Checkout 51 - the in's and out's

Checkout 51 was almost not worth my time, but they just made a sweet partnership with SmartSource, so I'm feeling like I will start using them A LOT more.  They have a lot smaller selection, although now it's about tripled since the partnership rolled out.  I'm excited that they partnered with SmartSource because that means a lot of my coupons will match their rebates (SmartSource is one of the 3 companies that puts out coupon inserts in Sunday papers).
For the most part you can redeem rebates for Checkout 51 regardless of where you purchased the item, unless it specifically states you have to purchase it at a certain store.  Almost every store specific deal I've seen them offer is for Walmart, which is nice because you can generally price match.

How it works

You don't have to mark which rebates you want before you go shopping, but be aware that all rebates come in limited quantities.  This means you should check to make sure the rebate you want to use is still available right before you go shopping, and then upload the receipt as soon as you get home. To upload the receipt, you have to take a picture of it and mark which rebates on the list were purchased. You also need to scan the bar code to show how many you've purchased.  I've never had a receipt take longer than 24 hours to be confirmed, and their customer service has been very prompt whenever I've had to mark an error on a receipt decision.

Some of their rebates can be used multiple times, and some can only be used once, so pay attention to the fine print when you're purchasing. I have never seen a rebate on Checkout 51 have an unlimited amount of times you could use it, but that doesn't mean it won't happen in the future. You also need to pay attention to the size of the item that the rebate is offered for.  That's generally a good tip for any rebate; if the size isn't right, you WON'T be paid the rebate for the item.

Fresh produce offers

Kind of like SavingStar, Checkout 51 has only 1 produce rebate available every week. The nice thing about Checkout 51 however, is that you get to choose your produce rebate from a list of produce offered.  Bananas and/or apples are almost always on the list, along with about 3-4 other fruits or vegetables that are in season. They pay only $0.25 for the rebate, unless there is a separate produce rebate for a specific item. For example, once I had my "pick your offer" rebate for $0.25 and there was also a $0.50 rebate for tomatoes. I used both that week.  The nice thing about produce rebates in any of the apps that I use is that they aren't brand or size specific, so if you want to buy organic, bulk, prepackaged, or just 1 instead of by the pound, the rebate will still work

New Offers

All rebates on Checkout 51 go from Thursday to Wednesday.  Anything you want to redeem has to have been purchased no earlier than Thursday, and uploaded no later than Wednesday night (7 days later). Even if the rebate regenerates itself (most usually do), they will only be valid for purchases made for the next rebate period of 1 week. Unfortunately, that means that if you purchased a product on Wednesday and the next day the introduce a rebate for that item, you cannot cash in on it. But it's also nice to have a cut and dry rule about dates that are valid, and to have only 1 day a week that you need to check back for new rebates.

Things to be aware of

The two drawbacks to Checkout 51 are that there isn't a lot of selection, and they require $20.00 to be redeemed before you can withdraw your rebate money.  I really feel like the first issue is what causes the second, meaning that if there were more offers available, then it would be easier to cash out. As it is, I've been using Checkout 51 since May, and I haven't earned enough to cash out yet (although I'm pretty close right now!).  I've mostly used the produce rebates, but $0.25 a week can only get me to $20 so quickly.  There have been maybe 5 or 6 other rebates that I've taken advantage of, but for the most part the rebates they offer are brands that I've never heard of for foods and products that I generally don't eat or use. The exception is the SmartSouce deals, which there are only about 5-10 of each week. Sometimes these match coupons, and sometimes they don't, but either way, I won't go out of my way to get the rebate unless I find the same product cheap enough to make it worth my while.

The best part

The thing I like best about checkout 51 is that they honor your purchase no matter where it came from. This means items from discount stores like Dollar Tree and Grocery Outlet will be honored (on apps like Ibotta or SavingStar, they aren't rewarded). There have been several times since they made the new partnership when I have purchased something on major discount from the Grocery Outlet and they pair it with the Checkout 51 rebate - and I end up getting the item for free, or even getting more rebate money back than what I paid for it. I once actually got almost $2.00 EXTRA (on top of what I paid for it) for the purchase of Huggies Wipes by using Checkout 51. Overall, I really like this app, and I'll continue to use it!

Update:

As of May 25, 2017, I've saved over $100 using Checkout 51, and that's including the fact that I took about a 6 month break from couponing. It's definitely worth my time! They also have a TON of rebates now. The new partnership with SmartSource has paid off well. If you don't use Checkout 51, you should!