Feb 18, 2015, 5:57 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

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AAdvantage eShoppping by Cartera Commerce
Using, earning miles, problems, etc. (Consolidated thread)

American Airlines is not the contact for Cartera / AAdvantage eShopping .

AAdvantage eShopping FAQs and an e-contact form can be found via the "Contact Us" link at the bottom left corner of the home page.

If you have trouble getting purchases to track, there's also a browser extension to help.

Quote:

Cartera website: http://www.cartera.com

Cartera Commerce, Inc.
One Cranberry Hill
Lexington, Massachusetts 02421

Tel. (781) 541-6800 Fax: (781) 541-6801

For general inquiries, please contact [email protected] or 888.456.6255

Quote:

MODERATOR GUIDEPOST (Please do not alter contents following)

This thread is the sole thread to address issues with AAdvantage eShopping (operated by Cartera Commerce). Other queries or complaints will invariably end up merged into this thread. All posts must comply with FlyerTalk Guidelines and Rules / TOS, or may be summarily deleted or edited by moderators.

A related article, highlighting an interview of Cartera Commerce CEO Tom Bercher, is "Secrets of Cartera Commerce Revealed: Inside the Company that Brings You Miles for Online Shopping" by Gary Leff on March 3, 2014. Link.

As described in this thread, AAdvantage Shopping now offers a downloadable button installable on your desktop (not mobile) device to facilitate e-shopping. Link.

Older posts may be read at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...or-consol.html

Notes about Giftcards.com:

A separate thread exists for discussing Giftcards.com and likely has more data points than this generic thread.
Purchases from giftcards.com earn miles on the first $2,000 spent in the named calendar month, meaning for example between March 1st and March 31st. [Note: as of Aug 2023, the $2k limit is per order, not per purchase]
Giftcards.com has had various limits over the years, and it was always by calendar month.
Some data points show the $2,000 monthly limit is not always enforced. [Note: as of Aug 2023, the $2k limit is per order, not per purchase]
In 2022, larger orders track more slowly, and you may need to wait a full month to see miles. Strong advice from the thread is to make multiple small purchases (say under $300) rather than large ones to avoid the dreaded "manual review"

(Copied from the LP thread wiki): Once you click through the AAdvantage eShopping portal to a vendor offer and make a purchase, you will eventually get the associated miles posted to your AAdvantage account as both redeemable miles and Loyalty Points. If the merchant advertises an increase in the miles per dollar spent, you'll earn the higher amount in both redeemable miles and an equal number of Loyalty Points. The same applies if a merchant advertises a higher fixed amount per purchase, rather than a per dollar amount. Examples of this would appear on the portal as, "Extra miles. Was 1 mile/$. Now earn 3 miles/$" or "Extra miles. Was up to 3700 miles. Now up to 6200 miles." However, if the website advertises a "Limited-time bonus offer" for "bonus miles" after meeting a spending threshold, that bonus will only post as redeemable miles and not Loyalty Points. If a bonus is offered for some site-wide activity such as 1000 miles for installing an extension, or 500 miles for enrolling in the portal, or 2000 miles for meeting a spending threshold across multiple merchants, the bonus will only post as redeemable miles and not Loyalty Points.

Some anti-virus software silently blocks tracking, and you may want to consider disabling it for your purchase.

AAdvantage eShopping / Cartera Questions / Discussion / Vendors / Issues (archive)

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Nov 2, 2022, 10:57 am

#1756

Antarius

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2012

Location: KHOU/KIAH

Programs: AA EXP | Marriott Bonvoy Titanium| Hyatt Globalist

Posts: 11,236

Quote:

Originally Posted by WannaTheater

For those that are seeing cancellations, have you called the credit card company customer service to see if they are actively blocking the charge?

If the $1 auth hits the card, then it's not the credit card side that's the issue. If that fails, then it probably is a fraud detection on the card side (the 3rd one I bought on my Amex failed due to Amex fraud prevention blocking the charge)

Nov 2, 2022, 2:54 pm

#1757

majikTib

Join Date: Feb 2007

Location: Nashville, TN

Programs: AA PP; Bonvoy SE

Posts: 265

I tried multiple times today to order on GC.com, and because of different results the first few times I kept going, wondering if somehow the habits flagged their 'security' measures

8:25am: Ordered - Cancel e-mail 8:25 (immediate email)
8:34am: Ordered - Processed, Citi Alert text confirmation of payment 9:55 - delivered 10:00.
12:10pm: Ordered - Card Declined by Citi (Fraud alert), approved by text, canceled by GC.com
12:21pm: Ordered - Cancel e-mail 12:55 (35 minutes later)
1:20pm: Ordered - Cancel e-mail 2:00 (40 minutes later)
2:40pm: Ordered - Cancel e-mail 3:45 (65 minutes later)

the only thing different about the order that processed is I used the portal link rather than going to the site directly and relying on the Chrome extension. I also spent more time on the site because I had to reload the checkout page a few times because the crappy Verification puzzle never loaded, and then the "Complete Order" button wouldn't activate when it did show. Tried to mimic this process with the last attempt, no dice.

