Open two store pages and the rates look arbitrary: one gives 1%, the next gives 30. It is not arbitrary. Once you know what drives the number, you can guess a store's rate before you look it up.
Margin sets the ceiling
The rate can never exceed what the store earns on the sale. That single fact explains most of the spread.
Groceries, electronics and marketplaces run on thin margins — a few percent — so their rates sit near the bottom. There is simply nothing to share.
Digital goods sit at the other end. An e-book or a subscription has almost no cost per copy, so the numbers there are in a different league entirely.
Physical goods lose to shipping and returns
A physical order can come back. Shipping costs money in both directions, and a returned order earns nothing for anyone.
Categories with high return rates — clothing and footwear above all, where buying three sizes to keep one is normal — carry visibly lower rates than their margins alone would suggest. The store prices that risk in.
Why one store shows a range and not a number
A rate written as "0.3% – 5.5%" is not vagueness. Large stores set the rate per category: 5% on accessories, 0.5% on electronics, and everything in between. The range is the honest way to show that.
If it matters for a specific order, the rate that applies is the one for the category you are buying in — not the top of the range.
What to do with this
- Buying electronics or from a marketplace — expect low single digits. Look for a code as well, that is where codes are most useful.
- Buying books, software or a subscription — check the rate before you pay. This is the category where cashback quietly beats every coupon.
- Buying clothes — the rate will look modest for the price. That is the return risk, not stinginess.