Payback collects and uses data. If you are a Payback member, you sell your data for little money: Payback not only knows the addresses, gender and age of Payback customers, but also what they buy. This is how Detailed customer profiles and tailor offers to their customers. If, for example, a long-time customer changes shampoo brands, he could be won back with special coupons and lure offers. But there is usually only a one percent discount.
The use of the data sounds harmless at first, but opens up Ethically questionable methodsThe shopping behavior also reveals when customers buy particularly large amounts of alcohol and cigarettes. Theoretically, Payback could also pass this data on to an insurance company, which would reject the customer on the basis of this information. Only the data from pharmacies and savings banks is not passed on to Payback.
Payback claims that it does not sell any personal data, but that it does. However, the various Payback partners collect, store and use the data themselves.
2. Reason against Payback: Do you save anything at all??
Saving money with Payback points is the goal of many Payback customers. But the savings potential is very small: Normally, you save just one percent if you don’t use a coupon or another promotion. Even with a special discount promotion, you can usually only get about ten percent savings. But is that really more favorable?
In the meantime, competitors are also offering discount campaigns that do without points and data collection. Rossmann, for example, distributes discount coupons of ten percent to numerous households several times a year. If you take a look at the special offers of supermarkets, discounters and drugstore chains, you will often find better deals than the one percent savings from Payback. Especially with fresh products, it is particularly worthwhile to look for the Seasonal calendar to buy only regional products.
The situation is similar for vacation, hotel and flight bookings: Those who book directly via Payback often pay more than when comparing with other travel portals.
3. Reason against Payback: More shopping for more points
If you redeem a Payback coupon on your purchase, you quickly save five or ten percent. However, this also quickly tempts customers to make spontaneous purchases that are superfluous. This means we often buy things we don’t need at all and probably wouldn’t have bought without the extra incentive. So the Payback points are not worth it – neither for you, nor for nature and the environment.
Consumption makes you happy, that has been scientifically proven. But only in the short term – that’s why we consume and buy more and again,..
4. Reason against: Payback wants more control
Payback points are now almost high-tech, because for years now the development has been moving away from the classic plastic card toward an all-round app that has it all: Current offers and coupons are intended to entice customers to make more frequent purchases.
Payback has also integrated its own payment service, which is intended to make credit and debit cards superfluous. So far, you can only use it to pay at a few Payback partners, but the direction is clear: Payback wants to bind its customers even more to it and make them more loyal to it Monitor purchasing behavior more closely.
5. Payback points are not worthwhile for occasional shoppers
If you only use the Payback card now and then, you may never get anything out of the points you have collected: After three years at the latest, the Payback points that have not been redeemed expire. To be able to redeem points at all, at least 200 points must be credited to the points account. For this you have to shop for at least 200 euros (coupons not included). So if you only buy something from one of the Payback partners four or five times a year, you often don’t even get to the minimum points you need.