Click, Shop, Save: The Ultimate Guide to Shopping Portals
Shopping is a necessity, but did you know you could get rewards from your purchases? Welcome to the realm of shopping portals. If you’re new to this concept, fear not; this ultimate guide to shopping portals will tell you what you need to know.
Contents
- Understanding the Basics: How Shopping Portals Work
- Getting Started: Creating Your Portal Account
- Navigating the Terrain: Reading the Fine Print
- Best Practices: Avoiding Pitfalls
- Maximizing Rewards: Strategic Shopping Tips
- Mastering the Art of Stacking: Increase Your Savings
- Beyond the Basics: Specialized Portals for Extra Rewards
- In-Store Shopping and Pickup: Convenience and Savings
Shopping portals are websites, or apps, that reward you for beginning your shopping trip on their site, or app. Here’s how it works. Suppose you plan to shop at a particular online store. Instead of going directly to the store’s website, you first log into a shopping portal.
On the portal, you’ll find a list of stores and the current reward for shopping there. The portal will list the reward as a percentage of your purchase or number of points per dollar spent.
Find the desired store and click its link on the portal. The shopping portal will automatically redirect you to the store’s website. As it does, the shopping portal will automatically assign a tracking number to your store visit. Then, you shop as you normally would. That’s it. If you make a purchase, the shopping portal will add the cash or points earned within a set number of days.
To embark on this savings journey, you’ll first need to choose a shopping portal and create an account. There are many to choose from. Think about your shopping habits when making your choice. Not every online store is available on shopping portals, and some stores are only available on specific shopping portals. Check various portals to get an idea of what they offer.
Kickstart your savings with sign-up bonuses.
Many portals sweeten the deal with bonuses upon sign-up or after your first purchase. Referral links from existing users may offer even more lucrative sign-up bonuses.
You can use my referral links to Top Cash Back, Rakuten, Capital One Shopping, and Swagbucks. These, and Retail Me Not, are the shopping portals I use most often.
Sign up for one portal or several. As you’ll see shortly, it can be more profitable to use more than one.
Before diving in, familiarize yourself with each portal’s terms. Each shopping portal sets its own terms and conditions about how and when they’ll credit your account with the rewards you’ve earned. Some portals will only allow you to request your earnings once you’ve reached a set amount. Others distribute earnings on a regular schedule, no matter how much you‘ve earned. Payment options vary. These may include checks, PayPal, or direct deposit into a bank account. Some portals only allow you to use your earnings toward gift cards.
Be careful with your clicking. Choose the portal you want to use and use the store link from that site to get there. Don’t click another site’s link once you’ve gone through the portal to the retailer. Whatever is clicked last applies. For instance, if you leave the store’s site to research a product and unknowingly click a sponsored link before returning to the store, your purchase will probably not track correctly with the shopping portal and you won’t earn rewards.
Occasionally, mistakes happen, and an expected reward does not post through no fault of your own. Each shopping portal has a process for handling this situation. This usually involves providing some information from the purchase and possibly an order confirmation email from the store. In these instances, it’s essential to know the details of your purchase. I maintain a simple spreadsheet where I record the date, store, shopping portal, rate, and purchase amount. I also don’t delete order confirmations until I’m certain I no longer need them.
Each shopping portal has its own earnings rate for each retailer, and they change often. One may offer 5% back and another may offer 3%. Tomorrow, they could be reversed. That’s why it’s helpful to have access to more than one portal.
Sometimes portals offer significantly higher savings for a very limited amount of time. It’s wise to check a few portals just before making your purchase to be sure you’re getting the most savings.
It’s important to pay attention to any listed restrictions on the portal for the store you choose. Some purchases will only earn rewards for certain product categories. Also, some portals place limits on how many rewards you can earn with particular retailers, or have restrictions regarding the use of coupon codes.
Several shopping portals offer browser extensions. Some portals will offer incentives for installing and using their extension. Once you’ve installed and turned on the extension, it will alert you of earning opportunities as you shop. This is a convenient option if you use one portal for all of your shopping. If you prefer to use several, be careful with extensions. You may activate one without realizing it. Even if you begin your shopping trip on one portal, another portal’s extension could possibly override it. One way to avoid this issue is to install the shopping portal’s extension on a separate web browser. For instance, I do most of my web browsing on Google Chrome. Instead of installing the Capital One Shopping extension there, I installed it on Firefox. When I want to use it, I simply switch browsers.
You can’t use multiple shopping portals for the same purchase since it’s the one click through the portal that’s recorded. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t stack even more savings.
Several banks provide cash back, in the form of offers, for shopping at specific retailers if you pay for your purchase with that bank’s debit or credit card. These time-sensitive deals need to be activated on the bank’s website, or app, before use. Check for offers by logging into your account. By activating the deal first and then shopping through a portal, you’ll add to your savings. Additionally, you’ll earn whatever rewards you normally earn for purchases with your card.
Another way to stack savings is to go through a shopping portal to purchase a gift card for the store at which you plan to shop. Then go through a shopping portal again to make your purchase and use the gift card as payment. Assuming the shopping portal does not exclude gift card purchases, this method would earn rewards twice.
Besides generic shopping portals, many banks and airlines have their own shopping portals. These award points, miles, or cash back, depending on the rewards program. These programs are especially helpful if you’re trying to earn a specific type of reward or if you’re trying to keep a rewards account active since some travel rewards expire.
Instead of going directly to a store to shop, earn rewards by placing your order online and choosing store pickup. There are also some shopping portals that offer rewards for in-store shopping at certain retailers. You simply link a credit card to your account and activate the offers before you shop.
Whether shopping online or at a physical store, you can earn valuable rewards. From sign-up bonuses to stacked savings, shopping portals can save you money. Don’t miss out. Get started with shopping portals today.
About the Author
Written by H. Kinney, author of How to Plan a Free Theme Park Vacation. She writes about using points, miles, and cash-back rewards to reduce the cost of theme park travel.
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