The Rakuten online shopping portal is currently running a promotion with up to 15% cash back at 50+ retail and travel brands. It’s the best time to buy or book if you need to buy or book something on those websites. And if your email account was never used to open a Rakuten account, you even get an extra $30 welcome bonus with our Flytrippers link.
Savvy travelers always use online shopping portals, but savvy travelers also always try to time their big purchases and travel bookings with frequent promotions that give 10% (or more) back!
As always, this is in addition to the rewards of about 11% you get on your credit card if you’re unlocking a huge welcome bonus, as you should be doing (or about 2%-6% if not), and in addition to the rewards from the retailer or travel provider directly (if it has a rewards program). You can read the basics of how to earn rewards.
Here are the details of the Rakuten cash back promotion.
Current Rakuten promotion (Black Friday 2024)
Here’s an overview of what you need to know.
Basics of the Rakuten promotion
Here are the basics of the Rakuten promotion for Black Friday 2024:
- Earn up to 15% cash back
- At 50+ retailers via the Rakuten portal
- Ends December 2nd at 11:59 PM (Eastern)
- This is in addition to the rewards you earn:
- With your credit card (as always)
- With the brand’s own rewards program (as always)
- With the Rakuten $30 bonus (if you create a new account via our link)
The public welcome bonus is just $5 instead of $30 with our Rakuten link, another great example of why you should use our links to support us at no cost AND get better deals for yourself (like with the current enhanced Aeroplan offer giving you ≈ $791 that is not available if you go directly to the bank’s website).
Brands included in the Rakuten promotion
Here’s the list of the 50+ brands included.
So there are obviously plenty of popular retail brands for your everyday purchases, like Crocs, Mountain Equipment Company, and Columbia.
But in terms of travel specifically, there are a few noteworthy brands included in this promotion:
- Hotels.com (one of the largest booking sites)
- Booking.com (another one)
- IHG Hotels (a major hotel chain)
- Viator (activities and tours)
How to take advantage of the Rakuten promotion
This part is more for beginners, but here are the steps:
- Log in to your Rakuten account (or create one and get $30)
- Click on the brand you want to buy or book with
- Buy or book as you would normally do
- Get the cash back bonus automatically
So simple. It makes absolutely no sense to not use online shopping portals.
Analysis of the Rakuten promotion
This Rakuten promotion is really interesting if you need to buy something! Getting 12% back with shopping portals is very good.
Needless to say, it’s a great return on your purchases.
In short, as always, it’s a no-brainer to go through online shopping portals if you’ve got something to buy. But during a promotion, it may even be worth your while to pre-empt a purchase or even to spoil yourself thanks to the extra rewards.
Especially since it’s on top of your earn rate on the card you use — which can be as high as 11% if you’re a savvy traveler who understands that you should always be unlocking a welcome bonus (if you want more rewards).
The Scotiabank Gold American Express Card has an increased offer that gives you 11% back on $7500 (ends December 31st). Our Flytrippers Valuation counts the earn on the minimum spend requirement at the multiplier earn rate for groceries (because it’s the best deal), but you understand that even for other purchases (including retailers available with this Rakuten promotion), you’re still getting way more than the terrible 1% or 2% earn rate most people sadly settle for.
However, getting the best price is almost always more important than the rewards-earning aspect, so don’t buy anything just for the Rakuten promotion if you can get it at a better price elsewhere or at another moment in time.
But if it’s something you want to buy anyway, now it’s even better because the promotion lets you earn lots of points too!
It literally takes 2 minutes to go through the portal, so use it.
Basics of online shopping portals
Getting involved in the world of rewards is the simplest way to travel for less, because it’s so easy to get lots of free travel with rewards.
Online shopping portals give you extra rewards for the purchases you’re going to make anyway. It makes no sense not to use them.
They give you bonuses on every dollar you spend:
- 1 Aeroplan point (≈ 1.5%)
- Sometimes 10 points (≈ 15%) or more
- 1% cash back
- Sometimes 10% or more
- 0.05 AIR MILES Miles (≈ 0.5%)
- Sometimes 0.25 Miles (≈ 2.5%) or more
You’re going to spend these amounts anyway, so take the bonus points! Again; going through the portal takes 2 minutes maximum.
