Welcome to the Frequent Miler Laboratory! This is the place to read about, propose, and discuss experiments in mile and point gathering. Specifically, we’re looking for places where you can earn shopping portal rewards when clicking through a portal to buy gift cards (even though most portals state that you won’t earn rewards, you sometimes do). We’re also interested in whether or not paying with gift cards earns portal rewards.
On this page you will find a table showing results from all past experiments. At the bottom you’ll also find a comments section in which you can propose your own experiments or discuss your own findings. If you plan to try any experiments, please let us know and, of course, let us know the results!
Keep up to date by subscribing to the comments section. Click the “Subscribe” link at the bottom of this post (just above reader comments).
Rakuten, on dell.com, bought XBox GC, got MR back.
Giftcards.com. CitiPrestige 5x as online purchase. Success
Used Chase UR portal, BestBuy GC and BestBuy rewards to buy things from bestbuy.com, got UR cashback for BestBuy GC paid portion, no cashback for Reward paid portion.
Lands End – Ebates, Use PGC, Buy PGC / Merchandise – Buy Lands End PGC and merchandise with PGC & get cashback – FAIL – 2DEC19 – Only received cashback on merchandise
Not sure if the lab is still being maintained, but posting a fail (would not have posted if it was a success). I had a promo on my AMEX to receive 20,000 MR for a $1,000 purchase on Air France. I bought a refundable economy ticket and waited two months, and then cancelled. Within a day, all the points (for the purchase and the bonus) were clawed back. No disappointment–I was curious what would happen. So now I know.
I have a question and I don’t know where else to ask it. Has anyone ever gotten a 1099 from a portal? I’ve accumulated some rather sizable balances and never cashed out, wondering if I should draw down smaller amounts every year or …? Anyone ever drawn over $600 from a portal or cb site ?
I’ve received 1099s for referring friends, but not for portal rewards. Portal rewards are considered rebates, just like credit card rewards, and therefore you shouldn’t be taxed.
Thanks FlyerDad. I’m surprised that they are clawing back so aggressively. Very good to know.
Curious about what? Whether or not you could defraud Air France and/or American Express? Keep it classy
Added a gilt credit to my account (PS this takes 24-48 hours for them to do now); and bought an item after a click through on mr rebates. Purchased an item in the giltcity area paid in full with credit, and got a confirmation email from mr rebates and my 1% is in pending.
[…] but many things in this hobby do not work that way. That’s why, for example, we have the Frequent Miler Laboratory for testing what works with shopping portals. The stated terms are often wrong. In the case of […]
[…] any rewards. While most portals exclude gift card purchases, it is always worth checking out our Laboratory for any recent results and/or simply testing by going through a portal to see what […]
CNB Easy Rewards Portal (their version of the UR portal) – used Walmart GC to buy from Walmart.com Rec’d points for that, but it took 20+ days to post and no notification / emails or anything.
Thanks, this has been added to the table.
Bought Safeway e-Gift card from staples.com using Rebatesme.com, tracked but 0 cashback.
Thanks. Your data points have been added to the table.
Success ..Used Target GC through AA portal for ~90% of purchase, and received AA miles for full purchase.
Thanks Bill. I’ve updated the lab table to reflect this experiment.
[…] don’t track the 2 purchases for cash back. You can also check online resources like the Frequent Miler Laboratory for other customers recent experience using a cash back portal to purchase a merchant […]
Bought Ralph Lauren e-Gift card using Rebatesme.com, tracked but 0 cashback.
Thanks for adding to our database!
Used AA portal to buy Chromebook on Best Buy.com using partial BB GC and Prestige Card, got full AA points from portal on the merchandise part of the order. (Points given on GC component, which was about 25%)
ATT Access card
Random data points for ATT card. These all coded up for the online bonus
KLwines.com
winebid.com
Amazon
Amazon Prime Now
Amazon Prime Now Tips
Google Photos
CostPlusWorldMarket online
The first two were the ones I really was interested in.