Earn bonus points and miles: How to maximize shopping portals for Black Friday and holiday deals
As the holiday season approaches, savvy shoppers are gearing up to take advantage of numerous sales, including Black Friday cruise deals and Travel Tuesday hotel bargains. One effective strategy to maximize savings during this bustling shopping period is to utilize shopping portals. These online platforms, affiliated with various loyalty programs, allow consumers to earn extra points, miles, or cash back on their purchases from a wide array of retailers. For those unfamiliar with shopping portals, they serve as a gateway to enhanced rewards; all you need to do is sign up, click through the portal to your desired retailer, and complete your purchase. This simple action can significantly boost your rewards, stacking them on top of any benefits you receive from your credit card.
To make the most of shopping portals, consider employing browser extensions that automatically alert you when you are eligible for rewards at online stores. However, with numerous portals available, it can be challenging to determine which one offers the best rewards for your specific purchase. Tools like Cashback Monitor can help streamline this process by comparing offers across different portals in real time. For instance, while TrueBlue Shopping might currently provide 9 points per dollar spent at Lululemon, other portals may offer significantly lower rates. Additionally, many shopping portals run special promotions during the holiday season, such as bonus points for reaching a certain spending threshold, making it even more lucrative to shop through them.
Furthermore, pairing shopping portals with the right credit card can amplify your rewards even further. Cards like the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express offer excellent cash-back opportunities on online retail purchases, while the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card earns a solid 2 miles per dollar spent. For those who frequently shop on Amazon, the Prime Visa card is particularly advantageous. As you navigate through holiday sales, remember that combining shopping portals with credit card rewards can lead to substantial savings and rewards, making this holiday season not only festive but also financially rewarding. By strategically planning your purchases and leveraging these tools, you can ensure that your holiday shopping is both enjoyable and beneficial for your future travel plans.
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 maximizing shopping portals this holiday season.
Related:
Top holiday destinations for festive family fun
How to use shopping portals
LEOPATRIZI/GETTY IMAGES
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, so you can activate them without even clicking through the portal’s website.
You may find that the hardest thing about shopping portals is choosing which one to use for a given purchase, 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:
Atmos Rewards Shopping
: Earn
Atmos Rewards points
, the new currency of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines.
American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping
: Earn American AAdvantage miles.
Delta SkyMiles Shopping
: Earn Delta Air Lines SkyMiles.
JetBlue TrueBlue Shopping
: Earn JetBlue TrueBlue points.
Rakuten
: Earn cash back, American Express Membership Rewards points or
Bilt Rewards Points
.
Shop Through Chase
: Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping
: Earn Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards points.
United MileagePlus Shopping
: Earn United Airlines MileagePlus miles.
How to evaluate offers
When evaluating shopping portal offers, you’ll notice that payouts tend to vary widely. For example, TrueBlue Shopping is currently offering 9 points per dollar spent at Lululemon. Since we value JetBlue points at 1.45 cents apiece in our November 2025
valuations
, that yields a roughly 13% return, which you could stack with the regular earnings and
statement credits
on your rewards credit card. However, United MileagePlus Shopping, Rakuten and Shop Through Chase are only offering 2 points or miles per dollar spent at Lululemon.
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.
UNITED MILEAGEPLUS SHOPPING
Although most shopping portals focus on online purchases, some allow you to earn bonus points and miles for in-store shopping at select retailers. To earn rewards in store, you must 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. 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 (targeted) Chase Offers that might come in handy during Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping:
Adidas: Through Nov. 30, earn 10% cash back on your Adidas purchase, up to a $50 cash-back maximum.
Sony Electronics: Through Dec. 6, earn 5% cash back on your Sony Electronics purchase, up to a $50 cash-back maximum.
Lululemon: Through Dec. 7, earn 10% back on your Lululemon purchase, up to a $30 cash-back maximum.
Picking the best credit card for your purchases
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In addition to scoring the best deals and earning bonus points through shopping portals, using the right credit card is critical 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. Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit and at amazon.com checkout.
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
(see
rates and fees
): 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. It earns 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent on purchases in
quarterly rotating categories
— which currently include Amazon (through Dec. 31; activation required).
Chase Freedom Flex®
(see
rates and fees
): Earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in purchases in rotating categories each quarter. The
2025 fourth-quarter bonus categories
include PayPal (December only), 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 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 bonus rewards at your preferred retailer or a holiday bonus 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
.
Related reading:
Why you should use points and miles to book holiday travel
Book now: It’s your last chance to get a good deal on Christmas flights
Mistakes to avoid when booking holiday travel
From Alaska to New York City, here are our 10 favorite Christmas markets in the US
Best Christmas market river cruises for 2025 and 2026
Things you really need to do now in advance of holiday travel
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
