Getting the Biggest Bang for Your Buck on Black Friday

With the internet, Black Friday is no longer limited to in-store deals only. You might even find some of the exact same deals online as you would in-store, and if that is the case – avoid the lines, make the purchase from home, and earn points and miles! Whenever you make a purchase online you should ALWAYS go through one of the online shopping portals – especially on Black Friday and Cyber Monday when many of the points/miles have been doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled.

Using the online shopping malls is like a two-for-one – get the same good deal as in the store and then free bonus points/miles! There are many online shopping sites to go through, so it is important to figure out the best one for you and the store you are purchasing for. Almost all of the points and miles loyalty programs have online shopping sites. This is really easy and just involves one extra step. So worth it for the FREE points/miles! Once you go to the online shopping site, search and select the store you are making a purchase at, and click the “Shop Now” (or similar) button. This will then take you directly to the store’s online site. Through internet cookies, the online shopping site will track how you accessed the site and then give commission to that source – in this case the commission is points and miles!

The key thing to know is that the shopping malls differ in the number of bonus points they give out for each store. It is important to take a look at and see which shopping site will give you the biggest bang for your buck. For example, currently Ebates gives 12% cash back at Macys, while American Airlines Advantage only gives 3x bonus at the same store. I like using the site evrewards.com to compare all the sites. Keep in mind that while this site is accurate most of the time, it isn’t a 100% guarantee.

Online Shopping Malls and Special Black Friday Point Bonuses

• Chase Ultimate Rewards: This program and shopping portal is limited to those who have a credit card with Ultimate Rewards access. The Ultimate Rewards shopping program in general has been very generous lately with some amazing bonus points offer, so I would highly suggest looking into it if you are a big online shopper – like myself! Online Shopping Site link
• American Airlines Advantage: You must have an AAdvantage account to use this shopping mall. Online Shopping Site link
• Delta Airlines SkyMiles: You must have a Delta SkyMiles account to use this shopping mall. Online Shopping Site link
• United Airlines MileagePlus: You must have a United Airlines Mileage Plus account to use this shopping mall. Online Shopping Site link
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards: You must have a Southwest Airlines Rapid Reward account to use this shopping mall. Points earned through the shopping portal DO count towards the Southwest Companion Pass! Online Shopping Site link
• TopCashBack.com: My personal favorite cash back online shopping portal site. Overall, I’ve found that they have higher % of cash back and have also had great tracking and customer service. They are offering $10 sign up bonus for new customers. They are also having some Black Friday specials were select stores are offering an increased bonus. Online Shopping Site link
• Ebates: Another favorite of mine and they allow you to download a plug-in which means you do not need to go to Ebates first. When you go to the merchants site, if Ebates is a partner, a pop-up will automatically appear telling you the cash back you’ll receive and asking if you want to active the bonus. New customers will also receive a $10 bonus. They are offering double cash back for Black Friday. Online Shopping Site link.

Overall, unless there are some major changes on Black Friday, the cash back sites seem to be giving a much higher bonus then the airline portals. Just remember to earn your free points, miles, or cash back!