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Rakuten is one of the oldest — and remains one of the best — shopping portals on the internet for earning bonus rewards. And if you haven't joined, now's a fantastic time to do so.
New members can currently use a Rakuten referral link to get a new member bonus of $50 or 5,000 Amex Membership Rewards points. This bonus will be on the table through December 31, 2025.
Shopping portals are among the best ways to supercharge your earnings for online purchases. You'll earn bonus points, miles, or cash back just by clicking through a shopping portal before making a purchase.
Page Contents
What Is Rakuten?
Originally founded in the late 1990s, Ebates was one of the very first online shopping portals. In 2014, it was acquired by Rakuten (pronounced RACK-uh-ten) — a Japanese e-commerce and online retail company founded around the same time.
Like any shopping portal, Rakuten earns a commission for referring customers to its affiliated merchants. This commission is then shared in part with its members as cashback. These sites are free for consumers to use; the ability to earn extra rewards while shopping online (and do so without a cost) means you should always use portals when shopping online.
Rakuten Increased $50/5,000-Point Referral Bonus for New Members
If you aren't a Rakuten member yet, it's a great time to sign up. New members who sign up through a referral link by December 31, 2025, can now score $50 cash back (or 5,000 Amex points) after spending $50 on shopping trips within the first three months of joining.
To earn your Rakuten sign-up bonus, all you need to do is sign up for Rakuten through a referral link (if you need a referral, here's mine). Then, spend at least $50 on Rakuten shopping trips within 90 days of opening your account. And that's it.
Your referral bonus will appear under the “Earnings Balance” section of your Rakuten account within a couple of days of completing eligible purchases.
But point maximizers may want to opt to earn American Express Membership Rewards instead. If you select “Membership Rewards points” as your earning preference, the Rakuten referral bonus will be paid in the form of 5,000 Membership Rewards points instead of cash-back rewards.
Earn Amex Points Through Rakuten Instead of Cash Back
Through Rakuten's partnership with American Express, you can earn Membership Rewards points instead of cash back. The cash-back percentages listed for a vendor are equivalent to how many Membership Rewards you'll earn for every dollar spent. So, if a vendor lists an offer of 15% cash back, you can earn 15X Membership Rewards points from your purchase instead.
How to earn Amex points through Rakuten
If you'd like to change your payment option from cash back to Membership Rewards, start by adding a qualifying Membership Rewards-earning card to the My Wallet section in your account settings.
Then, the Membership Rewards option should appear in the main section of your Rakuten account settings, found under the “How would you like to get paid?” heading. You can toggle between payment methods, but note that your selected payment method will apply to all future purchases — not to purchases you've already made.
Why should you consider earning Membership Rewards points on Rakuten?
Choosing between cash back and Membership Rewards comes down to the value you can get from the rewards you earn.
If you choose to earn Membership Rewards, you're choosing to receive 1 Membership Rewards point instead of 1¢ of cash back. If you value Membership Rewards higher than 1¢ a piece, you're immediately earning a better return.
Here's an example: At a store offering 10% cash back, a $100 purchase will provide $10 cash back or 1,000 Membership Rewards points. Consider that AwardWallet users redeem Membership Rewards at an average of 1.98¢ per point when deciding which to earn.
Taking that a step further, if you hold American Express Platinum Card® by Charles Schwab, then you also have the option of cashing in your Membership Rewards Points at a rate of 1.1¢ per point. That means you'll earn 10% more cash back by earning Membership Rewards and redeeming them this way than directly through Rakuten.
How Does Rakuten Work?
To earn cash back, start by navigating to Rakuten's website. After confirming that you're logged into your account, search for your desired store.
If the store is eligible for cash back, you'll see the percentage displayed with its name. Simply use Rakuten's link to navigate to the store and complete your purchase as usual. Once the store has notified Rakuten of your purchase, you'll see the earnings appear in your account. And once per quarter, Rakuten will deposit your rewards into your Amex or PayPal account or mail you a check.
Earn More Amex Points or Cash Back by Stacking Offers
Using shopping portals is one of the easiest methods of maximizing your online purchases by “stacking” points earned on a purchase. Navigating through a link is all that's required to use Rakuten. Thus, you can use the same purchase for several other cash-back or point-earning strategies, including:
- Meeting a minimum spend requirement.
- Taking advantage of a rebate or bonus points, such as Chase Offers.
- Utilizing a card-specific credit (such as the $100 annual Saks credit offered on the American Express Platinum Card®). Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.
- Earn bonus points from promotions if any overlap.
- Using a credit card with a related bonus category.
Stacking credit card earnings
To maximize your earnings, you need to choose the right card for the purchase. For Rakuten, this means narrowing down your choice to one of three categories:
- Great everyday spending card: These are cards that earn a solid return on everyday spending, like The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, Citi Double Cash® Card, or Chase Freedom Unlimited®.
- Applicable rotating category: Certain credit cards earn a bonus based on quarterly rotating categories. For example, the Chase Freedom Flex℠ or Chase Freedom® earn 5% cash back on rotating bonus categories each quarter.
- Cards with elevated earnings for eligible online shopping: Some cards specify (or give you the ability to specify) online shopping as a bonus category. A couple of examples include the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card and Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express.
If you're looking to pay down debt or finance a larger purchase, this card also comes with one of the best available introductory APR offers on balance transfers.
- Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
- Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time.
Plus, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked with Citi Travel. - Balance Transfer Only Offer: 0% intro APR on Balance Transfers for 18 months. After that, the variable APR will be 17.99% - 27.99%, based on your creditworthiness
- Balance Transfers do not earn cash back. Intro APR does not apply to purchases.
- If you transfer a balance, interest will be charged on your purchases unless you pay your entire balance (including balance transfers) by the due date each month.
- There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer (minimum $5) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. After that, your fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5).
- Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time.
Plus, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked with Citi Travel.
Rakuten and dining programs can't be stacked
In addition to the online shopping portal, Rakuten also offers numerous in-store offers, including several dining options available through the Rakuten app (available in the App Store / Google Play). After applying these offers to any of the registered cards in the My Wallet menu, any transaction made at that merchant will trigger a cashback bonus.
Restaurant purchases operate much like a dining program. In fact, you may notice that many of the Rakuten cash-back offers at restaurants match the respective dining program offers. On the surface, this seems like it'd make restaurants an incredible sweet spot — earning cash back from Rakuten and the dining program.
Alas, it's not possible. Dining programs and Rakuten operate utilizing a card-linked offer, meaning you have to choose one or the other. The restaurant will only pay out the commission once.
Related: Best Credit Cards for Dining & Restaurants
Final Thoughts
Everyone should use a shopping portal when shopping online. It's free, it takes only a few seconds to use, and the savings rack up fast. If you haven't joined Rakuten yet, it's a good time to do so. Feel free to use my referral link to sign up and claim your $50/5,000 Amex points new member bonus!
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Citi Double Cash® Card (Rates & Fees)
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