BigHabitat
Level 2 Member
I love mega-portal bonuses. Getting 8, 9, or 10x through a portal means you can rack up points and miles real quick. To me, this is much preferable to hanging out at Walmarts trying to unload debit cards, which I do as well.
I mean, if that’s your thing this is the week to do it since Staples has a bonus $20 visa gift card with $250 in Visa gift card purchases. And you should (and I will). But, if after that you still have an insatiable thirst for even more miles, read on.
While I’d love to see an 8, 9, or 10x multiplier on Staples through a portal, the reality is with the Chase Ink card’s 5x points on office supplies, a 5x at Staples is really better than a 10x portal bonus somewhere else.
Right now Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping has 6x at Staples (cashbackmonitor)… Crazy isn’t it? Plus, remember that shopping through the Southwest shopping portal gets you a little bit closer to the elusive Southwest Companion Pass, which trust me, is a very good thing to have.
Staples is a little dry at the moment for deals, but here are a couple of things to consider..particularly since Staples has $50 off a number of ipads..
- Apple Ipad minis (original) – $199 at Staples, about $230 on Amazon. It doesn’t sound like a huge margin, but because of the category, it’s only about $16.50 in Amazon fees for listing at $230. So figure about breakeven after tax, and you will get 6x SW points, 5x Ultimate Rewards points, and 5% Staples rewards. So 2200 points per tablet! Is it a hot seller? How about #18 in Computers for the white/silver version.
- Dell P2314H monitor ($159.99 at Staples, $202 on Amazon). While certainly bulkier than an ipad mini, the nice thing is that you can (usually) apply coupons to monitors. So if you find a nice $20 off $100 or $25 off $75, etc. you can make this even better.
- Buy gift cards for other stores. Although the terms and conditions for the Southwest mall say they are excluded, I’ve received credit for purchases made in the past (most recently in Dec. and January). By doing this you can then use the gift cards to go through and get another portal bonus (for example, buy Groupon gift cards and then you could get an additional 5x points through Southwest Rapid Rewards shopping to get 16x total points!
Of course, while this has worked often for me you won’t have much recourse if it doesn’t… but you’re still getting at 11x in that case. And Staples egiftcards usually take a day, so don’t bank on the 5x Groupon bonus being there tomorrow (but Chase is 4x usually anyway as a backup)
Other portal bonuses worth noting, and their portal:
- Groupon 5x (Southwest)
- Home Depot 5x (Southwest)
- Microsoft 5x (Southwest)
- Sears 6x (AAdvantage) – these are good for double dipping by buying or reloading Sears/Kmart gift cards to get the portal bonus then going back again to buy stuff. 6x is a decent bonus, but right now there is virtually nothing to buy at Sears or Kmart so I’m passing on reloading now. But if you have an appliance purchase it may be worth it….
- Kohls 4x (AAdvantage) – its not 10x, but those days are gone.
