Before You Buy! Use a Shopping Portal & Get FREE Money When You Shop Online (Quick Recap of Current Bonuses)

Black Friday slash Cyber Monday is coming fast. Not only can you earn free cash, points, or miles, but use a shopping portal to get extra bonus money just for signing up and clicking a link before you shop.

Here’s a recap of current portal bonuses if you’re a new member, and a few apps that will give you free money when you shop.

If you’re going to buy stuff anyway, always get something back from it. Even if it’s a few bucks here and there, it all adds up!

use a shopping portal

Don’t miss out on bonus points for your troll doll purchases

Here’s a list of current bonuses!

Try a New Shopping Portal and Earn Free Cash

Shopping portals are sites that award you free cash, points, or miles when you click through their links before you begin your online shopping.

You can earn rewards for shopping at nearly every big merchant. Always check Cashback Monitor to see which site will give you the most for your purchase.

That said, some portals give you a first-time use bonus, or a bonus for spending a certain amount, if you’re a new member. And when you include it, the value can actually be stellar.

Cashback portals offering free cash for new members

BeFrugal Members

Here are 10 shopping portals with bonuses for signing up right now:

  • Acorns – $5 for signing up, then earn free Found Money when you shop at 40+ merchants
  • BeFrugal – $10 for signing up, shop at 5,000+ merchants
  • Dosh – $5 instantly added to your account when you link a card. One of my favorite apps!
  • Ebates – $10 after your first purchase at 2,500+ merchants
  • ExtraBux – $20 when you signup, can shop at 3,000+ merchants
  • Giving Assistant – $5 instantly added to your account
  • Ibotta – $10 when you download the app. Another fave!
  • Mr. Rebates$5 when you signup
  • RebatesMe – $10 instantly added to your account when you signup
  • Swagbucks – $3 when you earn $3 from shopping at 1,500+ merchants

In particular, I like Dosh and Ibotta when shopping for everyday items like groceries because you can get deals in-store, too. The others are online only (for the most part).

Airlines portals to earn extra miles

If you don’t want cash rewards, or are close to an award trip, you might use an airline portal to earn miles instead. The main ones are:

As of now, I don’t see any special offers for shopping other than the usual miles per $1 spent.

Sometimes they run promotions, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see one pop up over the next month or so. Keep watch if you’re interested.

Bank portals for free points

The most notable is the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal that gives you extra points if you have a Chase Ultimate Rewards card. Barclays also has a shopping portal.

But depending if another cashback portal offers a bigger percentage of cash, or if you can earn bonus miles from an airline portal, you might decide not to use these.

That said, transferable points are the most valuable around so you just gotta run the numbers and go for what you personally prefer the most.

Don’t forget Earny, Honey, and Paribus

Here are 3 services every online shopper should have. Signup for:

  • Earny – automates price protection on many credit cards, and monitors for late shipments – costs 25% of refunded difference
  • Honey – browser extension that alerts you for lower prices and applies coupons automatically to save money, great for Amazon shopping
  • Paribus – watches for price drops and claims late shipment adjustments on your behalf – completely free to use
a screenshot of a website

I like Earny, Honey, and Paribus to complement my online shopping habits

These are excellent additions that offer protection for your shopping. I’ve used them all for years and have saved $100s in price drop credits and refunds for late shipping (even it’s only late by 1 day).

Bottom line

If you plan to shop online at all this holiday season, get free cash for shopping through a portal! Many of them will give you bonus money just for signing up, or making a purchase, if you’re a new member. I’ve rounded up the current bonuses above.

If you prefer airline miles, keep an eye out for a portal bonus at some point in the next few weeks. And check Cashback Monitor to check the best earning rates across every portal at a glance.

Now would be a good time to score a lot of bonuses in a row. Here’s my full comparison of 15 cashback shopping portals.

And if you shop online with regularity, definitely get on board with EarnyHoney, and Paribus. They’ll add value when there are price drops or extra coupons – or late shipments.

Free money for shopping – these are the easiest wins around!

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BEST Current Credit Card Deals
  • Capital One Venture X Rewards—Earn 90,000 Venture miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening, plus a $300 annual statement credit for travel booked through Capital One
  • Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card—Earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first 3 months and 3X bonus points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year
  • Amex Blue Business Plus—Earn 15,00 Membership Rewards points once you spend after you spend $3,000 in purchases in the first 3 months of Card Membership and 2X bonus points on up to $50,000 in spending per year with NO annual fee
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About Harlan

Just a dude living in Memphis, traveling, and working toward financial independence.

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