Among the 6 most important things about travel rewards is to never earn a pathetic 1% or 2% in rewards per dollar you spend. Shopping portals are one of the many ways you can multiply your rewards so easily.
If you go directly to a store’s website, you get a grand total of 0 (zero) bonus rewards. Same thing if you go into a physical store as if it were 2007 — in addition to wasting a lot of time and complicating your life.
If you go through one of the shopping portals, it sends you to the same store website, but gives you extra rewards completely free of charge.
The only effort required is to make a few more clicks.
Basics of the Rakuten Cashback Portal
Rakuten (formerly EBATES.ca) is Canada’s largest shopping portal. It gives you simple cash back.
Of all the online shopping portals in Canada, it’s the one that gives you the most choice of stores.
But like literally everything in the world of travel, to make it more lucrative for you, it’s not rocket science: you literally just need to take the time to compare.
That’s because the earn rates on each portal can obviously be different, since they’re different portals. But also, on the same portal, the accumulation rate will vary over the course of the year. Compare!
Basics of shopping portal promotions
Shopping portals very often offer promotions where the earn rates are higher, and it’s often really much higher. There’s one almost every month!
So be sure to wait for promotions to make all your purchases, whenever possible. Taking the time to plan ahead is the key to traveling for less, of course, but that’s not just about planning your trips.
It’s about planning all your big purchases and making them when there are shopping portal promotions to maximize your rewards. It can give you 10 times more rewards for the exact same purchase.
If you’re one of the many people who often buy things at the regular price, then always wait until the shopping portal has a good promotion.
On the other hand, if the store you want to buy from itself is offering a good sale, of course that’s the top priority. For example, Old Navy often offers 50% off clothing, so that’s the time to buy regardless of whether the shopping portal has a promotion.
Go through the shopping portal anyway of course (always, it’s not complicated), but don’t wait for the portal to give you 5% instead of 2% if it means you miss out on the 50% discount!
Among the 6 most important things in travel rewards is to always take the time to do the math for everything.
Basis of the Rakuten Cashback promotions
Rakuten promotions are very frequent.
There are several types:
- Increased rates on specific retailers
- Bonuses on all retailers
Flytrippers will start covering them more regularly thanks to our newly doubled team.
Best card to use for Rakuten Cashback promotions
Choosing the right credit cards is the basics of travel rewards. That means choosing the right cards to apply for (based on a variety of factors) and the right cards to use (based on the expense in question).
For all Rakuten portal purchases, the store where you make the purchase will determine the best card to use for payment:
- Card that gives you 15.0% back on your purchases with the welcome bonus
- Card with a multiplier rate on the purchase category
- Card with the best base earn rate if it’s not a category with multiplier
As always, the key is to use your spending to unlock welcome bonuses. Unless it’s an expensive purchase for which you want the extended warranty (unless you plan to keep the card in question for year 2, in which case you can use the card on which you’re unlocking a welcome bonus and you’ll have the extended warranty).
If, unfortunately, you’re not unlocking a bonus, most of the everyday purchases you’ll be making online aren’t necessarily in merchant categories for which credit cards offer multiplier earn rates. So use a card with a good base earn rate, like the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card and its 2 pts/$ earn rate (THE only card no traveler shouldn’t have).
History of Rakuten Cashback promotions
We’ll eventually dig up the history of promotions from previous years, but at least we’re starting today:
- November 2024 (Black Friday)
- Up to 15% cashback
- October 2024
- Up to 12% cashback
- August 2024
- Up to 10% cashback
Learning how to travel for less
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Summary
The Rakuten online shopping portal promotion is a great way to earn a lot more bonus cash back with many retail and travel brands (so easily). This is the best time to buy something or book a trip if you need to. And if you’re new to Rakuten, you even get an extra $30 welcome bonus by using our Flytrippers link.
What would you like to know about the Rakuten cash back promotion? Tell us in the comments below.
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Featured image: Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France (photo credit: Antoine Contenseau)
