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Today only, Sears is offering 8 miles per dollar through the AAdvantage eShopping Portal. Here’s how to earn up to 31 miles per dollar by stacking promotions…
Promotion 1: 8X becomes 16X
Sears is one of the few online merchants that will pay out through portals for both the purchase of gift cards and the use of gift cards. Here’s how to get 16 miles per dollar:
- Go through the AAdvantage portal once to buy Sears e-gift cards (or to reload an existing gift card up to max value $500). To speed up delivery of your e-gift card, call 1-888-396-5299 to verify your order.
- Once you receive your gift card, go through the portal again to buy merchandise and pay with your gift card.
Promotion 2: Pile of miles
The AAdvantage eShopping portal is currently offering a promotion in which they’ll award you with one time bonus miles if you hit certain spend thresholds through the portal:
Ironically, the sweet spot to this promo is to spend a combined $100 through the portal since that will get you 5X (500 miles for $100 spend). The $500 threshold is pretty good too. It offers 4X (2000 miles for $500 spend).
Promotion 3: Freedom and Discover 5X
Both the Chase Freedom card and the Discover It cards offer 5X this quarter at Sears.com (among many other options). If you haven’t yet maxed out those categories, then you can get 5X by paying with your Freedom or Discover card.
Note: do not buy a physical (by mail) Sears gift card if you’re paying with your Freedom card. Physical gift cards are shipped by Kmart and will not earn the Freedom department store bonus.
Add it up
Here’s an example of how to put it all together:
- Go through portal to buy $100 Sears e-gift card (or reload existing gift card). Earn 8X from the portal = 800 miles.
- Pay for the gift card with your Freedom or Discover card. Earn 5X from your credit card = 500 points.
- Thanks to the portal “Pile of miles” promotion, you will earn a 500 mile bonus.
- So far, you’ve earned 1800 miles for a $100 gift card. That’s an amazing 18 miles per dollar!
- Increase your earnings by going through the portal again to buy $100 worth of stuff and earn another 800 miles.
- Total miles earned on $100 spend: 2600. Total miles per dollar: 26.
You can also do the above steps with a $50 gift card. Once you use the gift card to buy $50 worth of stuff, you’ll hit the $100 threshold for the portal promotion. That combination will result in 31X:
- Go through portal to buy $50 Sears e-gift card (or reload existing gift card). Earn 8X from the portal = 400 miles.
- Pay for the $50 gift card with your Freedom or Discover card. Earn 5X from your credit card = 250 points.
- Increase your earnings by going through the portal again to buy $50 worth of stuff and earn another 400 miles.
- Thanks to the portal “Pile of miles” promotion, you will earn a 500 mile bonus.
- Total miles earned on $50 spend: 1550. Total miles per dollar: 31.
For more information, please see:
How to earn points and what to buy with Sears gift cards
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Bought an e-gift card last night, tried redeeming for physical but getting “Gift cards cannot be used to purchase gift cards at this time” Anyone else seen this before?
Yeah, you can’t buy gift cards with gift cards at Sear.com. You can use them to buy other gift cards at Sears in person, though
I take it you can’t use the Sears.com gift card to order a $100 Visa one as it re-directs to gift card mall? How accurate is it though for purchases you return in a store?
That’s correct, you can’t.
I haven’t had them claw back points, but it could certainly happen.
Aadvantage portal bonus terms say that the purchase of gift cards is not included. Will we get the 500-2000 bonus points on the Sears gift cards or only on the purchases made with the gift cards?
Its my belief that, despite the terms, the promo will be awarded based on how much you spend in qualified transactions. Buying gift cards at Sears counts as qualified transactions. Of course, if anything goes wrong, it would be tough to get them to help you due to those terms.
However if you go back through the portal and purchase merchandise, at least $100, you should get the bonus and if it doesn’t track properly you’ll have a better chance of them awarding the bonus.
So…I ordered an e-gift card through Sears, and just received an email from \KMart\ thanking me for my order from \Kmart.com\.
I’m concerned this is not going to count as \Sears\?
