Tagging Miles

Ebates Birthday Live – But with a twist!

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Its the best time of the year here for resellers and online shoppers alike. Ebates 20th Birthday was announced, and is now live! But, Ebates Birthday is a bit difference than I think we all expected.

What we expected for Ebates Birthday

In honor of Ebates 20th Birthday, Ebates was hyping up their 20% cashback on many, many stores – exciting, right?!?

Ebates 20th Birthday, Ebates Birthday

However, we’re seeing things pan out a little bit differently. 

What’s really happening for Ebates Birthday

When logging in to 2 different accounts, I’m seeing different promotions, and I think many are, as Doctor of Credit highlighted yesterday. 

First they tease you with: 

Ebates Birthday 20%

But then they show you:

Ebates Birthday 15%

Ebates Birthday 20% 15%

That said, there are still a bunch of stores showing at 15% and 20% But I find one thing particularly interesting.

When logging into 2 different accounts, the primary differentiation between the accounts is – one is cashback and one is linked to American Express.

For Macy’s, for example, the cashback one shows 20%, and the AMEX Linked account shows 15%.

Ebates Birthday

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll go for 15x American Express Membership Rewards all day long! But, its interesting to see this distinction.

Stores at are 15% / 20% Ending Today

Now for some actionable info. The following stores show as ending today:

  • Macy’s
  • JCPenney
  • Saks 5th Avenue
  • Bloomingdales
  • Shoes.com
  • Barneys New York
  • Coach
  • Mytheresa (never heard of this one!)
  • Madewell (ditto)
  • Lane Bryant
  • Kate Spade
  • 1-800 Flowers
  • Shutterfly
  • Dick’s Sporting Goods
  • Finish Line
  • Columbia
  • Lands End
  • GNC

Also of note for those that enjoy discounted travel the following Online Travel Agencies (OTA)s are at 20% unless otherwise noted)

  • Orbitz 
  • Expedia (only 10%)
  • Travelocity

Note, there’s a bunch of other stores that are at 15% / 20% but are not day limited.

If you have both a cashback and an AMEX Linked account, which one will you buy via?

Coming Monday 6 May – Ebates 20th Birthday!

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May is a great time for online shoppers of all kinds! I’ve long talked about the power of shopping portals to increase miles and points balances, but May happens to be Ebates Birthday month, and with this year being Ebates 20th Birthday, they’re going bigger than we’ve ever seen before!

Past Ebates Birthdays

Past Ebates Birthdays usually see 15% off like when we even saw Staples included at 15% in 2018. Though the best was Ebates birthday celebration in 2015, when they did 16% cashback, translating to 21x at Staples. Bottom line, Ebates is the portal to check in May!

Ebates 20th Birthday

Ebates will begin celebrating their 20th birthday starting on May 6th with 20% cashback on many, many stores! 

Ebates 20th Birthday

Right now, Ebates isn’t giving a ton of insight, just that a bunch of categories that will have some stores at 20% cashback:

Ebates 20th Birthday

Of interest, we don’t see Office Supplies, do note that when you hover over the dropdown, it displays “Electronics and Office.” So I think there’s still some chance we’ll see some of our favorite stores.

But wait, it gets better, wayyy better!

I know, right now you’re thinking, “how do you get better than 20% cashback?” Well, what if I told you, it could really be 20x American Express Membership Rewards Points? Remember a few months ago when Chuck over at Doctor of Credit wrote about Ebates Partnership with American Express? And how $5 of cashback transferred into 500 Membership Rewards points? Yeah, like I said, what’s better than 20% cashback? 20x Membership Rewards!

Wrapping Up 

Ebates 20th Birthday is a big deal, and it starts on 6 May! I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Staples, which would make it a 25x opportunity. 

Will you participate in Ebates 20th Birthday? If so, will you go for the 20% cashback or 20x Membership Rewards Points? 

Ebates Member Appreciation Day -12% Cashback!

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Ebates is doing a Member Appreciation Day offering 12% cashback on 300+ stores. Its not as good as the Ebates Birthday Week in May, but today’s Ebates Member Appreciation Day with 12% cashback is still nothing to shake a stick at!

Ebates Member Appreciation Day

Ebates Member Appreciation Day

There are a good number of what I’ll call “meaningful” stores that have 12% cashback today. Here’s the initial look:

Ebates Member Appreciation Day

In addition to the stores in this graphic, other options include:

  • Travelocity
  • Priceline
  • Thrifty Car Rental
  • Coach
  • UGG
  • Foot Locker
  • Macy’s
  • Brookstone
  • Overstock.com
  • Petco
  • Reebok

You can get the entire list via Ebates Member Appreciation Sale page.

Wrapping Up

While we don’t see some of the truly exciting stores on this list today, like Kohls or Staples, I still think there is a lot of value to be had here. This is of course true whether you’re looking for reselling opportunities, personal use purchases, or for travel, since we have a couple of Online Travel Agencies (OTA), like Travelocity and Priceline. 

