It’s not news that New York is an expensive city. And it’s also not new that New York City offers many things to do – including when talking about eating out. There are hundreds of restaurants in the city. I know that stopping to dine out is one of the first strategies for those visiting the city on a tight budget or even for those living here. But what if I told you that you could take advantage of your lunch/dinner in the city to earn money? That’s what Seated proposes: this app applies the cashback concept to restaurants. In today’s post, I’ll tell you how it works. Whether you are visiting or you live here, with so many nice restaurants in the Big Apple, it’s not bad at all to eat AND earn cashback, right?
- Download it using my referral link and get an extra $15 reward on your first reservation! Or use my code laura983
- 20 hacks and tips to save money living in New York City
What is cashback?
It’s self-explanatory: getting your cashback to you, lol. Cashback programs offer you the chance to earn cash from the money you spend on purchases, by paying you back a percentage of what you spend. This is a very common concept used in credit cards, but there are also other programs like Rakuten, for example, that offers cashback on hundreds of websites and, more recently, Seated, which offers cashback when you dine out at the participant restaurants.
What is Seated?
Seated is an app to discover and book restaurants in major US cities – in addition to New York, you can use Seated in Dallas, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia. For every meal at one of the participating restaurants you earn cashback after submitting your receipt through the app. This cashback is then available for you in a “virtual wallet” on Seated and can be used to buy gift cards from participating brands/stores or even experiences. Sephora, Nike, and Uber are just a few of the brands available on Seated, and these gift cards can be used for online or in-store purchases.
How to use Seated?
- Download the app – the great thing about Seated is that you start earning. By downloading the app through my link, you already guarantee an extra $15 in your account, which is available as soon as you make your first reservation and upload your first receipt. You can also use my code laura983!
- Time to choose the restaurant! You can use the map to find restaurants while you can see the % of cashback that is being offered. Remember that the percentage of cashback changes depending on the days and times – days and times not so popular usually mean a higher cashback percentage. In addition to the map, you can also filter by cuisines or search by name of specific restaurants and see if they are on Seated – there are more than 2000 restaurants in New York City available on the app.
- Make a reservation or choose walk-in – Seated offers the option of reservation or walk-in – this second option doesn’t guarantee you a table, it’s more like this: “wow, there’s this restaurant nearby, let’s go there now.” The reservation or the walk-in will tell the app that you are going to dine at the restaurant and, thus, be able to upload the receipt and receive the cashback.
- Have your meal and take a photo of the receipt – you don’t need to mention anything to the restaurant regarding Seated – when you are done, take a photo of the receipt and upload it to the app. Done! Within 24 hours, the cashback will be added to your Seated wallet.
- Use your cashback – Sephora, Uber, Amazon and Nike are some of Seated’s partner brands, and you use your cashback to purchase gift cards that can be used online or in physical stores.
Why use Seated?
- If you are visiting the city on a budget: everyone needs to eat, and if you take advantage of the app and choose restaurants with a high cashback percentage, you can use your rewards for shopping or, for example, to buy a gift card Uber and pay for your ride back to the airport.
- If you are visiting the city and you are NOT on a budget: even better. You can take advantage of the fantastic options available on the app – there are even Michelin-starred restaurants – and earn much more cashback.
- If you live here: everyone ends up going out at least once in a while, right? You have more time and opportunities to accumulate more cashback!
- How I use it:I like to use Seated when I’m not looking for a specific restaurant – so I open the app and look for the available options because availability and cashback percentage vary by day and time. I also like to use Seated when I want to go to a new restaurant – so first, I check if that place is on Seated. And there are also several places I usually go often – and I know they are in Seated – so I also use the app.
- Download it using my referral link and get an extra $15 reward on your first reservation! Or use my code laura983
I hope you enjoyed the post! I’m a big fan of Seated; I’ve been using the app for years, and, at the end of the day, I’ve already saved a lot of money, as I end up using the app’s cashback to buy things I need!
Content creator and journalist in New York City. Here, I share lifestyle, beauty, NYC tips, thoughts, and the struggles about living in the most amazing city in the world! I’m not gonna pretend to be another person: I’m a Brazilian immigrant and I think this is my soul, it is part of who I am. I hope you enjoy my content! Follow me on Instagram!
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