AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
Eligibility is limited for the Amex Offers discussed in this post. Enrollment is required in the Amex Offers section of your account before redeeming.
Shopping portals are a staple for many people collecting points and miles. These portals allow buyers to earn cash back, transferable points, or miles of their choice as they spend. Catch promotes itself as yet another way for consumers to be rewarded for their purchases. Users effectively earn a minimum of 5% store credit each time they buy through Catch. But are those potential earnings worth it to abandon other purchasing methods?
Should you use Catch? Let's take a look at the pros and cons.
Catch: The Basics
Catch offers users an alternative payment method for online shopping. Make online purchases directly from a registered bank account or debit card to earn 5% or more in store credit.
Signing up for Catch is free and takes just a few quick steps. Catch links to a phone number, which is the first step in the sign-up process. You'll receive a code via text to confirm registration, and then you're done. As a pleasant surprise, I had a $15 off $15+ credit for Simon Premium Outlets in my account upon registration.
Of course, adding a payment method to an account helps speed up the checkout process for users, too. Options are a bank account or debit card — no credit cards.
How can Catch offer such a high return on spending? By avoiding credit card processing fees, vendors can pass on savings to consumers in the form of store credit. By issuing rewards to consumers in the form of store credit, Catch users have an incentive to become repeat buyers.
Additionally, Catch offers a very thorough FAQ page to address many of the questions users may have.
What’s the Catch?
The big catch to Catch is that the only thing earned is store credit — and only at participating stores. Creatures of habit who shop with the same Catch partner brands extensively likely view this kind of reward as a big plus. However, others probably notice the limitations of this reward structure right away.
Limited network of partners
Airline shopping portals and cash-back networks such as Rakuten partner with thousands of retailers to reward their members. More often than not, these programs offer less than 5% back (but it can be more) for purchases, but a wide array of partners means users need not seek out other rewards programs. With Catch, partners remain limited for the time being, categorized into just five groups.
Beauty includes the most brands by far (33) of the five categories, followed by Apparel (15) and Accessories (14). For Men (10) and Athleisure (7) round out the collection of brands, though do note that the five categories include some overlap. That means fewer than 79 total brands partner with Catch at present.
Related: Beginner's Guide to Shopping Portals
Inferior form of rewards
If presented with the option of 5% back as store credit or as cash, how many would choose store credit? For perfectly rational consumers, the answer should be zero. While equivalent options of store credit and cash back do not exist in all cases, when they do, no incentive exists to use Catch over earning cash.
Sometimes uncompetitive reward rates
Apart from the question of store credit versus cash back, Catch does not always offer a competitive reward rate for purchases. For instance, check out the current offer for Everlane, a clothing retail company. Catch currently offers 5% store credit for purchases.
Meanwhile, Rakuten currently offers 6% back (or 6x Membership Rewards points) on Everlane purchases.
While 6% versus 5% might not seem like much, 20% more rewards for the same purchases will add up over time. Plus, Rakuten will provide something more flexible than store credit. If Catch wants to compete in this regard, it may need to offer higher payouts to make up for the fact it's only offering store credit.
No additional rewards on purchases
A distinct lack of rewards for using a credit card remains the most glaring exclusion for Catch users. A number of options exist — including some with no annual fee — for earning 2% cash back or 2x points with credit card purchases. Options for earning on purchases made with your bank account or debit card are very close to zero.
On top of credit card rewards, users miss out on potential stacking opportunities via avenues like Amex Offers, Citi Merchant Offers, and more. Forfeiting these opportunities requires greater compensation than store credit at a limited collection of retailers.
Final Thoughts
Catch presents a compelling idea of rewarding consumers for their purchases. However, compared to the available alternatives, Catch remains a very limited endeavor. Only the most loyal shoppers at a small collection of retailers will find Catch more rewarding than airline, cash back, and other shopping portals. And that's exacerbated by the fact you can't double up on rewards by earning from both a portal and your credit card if you choose to use Catch. Until Catch offers even greater rewards or a wider array of partners, it will almost always come second (or third or fourth) for serious points and miles collectors.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.