How to earn Points on Holiday Shopping: 6 Beginner Friendly Hacks

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Earning Points on Holiday Shopping!

The holidays are right around the corner — and while most people are focused on spending and getting gifts for their loved ones, what if I told you this is actually the best time to start earning points for holiday travel and travel in 2026? And not all of these tips require a credit card! So let’s focus on both travel and earning points on holiday shopping.

I used to just swipe my card with no thoughts about what card to use. I would spend $1,000 on gifts and earn about 1x -2x points, but that is a thing of the past because once I learned a few simple strategies, I turned my holiday shopping list into a points-earning machine — no complex credit card setups or elite status required. I am already gearing up for holiday shopping 2025 and am excited to earn points and miles to fund my future travel.

If you are new to points and miles, don’t worry — this post is designed just for you. I am breaking down the exact tools I use to earn points on everything from headphones to holiday gifts, and how I stack them for maximum value. These aren’t abstract tips — they’re real things I’ve done (like scoring 8x points on a single gift!) to make my future travels cheaper.

Ready to make your holiday shopping work for you? This post is packed with beginner travel hacking tips to help you maximize your holiday travel rewards while gift shopping.

1. Use Cashback Monitor to Earn Points on Holiday Shopping

Cashback Monitor is the perfect place to start searching for stores before doing any of your holiday shopping. It’s one of the best cashback portals out there for comparing rewards in real time. Cashback monitor allows you to search by store to see where the top cashback, miles, or points are and how to get them.

Keep in mind that, if you have Capital One and want to use the Capital One shopping offers, that is not often accurate on Cashback Monitor. So I typically search them right after I have gotten the information I needed from Cash Back Monitor.

Cashback Monitor tells you how many points/miles you will earn by store and gives you information for a ton of credit card and airline programs. In the screenshot below of Best Buy on Cashback Monitor, it shows a few of the programs, including the newly added Rove Miles, more on this later. This helps to give you an idea of what program to use when you are getting ready to make your holiday purchase.

Cashback monitor Screenshot — Best Buy for Cashback Monitor

Last year, I needed to purchase Beats for my nephew’s birthday and was able to search different stores that sell them on Cashback Monitor. It showed me that I could earn 8x the points by using the Chase Portal, Chase Ultimate Rewards, by using my Chase Freedom Card, and paying with PayPal in December, I could earn an additional 5x the points because that is one of the current Q4 Bonuses for the Chase Freedom Card!

I plan to use Cashback Monitor as I plan out all of my holiday purchases this holiday season. For sites that are not on Cashback Monitor, I will typically see if I can find the item on a site that is included, or I will use a credit card that earns at least 2x points, such as my Capital One Venture. Using Cashback Monitor has been a game-changer in earning points for holiday travel.

If you wanna learn more about Cashback Monitor and how to use it, check out this video.

2. How Shopping Portals Can Earn You Airline Miles on Holiday Shopping

Once you have figured out what options you want, shopping portals, credit card portals, or Rakuten, you have to log into the specific portal before you start shopping. When it comes to shopping portals, this will allow you to earn airline miles for your favorite airline!

Holiday Tip: During the Holiday Season, many of these portals increase their miles-earning promotions. I once earned 6x miles on a Macy’s purchase just by activating a limited-time deal. Also, if Amazon is your store of choice, there are sometimes deals on Simply Miles, which earn you American Airlines miles.

Airline Shopping Portals to sign up for:

These airline portals are perfect if you want to earn travel rewards while shopping during the holidays and have a wide range of stores that offer additional points.

Pro tip: If you install the browser extensions for these portals, they’ll remind you to activate the deal when you’re browsing a store online — so you never miss a chance to earn.

Another one I would consider adding to this list, but you will need a Mastercard to use any of these offers, is Simply Miles. Once you create an account and activate offers, you can begin shopping, and you can earn points online and in-store as long as you use your linked Mastercard! Keep in mind that there is a limit for some of the offers, so make sure to read the fine print! This is a great way for earning points on Holiday Travel, especially at places that are not showing up on Cashback Monitor, such as Amazon.

If you need more information about the process, check out the website or this video.

3. How to use Credit Card Portals to earn points on holiday Shopping

Chase has a portal called Ultimate Rewards, where if you have the following credit cards: Chase Freedom, Sapphire, or Inks, you can use the Chase Shopping Portal for your holiday shopping. It works very similarly to airline portals, where you need to log in to Chase and then click on shop with Chase, find the store, and it will take you directly to the store’s website to begin shopping.

During the holiday season, Chase partners with big-name stores to offer limited-time point bonuses. For example, I earned 8x points at Best Buy through the portal, and another 5x for using my Chase Freedom to pay via PayPal (a Q4 bonus).

Pro Tip: Always check Cashback Monitor first to see if Chase is offering the best deal — sometimes Rakuten or airline portals have better payouts. You want to make sure you are getting the highest payout.

