When you shop online, it can come with several benefits for you. Shop whenever you want from the comfort of your house and find tons of opportunities to compare prices. Additionally, you don’t have to worry about a crowd or waiting in line to shop for the things you want. There are many people who prefer online shopping rather than shopping online nowadays.
One of the perks of shopping online is earning rewards from a loyalty program. Furthermore, if you sign up for these loyalty programs, you’ll get bonuses from using their shopping portals.
Check out the best cash back shopping websites here.
Read below for more information on what you can do with online shopping.
 The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. You'll earn: • 5x on travel purchased through Chase TravelSM • 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries • 2x on all other travel purchases • 1x on all other purchases • $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit • Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027. Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase TravelSM This card carries a $95 annual fee. |
Online Shopping Portals 101
An online shopping portal enables you to earn bonus points, miles, or cash back with online retailers. For you to earn additional rewards, you’ll have to start from the portal and then navigate yourself to the retailers website. When you buy the same items from the merchant by going through the portal, you’ll be rewarded with points, miles, or cash back.
For example, a $100 online transaction (not including taxes and fees) at Office Depot with the American Airlines AAdvantage shopping portal. Using this with your Chase Sapphire Preferred Card will be able to earn you:
- Office Depot purchases with AAdvantage shopping portal. It will earn you 4 miles per $1 you’ve spent and 400 AAdvantage miles for the $100 purchase.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred will enable you to gain 1 point for each $1 spent on non-travel and dining transactions. You’ll be able to earn 100 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for the $100 transaction.
Here are some of the perks that comes with online shopping portals:
- The Portal. Takes a cut of any transaction the consumer makes from the retailer.
- The Retailer. Receives extra traffic and business towards their online store.
- The Consumer. Earns points or miles as a reward for using the portal.
Types of Online Shopping Portals
Each major airline will have their own online shopping portal and works the same as most of the others. The sign up process can be a little different depending on the types of carriers. However, each one will offer bonus points for transactions at partner retailers.
Check out a list of popular airline shopping portals for you to use:
| Airline | Shopping Portal |
| Alaska Airlines | Mileage Plan Shopping |
| American Airlines | AAdvantage eShopping |
| Delta Airlines | SkyMiles Shopping |
| JetBlue | TrueBlue Shopping |
| Southwest Airlines | Rapid Rewards Shopping |
| United Airlines | MileagePlus Shopping |
When you use the hotel shopping portal, it will come with several more limitations compared to other portals. Only the Choice Privileges and Wyndham Rewards will offer versions of their own.
| Issuer | Shopping Portal |
| Barclaycard | RewardsBoost |
| Chase | Ultimate Rewards Shop |
| Citi | Bonus Cash Center |
| Wells Fargo | Earn More Mail |
To use the Barclaycard, Chase, or Wells Fargo portal, you have to open an active credit card that earns points with the bank program. Additionally, with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, it’s qualified while the United Explorer card isn’t.
Remember, you’ll be able to do 1:1 transfers from Ultimate Rewards to several travel partners as well. Additionally, you can earn British Airways Avios, Hyatt points, or United Airlines miles when you shop online with the Ultimate Rewards shopping portal.
If credit card points or airline miles don’t interest you, then cash back shopping portals are great options as well. There are many portals that offer cash back, some of the better websites are:
You can use Rakuten to earn cash back as an online shopping portal. However, you can also chose to use American Express membership Rewards points instead. You’ll earn 1% cash back for 1 Membership Rewards Point.
Currently, every Membership Rewards point is valued at $0.02 each. So opting to earn points over cash back is a better option since you’ll be earning twice your return.
Maximizing Online Shopping Portals
There are plenty of online shopping portals to choose from. Some might say that it’s a hassle to look through all of them. However, there are some tools you can use called shopping portal aggregators.
This tool will get information on all shopping portals and tell you which one comes with the biggest return for your transactions. Some of the best ones at the moment are: Cashbackholic, Cashback Monitor, and Evreward.
Online shopping portals are always offering some sort of limited time bonus. Be sure that you sign into your account every now and then to check for these promotions.
Additionally, you’ll be able to receive notifications with Cashback Monitor when there are specific retailers that increase their cashback offers.
Check out what you should and should not do when it comes to using an online shopping portal:
- DO: enable cookies in your browser for the merchant’s website. This allows the portal to track your transactions and award you bonuses based off of them.
- DO: click through the retailer’s link on the portal to make your transaction from the pop-up. DO NOT navigate away from it since it might not be eligible for the bonus offer.
- DO NOT: use bonuses or promo codes you find in the portal. This could mean your purchase isn’t qualified for the bonus offer.
- DO: read through the fine print for each merchant. Some don’t count gift cards as qualified transactions for bonuses. Other retailers will exclude specific items.
 |
 |
Conclusion
Using an online shopping portal can help you get more for your returns when you shop online. This is a great way for you to earn bonus points, miles, or cash back towards your transactions. Additionally, some of these bonuses can add up quickly so you can use them for luxury hotels, first-class flights, and vacations.
Check out our best credit card bonuses here.
If you find yourself shopping online quite frequently, a shopping portal will be an excellent option for you.
