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Plenty of us rely on online shopping for our purchases. Whether we're booking travel, buying groceries, or getting gifts, you can get nearly everything on the internet. Buying things online is also a great way to maximize the rewards you're earning. While you can (and absolutely should) be using a credit card that earns points for your purchases, you can also use shopping portals like Capital One Shopping to double-dip on your earnings.
There are many different shopping portals out there, including ones that'll let you earn Amex points (Rakuten), cash back (Honey), or American Airlines elite status (AAdvantage eShopping). Capital One also has its own shopping portal — and it's doing something vastly more interesting than the rest.
Let's take a look at how Capital One Shopping works, how to maximize it, and whether it beats out the competition.
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What Are Shopping Portals?
If you do any online shopping, you should be using a shopping portal at all times. There are seemingly hundreds of different versions out there, allowing you to earn cash back, airline miles, transferable points, and more. They're free to use and can earn you significant rewards on your purchases, especially if you time them correctly.
The way it works is this: You find something you want to buy online. Before buying, you navigate to a shopping portal, such as Capital One Shopping. You click through the link on the portal's website, which sends you back to the website you were already shopping at. Then, you complete your purchase, the portal tracks your spending, and you earn rewards based on how much you've spent. In essence, you're selling your purchase history to the site in return for rewards.
Cashback Monitor is a great site for picking out which shopping portals offer the best bonuses, but it's not a fail-safe. This is especially true of Capital One Shopping, which will offer personalized rewards based on your shopping habits.
How Does Capital One Shopping Work?
First, it's important to note that Capital One Shopping is distinct from Capital One and isn't linked to any Capital One credit cards. Capital One Shopping is strictly used to reward you for any online purchases you make. Those cash-back rewards come in the form of gift cards, not Capital One miles. It isn't related to Capital One Offers, which are linked to Capital One credit cards and can give you similar rewards when you shop at eligible stores.
You can use Capital One Shopping through the website, or by downloading the browser extension or mobile app. Using Capital One Shopping will differ depending on whether or not you've installed the extension.
1. Register for Capital One Shopping
Joining Capital One Shopping is free and easy. You'll need to provide some personal information, such as your email address and name, but it doesn't require much else. You don't even need to have a Capital One credit card to use the portal (unlike other shopping portals such as Chase). With that said, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is one of the best cards for everyday purchases — such as general online shopping.
2. Download the browser extension or mobile app
The easiest way to use Capital One Shopping is by downloading the browser extension or mobile app. Capital One Shopping browser extension is currently supported by Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari while the mobile app is available for both iOS and Android devices.
Once you're on their website, Capital One Shopping will prompt you to download the browser extension with whichever browser you're using at the time. You can also install the browser extension directly from the Chrome Web Store, Safari Extensions store, etc.
Capital One Shopping also occasionally offers a reward for those who install its extension using referrals. Depending on which referral you use, you can get up to $40 cash back after installing the extension and shopping with it for 90 days.
If you're not interested in installing an extension to your browser, or downloading the app, you can use the Capital One Shopping website to track your purchases.
3. Start Your Shopping Trip
If you have the Capital One Shopping extension, whenever you navigate to an eligible retailer or site, the extension will automatically pop up. You'll need to click “Activate” to make sure you earn rewards on any eligible purchases.
If you don't have the extension, head to Capital One Shopping's website, where you can type in the name of the company that you're shopping with.
4. Shop Online As Usual
Now all you need is to shop as you'd usually do!
Using Capital One Shopping really is a one-step process. Once you've activated your shopping trip, Capital One will automatically track your purchase and award cash back once the waiting period expires. It'll also check for any coupons or discount codes available.
Capital One Shopping Rewards
Maximizing Capital One Shopping
So far, we've discussed how to use Capital One Shopping like any other shopping portal. However, there are some ways to make it work better for you. Because Capital One tracks everywhere you go online, it also tends to offer some really specialized deals.
In the screenshots above you can see that Capital One is offering 3% back at Hilton. But when we log in to my Capital One Shopping account on its website, we get this:
That's a huge difference! To make sure you get the best deals possible, ensure that you're using the Capital One Shopping extension on the browser through which you online shop.
Why so many different options? As we noted earlier, Capital One tracks your shopping habits. Unlike other shopping portals, Capital One gives you personalized offers based on what you're doing in your browser. In our case, Capital One knows that we do a lot of travel searches, so it's providing elevated offers for a travel company.
