Quidco

Quidco is a popular UK consumer cashback site based in Sheffield and London. Quidco was the first UK website to pass on 100% of the cashback that it receives and it is kept up and running by holding back a £5 annual membership fee from each member’s earnings.
History
The site was launched in May 2005 by Paul and Jen Nikkel and Robin Lunnon in Sheffield. Quidco was notable due to being the only UK cashback website at the time that offered 100% of the cashback that it received from its affiliate network partners; cashback websites up until that point had typically given 50% of the cashback to their members and retained 50% for themselves.
How the cashback process works
Quidco uses intermediary partners known as affiliate networks to track the online purchases carried out by Quidco members. When the member clicks from Quidco to the retailer's site and completes their purchase, the affiliate network reports the transaction to Quidco and the purchase information appears in the Quidco member's account as 'tracked'. The reporting time for each purchase can vary from a few hours to several weeks, depending upon the regularity of the reports made by affiliate networks to Quidco. The transaction is then validated by the merchant and the cashback paid to Quidco; this process takes on average two to three months, although some Quidco retailers such as insurance companies may have longer validation periods in order to combat fraud.
Payment
The cashback is passed on to the member in the payments run at the end of each month. For payments under a total of £50, payment can be made via BACS to a UK bank account or to a PayPal address. As an anti-fraud measure, payments exceeding £50 must be made via BACS to a UK bank account.
Criticism
The tracking of transactions is based on cookies, so whilst the vast majority of transactions are tracked into member accounts, there are occasions where expected cashback earnings do not appear or where the tracked cashback amount is not the anticipated value. In this situation, the member will have to submit an earnings enquiry to Quidco's customer service team, which will investigate the enquiry and obtain a resolution within 60 days.

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