CoinOut App Review, can you really earn money from scanning receipts? How to make the most of CoinOut and earn money today.
CoinOut is an app for Android and iOS that lets you earn money just for scanning paper receipts. What’s more, is that you can connect your online merchant accounts and earn directly as you shop.
Optionally, you can also grant the app access to your email receipts. This may be a bit too intrusive for some, myself included, but you can earn without allowing this.
Read on for the full CoinOut review.
Table of Contents
CoinOut is an app that pays you simply for scanning/photographing your paper receipts. It also pays you to share e-receipts by linking merchant accounts such as Amazon and Walmart. Finally, you can connect your email address to automatically cover e-receipts from even more merchants. Connecting your accounts for e-receipts is optional, but will help to boost your earnings.
CoinOut was first featured on Shark Tank by Jeff Witten, a former Googler where he secured $250,000 for the business. Since then the app has flourished with millions of receipts processed every year.
You can think of CoinOut as a way to get cash back from anywhere. They don’t care where your receipts come from (within reason), so it is a valid way to get a small amount of cashback on any purchase.
We tend to crumple up and throw our receipts away but with CoinOut, we’re actually paid for something that we’d normally throw in the trash. As an earning opportunity, it requires minimal effort which makes this a really interesting one.
CoinOut has recently had a huge overhaul. You still earn by uploading receipts but a lot has changed within the app in v2.0+ (Android) and v4.0+ (iOS). We’ll cover these changes in detail in the review/earning guide.
The process is incredibly simple. Take a photo of your paper receipts from inside the CoinOut app and you get paid. Similarly, you can link up various merchants and even your email address to auto-upload any e-receipts. You’ll of course also be paid for these e-receipts.
You can even consider CoinOut as providing cashback from anywhere – any retailer, any purchase. There are some restrictions, which we’ll discuss later.
And that’s it! A very simple way to earn money, but there are ways to maximize your profits which we’ll discuss below.
CoinOut is only available to residents of the USA, so if you’re from elsewhere unfortunately you will not be able to join. In fact, outside of the USA, the app will not even be downloadable for you.
Another restriction is that you must be 18 years of age or older.
Both of the above statements are echoed in their Terms of Use.
As mentioned, CoinOut revolves around paying you for your receipts. While this is a relatively simple task, there are quite a few things you can do to increase your earnings and make the process more streamlined.
Let’s look at how to increase how much you earn with CoinOut.
Scanning (photographing with your phone)paper receipts in the CoinOut app is easy enough but there are some rules that you absolutely must follow. If you don’t, you won’t get paid for that receipt and will have wasted your time. So make sure that for each receipt:
Not following any of the above means that your receipt will be rejected and you won’t get paid. So, follow these simple rules to ensure that you get paid for scanning your receipts.
In addition, you need to make sure that the type of receipt is valid. The following types of receipts are NOT allowed:
In the CoinOut app, you are able to connect to your Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart accounts. This will allow you to automatically upload your e-receipts from these merchants. Remember, you cannot add these types of receipts by photographing/scanning them in.
Linking your accounts is simple and all takes place within the app:
Connect these accounts to earn with no extra effort. Once connected, details of your purchases will be automatically uploaded to Coinout. Also, keep an eye on the app itself in case new merchants are added for direct connection in the future. For example, recently, Swagbucks was added as another merchant in the new version of the app (Android v.2.0+, iOS v4.0+).
This earning opportunity is one that I am not personally comfortable with. Luckily it is completely optional. CoinOut lets you grant access to your email address and pull in any e-receipts in your emails.
CoinOut notes that they only pull in emails that contain receipts and that no data from other emails are read. This is all well and good, but I am personally not OK with allowing complete access to my emails to a third-party company.
If you are OK with it, then you earn a nice amount of extra cash. I see this option more as selling access to your data rather than your receipts, however.
The following email providers can be used and you can connect up to 5 email accounts in total:
The CoinOut app will guide you through the process to connect to each. For some email providers, it’s a simple matter of logging in. Others require that you create an app password first.
