Recently I came across a service that pays bitcoin rewards when you shop online at select online stores. I decided to give it a try and see what happens. I signed up and placed an order at one of their partner stores and about 10 minutes letter I received a notification that I just earned some bitcoin. Very cool service so I’ve decided to write a study on earning bitcoin with Lolli.
Before we fully dive into this study, please take a moment to read my disclaimer and disclosure. It goes into detail on how none of this is financial advice and that bitcoin is risky. It also covers how I generate revenue with the use of affiliate links and a single banner ad on each study.
Here’s what the ad looks like. In fact, I go into detail on exactly how much revenue this banner ad generates in my case study, Earning Bitcoin with A-Ads.
What Is Lolli?
Lolli is a chrome plugin that enables you to stack sats for shopping with stores that they have affiliate partnerships with. When you shop using their Chrome plugin, they earn a USD commission and then they give a portion of that USD back to you in sats instead of USD.
It’s a pretty neat business model.
Sidenote: Lolli is actually the company that coined the term “Stacking Sats” and I think they even have a trademark on it.
Case Study Parameters
For this study, I will simply shop with Lolli’s partner stores whenever I can and stack some sats for buying things I would already buy in the first place.
I don’t go out of my way to buy anything that I wouldn’t otherwise buy just to stack sats. The best way to stack sats is probably to just buy them but since some people shop online, it’s nice to stack some extra sats in the process.
Infographic: Earning Bitcoin With Lolli
I want to make every study easy to understand for my readers which is why I make an infographic for each one. Here’s all of the data that I have compiled about earning bitcoin with Lolli.
Earn Bitcoin with Lolli
Since some of my readers are interested in more of the actual data from each study, I have published all of this data in my Bitcoin Case Studies Spreadsheet. I also go into some detail on how I am earning bitcoin with Lolli.
2019: 45,322 sats
I only made a couple of purchases in the entire year since I don’t do a whole lot of online shopping but I am always looking for better and more sustainable products that disrupt the established corporations. As I was browsing the Lolli partner stores, I noticed that a store had like a 25%+ kickback named Harry’s.
I opted to buy some face and body wash which stacked about 45,000 sats. Pretty cool.
2020: 14,045 sats
Since I don’t do a whole lot of online shopping with specific retailers, I didn’t have a whole lot to buy in 2020. I have only purchased some more body wash from Harry’s in February and September. It’s possible that I will end up making some additional purchases in 2020 but it’s not very likely.
Things To Consider
Lolli seems like an awesome service. What easier way to earn bitcoin than to get it for free when we purchase things that we were going to buy anyways. I will continue to shop with Lolli and publish my results here on this study. As time goes on, I hope to have some solid data that showcases the value of using Lolli to shop online.
As with any Bitcoin service, there are always some caveats to consider.
Sats Back Rewards Are Only “Estimates”
When I first began stacking sats with Lolli, it seemed like a simple way to earn some bitcoin for buying things I already need …like body wash. After I made my first few purchases I received emails telling me that I have earned an estimated amount of bitcoin. The keyword here is “estimated”.
As far as I can tell, they credit your account in USD and only display your BTC balance so as the price of bitcoin increases, your BTC balance diminishes. Not the most upfront way to build a brand but I have experienced worse.
Withdrawal Threshold
In order to make an on-chain withdrawal, it needs to be cost-effective for Lolli otherwise they will go broke making on-chain payments to their shoppers. In order to withdraw, there’s a minimum withdrawal threshold of $15 so I can’t withdrawal my sats until I make (a lot) more purchases.
Again, not the best user experience but I understand the economics of sending on-chain payments and Lolli needs to make money otherwise their service isn’t viable. I will keep stacking until I meet the withdrawal threshold.
Chrome Only + No Ad Blocker
Lolli’s business model is to earn money by having their users shop with their affiliate stores, they need to be able to effectively track those purchases. Currently, Lolli only works with Chrome and you cannot use any ad blockers. This leads me to believe that they might also be monetizing your personal data which is bad for privacy.
If you use Lolli, beware that they could be selling your personal data. If they are, NOT cool.
Lots Of “Fine Print”
As is the case with many services today, there’s a lot of fine print. This doesn’t bother most but I am currently dealing with some stipulations in their fine print on a subscription to Kind Snacks (they make healthy granola bars and other snacks).
I was looking for a purchase to make so that I could add another data point to this study and I like Kind granola bars. I read the fine print and it says that I needed to sign up for a subscription to qualify for the sats back.
I signed up for the subscription but after I received my first box of granola bars, I never received an email from Lolli letting me know that I received an estimated number of sats back.
I am currently in the process of dealing with their customer support team to get the issue resolved but I have been waiting weeks to get my account credited what is likely to be just a couple thousand sats.
Not really worth all of the headache just to get like $0.20 worth of bitcoin. My experience with their customer support team brings me to my next point.
Customer Support Needs Work
As is true with many services, customer support is often less than expected. When I created a ticket, their team has responded promptly and professionally. The problem arises when I need the issue itself resolved.
I made a couple of purchases that I did not receive sats back for and I am still in the process of having that rectified. I first reached out to their team on October 2nd, 2020 and I am still waiting for a resolution more than 2 weeks later.
Their customer support team has been incredibly pleasant each and every time I interacted with them. I am just waiting a long time to get a small number of sats credited to my account.
That’s where I am noticing another issue that has me questioning some things.
Affiliate Program Seems Shady
Another thing that struck me as a little odd was an email that I received on October 7th (just a few days after I created my support ticket with Lolli). The title reads “You just earned $1 for referring a friend!” but as far as I know, there isn’t a $1 affiliate commission for referring a new user. I am supposed to earn $10 for any new referrals I bring to their service.
What’s even more troubling is that there’s no record of this $1 referral bonus anywhere within my Lolli dashboard.
As far as I can tell, their referral program is either shady or buggy since I am receiving emails for a $1 affiliate commission when it should be $10 and I have no record of even a $1 commission anywhere.
Not a good look for Lolli.
Conclusion
While I really like Lolli’s business model, I think all of the caveats listed above make it more work than it might be worth for smaller purchases. If you are making a large purchase like a Casper mattress, it’s probably the best way to stack some sats in the process. If you are not much of an online shopper (like me), it will probably take you years to stack enough sats to make your first on-chain withdrawal.
I don’t want to make any bad claims about Lolli since I think it could be a really promising service but my experience so far has been less than impressive. I will keep using it and hopefully one day I can make an on-chain withdrawal but until that day comes, I will remain a skeptical Lolli user.
Thank You!
As always, thank you for taking the time to read about my experience earning bitcoin with Lolli. I update these studies as often as I reasonably can depending on my work schedule. If you found any of this info insightful, please consider sharing it on social media.
Also, if you would like to help me to work full-time on bitcoin projects like Bitcoin Case Studies (as well as help me get even more data points for my study on earning bitcoin with Tippin.Me), please consider sending an LN tip my way.