How an Oopbuy points balance is earned
What each earning route actually requires
Five criteria that separate the routes, because the difference between them is conditionality rather than size.
- Registration
- A sign-up bonus is the one route that costs nothing and needs no order. It is also the route most often time-boxed, so it rewards acting early.Where to look: The account's own points page, immediately after registering.
- A completed order
- Most balances accrue against orders that actually ship rather than orders that are placed, because the agent's margin is realised at fulfilment.Where to look: The points history in the account, which shows the triggering event.
- A review or photo submission
- Some agents pay in points for feedback, which is cheap for them and useful to other buyers — but the submission usually has to follow a completed order.Where to look: The order detail page, which carries the review prompt when one exists.
- Referral
- Where it exists it is usually the largest single credit, and the least reliable to plan around, because it depends on someone else completing their own order.Where to look: The account's referral block, if the programme is offered in your region.
- Time limits on each route
- A bonus attached to registration and a bonus attached to a completed order expire on different clocks. Reading them as one number is how a balance silently lapses.Where to look: The terms on each individual credit, listed in the points history rather than summarised.
The cheapest route to a balance is therefore not the largest bonus but the one with the longest window. A small credit that survives six months beats a large one that lapses in three weeks.
A realistic sequence for a first order
Four steps, in the order that produces the most balance for the least effort.
- Register, then read the points terms the same day
The sign-up window is the only part of the system with a clock already running before you have bought anything.
- Choose the item on its merits, not on the balance
This is the discipline the whole section exists to protect. A balance is a consequence of a good order, not a reason to place a bad one.
- Submit the review or photo when the order arrives
It is the cheapest earning route available to an ordinary buyer, and it also generates the evidence later buyers rely on.
- Read the balance before it lapses rather than after
Set one reminder at the furthest expiry date in the history. One date, one check, and the whole problem goes away.
Nothing in this sequence requires a code, and nothing in it requires trusting a published conversion rate.
The three routes compared on effort and reliability
Read this row by row rather than column by column: the route with the best headline value is rarely the route with the best expected value.
| Property | Registration bonus | Completed order | Review or photo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requires an order first | No | Yes | Yes — the order must exist |
| Typical size | Small | Proportional to the order | Small |
| Time window | Shortest, and running already | From fulfilment | From delivery |
| Reliability | High if you act quickly | High | High, but easily forgotten |
| Who benefits most | A first-time buyer | A repeat buyer | Any buyer, and later readers |
Earning questions
Four short answers about the routes above.
Can I earn points for an order I cancel?
Do I get points for a consolidated parcel or for each order?
Is there a referral programme?
Should I choose an agent because it pays more points?
Earn against a decision you were making anyway
The cheapest points are the ones attached to an order you had already decided to place. The index's 11,414 recorded listings are the place to make that decision on the goods rather than on the balance.