At TPG, our goal is to teach you how to maximize your savings and earn points every time, even while you shop. and black friday the biggest shopping day of the yearis approaching quickly.
Here are some tips to make the most of your shopping this holiday season and beyond.
Use an online shopping portal
Before purchasing online, check if the store you want is available in a online shopping portal. If you are not familiar with online shopping portals, know that you are not alone. I had not heard of online shopping portals before working at TPG.
However, I quickly learned how easy it is to use portals to increase the number of points, miles, or cash back you can earn on your overall spending. These earnings are for purchases you were planning to make anyway, so it really is a win-win.
There are several portals that shoppers can use depending on whether they want to earn points, miles, or cash back. Many loyalty programs, such as The American Airlines A AdvantageThey have their own exclusive portals, allowing you to earn points or miles with your favorite airline or credit card program.
How to use a shopping portal
Using a shopping portal is simple. For example, instead of going directly to Macy’s website to make a purchase, you would first visit a shopping portal’s website and look to see if Macy’s is a participating store. The answer is probably yes.
Each portal agrees with its partners on a different payment. To determine the best payout, you can use a shopping portal aggregator as Refund Monitor (illustrated above) or Evreward to search for the store you want. Since payments change frequently and vary between programs, you can quickly compare current bonuses.
By doing so, you may find one portal that pays 10% cash back while another offers 3 bonus miles for every dollar spent. For example, let’s say you’re making a $50 purchase and you have two portal options: a site that offers 10% cash back ($5 cash back in your pocket) and an airline portal that offers 3 miles per dollar ($150 additional miles on your purchase). . To determine the best value between these two offers, use TPG Monthly Valuation Guide to see how much your bonus miles are worth.
Many of these programs offer Chrome extensions that notify you when you visit a website eligible for additional rewards. These will also help you instantly activate bonus earnings (points, miles or cash back) without having to click through to the portal website.
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Currently new Rakuten Users can get a $40 bonus after spending $40 within 90 days of signing up. This could be better than any bonus miles or cash back you’d earn at a different site.
Earn hotel points and airline miles through their portals
If you want to earn points or miles for future travel with a specific hotel or airline, there are several loyalty programs with their own shopping portals.
You must first register on the portal you want and link it to your loyalty account. Once you log in to your account, you will be able to search for the store you want to shop at; You will then be redirected to the store’s website, where you can shop as usual. The redirection will be tracked using cookies as long as you are logged in to the shopping portal before clicking on the store link. If you are not logged in before clicking on the store’s website, your purchases will not be tracked and you will not get any bonuses.
For more information, see our guide on how to use shopping portals to maximize your purchases.
Below is a list of loyalty program portals through which you can earn points and miles:
Earn points with a credit card
Like airline and hotel programs, some credit card providers have shopping portals where you can earn extra points on your purchases. You can earn points within the respective program, similar to how you accumulate points with your regular credit card spending. From there, you can redeem your points however you want, such as for cash back, through the program’s travel site, or by transferring them to a partner program.
Banking portals include:
Earn cash back
If you prefer to get cash back to reduce the purchase price of a specific item, you may prefer a cash back shopping portal.
Each portal will offer a different amount of cash back, so compare different sites. You will also find that some portals will refund your money quarterly, while others will allow you to claim your cash back more frequently.
Here are some of the most popular shopping portals to earn cash back on your online purchase:
Use Amex Offers
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AMERICANEXPRESS.COM
If you have a american express cardyou can take advantage of targeted benefits Amex Offers, even for co-branded cards, such as Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Cardand cards that earn Membership Rewards points, such as American Express® Gold Card.
Log in to your Amex account online to see what specific offers you’re eligible for; They vary from one card to another. Also, be sure to add the offer to your card if you see one you like because it may disappear. Some are only available for a limited time.
as follows Amex Offers were available at the time of writing this article The Platinum® Card from American Express:
The terms of each offer vary, so be sure to check the details of each promotion; some require the minimum spend to be a one-time purchase, while others are for cumulative spending. Some offers are for purchases made online or in store, so know which purchases will trigger statement credit.
You can combine these Amex Offers with any other coupon or bonus from an online shopping portal, allowing you to double or even triple your savings.
Try Chase Offers
like Amex, Chase also offers statement credit offers when you use your credit card on file to make a purchase. To do so, log into your Chase account online or in the app to see which offers you’re eligible for. Some accounts will show more offers than others and some may not show any offers.
Below are some recent travel and shopping deals in the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card at the time of publication:
Know which credit card gives you the most points
When you spend a lot of money, it’s important to choose the credit card that will give you the most rewards based on what you’re purchasing.
Below are some recent bonus earning opportunities available when you spend strategically with the right card at certain merchants:
The best cards for Amazon
- Discover it® Cash Back: Sign up for 5% cash back (on up to $1,500 in accrued spending on purchases during the quarter, then 1%) on amazon.com and Target through December 31.
- Main visa: Earn 5% cash back on Amazon purchases. Plus, earn 2% cash back at restaurants and gas stations, as well as on public transportation and local travel (including transportation services like Lyft and Uber) and 1% cash back on all other purchases. Earn 10% or more cash back on a rotating selection of items and categories at amazon.com.
The best card for Target
Best card for wholesale clubs (Costco, BJ’s, Sam’s Club)
The best card for department stores.
The best card for office supply stores.
Even if you’re not gifting someone a new office chair, remember that many office supply stores sell third-party gift cards, like Amazon, Delta, or Disney, that you might want to give to someone on your holiday shopping list.
The information for Discover it Cash Back and Target RedCard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
In a nutshell
Now that Black Friday is just around the corner, it’s time to put a shopping plan into action. Start by checking online shopping portals and then surveying Amex and Chase offers on their credit cards.
When the day comes, be sure to use the cards that offer more points, miles or cash back for your purchases.
Finally, remember that certain credit cards offer price and purchase protections.
Happy shopping!
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