Earn bonus points and miles: How to maximize shopping portals for Black Friday deals

One of our favorite things about the holiday season is the sales: Black Friday cruise deals, Travel Tuesday hotel bargains and, of course, plenty of discounts at various retailers. If you’re thinking about taking advantage of any holiday sales, don’t forget that you can use shopping portals to earn extra points, miles or cash back on your purchases.

For the uninitiated, shopping portals are online hubs affiliated with loyalty programs that allow you to earn rewards for shopping at various retailers. Here’s what you need to know about using online shopping portals this holiday season.

Related: Top holiday destinations for festive family fun

How to use shopping portals

Shopping portals are extremely easy to use. Just sign up for each portal using your loyalty account number, and when you’re ready to shop, click through the portal to a retailer’s site before making your purchase. This allows you to earn points and miles through the portal in addition to any rewards you’d normally earn on the credit card you use to make your purchase.

You can simplify this process by downloading each portal’s browser extension. This will automatically notify you when a site you’re shopping on is eligible for rewards without even clicking through to the portal’s website.

You may find that the hardest thing about shopping portals is choosing which one to use for a given purchase, especially since rewards vary from one portal to another and often change daily or even hourly. A shopping portal aggregator, such as Cashback Monitor, can help you search for the store you want and quickly compare the rewards being offered across all portals.

Related: The beginners guide to airline shopping portals: How to earn bonus points and miles

Popular shopping portals

Nearly every major airline has a shopping portal, along with some issuers of rewards credit cards, and there are third-party sites that let you earn rewards as well. Here are some popular ones among the TPG staff:

How to evaluate offers

When evaluating shopping portal offers, you’ll notice that payouts tend to vary widely. For example, Shop Through Chase is currently offering 6 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent at Bloomingdale’s. Based on TPG’s November 2024 valuation of Ultimate Rewards points at 2.05 cents each, this would yield a roughly 12% return on top of whatever other discounts Bloomingdale’s offers, which you could stack with the regular earnings through your rewards credit card. However, Rapid Rewards Shopping is offering only 1 point per dollar spent at Bloomingdale’s, while Rakuten is offering 10% cash back.

Also, keep in mind that shopping portals occasionally offer bonuses to let you stretch your rewards further — especially around the holidays. These typically award a chunk of bonus points or miles when you spend a certain amount. The minimum spending is usually cumulative at any of the portal’s participating retailers, so you could use multiple purchases within the promotion window to earn the bonus. Even if a portal isn’t offering many points or miles per dollar spent, a bonus could make it the most lucrative option.

Although most shopping portals only offer rewards for online purchases, a few programs allow you to earn bonus points and miles for in-store shopping. For example, Mileage Plan Shopping currently offers 2 miles per dollar spent in store and 0.5 miles per dollar spent online at CVS. To earn rewards for in-store shopping, link your credit card to the portal and activate in-store offers individually.

To further maximize your purchases, check your Amex Offers and Chase Offers. These programs give cardholders discounts and other bonuses for making purchases with specific merchants. Amex Offers are available on virtually any American Express card, including personal cards and business cards; Chase Offers are currently only available for select consumer credit and debit card holders. Since offers vary by cardholder and credit card, log in to your online account to see which offers you are eligible for.

For example, here are some current Chase Offers that might come in handy during Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping (note that offers may be targeted):

• Dell: Earn 5% cash back on all Dell purchases until a $100 cash-back maximum is reached.
• Adidas: Earn 10% cash back on your Adidas purchase when you spend $100 or more, including taxes and after any discounts.
• Ulta Beauty: Earn 10% cash back on all online purchases until an $11 cash-back maximum is reached.

Picking the best credit card for your purchases

In addition to scoring the best deals and earning bonus points through shopping portals, using the right credit card is crucial to maximizing your savings and rewards. Not only will it help you gain the most points and miles for your purchases, but some cards will even cover you in case of price drops, theft or damage.

Generally speaking, you’ll want to choose credit cards based on where you’ll be doing the most spending and what type of protections you value most. Here are some of TPG’s top recommendations for Black Friday and holiday deals:

• Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express: You can earn 3% cash back on U.S. online retail purchases (on up to $6,000 in purchases per year, then 1% cash back), making this a great card for your holiday gift purchases.
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: This card earns at least 2 miles per dollar spent on purchases, so it’s great to use on in-store and online purchases that won’t earn bonuses in specific categories on your other rewards credit cards.
• Prime Visa: This card is most useful for Prime members to earn 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases.
• Discover it® Cash Back Credit Card: This card could be a great option if your shopping venture includes Amazon or Target. It earns 5% cash back when you activate it on up to $1,500 spent on purchases in quarterly rotating categories, which are currently amazon.com and Target (through December 2024).
• Chase Freedom Flex®: Earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in purchases in rotating categories each quarter. The fourth-quarter bonus categories for 2024 include PayPal, which could help you rack up extra rewards on many online purchases.
• Citi Double Cash® Card (see rates and fees): This card earns 2% cash back on purchases: 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay your bill. Even better, if you hold the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (see rates and fees) or the Citi Prestige® Card (no longer accepting new applicants), you can transfer your cash-back rewards to Citi’s transfer partners and often get better value out of them.

The information for the Discover it Cash Back and Citi Prestige cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Bottom line

There are several ways to double- or even triple-dip your rewards earnings during Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, and using a shopping portal is one of the easiest. The extra points and miles can add up in the long run, especially if a portal is offering extra points or miles per dollar spent at your preferred retailer or a chunk of bonus points or miles when you spend a certain amount. Besides increasing your rewards balances, using a shopping portal is also an easy way to keep your points and miles from expiring.

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