One of the easiest ways to earn points and miles without stepping foot on a plane is by using online shopping portals. There are a ton of different options out there but I’ll walk you through how simple it is to use them.

What is an Online Shopping Portal?

Online shopping portals are just websites you click through to earn bonus points and miles at major retailers when shopping online. Most major airlines and credit card issuers, as well as a few hotels and even Amtrak have shopping portals. Additionally, there are also cash back sites as well that you can utilize. Looking to buy something online? Just go to your favorite shopping portal and search for what you are buying. All you have to do is click through their link and it will track your purchase and you’ll get bonus points just for the purchase in addition to the credit card points you normally earn.

The best part about these portals is they usually offer more than just 1 additional point per dollar. On average, you’ll see somewhere between 1x and 6x bonus points for your purchase. You may also see a flat amount, like 3700 points for a purchase over a certain amount. Many of the online meal delivery services like Blue Apron offer flat point amounts for purchases. What about Amazon, the one retailer that most of us probably shop the most with? They are of course not on any shopping portal.

Most purchases post within 4-6 weeks but I find that they are usually much quicker than that. The best part is they usually have times where they offer higher bonuses during certain times like Back to School or the holidays. You may also see tiered offers where if you spend $500 you can earn an additional 1,000 points or if you spend $1,000 you’ll earn an extra 3,000 points. This is on top of what you would normally earn.

One of the reasons I am writing about this today (September 25th, 2023) is because I got an email this morning about an increased bonus for purchases from Apple where you can earn between 2x and 6x points on your purchase today only. This is valid for going through American, Alaska, Delta, and United’s shopping portals.

Specifically on American Airlines AAdvantage Shopping Portal you’ll earn the following. You can also see what the offer usually is.

As you can see, Apple has some great bonuses today only. Normally, all purchases would only get 1 mile per dollar. If you want to pick up the new iPhone that just dropped, today could be a great day to do it. I value American Airlines Miles at 1.5 cents per mile so with these bonuses, I view that as up to a 9% rebate. Not too bad!

Lowes and Home Depot are two other places I’ve see where they offer increased earnings on certain types of items purchased. For example, appliances might be bonused at 6x points where every other purchase would be 1x or 2x. I shop at Lowes frequently and will always go through a portal to earn bonus miles. Most of the time when I’m shopping at Lowes I need it the same day so I’ll go through the shopping portal, make my purchase and do in store pickup. And yes, you still get your bonus for the purchase.

Which Shopping Portal to Use

There are a ton of different shopping portals out there so it might not always make sense to just earn bonus miles with the airline you most frequently fly. While that is better than nothing, I always go through a site called EVReward.com to see what has the best bonus currently for where I’m trying to shop. As you can see in this screenshot there are a ton of different options for Apple and they’re all over the place. Using EVReward you can pick the best portal to shop through. All you have to do is click the link and it’ll take you directly to the retailer’s site and automatically track your purchase. Another good site to use is CashBackMonitor.com

You may notice at the top of the EVReward page there is a section of Cash Back Rebates. Not to overcomplicate things, but this is where you need to do a bit of mental math to determine which route to go. In this example its pretty straightforward that you should earn American or Alaska, miles (sorry Delta and United, you’re miles aren’t as valuable). But other times, you may see these switched where you can earn 6% cash back instead of 2x miles. If that were the case I would choose to get the cash back instead.

I’ll do a separated post on Rakuten as there is a way to earn American Express Membership Rewards points instead of cash back.

Browser Plugin

You can also add a browser plugin for your favorite shopping portal so you never forget to activate an offer. I personally have both American Airlines and Rakuten installed but choose whatever works best for you or just remember to always go to EVReward or Cash Back Monitor.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, using shopping portals are an essential tool in my quest to always earn as many points and miles as I can. Not only will you earn credit card points on your purchase but you’ll also receive bonus points from the portal. This is a great way to double dip on your purchases.