“Never pay full price” is a piece of advice all of us could use. While that’s not always possible when shopping in-store, there are several ways you can avoid paying full price when shopping online. Better still, you can usually stack multiple offers to save even more.
Capitalize on Card Issuer Promotions
Several credit card issuers offer a discount program for cardholders—Amex Offers, Chase Offers, Capital One Offers, Citi Merchant Offers and BankAmeriDeals. By enrolling in an offer and making an eligible purchase, you can earn cash back or bonus points.
Amex Offers
The Amex Offers program is perhaps the most well-known program. While the number of offers will fluctuate, many Amex cards are targeted for up to 100 Amex Offers at a given time. Amex Offers can range from earning a small amount of cash back to earning thousands of bonus Membership Rewards points.
Pro Tip: If you don’t see Amex Offers applicable to you, add offers to your card and Amex will add offers from new merchants.
Chase Offers
As with Amex Offers, Chase Offers vary between Chase credit cards and each cardholder. Chase states that offers are targeted based on your recent purchases. So, cardholders should see more offers on cards they use often.
Capital One Offers
Capital One Offers work a bit differently from Amex Offers and Chase Offers. Rather than being triggered by card purchases, cardholders need to click through a special Capital One Offers link before making their purchase to earn rewards. That can limit the potential stacking of these offers.
Citi Merchant Offers
Citi Merchant Offers is similar to Amex Offers and Chase Offers. All you need to do is enroll in an offer and then make a purchase to trigger an offer.
BankAmeriDeals
Bank of America cardholders can use BankAmeriDeals to get cash back on purchases. In the past, we’ve found this program to be the smallest of the card issuer offer programs. However, it seems the BankAmeriDeals program has expanded to offer a solid selection of offers.
Check for Card Processor Offers
In addition to the cash back you can get directly from the bank savings programs, Visa and Mastercard each offer a cash-back savings program. Both of these programs are only available for business cards though.
Visa SavingsEdge
Visa’s business savings program is called Visa SavingsEdge. The program awards cash back with offers such as 2% cash back on QuickStop purchases, 7.5% cash back at Intuit TurboTax and up to 35% cash back at Hyatt.
To get started with the Visa SavingsEdge program, enroll your business card by linking it with your email address and business card number. With that, you’ll have access to “Instant Coupons” that offer immediate savings through the use of a promo code but they do not require payment to be made with your registered Visa Business card. Other Cashback Offers require you to link an eligible Visa Business card and then use your linked card to make a qualifying purchase. Qualifying for online Cashback Offers will require a purchase initiated through an offer link.
Mastercard Easy Savings
Mastercard’s business savings program is called Easy Savings. By enrolling in the program, you’ll automatically earn cash back when making purchases through Mastercard Easy Savings merchants. However, Easy Savings has a limited number of direct partner merchants. Instead, Easy Savings partners with fuel, hotel and dining programs to provide reach.
Earn AAdvantage Miles Through SimplyMiles
SimplyMiles doesn’t fit into any other category. It’s not quite a shopping portal and it’s not a bank-issued program. And that makes it a perfect pairing for stacking offers.
To get started with SimplyMiles, enroll your Mastercard credit cards and activate offers. Then, you’ll earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles on those purchases through SimplyMiles.
Offer expirations vary, but many are often renewed after their original expiration. So, it’s worth checking back every month or two to see which offers you’re targeted for.
Take Advantage of Card Benefits
Certain premium credit cards offer statement credits when cardholders shop with particular merchants. American Express leads the way in this category.
After enrolling in the benefit, The Platinum Card® from American Express cardholders can get:
- Saks Fifth Avenue: Get up to a $50 statement credit semi-annually, up to $100 per year.
- Uber: Get $15 in Uber Cash each month (up to $35 in December) for rides or Uber Eats purchases in the U.S. An eligible Amex card must be enrolled and selected as the payment method for the Uber or Uber Eats transaction to redeem this benefit.
- CLEAR® Plus: Get a statement credit each year on a CLEAR Plus membership.
- Equinox: Get up to a $300 statement credit each year on the Equinox+ digital fitness app, or eligible Equinox club memberships.
- Digital Entertainment Credit: Get up to a $20 statement credit each month at eligible merchants such as Disney+, ESPN+, Peacock, Hulu and more.
- Amex Travel Hotel Credit: Get up to a $200 statement credit each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection bookings with American Express Travel when you pay with your Platinum Card®. The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay.
- Airline Fee Credit: Get up to $200 in statement credits after selecting a qualifying airline for incidental fees.
- Walmart+: Get up to $155 in statement credits ($12.95 each month) to get free shipping, delivery and Paramount+.
The card has an annual fee of $695 (see rates & fees, terms apply).
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is also stacked with merchant-specific statement credits. Cardmembers can enroll in the following offers:
- Dell: Get up to a $200 semiannual statement credit for U.S. Dell purchases. That’s up to $400 in statement credits each year.
- Indeed: Get up to a $90 quarterly statement credit for Indeed purchases up to $360.
- Adobe: Get up to a $150 statement credit each year on select Adobe subscriptions.
- CLEAR® Plus: Get a statement credit each year on a CLEAR Plus membership.
- Wireless services: Get up to a $10 statement credit each month towards wireless telephone services in the U.S. ($120 per year).
- Airline Fee Credit: Get up to $200 in statement credits after selecting a qualifying airline for incidental fees.
The card has an annual fee of $695 (see rates & fees, terms apply).
Earn Bonus Points or Cash Back Through Shopping Portals
Even if you strike out on finding offers from your credit card, there’s one last step that you should take before making all online purchases: clicking through an online shopping portal.
Generally, you should never go directly to a merchant’s website when making a purchase. Instead, just by clicking through a shopping portal link, you can earn cash back or extra points in addition to what you earn through your credit card.
There are dozens of online shopping portals, and each can offer a different rate at a given time. Plus, rates can change daily. That’s why we recommend checking CashbackMonitor for the latest payout rates.
If you are collecting a particular type of airline miles—such as points toward the Southwest Companion Pass or Loyalty Points toward AAdvantage elite status—you can still click through that airline’s portal. However, it’s worth exploring other offers.
Also, don’t forget about the power of bank and other rewards points. If you have an Amex Membership Rewards-earning credit card, Rakuten lets you earn Membership Rewards points instead of cash back.
Membership Rewards points transfer to 18 airlines and three hotel programs. So by Earning Membership Rewards points, you can access additional flexibility.
Say for instance that Delta’s shopping portal is offering 2 SkyMiles per dollar spent and Rakuten is offering 6 points per dollar spent. In this case, you’ll want to click through Rakuten’s portal as Membership Rewards can be transferred to Delta SkyMiles at a 1:1 ratio. You’re tripling your effective earning rate by shopping through Rakuten instead of Delta’s shopping portal.
Before making a purchase, check to see if the shopping portal offers a bonus for making purchases. For example, Southwest’s Rapid Rewards Shopping portal often doubles or triples offers for some merchants depending on the season or holiday. That extra bonus might make it worth shopping through a different portal.
Bottom Line
Before you make a purchase online, check to see if you can use any offers to earn some additional rewards or statement credits. By utilizing bank savings programs, card processor offers, shopping portals and card statement credits, you may be surprised at how little you ultimately pay for a product or service.
To view rates and fees for The Platinum Card® from American Express please visit this page.
To view rates and fees for The Business Platinum Card® from American Express please visit this page.
