You only get the new-customer deal once per app. Here's how they know.
The most common version of the promo-code complaint goes like this: "I made a new account with a different email and the new-user code still says not valid. Why?" The answer is that the apps stopped using your email to decide whether you're new a long time ago. Here's what they actually check, what happens if you try to get around it, and the honest ways to get a second new-customer deal.
What the apps match on
These are the things that make an account "not new", in roughly the order the apps catch them:
- Phone number. Every app verifies it by text. This is the main key. A new email on the same number is the same customer.
- Payment card. A card that has paid the app before marks the new account as not new, even on a fresh number.
- Delivery address. A previously used address counts as used. This is why roommates and family at one address get caught.
- Device. The apps can recognise the phone. A new account on a phone that has had an account often doesn't get the offer.
Email is near the bottom. It's the one thing people change, and it's the one thing that doesn't matter.
What happens if you make a second account
Mostly, the new-user code just says not valid and you've wasted ten minutes. Sometimes the app lets the discount apply and then removes it at checkout. The apps also reserve the right to close duplicate accounts. I don't recommend it; it's against the terms of every one of these apps and the deals below are easier.
What the first-order offer is actually worth
The apps show their own new-account offers at signup, and as of this writing they look like this. Uber Eats: $15 off a first order of $20 or more. Instacart: $0 delivery fees on the first three orders, applied automatically, with a $10 minimum per order. Postmates: $25 off the first two deliveries, usually handed out as targeted credits rather than a public code. DoorDash attaches a new-account offer at signup too, but the amount varies by city, so I won't quote one; the DoorDash page has whatever is current each morning. On Grubhub, WSJ50 applied for 50% off a first order on a new account when I tested it today.
The pairs that share one offer
- Uber Eats and Postmates are the same company and the same account. Use the new-user offer on one and it's gone on the other.
- Uber Eats and Uber rides are one account. A ride years ago means you're not a new Uber Eats customer. (Uber's own first-ride offer is 30% off, up to $8, as of this writing, if that's the one you still have.)
- Grubhub and Seamless are the same company. Same rule.
- DoorDash and Caviar share an account and a new-user offer.
The honest ways to get a second new-customer deal
- Someone else in your household who has genuinely never used the app can sign up, on their own phone, with their own card. The offer is theirs; the food is still yours.
- Referral links. If a friend refers you and you're new, you both get a credit. If you're not new, nothing happens, but nothing bad either.
- The win-back offer. Stop ordering for a few weeks and the app usually sends an existing-customer discount, often better than the new-user one. Details per app: DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Instacart.
Why I test on fresh accounts
To say a new-user code works, I have to apply it on an account the app considers new: a phone number, card and address it has never seen. That's how WSJ50 earned its "new account" line today, and it's what that line in the checked column means on every app page. A code that only applies on a fresh account is marked that way so you don't waste ten minutes on it with your existing one.