When I began blogging in 2011, Sears regularly offered 10 points per dollar for shopping through the Ultimate Rewards Mall. This was great because it was possible to double dip: go through the portal once to buy gift cards and a second time to buy products for a total of 20 points per dollar.
Eventually, the Sears’ 10X deal slipped away, but other great deals appeared at regular intervals. For example:
- In February, 2012, Nordstrom offered 36 Avios per dollar via the British Airways portal.
- In May, 2012, Sears offered 15 points per dollar via the Southwest RapidRewards Shopping portal. Through that deal, it was possible to double dip to earn 30 points per dollar and a Southwest Companion pass!
- In July 2012, Office Depot, JC Penney, and Lowes offered 10 points per dollar through the Ultimate Rewards Mall.
- In August and September, 2012, Sears brought back 10X via the Ultimate Rewards Mall.
- And, in September 2012 OpenSky offered 150 points per dollar through the MyPoints portal! Even better, new subscribers to MyPoints received double points for their first order (300X)!
Then the months ticked away with no more mega deals. Month after month since September we’ve seen, at best, 6X for this, 5X for that. Fortunately, Kohl’s has been the exception to prove the rule, and has held firm at 10X via the Ultimate Rewards Mall. Aside from Kohl’s, though, online shopping portal promotions have been dull.
Deals Returning?
Last week, Sears offered 9 miles per dollar through the AAdvantage eShopping portal:
That deal is gone, but United has picked up the slack with 9 miles per dollar for United MileagePlus cardholders (good through 8/5/2013):
Are the Sears 9X offers an anomaly or are they a sign of things to come? Maybe I’m just a wishful thinker (and there’s no doubt, I am), but it feels to me as if something is in the wind. Mega deals are coming. I can feel it.
Can you feel it? Are shopping portal mega-deals on their way?
Note: If mega deals do appear, I’ll announce them via my QuickDeals page(subscribe here), and I’ll follow up on my regular blog (this one) with in-depth coverage (if needed).
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[…] this past summer. 9X was pretty good! I was encouraged and, on August 1, I wrote “Are portal mega-deals on their way back?“ Here is an […]
well, I had a $50 HIGC card that I liquidated, then bought 1k and now I am stuck with those. Sigh.
newbie: yes, you are exactly right!
FM: Off topic- I really admire the way you have restrained yourself from writing about the hottest news right now. I am betting that you will be writing a article next week about “why I did’nt write about higc?” or “what to do with the higc cards you have”? Am I correct?
Thanks FM and Chris. Just ordered 2 $500 worth of sears GCs through UA portal.Hopefully it tracks successfully and get the 9k UA miles. Also can we combine 2 sears gift cards in 1 purchase?
rama: Yes, you can add many Sears gift cards to one order. I’ve never hit the limit if there is one.
Rama, with Sears I’ve had reselling success with cameras (both DLSR combos as FM said and some point & shoots), cordless phones, video games, and tablets. However, two of these apparently were misprices… watch slickdeals.net for Sears deals.
FM, no one expects it it to be done overnight, but your gonna have to look into anti-spam tools for your blog. I have no idea what blog software you’re using. I do know for the WordPress software, there are several effective options.
Levander: we’re going to try adding captchas to hopefully eliminate spam comments.
Looking back at the graveyard of fabulous offers past. That Nordstrom got me a sweet 150k Avios for those few days. R.I.P. 36x.
Subscribing — Plus, there’s been a hell of a lot of spam on this site lately.
Chimmy: I know, the spam is crazy. I try to delete it as quickly as I can, but that doesn’t help for those who subscribe to posts and have the spam emailed to them
FM, Any ideas on good sale items at sears that can be used to resell and break even on money front while netting the points?
Can use CC to buy physical sears GC then use Sears GC to get 18x. If product can be sold for a loss of less than 10% after all fees, shipping and taxes are considered that still would be great way to increase the UA miles
Rama: one approach is to watch for good DSLR sales and then save more by getting a camera plus lens combo. You can then sell them separately
Last week United’s portal had eBags at 18 miles per $. We were due for some new backpacks so stocked up. Just waiting for them to show up as pending, I do hate dealing with Cartera!
I wish there were some name brand stuff reasonably priced at Kohls to buy and resell and get 10x points. It seems Kohls carries off brands (Zeki 7″ tablet anyone?) and then puts a ridiculous markup which you then have to stack 3 discounts and a mandatory kohls card and you might beat a competitors price. The Zeki tablet is $139.99 at Kohls but $89.99 at Sears, so you really need almost 50% off Kohls to even bother. And I don’t really want to waste a sign up on a Kohls card… Kudos to FM for making a profit somehow with Kohls.
Chris: I know they’re tough to find but Kohls does ocassionally sell some name brand stuff at competitive prices which become an amazing deal at 30 pct off.
I think there will be a back-to-school little bonuses, but sure wish we would see some of those deals from ’11 and ’12 return, but I doubt it unless the economy dips again. Nice to get little surprises like Sears 9x from time to time though!
Please ignore the comment above regarding Kohls. I just checked the site again and it’s still 10x.
Kohls went down to 2x at the Ultimate Rewards Mall today.