Originally Posted by ericdabbs

I am confused by your question. You get the 5x category bonus from your CC on VGCs regardless if you use the portals or not since they come from the CC. The portals were just icing on the cake with additional cash back on top of the 5x category spending.

Just FYI, you can still order non-VGCs (Target, Home Depot, etc) via portals for Staples.com and get the additional cash back/points on them from the portals.