Earn an Additional 5x United Miles for Shopping Online

United has another shopping bonus this week offering 1,000 miles after spending $200.  That's 5x miles in addition to what you would earn from the portal and your credit card.  Not bad if you were going to make a $200 purchase (by 10/18) anyway.  I value United miles at $.02 so by spending $200, you're getting an "extra" 10% rebate on your purchase.

This isn't the best bonus of the year but it's still pretty good.  I would expect some serious increases as we get closer to the holidays in both the bonuses and standard payouts.  So if you are thinking about getting an early start on holiday shopping, you might want to wait a few weeks.

Another MileagePlus Shopping Bonus

The United MileagePlus Shopping portal is out with another great bonus running through 9/18.  You'll earn 1,000 United MileagePlus miles after spending $225 through the portal.  You can read about the basics of earning miles/points through online portals in my introductory post.

In July, the portal offered a similar bonus offering 4x bonus points for meeting certain spend thresholds.  Note that you can spend the $225 at multiple merchants across multiple transactions.

The $225 threshold is steep but could be a great way to stock up for the holidays or grab some gift cards for future spending needs.  You could also stack this deal with the Staples.com Amex offer.  The current payouts aren't outstanding but the bonus is solid (~$20) if you were going to be spending the $225 anyway.

United MileagePlus Shopping Back-to-School Bonus

As I've written about in the past, one of the best ways to earn miles is through online shopping portals.  United's shopping portal is offering pretty lucrative "back-to-school" bonus that is worth taking a look at.

The promotion is tiered but basically you'll earn an additional 4 miles per dollar spent up to $500.  I needed to reload my Starbucks card and Emily had a few items in mind from Nordstrom's upcoming Anniversary sale.  So I went through the portal to Staples and purchased a $200 gift card to each store with my Chase Ink Card.  Here's a recap of my earnings:

• I spent >$375 on the back-to-school bonus so that's 1,500 United Miles ($30 value)
• I earned 4 miles/dollar at Staples through the portal so that's 1,600 United Miles ($32 value)
• I earned 5 Chase UR points for using my Ink card so that's 2,000 UR Points ($40 value)
• Nordstrom is currently offering 10x United miles through the United portal so when redeeming the gift card, I'll earn an incremental 2,000 United Miles ($40 value)

So all in, I spent $404 (with Staples gift card fees) and will earn 5,100 United Miles and 2,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points.  I value those points at $142 so that's a 35% discount on purchases (coffee and clothes) that we would have made anyway across the next six months or so.

How to Get 50% Off at Neiman Marcus

The United MileagePlus Shopping Mall just launched a pretty outstanding deal.  Purchases (through Thursday at 11:59 PM EDT) at Neiman Marcus will earn 12x miles.  That is the best earning ratio I've ever seen.  If you are new to online shopping and earning points/miles through shopping portals, please read this post first.

12x United Miles at Neiman Marcus

In addition, Neiman Marcus is running a promotion where you can earn a $50 gift card (for a future purchase) after spending $200 through Wednesday at 1PM EDT.

These deals are stackable and include free shipping.  I will definitely be taking advantage of this deal.  Not to buy crap I don't need but to pick up a few gifts for upcoming celebrations and something for our house.  I'm sure the gift card will come in handy in the future as well.

Just to recap...if you spend $200 you will earn 13x United miles, (including regular spend) receive free shipping and a $50 gift card.  I value the United rebate at 26% (2 cents a mile).  Assuming you can actually use the $50 gift card for something in the future, your effective rebate would be 51% off.  

Using Evreward When Shopping Online

I've previously covered how to earn points by shopping online.  People often tell me that they while they shop online, they don't leverage the online shopping portals because it's too much work to figure out which portal to use.

There are a couple of solution to that problem.  You can either always shop through the same portal (I would recommend the Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall if you select this route) or you can use evreward.

This is a great (and super simple) website which enables you to quickly search before making a purchase and see earning rates (mileage and cash back) for that online merchant.

As an example, check out this search for Nordstrom.  Yet another really simple (and fast) way to locate the best deal (in this case Ultimate Rewards) and click right through to the portal to shop and earn your miles/points.

Make online shopping easier with evreward.com

Earning Miles for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is less than two weeks away and you're probably going to end up sending flowers to someone (your significant other, parent, grandparent, etc...).  You might as well earn miles/points for your purchase so here's a recap of the best earning offers I've seen thus far:

• Earn 30 United miles/dollar through FTD which could be stacked with the American Express offer to receive 25% off your purchase.  
• While not as good of a deal, you can earn 15 AA miles/dollar through FTD.  If you're an elite member, you'll earn an additional 200 bonus miles
• Earn 9 AA miles/dollar through ProFlowers plus receive 20% off 
• Earn 30 AA miles/dollar through 1-800FLOWERS which is stackable with the Amex offer providing a $15 statement credit after spending $50

Earn 30 United miles/dollar through FTD

The best deal is the combination of the United promotion through FTD and the American Express offer.

If you spend $75 AI ($50 on flowers and $25 on tax/delivery/service fees) you would pay a net total of $56.20 and receive 1,500 United miles.  I value the miles at $30 thus reducing your total "spend" to $26.20.  The AA 1-800FLOWERS promotion would net you the same number of miles but cost roughly $3 more. 

Obviously the flowers and the thought are more important than the cashback/miles but it's always nice to get a bonus when doing something you were going to do anyway.

Earn 8 United Miles per Dollar at Sephora

Through the United Shopping Mall, Sephora is offering 8 points per dollar until Monday evening.  I recently wrote a post about how to earn miles through the various online shopping malls so read that first if you haven't already.  This is the highest Sephora earnings rate I've seen in a long time.  I don't shop at Sephora often (Emily takes care of that for us) but in addition to being a "makeup store" they do sell a wide variety of everyday stuff for men (shaving cream especially travel sizes, cologne).

I have had success going through the United mall (Your Mileage May Vary - YMMV) and buying an eGift card first.  Then using that e-gift card to redeem for the actual products.  This may or may not work everytime (the terms explicitly say it won't work) but it is worth the extra five minutes to potentially earn 16 United miles per dollar.  Just make sure you spend over the e-gift card amount the second run through (so buy a $50 eGift card and spend $55 total so $5 ends up on your credit card) as this tends to ensure your miles post properly. 

I value United miles at 2 cents each so if you get miles for both the e-gift card and your purchase, that would be 32% off at Sephora...a store that rarely has discounts or sales.  This is a great deal especially if you were planning on buying something at Sephora this weekend anyway.