This can be used to your advantage. Not only will Capital One give you different offers based on how you're looking (which means it always behooves you to be thorough as you click through), but it'll also send you emails with exclusive options.
It can feel pretty invasive knowing that Capital One is watching all your internet history and sending you offers based on what websites you browse. Personally, I installed the extension on a secondary browser (Chrome) which I only use when shopping — with the idea that we wanted Capital One to track the information.
Related: Capital One's Best Transfer Partners
Redeeming Capital One Shopping Credits
Capital One Shopping allows you to earn Capital One Shopping rewards on your purchases, but that doesn't mean you receive it in the form of actual cash back. Instead, you'll earn Capital One Shopping Credits, which can be redeemed for a variety of gift cards. These include:
- Global Hotel Card (usable for Expedia hotels)
- Shutterfly
- Home Chef
- 1-800-flowers
- StubHub
- The Container Store
- Omaha Straks
- The Children's Place/Gymboree
- Office Depot/OfficeMax
- Allbirds
- Columbia
- Puma
- Famous Footwear
- Hot Topic
- Lucky
- PlayStation Store
- The Popcorn Factory
- Third Love
- Yankee Candle
- Land's End
- Soothe
- Scheels
- MLB Shop
- Under Armour
- Hanna Andersson
- Athleta
- Advance Auto Parts
- CVS
- Adidas
- Callaway
- Banana Republic
- Old Navy
- Stitch Fix
- Sling
- Petco
- Belk
- Lane Bryant
- Asos
- Lowe's
- Eddie Bauer
- Ulta Beauty
- Camping World
- Lulus
- Nautica
Note that credits don't post instantly. Depending on where you're shopping, it can take from 30 to 90 days to be credited to your account.
Is Capital One Shopping Worth It?
Is Capital One Shopping legit or worth it? Well, nearly everyone is an online shopper, right? So it makes sense that you'll want to earn as many rewards as possible when shopping online. After all, if you aren't doing so, you're leaving money on the table. Capital One Shopping is free, easy to use, offers price comparisons, and checks for coupons automatically.
It can also offer some truly bonkers deals, especially when you're targeted for certain offers. But the rewards that you'll earn aren't necessarily the most flexible around; you can't redeem them for cash back, and the gift cards you'll find are limited. If you don't shop at any of the above stores, it'll be useless to you.
Instead, you may want to opt for something like Rakuten, which allows you to earn cash back or American Express Membership Rewards. Based on recent AwardWallet user redemptions, the average value of an Amex point is around 1.59¢ each. That means earning 5% back through Rakuten provides around a 10% return.
Other shopping portals, such as the American Airlines portal, allow you to earn airline miles plus Loyalty Points. Earn enough Loyalty Points, and you'll earn American Airlines elite status.
Capital One Shopping vs. Competitors
Shopping portals are a dime a dozen, and Capital One Shopping is just one of them. So how does it compare to the others?
One of the most comparable sites is Honey, a shopping extension (and website) that features many of the same benefits. As when you earn Capital One Shopping credits, Honey will reward your online shopping with gift cards — but its selection is better and includes favorites such as Amazon, Target, and Walmart.
Therein lies the biggest weakness for Capital One Shopping: Its earnings. Take Rakuten, for example, which allows you to earn American Express Membership Rewards, rather than cash back, on your purchases. Recent AwardWallet user redemptions peg the average value of an Amex point at 1.97¢ each. That means earning 5% back through Rakuten provides over a 10% return.
Other shopping portals, such as the American Airlines portal, allow you to earn airline miles plus Loyalty Points. Earn enough Loyalty Points, and you'll earn American Airlines elite status.
Finally, Capital One is also weaker when it comes to straight cash-back-earning portals since the only way to redeem your rewards is via gift cards. Other sites will actually send you money as a check or a deposit to your account.
That being said, Capital One Shopping can and does offer much higher rewards than other programs — and in some cases, it does so where no one else will. There's huge value to be had in that.
Bottom Line
Capital One Shopping is an outlier among shopping portals. Although it rewards you with cash back rather than points, the sums it gives you tend to exceed other options. However, redemption options are limited to certain gift cards, which may not be useful for everyone. Before choosing any one shopping portal, make sure you evaluate options to figure out which one is the best fit for your purchases.
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