I do most of my shopping online. As a matter of fact, I go out of my way to shop online–except for groceries. I’ve been a heavy online shopper long before the pandemic made it even more popular. If you aren’t using shopping portals, you are throwing away free money–literally. It costs you nothing to use them and takes little effort.
What is a shopping portal?
A shopping portal is a website that lists companies that sell products. While on the shopping portal you simply click on the logo of the store you want to shop, and a pop-up window will redirect you to that store’s website. From there you shop and checkout just like would do normally. That’s it. This allows you to earn bonus points, miles, or cashback at hundreds of online retailers.
How to access a shopping portal?
Most credit card companies and airline loyalty programs offer their members access to shopping portals. There are also some independent shopping portals. Even though there are dozens to choose from, not all shopping portals are equal. One portal may offer a much larger rebate percentage than another for the very same retailer.
My shopping portal strategy
Everyone has access to shopping portals, but your portals are specific to you and your goals. Your credit card portfolio and/or airline loyalty programs will dictate which ones you will use. Personally, I use three portals, and this is my ultimate goal…to use a shopping portal for every online purchase. Of course, this isn’t always possible–but I have that mindset. That’s key. Depending on your spending pattern, you can rack up hundreds of dollars per year in cashback–or exponentially boost your points balance.
Let’s say I want to purchase an item from Bloomingdale’s. The first thing I do is check my Amex and Chase card offers to see if Bloomingdale’s is listed. I’ll click on that offer to activate it before I do anything. This will allow me to stack benefits. Then I check each of my three portals to see which one offers the highest multiplier. I’ll use that one.
Here are the three portals that I use on a regular basis.
Rakuten
Everyone should have a Rakuten account. Without question, it is the most popular shopping portal–and for good reason. Rakuten has the most robust list of retailers in the industry and offers cashback instead of points or miles. Most people prefer to receive cash in favor of points/miles. It is a totally independent shopping portal not connected to your credit card or airline accounts.
If you have an American Express card with Membership Rewards Points, you also have the option to earn points, in lieu of cash, to be transferred to your Amex account on a quarterly basis. I chose this option because I value Amex points more than the cash personally. However, most people, by far, choose the cash.
Chase Ultimate Rewards
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are available to Chase Sapphire Reserve or Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders.
Like Amex points, Chase points are extremely versatile. The points can be used to purchase airline tickets or book hotels directly through their travel programs. The points could be transferred to participating airline or hotel partners directly to be used on their websites. Although I don’t recommend these options, they can also be used to purchase gift cards from dozens of retailers or even used to pay down your monthly bill.
British Airways Avios eStore
Shopping on the British Airways portal earns you Avios. Avios is a fancy name for their form of airline points. They can only be used within the British Airways ecosystem to purchase flights, upgrade an existing ticket, or for food and products or services that BA offers.
I have airline status with British Airways, so I get some nice perks when I fly with them or any of their Oneworld partners. I can use their Avios to purchase reward flights with BA or any partner airline. As a matter of general practice, I use actual money for my transatlantic long haul flights on BA to maintain status and use Avios for reward flights with American to fly domestically throughout the year.
Bottom Line
Shopping portals are a no-brainer. They cost you nothing and can be extremely valuable if you put in a little effort. One thing to note–Amazon is almost never on any list of retailers. I see it from time to time on Rakuten, but the cashback is always limited to a specific genre of products. Another key point is that these portals are constantly being updated. They add/remove retailers regularly and adjust the rebate percentages even more often. Doing a little homework can certainly pay off.
What is your favorite shopping portal?
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