This time of year , we do a lot of online shopping and it just so happens, online shopping portals are offering a lot of promotions. The portals do this in order to get you to use their portal over the others. I spoke about online shopping portals in some previous posts, here and here. In this post I will go into more detail, since it is a great time to rack up a lot of points or miles. As I have said before, if you are already doing online shopping, WHY NOT earn points or miles too?!
Most of the major airline and hotel companies offer a shopping portal. It’s very easy to use them, you simply log-in, search for the retailer or product,the portal will take you to that site, you buy, and boom, you earn points or miles. The way they do this is the shopping portal sends you over with a tracker , so to speak, that tells the website your shopping on what portal or site referred them, and also tells the portal you actually bought something. The retailers pay a commission to the shopping portals and in return the shopping portals pay you in points or miles. The prices are always the same, you go to the same retailers website as you normally would. Instead of just spending $100, you earn 100 or more miles or points for every dollar you spend there. This is a great way to build up your points and miles, I have used it extensively! And remember to always check EVREWARD to see what everyone is paying.
Promotions
Many of the portals, especially this time of year offer various promotions. Sometimes the promotion is extra miles or points on spend, and others, like now, offer bonus points or miles if you spend so much.
This is especially useful during the holidays and Black Friday Shopping
Shopping Portals
I cannot speak about them all but I will touch on the ones I use the most. I will also include the current value that The Points Guy (TPG) values each currency you will earn in the portals. Click the logo to go to each portal.
EVREWARD is always my go-to when I’m about to do some internet shopping. It is a site that allows you to put in a store or a product and it will show you almost all of the earning rates with all the different shopping portals. Its great, and most of the time I find it accurate. Always check it first unless you are just dead set on earning with a certain program only.
Airlines
American Airline shopping portal is probably one of my most used shopping portals. I have been saving and hoarding AA miles for over a year in order to pay for Etihad First Class and Qatar Business class award tickets coming up in a few weeks. (Post coming soon). TPG value AA Miles at 1.7 cents each.
Since Delta is the only domestic carrier I will have top-tier status on this coming year, I have started using this portal more and more. SkyMiles are harder to come across, so any chance I can earn extra ones I jump at it. TPG estimates the value of SkyMiles at 1.2 cents each.
I use this portal also quite often. I am using United miles for part of my upcoming trip on a Turkish Airways business class from India to Egypt. TPG values these miles at 1.5 cents each.
Alaska has one of the best loyalty programs and best dependability of any airline, the only problem is they do not have a huge footprint. TPG values these miles at 2 cents each.
Hotels
Marriott Rewards MORE shopping portal was never a portal I used before. Now after the Marriott / SPG merger, I will start using it more. I spoke in another post about now Marriott Rewards points transfer to SPG at a 3 to 1 Ratio ( 1 to 3 ratio in reverse). Since SPG does not having a shopping portal, this is a very nice way to earn my favorite currency , SPG Starpoints. So shop here, and transfer them to your spg or not, either way they are suddenly more valuable. SPG values MR points at 0.7 cents each (Starpoints at 2.1 cents each) (UPDATED 11/18/2017 to reflect change of name and site)
I really like racking up HHonors points, I am using them to stay the last 2 nights of my trip at the Ramses Hilton in Cairo, Egypt. I used them to stay at Hiltons in Budapest, and Prague earlier this year. TPG values HHonors points at 0.5 cents each.
I have to admit, I have never used this portal, nor have I stayed at any of their hotels in many years, But i realize many people do. I am including this to have a variety. TPG values these points at 0.6 cents each.
TIPS
These are just a few things to keep in mind when using shopping portals. Most are from my personal experience.
- Always check evreward if you are not set on earning with only one program.
- Always make sure you are logged into the shopping portal before you clink on the link to go to the retailer. Even if it says your logged in, click the login button and just make sure.
- Check the value of each currency and make sure it hasn’t went down. If you are not trying to save a certain programs currency over the other, you should always check the value vs earn rate with each program to help you decide which portal to use.
- Keep tabs on what you spend, and when. Also do not delete order confirmation emails. The few times I was not awarded the points I earned, I was asked for proof by forwarding these emails. If you do a lot of shopping keep a spreadsheet or list of retailer, portal time, date and amount.
- Use a points or miles earning credit card to maximize each purchase. Potentially doubling or much more the amount you would earn bu just using the portal alone.
Wrap-Up
I have spoken in previous posts about different ways to earn miles and points, but this is one of the simplest, and just a no-brainer. Your spending the money anyway, go ahead an earn some miles or points.
I didn’t start this blog to make money, but it does take money to run. Anytime you click an ad on my site it helps, and since Amazon isn’t listed on any of the portals, if you have any amazon shopping to do, please go through one of my amazon links and it will help keep this blog going. thanks for reading!
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