Nov 2, 2022, 4:39 pm

#1758

kimbray

Join Date: Oct 2010

Posts: 172

OK, strategy question on AA Loyalty with the Giftcard 3X. I am currently at 142,500 loyalty points (accounting fro future AA travel inclusive of this amount and pending points for travel/portal spend). Should I do 6K points per month for giftcards (assuming there will be a once a month 3X day from now till end of March). That gets me 24K points. I ask this first part as it is has BEEN SUPER painful to chase everyone to get points (example on 8/24 I bought 2K and jsut got credit for it today!)
Then I would need to use portal and SimplyMiles to get the other 33,500 or so to get to Executive Platinum. I am asking as the rumor is they are going to increase the levels for status and I would like the multipliers for air travel as 11X and 120 bonus helps me get to status again next year as I have some international travel in March, May and September all on OneWorld airlines.
There is an opportunity cost vs other portals (Rakuten as an example) and with Black Friday/Cyber Monday and other crazy things coming, should I be HAPPY with Plat Pro for next year or GO to get Executive Platinum???

If yes, I would get 2K of giftcards ASAP to get me the assumed 24K from now till end of March assuming they do a 3X once a month.

Thanks

Nov 2, 2022, 6:27 pm

#1759

Antarius

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2012

Location: KHOU/KIAH

Programs: AA EXP | Marriott Bonvoy Titanium| Hyatt Globalist

Posts: 11,236

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimbray

Where did you hear this rumor?

Nov 2, 2022, 7:16 pm

#1760

Au4882

Join Date: Apr 2012

Location: CLT / AVL

Programs: AA EXP; Hyatt Globalist; Kimpton IC; IHG Diamond Ambassador;

Posts: 319

Quote:

At least you got one to go through. Assuming you're doing $250 GCs? Is this fraud protection pain new for most? I haven't encountered it in previous months, but have only bought GCs 3-4 times before. I do have an immediate need for $1600 GCs though, and would like to get some LP action and Citi AA Exec minimum spend taken care of buying them...

Last edited by Au4882; Nov 3, 2022 at 9:56 am

Nov 2, 2022, 7:25 pm

#1761

kimbray

Join Date: Oct 2010

Posts: 172

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antarius

Where did you hear this rumor?

https://viewfromthewing.com/is-ameri...tus-next-year/

Nov 2, 2022, 8:05 pm

#1762

Au4882

Join Date: Apr 2012

Location: CLT / AVL

Programs: AA EXP; Hyatt Globalist; Kimpton IC; IHG Diamond Ambassador;

Posts: 319

In theory this could work -- if GC.com actually allows portal purchases to go through...

Nov 2, 2022, 11:59 pm

#1763

armus

Join Date: Apr 2011

Programs: AAdvantage (Platinum)

Posts: 469

Bonus miles offer started (up to 4K miles for spending $1,500).

Nov 3, 2022, 12:24 am

#1764

nk15

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2014

Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances

Posts: 11,663

So annoying that they delayed 2 days, I have already bought almost all of my gift cards coz I needed to pay some bills...

Nov 3, 2022, 5:31 am

#1765

murphy

Join Date: Dec 2003

Location: Washington, DC

Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA Executive Platinum

Posts: 1,932

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimbray

I’ve been looking at the same thing. I think it’s only worth stretching for EP if you’re going to fly a lot next year. If you’re going to spend $10k next year then EP will get you an additional 20k LPs for your spend. If you have 30 segments you’ll get the loyalty choice awards, so 4 swu or 60k rdm. And you’ll get higher upgrade priority. Meanwhile, you’re probably going to need to put a bunch of spend on an AA card, forgoing a potential signup bonus somewhere else.

I need about 40k to hit EP, so if I buy $8k in 3x gift cards using my AA credit card I’ll be most of the way there. But I’m not going to spend $10k next year, so my prize for making it is maybe 10k LPs and 70k rdm (I don’t think I’d choose the SWUs). And then I need to track and liquidate 32 gift cards, which is kind of a PITA. I’m just not sure it’s worth it for me.

Nov 3, 2022, 6:13 am

#1766

lbbzman

Join Date: Jun 2003

Location: Lewisville, TX USA

Programs: AA EXP 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Bonvoy LT Ti; National EE; WDW Passholder

Posts: 838

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimbray

Should I do 6K points per month for giftcards (assuming there will be a once a month 3X day from now till end of March). That gets me 24K points.

. . .

If yes, I would get 2K of giftcards ASAP to get me the assumed 24K from now till end of March assuming they do a 3X once a month.

Just a reminder that the end of the qualification year is 28 February 2023. That said, your math seems correct for the four remaining months of the qualification year (November, December, January, February): $2000/month * 3 miles/$ assuming promo * 4 months = 24,000 miles

Nov 3, 2022, 7:23 am

#1767

njvandy

Join Date: Jul 2008

Location: DCA

Programs: AA EXP 1MM, WOH Globalist

Posts: 1,160

Quote:

Originally Posted by lbbzman

If you're cutting it close, remember that you get miles/LPs based on the total price including the fee (even if there is a 5% or 10% promo) so it's 768 miles per GC. 24,576 if you buy $2k in Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb.

lbbzman likes this.

Nov 3, 2022, 7:39 am

#1768

kimbray

Join Date: Oct 2010

Posts: 172

Became a no brainer this morning with the 4K promo. I know this does not count for loyalty points, but does for miles.. :-)

Nov 3, 2022, 8:14 am

#1769

njvandy

Join Date: Jul 2008

Location: DCA

Programs: AA EXP 1MM, WOH Globalist

Posts: 1,160

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimbray

Became a no brainer this morning with the 4K promo. I know this does not count for loyalty points, but does for miles.. :-)

What 4K promo?

Nov 3, 2022, 8:16 am

#1770

kimbray

Join Date: Oct 2010

Posts: 172

https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/p/extra-rewards.htm

njvandy likes this.