Earn bonus points and miles: How to maximize shopping portals for Black Friday and holiday deals

23 hours ago 5

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.

How to use shopping portals

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.

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.

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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 holiday bonus

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

A person holds a wallet while pulling out a credit card

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.

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