The Power of Shopping Portals for Travel Hacking

When it comes to Travel Hacking, maximizing every opportunity to earn points and miles can make a world of difference. One often-overlooked strategy is using shopping portals for extra points during online shopping. These online platforms offer travelers a chance to earn extra rewards for everyday purchases, accelerating their path to free travel. By using a shopping portal, I earned 24,000 extra airline miles off of one purchase last year! 

What Are Shopping Portals?

Shopping portals are online platforms affiliated with airlines, banks, or other reward programs that allow you to earn additional points or miles for your purchases. By clicking through a shopping portal link before making a purchase at your favorite online store, you can earn rewards on top of what you would normally receive from your credit card. 

How Shopping Portals Work

Using a shopping portal is simple. First, log into your preferred airline or credit card’s shopping portal. Then, search for the retailer you plan to shop with, click through their link, and complete your purchase as usual. The portal tracks your purchase and credits your account with bonus miles or points.

Benefits of Shopping Portals

1. Double Dipping: You earn rewards twice—once with the shopping portal and again with your credit card.

2. Increased Earning Power: Shopping portals often run promotions, offering increased points for specific stores or during certain times of the year. This can exponentially boost your earning potential.

3. Wide Range of Retailers: From electronics to clothing to travel gear, many portals have partnerships with hundreds of retailers, ensuring you can earn bonuses on a vast array of purchases.

The Best Tool for Shopping Portals 

Any time you are planning on making an online purchase, go to Cash Back Monitor. It has all the major shopping portals combined into a simple page. They'll give you a list comparing the rates of all shopping portals for whatever online retailer you're planning to shop with. You can do this with little & large purchases. I used a shopping portal for Mother's Day flowers and received 15% back in travel points. I also used a shopping portal when purchasing my Apple computer and the 12% back on that purchase got me 24,000 American Airlines miles (Which I used to fly my entire family of four on a trip!). Here's a glimpse of what it would show you if you searched before buying your next pair of Nike shoes.

Bonus Tip

Although Rakuten markets themselves as a "Cash Back" portal, if you have an American Express Card, you can actual convert your Rakuten earnings into American Express Membership Rewards Points. There's two great things about that: Those points are valued 2¢ per point & those points can be used for Travel Hacking in a variety of ways!

Shopping portals are a powerful tool for any travel hacker looking to maximize their rewards. By strategically planning purchases and leveraging these platforms, you can significantly increase your points and miles, bringing your dream destinations within reach. Happy shopping, and even happier travels!