Step by Step Guide To Shopkick

I was researching for a project when I stumbled upon someone talking about the Shopkick app. The writer mentioned that to earn points you didn’t need to buy anything; you merely had to check in at the store and scan products as you shop. Yes, that is right a shopping app where you can earn points even if all you do is browse. Of course, you earn even more points when you shop.

As a person who loves point earning programs that actually pay, I immediately knew I wanted to check Shopkick out and then report my findings to my readers so that you too could start earning gift cards through Shopkick.

Step by Step Guide To Shopkick

(Links in this post are affiliate links. I will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking those links. See my disclosure page for more information)

Sign Up For Shopkick

Follow this link to download the app.

Once it is downloaded sign up. use referral code CARD147023 at sign up to get 250 kicks.

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 Earn Points

There are nine different ways to earn points. Six of those ways don’t require you to buy a thing. You can earn points while out shopping or in the comfort of your home.  I will cover both below.

How To Earn Points With Shopkick While Out Shopping

Make Sure Your BlueTooth Is On

After you have signed up and downloaded the App, you will want to make sure you have your Bluetooth on when you are out shopping. That is how Shopkick figures out where you are at so it can offer you local deals.

Open Up The App While Entering The Main Entrance To The Store

Walk-in points are available while you are walking through the front doors of the store and they vary in value but are most often between 15 points to 50 points. The Shopkick app should bring up the store you are in automatically, but if it doesn’t you should be able to find it in the “kicks nearby” tab. Click on it and then click on the walk-ins icon and your points should be rewarded within seconds.

Click On Scans To View What Is Available To Scan

In the “Scans” area you will find a visual list of all the products that you can get kicks for scanning. For maximum rewards, you could scan everything available but what I did for this tutorial was make a mental list of what was available to scan for kicks and then as I saw them while shopping for items on my list I took the time to scan them. I saw several items available to scan as I shopped, so this plan gave me rewards for very little extra time spent shopping.

I saw Similac formula listed as a scan item across the aisle from the cottage cheese I was buying so I decided to make it my first scan.

How to Scan An Item: Simply click on the picture of the item in the list of items to scan that you are ready to scan.

Once you have the item in your hand go ahead and click the scan icon found on the lower corner of the picture of the item you are scanning (it will show the number of kicks you earn and have a bar code symbol on it).  You may have to give the Shopkick app access to your camera first once you do simply line up the item’s barcode inside the square space of the scanner and hold still. In a few short seconds it should say “verifying scan” on the screen and a second or two later it will flash with a picture of your kicks earned inside a blue circle.

Walk-ins and Scans are the two no purchase required activities you can do to earn points with Shopkick in store. Now let’s cover the ways you can earn points if you make an in-store purchase.

Upload Your Receipt

In some stores, you can earn points when you buy select items and upload the receipt when you are done shopping.

Link Your Credit Or Debit Card

This is something I haven’t personally done.  Essentially you can earn points in certain stores when you pay with a debit or credit card that you have linked to the Shopkick app. It takes 24 hours for the link to initially process, and you must run your transaction as a credit. You can find more details about this way to earn points in the Shopkick app in the Help section under “Questions and Support.” This is all found by clicking on the round person icon at the top of the app screen.

Should you decided to do this the point earning opportunities are quite good. When I looked, I saw stores offering as much as 5 points per dollar spent.

How To Earn Shopkick Points Without Leaving Your home

Click The Discover Tab

The discover tab is found at the bottom of the app screen (it looks like a book) click on it and you will see different topic sections such as “health and beauty” scroll through them and you just might find a short video you can watch for on average 3 to 5 points.

Click On The Invite Tab

Once you are hooked on Shopkick it is time to spread the word–and Shopkick rewards you for doing just that. Share your referral code found by pressing the Invite Tab with your friends. When they enter during the sign-up process they will get 250 points providing they perform a walk-in or scan within seven days of signing up and so will you.

Click On The Earn Tab And Then To The Kicks Online Tab

There are three different ways to earn in Kicks Online Tab. Two don’t require making a purchase, and one does.

Visit Online Stores

Scroll through the current listing of places you can earn points online and see if there is a smartphone icon beside it. If there is click on it and you will be taken to the store and earn a point or two for your time–no purchase needed.

View Online Products

This is the second point earning opportunity in the online area of Shopkick that doesn’t require you to buy anything. Just click on the eyeball icon and view products for points.

Purchase Through Featured Online Stores

Each store in this area should have a shopping cart by it when you click on it in the Shopkick app you will be taken to that store, and the app should track your spending. Or you can sign into your Shopkick account on your laptop and follow the links to the store from there.

Again all the information you need on any part of how the Shopkick app works can be found in the “Questions and Support” area of the account tab (the one with the person icon) in the Shopkick app.

How To Redeem Your Shopkick Points

Choose the reward you want

To view the rewards and figure out which one you want to aim for click on the rewards tab found when you click the arrow beside the points tally at the top of your app.

The app offers electronic gift cards as rewards.

Once you pick out the type gift card you want, you may have several options for rewards. For instance, the Target Gift card at the time I write this is available in the sums of $2 for 500 kicks, $5 for 1250 kicks, $10 for 2500 kicks, and $25 for 6250 kicks.

Chose what size of gift card you want to aim for. When you earn that many points click redeem and follow the instructions.

Now get out there and start earning yourself some gift cards with Shopkick!

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