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Rakuten is currently running some big promos for today only. If you’re unfamiliar with Rakuten, or shopping portals in general, read this article which goes into more detail, but essentially this is an early Black Friday Sale where you can earn 10% back, or if you want Amex points, 10x Amex points on every dollar you spend. However…history has shown us that odds are they will do a better promo on Black Friday/Cyber Monday.
You can earn cashback or Amex points via Rakuten
If you are unaware, Rakuten ( formerly Ebates ) partnered with American Express and gave its members the option to earn Amex Membership Rewards in lieu of Cashback. The rate: 1% = 1 Membership Reward. Read this article if you want to learn more.
Personally, I find this to be a far more attractive option since I value Membership Rewards anywhere between 1.5 and 2 cents. This current promo means you could earn an effective 21/ 28% back in the form of points.
Don’t have a Rakuten account? Get $40 after you spend $40 with our referral – this runs until 12/7/21
You can earn $40 cashback when you spend $40+ by using our link
Loads of stores at 10x for “Today Only”
A lot of great retailers, but…I’m going to wait.
The last few years, Rakuten has run bigger sales for Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and I’d guess this year will be no different.
How quickly do the points populate your account?
Once a quarter Rakuten will send the points over to your Amex account. Feb 15th, May 15th, and so and so forth. You can see it populated the same day.
This was a really big quarter for me, but just those points alone were close to a Lufthansa First Class redemption via Avianca LifeMiles ( 87k ).
Overall:
This is a nice little bonus, but we’ve seen deals across the board hover at 15% and that’s what I’m planning on waiting for.
Capital One Venture X
Learn More
Capital One lit the premium card market on fire when it dropped this card. It quickly was added to our wallet for the following reason!
♥ Earn 100k Bonus Points after $10k Spend in 6 months
♥$300 Annual Travel credit within Capital One Travel Portal
♥2x on every single purchase without limit
♥10x on hotels and car rentals purchased via Capital One Travel
♥5x on airfare purchased within Capital One Travel
♥Erase any travel purchase off your card at a penny a piece with Capital One Travel Eraser
♥Lounge access:
- Access to the Capital One lounge network
- Priority Pass access ( including restaurants for you and two guests ) Authorized Users have access as well
♥ 10k Anniversary Miles every year you keep the card – worth $100 in Capital One Travel or transferred to partners
♥$395 Annual Fee
If you spend more than $400 a year on travel, you’ll quickly offset the annual fee with the $300 travel credit and 10k anniversary bonus. The rest is gravy. And you can add up to 4 Authorized Users fee free!
Learn More
Weirdly as big as Rakuten is, their platform is not really hassle free. I’ve made purchases and depending on the store, Rakuten relies on the store reporting the purchase and not tracked from their own site. Also, after making the purchase, there’s no way of tracking which purchase ties to which shopping trip ID.. almost half of the purchases I made via Rakuten I had to follow-up.. so after some back and forth, you lose track of the purchases and the multiple earn factors (10x, 15x, etc). Some they just give back 1x even though it was bought when they had multiple Xs. I guess it’s a crap shoot, but I won’t argue.. extra free points is extra free points.. 🙂
Sorry for this indirect question, am I able to book a flight from the US to Tokyo for my son and his girlfriend?
From the ANA website, do I have to register my family using 1,000 ANA miles to submit the registration form or does this only apply if you live in Japan? I am in San Diego, CA.
Thank you!
I’m done with Rakuten. Way too many ways they try to wiggle out of cash back. Dell is a great example – the consider Dell to have multiple sub-departments (consumer v. business v. outlet) and yet there is no indication whatsoever to a purchaser which you’re purchasing from. You click on the Rakuten link to Dell.com and make a purchase and they tell you you purchased business and not consumer or vice versa despite no way for any consumer to tell. And I find you rarely get more cash back than you could just find a coupon for the same if not better discount. Yea – I get 15% cash back at Disney but cannot use my 20% coupon to get it . . . what a deal.