The Benefits of Shopping with Rakuten: A Review
Why you should join Rakuten today and start saving money!
TRAVEL TIPSTOOLS AND APPS
7/3/20234 min read


What is Rakuten:
If you are looking for a great way to shop online and save money, you should check out the Rakuten shopping portal. Rakuten is a global e-commerce platform that offers cash back, coupons, deals, and rewards on thousands of products and services from hundreds of merchants. You can find everything from fashion, electronics, beauty, travel, and more on Rakuten. Cash back ranges from 1% up to 15-20% at some stores. While 1% might not seem like much, it's free and adds up over time!
How to Earn Money via Rakuten:
Rakuten is easy to use and free to join. All you have to do is sign up with your email or Facebook account, and start browsing the categories or searching for your favorite brands. When you find something you like, click on the link and shop as usual. You will earn a percentage of cash back on your purchase, which will be credited to your Rakuten account within a few days. You can also use Rakuten's browser extension or mobile app to shop directly from your device and get notified of the best deals and offers. Personally I love using the browser extension and mobile app because it will automatically tell me there is a cash back opportunity on the website I'm shopping on and thus prompt me to shop through the link! Earning cash back for purchases you are already making is an easy YES in my book!
How do you Get Paid:
Rakuten pays you every three months by PayPal or check, as long as you have at least $5 in your account. You can also choose to donate your cash back to a charity of your choice. Rakuten also has a referral program that lets you earn $10-$30 for every friend you invite who makes a qualifying purchase.
Better Way to Get Paid? Via American Express Membership Rewards Points:
Another great feature of Rakuten is that you can now choose to get paid via American Express Membership Rewards Points by linking your compatible Amex card. For example, I've linked my Amex Platinum and now earn membership reward points instead of cash back. Since I know I can get more than $0.01/per point with partner rewards, this automatically levels up my Rakuten cash back earnings! This is a huge bonus if you have an Amex card. If you don't, check out my post on my favorite cards and look for new posts soon about why I think the Amex Platinum fee is worth it and why ND and I both have one!
Some Examples:
Here's an example of a recent purchase I made and the Amex Points I earned:
I was recently placing an online Grocery pick up order at Shaws, a local grocery store. Before checkout I activated the Rakuten link to earn 1.5% cash back (but in my case I choose to earn Amex points). For my $218 order, I earned 330 Amex membership rewards points plus 220 points from my credit card. I was working on a minimum spend so I didn't use a bonus category card and only got 1 point per dollar. If I wasn't working on a minimum spend, I would've used Chase Sapphire Preferred for 3x the points or another card that earns bonus points in the grocery store category.
The main point: For simply shopping through the portal, I earned an additional 330 points on groceries I was already buying no matter what. This is a great way to earn additional points to travel more for less!
Stacking!
Something else you can do with this portal is called stacking to earn even more points! This is something I'm still learning, but basically, you combine offers from your credit card, shopping portals, and other offers to earn extra points. Here's a recent example of a stack I completed:
My Amex Platinum card had a recent offer for $20 off a purchase of $100 at Expedia
We needed a hotel night for before a flight we have booked in Delhi, and decided to use Expedia
I added the Amex offer to my card and then checked the Rakuten Portal
Rakuten was offering 6% cash back (or Amex Points in my case) on Expedia
I clicked on the link through the Rakuten portal, found a hotel for about $110, and purchased it with my Amex Platinum
Rewards: 666 Amex points from Rakuten and $20 back on a statement credit from Amex
Overall, we spent $90 on the hotel, got 666 Amex points via Rakuten, and an additional 110 Amex points for using the card!
That adds up to a total of $90 spent and 776 points earned for a 8.6 point per dollar return!
Use my Referral Link to Sign Up and Earn a Bonus!
If this piques your interest and you want to sign up to earn FREE rewards, feel free to use my referral link below to get access to a $30 reward with your first purchase through Rakuten (Full disclosure, I'll get a reward too)! Just click the link, sign up with a new account, and then make your first purchase through the portal within 90 days. Then, wait for the cash back to hit your account along with the $30 bonus!
Once you sign up, be sure to select Membership Rewards in Account Settings under How You Get Paid and link your Membership Reward earning eligible card, like the Amex Platinum.
Update
So far in 1 year I have earned over 115K Amex Membership Reward Points by strategically using Rakuten and hitting some of their biggest bonuses (like new bank account bonuses such as this Sofi one here: https://www.rakuten.com/sofibanking.com Rakuten is one way I load up on Amex Membership Reward points and if you aren't taking advantage of this easy way to earn extra points, then I'd highly recommend signing up today!
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