the.com/cashback
A loyalty discount that makes spending feel like a tiny act of profit.
means A small percentage of what you spend returned to you, usually as a reward for using a particular card or shopping through a particular service.
from A straightforward 20th-century compound of 'cash' and 'back' — money going back to you. It first took off as a retail-till term (getting extra cash when you pay by debit card), then was borrowed by credit card companies and shopping sites in the late 1900s and 2000s as a name for their reward schemes. No hidden story here — the word means almost exactly what it says, which is itself part of the marketing trick.
- real cost
- funded by fees merchants already pay card networks
- psychology trick
- delayed reward makes spending feel justified now
- average rate
- usually 1 to 5 percent, rarely more
- catch
- only beats interest if balance is paid in full