Will you be buying anything via the Ebates Member Appreciation Sale today?

Earn 8,000 bonus miles from Airline Shopping Portals!

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It is back to school season, and so it is yet another opportunity to earn extra miles through airline shopping portals! I’ve written a bunch about the power of shopping portals, and how you can increase your miles and points balances through shopping portals. This is a great opportunity to do just that, thanks to American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines.

Delta SkyMiles Shopping 

Delta is unfortunately the least rewarding, requiring up to $350 spend to earn 1,000 miles, that’s only slightly more than 2x.

airline shopping portals

 

AAdvantage eShopping 

American Airlines is offering up to 2,000 bonus miles for shopping now through 18 August. Total spend is only $500, so you’re essentially getting an extra 4x miles if you get to that level.

airline shopping portals

 

Rapid Rewards Mall

Southwest is only slightly less rewarding, offering 2,000 after $550 spend, which is slightly less than 4x.

airline shopping portals

MileagePlus Shopping

United is the most rewarding offering 3,000 miles after $600 spend, or  5x.

airline shopping portals

Final Thoughts – Earn 8,000 bonus miles from Airline Shopping Portals

While 8,000 bonus miles is not a ton, every little bit helps toward accruing enough miles to redeem for awards. More importantly, shopping portals are in general a great way to keep miles balances active too, and with these bonuses, you get a little extra bang for your buck. 

Increased TopCashback Payout if taken as an AMEX Reward Card

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I often talk about how awesome shopping portals are, but I suppose I don’t talk as much about ways to maximize your return once your cashback is ready to be paid out.

TopCashback provides a perfect example of some ways you can get that much more out of your cashback. For the month of August, they are providing a 5% bonus when you request your cashback payout as an American Express Reward Card.

TopCashback - Increased 5% bonus when payout as an American Express Reward Card!

TopCashback – Increased 5% bonus when payout as an American Express Reward Card!

If you’re trying to think about what you can do with American Express Reward Card, the TopCashback Blog shares some ideas.

Other ways to get more for your TopCashback

The other big option at TopCashback is to get an Amazon.com gift card.

Get 3% more TopCashback with Amazon!

Get 3% more TopCashback with Amazon!

It may only be a 3% increase over just getting your cashback outright — which is in reality a 1% lower amount than you can get via other means which I’ll talk about more in the near future, but, it certainly doesn’t hurt to get more.

Conclusion

While American Express Reward Cards don’t have the flexibility of Visa Gift Cards, getting 5% more cashback, on money that you already received as a discount from an online purchase certainly doesn’t hurt. As they say, every little bit helps. For Resellers, this is even more true, as every percentage point of profit can make a difference, and 5% more cashback could make a difference coming into Q4, when you need every bit of liquidity that you can muster!

So will you have your TopCashback payout in the form of an American Express Reward Card?

Get Ebates Cashback In-Store

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I’m a huge fan of shopping portals, because they enhance profitability for resellers, and help save a bunch of money for consumers. Ebates continues to innovate by adding Ebates Cashback In-Store. This is of course on top of enhanced cashback via the mobile app.

Ebates cashback in-store

Ebates cashback in-store

Right now its only available at 20 stores, many of them not necessarily the ones you’d see at your local mall, but it is a step in the right direction! Of course Upromise has been doing this longer, but another cashback portal in the mix can only be a good thing.

Ebates Cashback In-Store Options (as of this posting)

  • Claim Jumper – 5%
  • Ann Taylor – 2%
  • Moosejaw – 5%
  • Tillys – 3%
  • New York & Company – 2.5%
  • J.Crew Factory – 2%
  • Dick’s Sporting Goods – 1.5%
  • Saks Fifth Avenue – 4%
  • Old Navy – 2%
  • Banana Republic – 2%
  • Eddie Bauer – 3%
  • Charming Charlie – 1%
  • Gap – 2%
  • Express – 2.5%
  • Kiehl’s – 4$
  • Footwear etc. – 5%
  • American Eagle Outfitters – 2%
  • Sephora – 5%
  • Rebecca Taylor – 3.5%
  • The Body Shop — expired as of 30 June, but was 4%

How to enroll

Ebates cashback in-store sign-up

Ebates cashback in-store sign-up

Much like Upromise you need to add your credit or debit cards to your account. Then you have to explicitly link to your desired offer. Its unfortunate that Ebates doesn’t make it easy, and just automatically enroll anyone who’s loaded a credit card or debit card to their account.

Ebates has also shared a nice little video highlighting the new feature:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LePHaeAGqNM]

Conclusion

Getting cashback from an online portal, in store is awesome. Its not amazing amounts of cashback, but every little bit helps. The fact is, the addition earning of Ebates Cashback in-store should be viewed as pure gravy. Take a moment to sign up, make sure you have your workhorse credit cards added to your account, and you’re done. Every little bit helps.

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