hoggers go. The Receipt Hog community has grown exponentially in the past couple years (a great thing!), but that has resulted in us no longer being able to afford paying all of our Receipt Hoggers (not a great thing). As you know well, we pay a reward for each and every qualifying receipt that someone uploads. Too many people uploading receipts = danger of no more money.
That’s crazy. I will give them credit for being transparent and trying to do right. But it still sucks regardless.
Receipt hog just closed my account I don’t even know why.
That’s interesting. Did you read their terms and conditions to confirm you didn’t unknowingly violate some rules?
This app is fine, and I have had no complaints. Sure, it takes a while to collect enough to get actual money, but unlike other receipt apps, I don’t have to buy certain products or shop at certain stores. It takes a mere second to snap a picture of something you would normally toss right away, so complaints of hard work don’t make sense. I have cash out twice now, and while it wasn’t for a ton of money, it was for taking pictures of pieces of paper.
Now, for the downsides… there is a limit on the number of receipts you can submit in a rolling 7 day period, and that is 20. Also you can’t submit more than two from the same store in the same day. After you hit 100 coins for any submission period lasting 1 week, any receipt for any amount is worth 5 coins only. So it is best to submit the bigger receipts in the beginning, saving any small amounts for when you have reached 100 coins, as anything less than $10 in purchases would have made 5 coins anyway.
So I like it. It may be tedious to some, but besides those small issues, I enjoy using Receipt Hog.
Dave, thanks for sharing your experience.
It took me 18 months and a lot of work and receipts to reach $30. In the same time and less work I earned $200 on ibotta app. Won’t be using reciept hog any more!
Tammy, I can’t say I’m surprised. Ibotta pretty much started this thing so it makes sense they do it better.
What a joke receipt hog is
I live in the U.K…. at first it’s great, you go up the levels, then it’s more and more weeks between levels…I’m only on level13
I have 6600 coins… & it has over taken my life as I’m now obsessed with getting enough to get my £50 quid
It’s now FIFTEEN WEEKS before going up a level,
I’m even picking up receipts from the ground, to rack up the max amount of coins… it has turnedmeinto a total sado…but my goal is to see and post how long it takes to get to the last level, I have totally lost the will to live with this app..& the most you ever get on hog spins is 10-15 IF you’re lucky.. I figureto get to the last level, I’m looking at a few years yet!!!
The amount of hours I have put in is a joke..AND at the start of the new year they wiped off ALL receipts so you can’t refer to them if need be for a clothes purchase..etc…internet receipts are always rejected…. STAY AWAY FROM THIS APP-SAVE YOUR SELF”¼”¼
It sounds like you have a bit of an obsession there. lol And I suspect picking up random receipts that aren’t yours may be against their rules. So I’d be mindful of that.
It does take so long. I only made $30 last year in May. I have 400 more coins til my next $30. After this cash out I think I will close out my account. I just use Swagbucks and make $50-$100 per month on average.
I have 3800 points on Receipt Hog and been using it for a long time. How can I cash out?
You should contact them.
Why isn’t receipt hog not working. I have posted receipt and it showing processing
I don’t know. You should contact them directly. We don’t work for them.
Looks like I’ve had similar results to others on here… In several months time, I only made 431 coins (not even 1/2 way to the lowest limit cash out of $5.00) on Receipt Hog, but over $40 on Ibotta, and over $25 on shopkick!!! So yes, you do earn, but it takes sooo much more work than the others! For me, Ibotta is definitely the least time consuming & least overall hassle to deal with (while also the highest earning), and shopkick ranks 2nd (super easy to use & earn, although does take a while to rack up a lot of points), but I wouldn’t necessarily do Receipt Hog unless you were a stay-at-home parent/spouse with a lot of free time on their hands… Otherwise, I just don’t think the time and effort needed to submit all of the receipts are worth the small reward.
Thanks for sharing your experience and honest assessment. Most people seem to like Ibotta more. So I’m not surprised.
