By SELENE SAN FELICE

Imagine if every time you went to the bar you found a dollar, or maybe even two, three or four. That would ease some of the stress of being a college kid with a bar tab, right? Especially after waking up to those receipts with a pounding head after a night out. BevRage is the app that finds you that money. Yes, it’s totally free. No it’s not a scam, and you don’t have to take surveys or watch ads to get that money.

What kind of wizardry is this? Good question. If you’ve heard of that old-fashioned thing called a “mail-in rebate,” BevRage is the millennial version. Instead of clipping coupons and licking stamps to send in rebates, users cash in deals on drinks right away by sending in pictures of itemized receipts. It’s a win-win-win situation. Whoever sold you the alcohol, be it a bar, restaurant or liquor store, gets a customer, BevRage takes their fee from the seller or brand and we save money. Okay we also still lose some money, but weren’t we going to anyway?

Here’s a breakdown of how the app works:

Step 1) Check BevRage for deals before you order a drink or check out at the store.

The app usually offers deals on common brands of liquor at the store like Baileys Irish Cream, Captain Morgan, Crown Royal, Ciroc and Smirnoff. For beer, wine and mixers the brands featured are a bit more obscure, but to balance this out BevRage has generic offers too. For instance, right now in our area (deals differ by zip code) the app offers $1 for any bottle of wine, $2 for any 24-pack of beer, $1 for any six-pack of beer and $1.50 for any 12-pack of beer.

For bars and restaurants you’re likely to find even more generic deals to cash in on with BevRage’s “app-y hour” specials. On Martini Mondays save $2 on any vodka or gin martini, save $2 on any margarita for Tequila Tuesday, get $2 for any glass of wine on Wine Wednesday and earn $2 for any beer on Thirsty Thursday. If you’re more of a weekend drinker, no worries. Typical deals for our zipcode are $2 for any whiskey cocktail, $1 for any shot, $1 for any glass of wine and $1 for any draft or bottled beer. There are also typically deals on mimosas and bloody mary’s during the weekend.

Step 2) Snap a Pic and Cash in.

Make sure you’re asking for and saving those itemized receipts that clearly say what you ordered. Once you click on a deal in the app, BevRage accesses your camera and flash so you can send your receipt in right through the app. It might be a good idea to sober up before sending receipts in, since they won’t accept blurry or cut-off shots. You can send in receipts at any time, but here’s the catch: only two bar and restaurant deals can be redeemed in 24-hours, so if you ordered three or more redeemable drinks, you’ll have to wait to cash those in. Liquor store deals, however, are unlimited.

Step 3) Profit.

Up to 48 hours after you’ve redeemed a deal, BevRage will put that money right in your PayPal account. You can then transfer it to your bank account or keep it with PayPal for purchases you make with them, like Uber and UberEats. This means on happy hour nights like Dollar Beers at MacDinton’s BevRage could pay for your drinks and your ride, and maybe some munchies after. If you’re not pro-PayPal BevRage also offers to send users a check once they’ve earned $20. That’s just smart investing right there.

Users can also automatically earn money by referring friends — and BevRage just started giving away more. When users download the app and make an account, they’re asked if they have a referral code from another BevRager. Mine, for instance, is SELENE. Plug that into your app and when you cash in your first deal I get $4, a hike from the $2 BevRage used to offer before their app’s redesign on Oct. 13. You then get your own referral code to share and earn money with. Bartenders and those in the beverage industry also get their own referral codes and special offers, so you can redeem your bartender’s code with any receipt.

BevRage is fun and easy to use, which makes the app slightly addicting. I find myself constantly wanting to take pictures of receipts and feeling a rush every time PayPal notifies me that I’ve made a dollar or two. Will users end up spending more money on drinks because of this? That hasn’t been proven yet. But college kids of age are bound to spend money on alcohol, and we’ll do anything to save a buck.

Selene San Felice can be reached at selene.sanfelice@theminaretonline.com