How to Maximize Rewards When Online Shopping

by Zac Hood | Oct 15, 2026 | Credit Card Strategy
How to Use Shopping Portals

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Short on time? Here’s the whole article in four steps, in the order that matters:

  1. Start with a new credit card that has a strong signup bonus. That’s where the real value is.
  2. Join Rakuten through our referral link to start earning cash back on shopping you already do.
  3. If you mostly fly one airline, add its shopping portal to earn miles in that program.
  4. Want to compare rates? Cashback Monitor lets you search a store and see what every portal is paying.

At Travel Freely, our goal is simple: help you earn the most rewards in the least amount of time. If you’re new to points and miles, online shopping portals are one of the easiest ways to do that. They pay you cash back or points for shopping you were already doing online, and they take about a minute of extra effort.

Just keep them in perspective. A portal won’t move the needle like a new credit card signup bonus, which is still the fastest path to big wins (think $500+ in value from a single card). But once starting at a portal becomes a habit, you can pick up thousands of extra points a year without changing how you shop.

How do shopping portals work?

Almost every shopping portal works the same way:

  1. Start at the portal. Search for the store you want to shop at.
  2. Click through to the store. The portal sends you to the merchant’s website.
  3. Shop like you normally would. The portal tracks your purchase in the background and credits you with cash back, points, or miles, depending on the portal.

Here’s what that looks like in practice. Say you’re buying something on Macys.com. Instead of going straight to the site, you start at your portal. If it’s offering 5% cash back, a $100 purchase earns you an extra $5. If it’s a points portal offering 5 points per dollar, that same purchase earns you 500 points. Either way, that’s on top of whatever your credit card earns on the purchase.

Even better, many of the best portals, including Rakuten and the airline shopping portals, have browser extensions that let you skip step one. Just go straight to the store’s website, and the extension will let you know when you can earn.

Cash Back Shopping Portals

These portals typically earn cash back for purchases you make.

Probably the most well known cash back portal is Rakuten. It’s really easy to use, and even has its own Chrome browser extension to let you know automatically if you could earn cash back. With Rakuten, you’ll be paid out quarterly and you must earn at least $5.01 to be paid out (or it’ll roll over to the next quarter). If you’re interested in signing up, here’s a referral link that will get you extra bonus money.

Rakuten also partners with Bilt and American Express, allowing you to earn rewards within those two programs instead of cash back. However, you must link your accounts and swap your earning preference prior to your purchase.

For earning Bilt Points, you do not need to have a Bilt credit card, just a Bilt account (which is free and available to everyone). The Bilt rate is higher if you have Bilt elite status. Bilt Rewards members with Blue status will receive 50 Bilt points for every $1 in Rakuten cash-back, while Silver, Gold, and Platinum Bilt Rewards members receive 100 Bilt Points for every $1.

To earn American Express points, you must have an eligible Membership Rewards® earning credit card. Each 1 cent of Rakuten cash back converts to 1 Amex Membership Rewards point, so $1 equals 100 points. This means that by linking Rakuten to Amex, you are earning 10x Membership Rewards points instead of 10% cash back.

Another popular cash back option is TopCashBack.com. It works similarly to Rakuten with its cash back offering, but you can cash out at any point you’d like. Or, you can opt for a merchant gift card, such as Walmart or Best Buy, which typically gives you a 2% to 5% bonus on the cash back earned.

Airline Shopping Portals

These portals will earn points and miles towards a specific loyalty program.

Each major airline program also has their own shopping portal, many of which are run by the same company. To simplify your earnings, choose the airlines that you use most, and look at the value this portal could bring. Most of these airlines now have a Chrome browser extension that will automatically tell you if you could earn rewards when you’re shopping at a store’s site. Every so often, especially around the holidays, these portals run bonus promotions where if you spend a certain amount of money, you’ll earn an increased bonus amount.

Here’s a list of many of the airline-specific portals:

Bank and Program Shopping Portals

Capital One Shopping

Capital One has a shopping portal that leads to good deals. You also don’t have to have a Capital One credit card, which means all shoppers can use their portal. Keep in mind that you must redeem your earnings as gift cards, which might not be ideal for everyone.

This portal offers a daily offer for rotating merchants. These offers can be incredibly high and we highly suggest paying attention to them. Capital One Shopping is also known to send out elevated targeted offers after poking around on certain merchant websites. If you are open to earning gift cards, this site offers some of the best payouts you’ll find.

Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall

When you shop at the Shop Through Chase portal, you can earn valuable Chase points known as Chase Ultimate Rewards. Keep in mind that you’ll need to use the credit card associated with that account in order to earn the bonus points. If you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve®, this might be the portal for you.

For more about the best overall card for beginners, read Why We Love the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

In Summary

If you’re already shopping online, a portal is one of the easiest ways to earn a little more on the same purchase. And if you don’t want to put in too much effort, just stick to one portal for all your shopping needs. It truly just takes an extra minute and you’ll be surprised to see how quickly your earnings add up. This is an easy, hassle-free system to earn additional cash or rewards. And if you want our recommendation, Rakuten is the one we use and the easiest place to start.

If you’re not quite sure, take a quick look at the site Cashback Monitor, which summarizes all available offers for both cash back portals and rewards portals. You can search by store to see which portal has the best offer. Keep in mind that some offers can be misleading, because a portal may not offer its highest rate on every item.

Final point: I strongly recommend getting a new credit card with a great signup bonus. When you knock out your minimum spending requirement, you’ll be looking at a points bonus that dwarfs anything a portal will pay you, for far less effort. If you’re not sure where to start, the best overall card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. The easiest to use and redeem for beginners is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. Then, add the card to your Travel Freely dashboard and forget about your deadlines. You’ll get email reminders for your bonus deadline and your annual fees.

6 Reasons Why We Love the Chase Sapphire Preferred®

(New Offer!) Capital One Venture Cards for Beginners: Venture vs. Venture X