I have been using reciept hog for a year. I have only got 3300 couns and I submit the max (20 in 7 days). Thus eqals $20 and only to level 10. Its a lot of work. In the same time I have gotten $150 from ibotta app.
Hey Tammy,
Thanks for sharing your experience. That seems to be the common theme when others talk about sites like this. Ibotta is better.
So I appreciate your honest experience and feedback.
I have been trying to sign up for receipt hog for 5 months and they continue to tell me their full .. any idea how to get accepted ?
Why would you keep trying to sign up for a company that won’t help you. Move on to their competition.
It does take awhile, but I’m already spending the money….so what’s one extra step? I haven’t had any problems and I’ve been using it for a few months! I even won a bunch of coins on the monthly sweeps last month, so that made me happy.
I’m glad you like it. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I have had a problem with Receipt Hog not verifying my receipts correctly. Often flagging them for one reason or another then I have to challenge them, sometimes twice, then I get my credits. it is a hassle sometimes to think I am sending them in, and still not getting credit for them. There is no option to contact them, only a few select options to challenge it. After 2 challenges they will no longer let you challenge it. I had to submit it again and then it went through. Frustrating to say the least. I would be interested in working for them verifying receipts, but I can’t find a way to contact them for such.
That’s annoying. You would think they would make it easier to contact them to resolve this. Maybe you’ll have better luck with iBotta.
They used to have a referral program but now limited spaces left so had to stop. Just saying.
Thanks Abby. Either way its a shame they don’t have an ongoing one like Ibotta has.
When you take the numbers you were showing how much you need to spend for coins and then do the conversion back, it does take a lot.
Buying smaller amounts does give you more coins as you mentioned but I’m not sure I would want to deal with the hassle.
I would say from everything you have shown here that receipt hog is ok, it reminds me of how I collect air miles from my credit card. You’re already spending so why not collect.
For a business opportunity to make supplemental or a full income, your number one opportunity is the way to go to make money.
Thanks for the information.
I like your credit card analogy because it’s pretty much the same concept. Thanks for chiming in. I appreciate it.
I myself collect receipts especially of what I spend on my son. But I’ve been thinking about taking pictures of them because some receipts starts fading away. So if I send these receipts, is there a folder that can be saved in my account? That would come pretty handy too. I’m actually thinking about trying this out. Thanks for this info.
Hey Joon,
I don’t think it’s that type of app for what you want to do.
But it can definitely help you earn a little extra cash. Thanks for your comment.
Hey Eddy,
In reading your great review of this opportunity, I continue to be amazed at how “inventive” people who design these programs can be. This obviously is a program built around the premise that with a smart phone, one could make a little bit of extra cash for him/herself – over time basically by shopping. Spending money to make back a little money, lol!
In looking at how thoroughly you explained everything involved with Receipt hog it seems that, just is the case with so many other money-making “opportunities” out there, the odds are basically zero percent that a person could truly earn a living off of this.
I’m so glad that you spelled this out clearly as otherwise people would just go “all in” believing they could feed a family of four just through participating in this opportunity. Kind of like the people who believe that participating only in online survey taking will help them attain financial freedom.
The fact that you must participate in this venture by being constantly “active”, the email reading to collect personal info (which involves an invasion of privacy) along with the notion of no referral program are all huge turn-offs for me.
As you concluded one could make a bit of money pursuing this venture, but really there are much better ways – such as that #1 recommendation that you always promote in your articles – Wealthy Affiliate.
Sincerely,
Jeff
Thanks Jeff! I totally agree with you.
Are all picture snapped and sent to Receipt Hog reviewed by their staff? How do they know whether or not it is a real receipt? My guess would be that they can tell if it’s a barcode or not or something like that — is that correct?
Anyway, for me it’s probably too time-consuming and bothersome just for some coins that one thousand of them equal five dollars. That’s one man’s opinion, anyway.
I’m assuming that’s what happens Ben. They definitely have ways to confirm that the receipts are real otherwise this would be very easy to scam them out of money. But I agree it does some very time consuming for very little payout. But I can see how this is appealing to earn a little extra money for something that you need to do anyway. Thanks for chiming in.