How to earn bonus frequent flyer points when shopping online

One of the simplest ways to earn more frequent flyer points in Australia is to divert your online shopping to retailers who will offer you points for the purchases you were going to make anyway. This guide will showcase some of the key ways you can earn points when shopping online.

Point Hacks has a tool to summarise all of these retailers and bonus point opportunities into a single list—which we’ve now updated with recent changes across a number of online malls where you can earn points.

How and why to use online malls?

Given there is a range of frequent flyer and credit card programs, plus more complex ways of earning points such as by buying gift cards with bonus points for online or in-store payment, earning the maximum points from shopping quickly becomes tricky.

This is why we also have this tool to help you ensure you are earning as many points as possible from your purchases.

As to which online mall to use? Well, this is a combination of which points currency you prefer, plus the number of points you’ll earn.

Some online malls have higher earning rates than others, time-limited promotions or a different retailer mix.

Use our Bonus Points Finder to compare points earn rates at hundreds of retailers in Australia here.

The tool collates the points earn opportunities from:

• Qantas Shopping
• Velocity e-Store
• Asia Miles iShop

An example points ‘win’ from using this tool

Say you were planning on buying some clothes from Bonds. Searching for Bonds in the table will show that the standard earn rate is four Qantas Points per $1 for shopping through Qantas Shopping, or two Qantas Points per $1 via the Velocity e-Store or Asia Miles iShop.

We can’t guarantee all the earn rates and partners will be up to date 100% of the time but we’ll do our best!

Can I use gift cards with online malls?

Supermarkets regularly run gift card promotions where you can earn 20x bonus points on the purchase of certain gift cards. It’s certainly tempting to use these gift cards to pay for purchases that are tracked via online malls. But note that most online malls prohibit the use of gift cards to pay for purchases that earn points. In short, you can’t stack the points earned – you’ll have to choose between earning points via an online mall, or earning points from purchasing gift cards during a promotion.

Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on the weekly specials from Woolworths or Coles to see what gift card promotions are available. You could get lucky with a 20x bonus points offer! Buying gift cards, in general, is a method that many points enthusiasts use to meet a minimum spending requirement on a credit card.

If there is a lucrative bonus points offer on gift cards, you’ll need to weigh up where you’ll get the most value. For example, you could make a $100 purchase from Qantas Shopping to receive two points per dollar, but a supermarket gift card promotion nets you 20x Everyday Rewards points on a $100 gift card (which converts to 1,000 Qantas Points.) In such a case, you’ll earn more points by forfeiting the online mall and paying with a gift card instead.

Also read: Case Study: How I easily earned 10,000 bonus points with gift cards

Notes

• The earn rates shown are standard, not bonused with different promotions. If there is a promotion running, the earn rate will be different (and probably higher).
• You may wish to bookmark the latest Everyday Rewards promotions or Flybuys promotions to keep an eye on any bonus point offers on gift cards so you can weigh up your options.
• Make sure to verify bonus points with the respective online portals before making a purchase, especially if it’s a large one.

How to make a purchase from an online mall

Online malls work by tracking the purchases you make at participating retailers so they can credit you with points for each dollar you spend. Make sure to enable cookies when using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Safari. 

We will use Qantas Shopping as an example, but the process should be similar to each of the other online malls. Also, note that at times, these shopping malls provide one-off bonuses, such a previous promotion shown below offering six Qantas Points per $1 spent at Red Balloon instead of the usual earning rate of one Qantas Point per dollar.

1. To start, head to the Qantas Shopping home page and log in to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account.

2. Click on the retailer you wish to shop at. The page will tell you how many Qantas Points you can earn per dollar, plus any applicable promo codes you can use.

4. When you have checked out, that’s it! Sit tight and wait a few weeks (or months) for the points to credit.

How to earn even more points when shopping online

We covered how, in some instances, you may find better value in purchasing gift cards during bonus point offers and using these when shopping online. But what if your particular retailer doesn’t allow the use of gift cards, there are no bonus point offers that align with the timing of your purchase, or you simply can’t make it into a store to purchase a physical gift card?

Earning points is often about all the small actions that add up – like using a points-earning credit card to pay for your online purchases. Some credit cards, like the Qantas Premier Platinum, offer one Qantas Point per $1. Or if you prefer to boost your Velocity Points balance, the American Express Velocity Platinum card offers 1.25 Velocity Points per dollar.

As an example, you could pocket three points per dollar when clicking through an online mall. Using a points-earning credit card to complete that purchase could then nab you extra points on top. It’s not a lot of extra effort, but the extra points can add up!

What if I don’t want to earn points?

There may be scenarios where earning points isn’t a priority or where you may prefer cash savings instead. This is where cashback websites like Cashrewards may be useful. This gives you a cash rebate for each purchase rather than more points.

For example, if you’re making a $100 purchase at an online retailer to earn one point per $1 spent, but a cashback site has a hefty cashback bonus of 15%. Essentially, you could earn 100 points or $15 off your purchase.

But say an online mall offers a bonus of six points per dollar on a $100 purchase, while a cashback site is only offering 2.5% cashback. Whether earning 600 points or saving $2.50 is more beneficial comes down to your personal preference.

Just like how bonus points offers can change, so too do cashback offers. So it pays to check both before you make a purchase. Note that you can’t use both an online mall and Cashrewards for the same transaction, as they both track your purchases the same way. 

Summing up

Checking out our bonus points earn tool before making an online purchase can earn you some points on something you were going to buy anyway. You may get lucky with a special offer like double or triple points running at the time of your purchase.

If there’s a retailer, program or other data point missing or incorrect, please let us know in the comments!

Original article written by Evin Tan Khiew.

Featured image: rupixen.com, Unsplash