2RETIREDTRAVELERS

http://www.evreward.com/ compares the deals

sundayrundown

Thanks. AWESOME SITE!!

JudyJFLA

You do still need to check the stores listed there to see if there are any bonus promos like double miles. The site can't possibly keep up with all the changes, but is the first place to check. Also you can install the toolbars from some of the airlines, I use US Air's and it will give miles for searches and alert you to miles to be earned whenever you look at a partnered store.
Cheers!
JudyJFLA

jato

Forgive me if this is well-trod ground, but I can't find it.

Is there a search engine that tells me which shopping program gives me the best reward for a particular store? i.e. I know I'm going to buy something from buy.com, and I want to know if I'm going to get a better deal on AAdvantage eShopping or the BA Miles eStore, or [insert rewards site here]. (AA gives 3x, BA gives 2x at the moment for this example.)

I want to type in buy.com and see which reward wins. Thanks in advance.

tripice351

I use rewardsdb.com. I've found it's not always accurate in the current amounts (such as right now it says bigcrumbs give 2.7% cashback, but in reality is it currently 4%), but it'll at least give you a list of all the places that support the store. I think there are others such sites, maybe someone else will chime in. Or try a search.

RedRiver

www.evreward.com

ajnaro

A warning about evreward.com, recommended by several posters here. I was looking for the best reward for shopping at newegg.com. I usually use ebates.com, which offers 1%, but I decided to look on evreward.com and found a listing for “up to 3.2%” on bigcrumbs.com. Of course, I do know what “up to” means but I decided to try it since I could find no better specification on the bigcrumbs.com or evrewards.com sites. The result was a lowly 0.8%. I would have been better off not bothering with evrewards.com, which turned out to be misleading.

gster78

i find the webflyer site to be better and more comprehensive

maccoinnich

There is also nerdwallet.com/discounts, although it doesn't seem to be very up to date, which is a shame, because the interface is nice.

crimson12

I'm wondering if this will work. I feel like it should, though I wanted to get confirmation.

UA's mileage plus mall has, for example, 2.5 miles/dollar at Banana Republic. So far as I can tell, this is a UA offer not related to the MP credit card.

Going (through MP shopping's link) to Banana Republic, I see (thanks to InSite) that I get 4x Amex MR points at BR.

Does this mean I can buy stuff for $100, get 250 UA miles, AND 400 MR points?

mia

No. You will receive one or the other. When you click the link in a shopping portal it passes a code to the merchant site to claim the commission on the transaction. If you use a toolbar it will send a conflicting code. I cannot say which one would work, but the site will not pay two commissions on the same sale. Shopping portal/toolbar bonuses are awarded by the merchant, not by the sponsoring program.

Also, when American Express says "4X" they mean "three points more than usual". If you charge $100 on the card you will always earn 100 points, but if you use the American Express shopping portal or toolbar you will earn 300 additional.

Henry82

Depending on the situation, it may be worth it to purchase through the Airline Shopping Portal instead of the MR Portal:

1800Flowers.com
MR Portal = 10X per $
Delta SkyMiles Shopping = 30 miles per $

Banana Republic
MR Portal = 4X per $
Delta SkyMiles Shopping = 3 miles per $
UA/CO Mileage Plus Shopping = 2.5 miles per $

In most cases, MR Points are more valuable than Airline Miles, so with BR it definitely makes sense to make the purchase directly through the AMEX MR portal.

However, when the miles earning rate is significantly greater, such as the case with 1800flowers, I may chose to purchase through SkyMiles Shopping portal instead. In this situation, you can try splitting up your transaction via Gift Cards on eBay to get your "stacking" combo:
- Buy GC on eBay, pay with CC: get 1X MR points for this plus the eBay bucks.
- Purchase item through Airline Shopping Portal of choice, paying for said item with previously acquired gift card.

FOX85

the only way to "stack" these deals is if one shopping portal offers rewards on gift cards and then you use the other portal to redeem the gift cards.

Even this is tricky because some store do not give you points for buying and/or redeeming gift cards so make sure you read teh T&C's carefully.

crimson12

I'm still not clear on why my initial idea wouldn't work. mia says this turns on the code that is passed to the merchant. But that code comes from the airline's shopping portal, right? So Mileage Plus Shopping sends code XYZ to Banana Republic. When I make a purchase, BR sees the code XYZ and says to UMP, "Hey, this guy should get 250 miles."

Separately, I have an Amex card. But as I understand it I get 4x points for using an Amex at certain retailers, right? So long as I used an Amex at Banana Republic, it's my understanding that BR looks at my card and says, "Hey, this guy spent $100 but instead of 100 points he should get 400." That seems to me to be unrelated to the Mileage Plus code?

Or are you saying this won't work because I only get the MR points for shopping at BR through the MR shopping portal? In that case I why you couldn't double-count.

I guess there are too many retailers, and too much fluctuation from day to day, to keep track. But it would be great to have a website that told you how many points per retailer you got through these various deals. (e.g., if I can only get one set of points, I'd take 4x MR points than 2.5 UMP miles)

mikeef

Likely the bolded above. They want you using their portal.

As for the website to tell you points through retailers, you may want to check out http://evreward.com/, which will ask you where you are shopping and then give you several options.

Finally, I (and several other FTers) have rebate sites in our sigs that give you straight cash back. Full disclosure: If you sign up through my link, I get a small referral percentage (I think 0.2% of the overall purchase.) of whatever you spend.

Mike