4. Earn Points on Holiday Shopping with Rakuten

If you’re looking for a low-effort way to earn points or cash back during holiday shopping, Rakuten is a must. It’s a shopping portal — but unlike airline portals, it gives you the option to earn either cash back or Membership Rewards points (when linked to an Amex account). You can even opt into earning Bilt points, making it one of the most flexible options for stacking rewards.

I’ve used Rakuten for years — originally for cash back, but I recently switched to earning Bilt points. This change helped me rack up over 6,000 points just from everyday purchases. With the holiday season 2025 right around the corner, I am sure I will be able to double that with all the promotions.

The easiest way to use Rakuten is to install their browser extension. When you land on a store’s site, it pops up to let you activate an offer, no manual searching. You’ll get payouts quarterly via check, PayPal, or directly to your linked points account. The next payout is 2/15/2025, so it’s a great time to start earning on your holiday season purchases.

Rakuten is not solely for online shopping. You can even use it in stores by activating the store in the app and using the connected card!

What I really like about Rakuten during the holidays is that the bonus amounts increase dramatically, so instead of the 2% you see, during the holiday shopping season, you often see 15% or more.

Tip: You cannot activate Rakuten and a shopping portal, like Delta or American, at the same time. You will need to choose which one you want to earn points from! However, you can use Rakuten and Capital One Shopping at the same time!

One mistake I made early on? I forgot to activate the extension and missed out on 1,200 points at Sephora. Now, I never shop without checking Rakuten first — especially during the holiday rush.

5. Activate your Credit Card Offers before Holiday Shopping

Credit card offers offer you an additional way to earn points on your holiday shopping, but you must activate them before shopping.

When you log into your credit cards, there are a variety of offers that you can utilize. This can save you money as you shop! Check your dashboard weekly for holiday bonus points deals, especially from the best rewards credit cards for holiday shopping

During the Holiday season, I check this area for each card weekly to make sure that I am not missing out on any offers.

I even activate ones that I am not sure if I will use, just in case I do use them!

Make sure to check all of your cards and the fine print to make sure you understand how to use the offers! American Express recently had an offer for Amazon!

Tip: Some offers may only be for first-time users, so make sure to read the fine print.

6. My Stacking Strategy to earn more points for Holiday Travel

This is the key to earning more points: Credit card reward stacking — combining portals, bonus categories, and holiday promos. If you are wondering how all these tools can work together, there are many ways to do this. Stacking is the secret to earning way more points without spending a cent more.

This is typically how I stack points:

Use Cashback Monitor to find the best portal or card
Click through to Rakuten or an airline portal
Pay with a Credit Card that has a category bonus or an activated offer

Tip: In December, I plan to use my Chase Freedom card as much as possible because it will earn 5x points for PayPal purchases. So I will use Rakuten to earn Bilt points and then pay with the Chase Freedom, giving me the ability to earn sooo many more points than normal.

My most recent Holiday Shopping Points Earnings:

I needed to re-up on some lip glosses from Sephora and used

Rakuten to earn 4x the points,
Capital One Shopping to earn 2x the points, and
paid with my Capital One Card to earn an additional 2x points.

Earning Points on Holiday Shopping for Travel: Holiday Shopping Hacks 2025

For Beginners, this may seem a little overwhelming, but planning out your purchases, downloading the extensions will make this holiday shopping season a high points earning season for you and then a great 2026 travel season.

In addition to planning out your shopping, I would keep a running list of active credit card offers and bookmark Cashback monitor so that you can always go there before you buy anything.

Just remember that the key to shopping this holiday season and earning points and miles is double-dipping/stacking. Using one of the above methods and then also earning points via one of your credit cards will allow you to maximize your points earnings!

Tip: If a store is not on Cashback Monitor or one of the Portals, I would use a credit card that has earnings of at least 2x, or if it is December, use your Chase Freedom/ Chase Freedom Flex so that you can earn 5x points.

Once you get your points and plan out your next vacation, make sure to transfer them to your favorite airline to get the most bang for your buck!

So before you check out on your next holiday purchase, pause for 60 seconds. Use Cashback Monitor to find the best rewards portal, activate any offers on your credit cards, and choose whether Rakuten or an airline portal will give you the best return. These tiny steps can turn your regular spending into flights, hotel stays, or even luxury upgrades. Let’s make sure you are earning points for holiday travel!

Save for Later!

Travel Resources	Information about Resources
Airalo	If you need phone service while out of the country, check out Airalo to avoid all the fees.
Amazon	Find the perfect items for your next vacation!
Booking.com	If you want to book a mix of hotels and houses, check out booking.com!
Expedia	If you need a package that includes flight + hotel, or want to add a car? Expedia is the perfect site to book an entire vacation.
Priority Pass	If you do not have a credit card, you can still get lounge access by purchasing a Priority Pass Membership!
Ticketmaster	Heading to a concert or event, make sure to check out Ticketmaster.
Vrbo	Find the perfect rental house for your vacation and/or staycation.
Viator	The perfect place to find all your excursions and things to do in the many cities you visit.

Travel Resources to book tours, flights, and stays!