Cashrewards shut down on 8 September 2025 and the platform was decommissioned on 24 October 2025. If you were one of its two million members, the closest replacements are ShopBack for breadth and app quality, TopCashback for the highest rates, and Aura if you want an Australian-owned platform with card-linked in-store cashback. None of them is a drop-in replacement, and there is a lesson in the closure worth taking to whichever one you pick.
Last checked 21 September 2026. [Affiliate disclosure: I earn a referral fee if you sign up via my links - it never affects my analysis.]
What actually happened to Cashrewards
Cashrewards was founded in 2014, grew to around two million members and 2,000-plus brands, and became the biggest cashback platform in the country. ANZ’s venture arm, 1835i, owned it. In September 2025 ANZ closed it as part of a wider corporate restructure - not because the platform failed with customers, but because it no longer fitted the bank’s plans.
The closure was abrupt. Trading stopped at midday on 8 September 2025. Members were given until 24 October 2025 to withdraw, with automatic transfers to linked bank or PayPal accounts after that, and a final claims cut-off of 12 December 2025. The platform itself was switched off on 24 October - after which you could no longer log in to request anything.
The useful takeaway is not “cashback sites are risky”. It is that a cashback balance is an unsecured IOU from a company whose strategy you do not control. Cashrewards was the safest-looking option in the market - big, profitable-looking, bank-owned - and that is precisely what made the ownership a risk rather than a reassurance.
The replacements, honestly compared
| ShopBack | TopCashback | Aura | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Everyday use | Highest rate on a big purchase | Australian-owned, in-store |
| Retailer coverage | Broadest | Narrower | Around 1,200 stores |
| App | Good | Basic | Good |
| In-store cashback | Yes | No | Card-linked |
| Minimum payout | Higher | About $1 | Varies |
| Based | Singapore | UK | Australia |
If you want one, take ShopBack - it is the closest in feel and coverage to what Cashrewards was. If you are about to spend a few hundred dollars on one thing, spend two minutes checking TopCashback as well, because its rate on that specific retailer is often higher and the difference on a large purchase is real money.
The full three-way is in ShopBack vs TopCashback vs Aura, and is ShopBack legit covers the tracking-failure problem that affects all of them.
What to do differently this time
- Withdraw whenever you can. The low payout threshold is the single most underrated feature of a cashback platform, because it lets you keep the balance near zero. TopCashback’s roughly $1 minimum is genuinely useful here.
- Use two platforms, not one. It costs nothing, it protects you from one closing, and it means you can take whichever rate is higher on the day.
- Don’t chase a balance you can’t reach. If a platform holds your money until $25 or $50, that is a design decision about their float, not your convenience.
- Treat cashback as a discount, not income. It arrives months later and sometimes does not arrive at all. Budgeting around it is how people end up annoyed.
Common questions
Is Cashrewards coming back?
There has been no indication of that. The platform was decommissioned in October 2025.
Can I still withdraw a Cashrewards balance?
No. The final cut-off for withdrawal claims was 12 December 2025, and balances were automatically transferred to linked bank or PayPal accounts after 24 October 2025. If you believe money is still owed, contact ANZ rather than the decommissioned platform.
Which is the biggest cashback platform in Australia now?
ShopBack has the broadest Australian retailer coverage of the remaining platforms.
Is there an Australian-owned alternative?
Aura. See the Aura cashback review.