Shopping Portals

Another way to earn points for travel is by shopping through portals it’s an easy way to accumulate points. Basically, I feel like I am double-dipping on points. I get them for shopping through the portal and I also get them using my credit card.

My number one shopping portal is Rakuten. I have it linked to my American Express Membership rewards account. I get Membership Rewards instead of cash back (which I prefer). However, there are many different shopping portals you can choose from based on your point needs. Also if you are new to the points game and don’t know where to start you can never go wrong with cashback. I collected almost $2,000 from Rakuten before I made the switch.

For example: points I earn using the Southwest Rapid Rewards shopping portal count toward the points I need to earn toward the companion pass. If we are working toward a new companion pass, I will stop using Rakuten and start shopping exclusively through the Southwest Shopping portal to help me achieve my goal. The portal you use will be based on your travel goals but you can see a comparison of the points available on the website https://www.cashbackmonitor.com/travel-miles-points-comparison/.

Sometimes the shopping portals will offer bonuses if you spend x amount of dollars by a certain date. That is another time I might switch away from Rakuten.