Caution: Granting access to your emails comes with privacy risks. Really consider whether this extra bit of cash is worth granting a third-party access to your emails.
One option is to create a new email address that you use only to register for and make purchases online. That way any other personal emails etc. cannot be accessed by CoinOut. But as I say, this one is a judgement call.
Badges are small achievements that will earn you extra coins and other rewards such as game plays (more on game plays later). Some you will earn naturally, but others you’ll need to actively pursue. Make sure that you focus on clearing these off for some extra cash:
| Badge Name | Description | Reward |
|---|---|---|
Receipt Scan | Scan a single paper receipt | 20 coins and 1 game play per month |
Online Shopper | Submit a single online or digital order receipt | 20 coins and 1 game play per month |
Monthly Challenge | Scan or submit 10 paper receipts or digital orders. | 50 coins and 1 game play per month |
| Badge Name | Description | Reward |
|---|---|---|
Register | Sign up/complete registration | 250 coins and 1 game play |
Profile Survey | Complete 3 profile surveys | 150 coins per survey, 1 game play when 3 completed |
First Reward | Request your first payout | 100 coins and 1 game play |
Email Connect | Connect one email account | 200 coins an 1 game play |
Merchant Connect | Connect Amazon, Walmart, Instacart and Starbucks | 200 coins and 1 game play per connection |
100th Receipt | Upload your 100th paper or digital receipt | 200 coins and 1 game play |
Since the update to version 2.0+ (Android) and 4.0+ (iOS), CoinOut has introduced the concept of levels. There are 5 levels; Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. Most of the requirements to move between the levels are simply completing the badges mentioned above.
For example, to become a silver level member you just need to complete 3 profile surveys and submit 1 receipt per month. Gold requires the same, plus connecting one email. And so on through the levels.
It is crucial that you get to the max level as it will increase how much you earn from $0.01 per receipt at the Bronze level, to $0.05 per receipt at the Diamond level. That’s a huge 5x increase in CoinOut app earnings.
The new levels on CoinOut are a double-edged sword. While the new feature helps you earn more money, it is also used to act as a wall between you and higher earning receipts and more favourable payout options. (More on this later).
As we mentioned above, in “Badges”, when you complete one you are rewarded with game plays. These game plays can be spent on CoinFrenzy. This is a new slot game that has been added to the CoinOut app.
Don’t worry though, you won’t risk any earnings with this slot machine. You just use your game play tokens.
Make sure you spend your game play tokens each month because each spin can earn you an extra amount between $0.01 and $0.50.
As mentioned, how much you earn per receipt is based on your level. Previously it was based on a randomized amount, so this new approach with the new version of the app at least feels a little fairer. Let’s look at how much you can earn based on your current level in CoinOut:
These payout rates apply to the first 25 receipts that you upload each week. After that, you will earn 10 coins ($0.01) per receipt for all levels, except for bronze where you will earn nothing.
Remember, you level up by collecting badges and other challenges. To be honest, it is relatively easy and you will become a silver member with minimal effort (complete 3 profile surveys and upload 1 receipt a month).
Note: This shows the importance of being as high a level as possible.
With the update adding in levels, the way you cash out with CoinApp changes. It’s unnecessarily complex in my opinion, with bank transfers and PayPal being hidden behind the higher levels. Let’s take a look at this unfortunate change in the newest version of CoinOut:
| Level | Gift Card | Bank Transfer | PayPal |
|---|---|---|---|
Silver | $3 | ||
Gold | $3, $5 | $5 | |
Platinum | $3, $5, $10 | $5, $10 | |
Diamond | $3, $5, $10 | $5, $10, $25, $50 | $25, $50 |
So, you’re stuck with gift cards unless you get to the Gold level. And if you remember, getting to the Gold level requires you to connect and give direct access to your email account. Again, I really don’t like this hard push for connecting an email address. Hiding payout options behind this optional way of earning is not a good thing.
