What is cashback, and how does it work?

Last updated: 22 August 2026 · Annelies Bonenkamp, order manager cash & refund at Vogelaar

Cashback, cash & refund, or a refund campaign: the same thing

All three terms are used interchangeably and mean the same: you pay the full price, and after registering you get something back. Usually money, sometimes a free product, an extended warranty or extra service.

That is how it differs from a discount. With a discount the price is lower straight away. With cashback the buyer first pays the normal price, and that is exactly why brands do it: the price on the shelf holds and the value of the product does not slide.

Who does what

This distinction matters more than it looks, and it is often muddled.

The campaign runs under the brand's name, not under ours. If you are an entrant with a question about the terms or about whether you qualify, the brand is your point of contact. We carry out what has been agreed.

How a campaign runs

1. The consumer buys the product the campaign is on. 2. They arrive at the campaign page, usually through a QR code on the packaging or a pointer in the shop. 3. They register and supply the proof of purchase. With us that can be done online, and by post if the brand wants that; we then process those postal items ourselves. 4. We check whether the entry meets the terms, and whether it is genuine. 5. The payout goes out: the amount is transferred, or the product is shipped.

For an amount there are two routes, and the brand chooses. We pay out on instruction, from a separate account held in the name of the campaign (Vogelaar inzake the brand), so that the campaign budget sits separately. Or the brand pays out itself and we supply the payment file. In both cases the money belongs to the brand and the campaign runs under its name.

What goes wrong in practice

We run these campaigns, so we see the same things come back every time.

Terms written down too late. What counts as valid proof of purchase? Does the campaign apply per household or per receipt? What happens on a return? If that is only thought through when the first borderline cases come in, every decision becomes an argument.

No end date, or one that is too generous. A campaign without a clear end keeps running in consumers' minds, and then entries still come in months later on a receipt from last year.

Fraud, and more of it than you would think. Duplicate entries, edited receipts, the same person under different names. We take that out before anything is paid, because every undue payout comes straight off the campaign budget.

Confusion about who the entrant should turn to. This is the quietest but most irritating one. An entrant who does not know who to approach ends up with the wrong company and becomes dissatisfied there. So state clearly on the campaign page and in the terms who is promoting the campaign and where to ask questions.

And for a prize draw?

A prize draw is something other than cashback: there is a prize and there are winners. That brings Dutch betting and lottery tax into play. Paying that is something you do yourself or through your accountant; we do not take that over. We have run enough campaigns to know what to watch for, and we are happy to think it through before the campaign goes out.

Setting up a campaign? What exactly we do is on cashback, refund and loyalty. If you already know what you want, request a quote.