Never mind – when I called to have the order verified I asked about it and the guy said the person handling the “case” just hit the wrong button and used the wrong email template.
I guess this is an FYI for anybody who runs into similar.
An easy way to verify this for yourself is to log into your credit card account online and take a look at the pending charge for the purchase. If it says Sears, you’re good to go.
It is a cumulative amount. Going through the portal twice at $100 each time will only get you 500 miles. I’m planning on using $250 of the MasterCard gift cards I got at Staples to buy egift cards at Sears and then using that $250 in gift cards to buy $250 in merchandise.
“Terms: From 10/01/14 to 10/16/14 11:59 PM EST receive a one-time bonus of up to 2,000 bonus miles from AAdvantage eShopping mall℠. Spend a cumulative amount of $100 – $299 to earn 500 bonus miles; spend a cumulative amount of $300-$499 to earn 1,000 bonus miles; or spend a cumulative amount of $500 or more to earn 2,000 bonus miles. Returns, shipping, taxes, gift card purchases, and certain products are not eligible for bonus; please see site for details on any coupon code details or usage restrictions. Please allow 8-10 weeks for bonus points to post to your account. Void where prohibited by law.”
Ok, dumb question – but will that “Fall Bonus” promo work multiple times?
So, if I spend $500 on Gift Cards and get the 2,000 bonus points, will I get ANOTHER 2,000 bonus points when I receive the Gift Cards and then return to spend them?
I would have originally thought no, but reading your post it sounded like you might be alluding to this being a possibility…
No, the most you can get from the fall promo is 2000 bonus points
Physical gift cards are showing up as fulfilled by Kmart. Any issues with those tracking correctly for the Freedom 5X bonus?
Physical gift cards will NOT work with the Freedom 4th quarter bonus. e-gift cards and gift card reloads will work.
Does the Citi Dividend also offer 5X at Sears this quarter?
I don’t know
That stupid sears page wont open… looks like sears website has been hacked. agrr.
If I purchase the Sears gift card using uPromise mastercard, do I also get the 5% off?
Only if you go through the uPromise portal to Sears (instead of the AA portal)
Only if you go through the uPromise portal to Sears (instead of the AA portal)
Are you 100% sure the 8x will trigger on gift cards and you receive them swiftly enough to go back through the Sears site? My washer broke and I ordered a $1000+ from Home Depot for 10% off plus 6x. This is better only if every step works. I’ve already qualified for the Aadvantage bonus so at best I can get 21x.
1) Yes, I’m 100% sure that gift cards trigger the 8X as long as portal tracking goes smoothly. With all portal transactions there’s a chance of things going wrong, so I can’t guarantee anything.
2) No, I can’t promise you’ll get the e-gift cards in time, but you have a very good chance if you start soon. To speed up delivery of your e-gift card, call 1-888-396-5299 to verify your order.
Done! Thanks for the tip on calling to verify – they needed to ask security questions given the large gift card purchase.
Only problem is I won’t get my washer for 10 days – a lifetime when you have kids!
Does all items purchased thru Sears website count? For instance I need a Dell computer and BBQ pit that sears does not stock direct.
** Extra miles are available through 11:59:59pm ET on the stated date.
Sears.com: Not eligible on purchases made with coupon or discount codes that are not found on this site. Only products with “Add to Cart” button are eligible. Not eligible on Home Delivery Charges, Services, PA and Installation, Master Protection Agreements, Take With, Protection Plans, Sears auctions, Landsend.com, PartsDirect, Sears Canada, Portrait, Craftsman.com, Kenmore.com or Outlet purchases. Sears Marketplace products with “Go to Site” button are not eligible. Not eligible on Sold by Kmart items or any other licensed partners. Not eligible on Apparel Clearance. Any return, exchange or other adjustment made at a physical store location for an on-line purchase may result in your purchase being deemed ineligible. Eligible for rewards on purchase of gift cards effective from and after June 1, 2014.
As long as your are still on Sears.com and click “add to cart”, the item is eligible. Make sure that Sears hasn’t redirected you to another URL.