Higher payout amounts which are only available at higher levels give you an extra boost of cash. So, you can cash out $25 when you’ve only earned $24 and $50 when you’ve only earned $47. A nice additional boost but again it is a shame that it is hidden behind their new level structure.
Remember, that CoinOut isn’t the only app that pays you for your receipts. Check out the other similar apps below or take a look at our huge list of ways to earn online and filter by “Receipts.”
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Read MoreI love when an app or a site comes along that pays you for something that usually holds no financial value to you. Selling your receipts to CoinOut is a no-brainer because they normally just end up in the trash.
The process is simple, just scan in your paper receipts or connect up accounts to have e-receipts auto-uploaded. Having a streamlined process like this makes it a breeze to use.
What I don’t like is their apparent push for you to give them direct access to your emails. While it is an optional extra way of earning, if you don’t do it then you are locked at the Silver level. This means that you can’t access higher earning amounts for Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. It also means that the only payout option you can choose is an Amazon gift card, with bank transfers and PayPal being blocked for you.
You can get around this by creating a new email address and using it only for purchases that you want CoinOut to have access to, but it’s a pain that you even need to consider this.
CoinOut is a legit app that pays you for your paper receipts and e-receipts. It being featured in Shark Tank which, due to the very public nature of the show, acts as validation of the legitimacy of the app.
The CoinOut app gets a 4.5 star rating on the Google Play store with 1 million+ downloads. On the Apple AppStore, it gets an even higher 4.6 stars with over 50,000 ratings. While the Trustpilot reviews of CoinOut currently sit at a disappointing 2 stars, any bad reviews are solely based on being unhappy with how much you’re paid per receipt. So, all major review sites agree that CoinOut is legit and a safe app to use to make money.
We have found no indications of issues with payouts, or any other app functionality. Our assessment is that very clearly, CoinOut is both safe and legit.
Just remember that when you give access to your email address or merchant accounts, you’re putting your data in the hands of a third party.
CoinOut is safe and has a surprising amount of security features that should help you feel secure when using it.
First up is Multifactor authentication, which secures your account on your device. It means that as long as your device is secure then so is your CoinOut account.
Next, they encrypt and anonymize all information, including payments to your bank account. This adds an additional layer of safety to the app.
Finally, and most surprisingly is that they are FDIC insured. This means that every user’s earnings (that they haven’t withdrawn yet) is held in an FDIC-insured bank. In the event that this bank goes bankrupt, the money you’ve earned (and money that others have earned) is not lost. It is insured and this makes CoinOut an incredibly safe and quite unique app in that respect.
We’ve covered a lot in our CoinOut review and earning guide, but there are always smaller additional questions that you may have. We’ve compiled the most important below in our FAQ:
Your account may be locked due to uploading too many invalid receipts, terms of service violations or even to protect your account if unusual behaviour is detected. To get your account unlocked (if eligible), contact CoinOut support.
You will be paid the full amount for the first 25 receipts you upload each week. If you are at the bronze level, you will not earn anything after these 25. For the silver level and above, after the first 25, you will only earn $0.01 per receipt but there is no limit per week.
Getting paid for scanning, photographing or otherwise uploading receipts is an interesting opportunity. We normally throw receipts in the trash or leave them unopened in our emails. With CashOut, you get paid for something you’d normally throw away.
You will not become rich with this and will earn only a few cents per receipt. But when you’re paid for a single photo of a receipt, even a small amount of cash is worth it. Automated uploads of e-receipts (if you choose to opt-in), add an additional solid passive earning opportunity.
Really focus on rising up through the levels in CoinOut to ensure that you get the max amount per receipt you upload and to open up more payment options.
As I’ve repeated, the one aspect that I dislike is the hard push that CoinOut makes to connect an email address. This gives them direct access to your emails. Personally, I don’t like this. However, you can create a new email that is used only for purchases that you want to share with CoinOut and link that up.
All in all, a nice way to earn some extra cash for receipts you’d normally throw away or discard. Take a look at CoinOut today and gain some extra side cash.
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