Online shopping portals can be a great way to pick up miles & points for purchases you’d make anyway. Just for following a specific link, you can earn bonus points or cash back in addition to the rewards you’d earn for credit card spending.
Sometimes companies really want you to buy products from them, to the point that it can make sense to purchase something through an online shopping portal even if you don’t actually have a use for it. Along those lines, there are a couple such promotions available right now, which I think are worth taking advantage of.
I covered a few of these offers around a week ago, but we’re now seeing some new ones that previously weren’t available. I’m taking advantage of all of these, given that I can’t turn down points at this rate…
Rakuten has a $50 (5,000 point) refer-a-friend offer
The offers I’m going to cover below are useful for both new and existing Rakuten members. However, if you’re not yet a Rakuten member, let me mention that the company has a great refer-a-friend program, which stacks with these deals.
If you’re new to Rakuten you can register using a refer-a-friend link, and then you’ll earn an additional $50 bonus after completing your first purchase of at least $50. While I ordinarily recommend unlocking this bonus with a simple gift card purchase, you can also stack it with any of the above offers, to get an even better return.
Earn 100% cash back or 100x points with Surfshark
At the moment, Rakuten is offering 100% cash back or 100x points on purchases with Surfshark, which offers a VPN service. The idea is that you can spend $113.13, and then earn either $113.13 back, or receive 11,313 Amex or Bilt points. I’d say that’s a pretty attractive deal!
Admittedly it’s not the most exciting offer in the world in terms of the volume of points you can pick up this way, but the fact that you also get a VPN for a couple of years is awesome.
Taking advantage of this is easy. Once you’re registered for Rakuten (if you’re not already), follow this link to go to the Surfshark page, and make sure you see the 100% back offer (this likely won’t be around that much longer). Then click through to be redirected to Surfshark’s website.
Here are the key terms of this offer:
Cash Back is only available for new Surfshark customers on first purchase. Limited to one per member.
If you want to get as many points as possible, buy the two year plan (with three more free months, for a total of 27 months) for the Surfshark One+ bundle.
The price should then be $113.13, so you can pay for that with whatever credit card you’d like.
While 100% back on a potentially useful service is great in the first place, what I love about Rakuten is the ability to earn points, to get even more value:
Cash back activity through May 31, 2026, will pay out on May 15, 2026, so regardless of whether you choose to earn Amex or Bilt points, you could earn one point per cent.
A short time after making your purchase, you should see the transaction show up as “pending” in your Rakuten account, initially with a $0 amount. However, some time later, it should update to show the correct amount.
Earn 90% cash back or 90x points with LifeLock
At the moment, Rakuten is offering 90% cash back or 90x points on purchases with LifeLock, which offers identity theft protection service.
The idea is that you can spend $349.99 on the most expensive eligible plan, and then earn either $314.99 back, or receive 31,499 Amex or Bilt points. While the price per point isn’t quite as good as with Surfshark, the good news is that you can buy a larger quantity of points.
Taking advantage of this is easy. Once you’re registered for Rakuten (if you’re not already), follow this link to go to the LifeLock page, and make sure you see the 90% back offer (this likely won’t be around that much longer). Then click through to be redirected to LifeLock’s website.
Here are the key terms of this offer:
Cash back is not available on free trials and automatic renewals. Cancelling a subscription within 90 days of sign up will void Cash Back. Cash back is only available on initial enrollment. Using coupon codes that are not listed on Rakuten will void Cash Back. To be safe, stick to codes provided by Rakuten.
If you want to get as many points as possible, buy the Total bundle, with an annual plan that you pay for upfront.
The price should then be $349.99, so you can pay for that with whatever credit card you’d like.
A short time after making your purchase, you should see the transaction show up as “pending” in your Rakuten account, initially with a $0 amount. However, some time later, it should update to show the correct amount.
Why I’m very happy buying points at this cost!
I love collecting points, and of course I try to earn them as inexpensively as possible. That can include credit card welcome offers, maximizing my return on spending, etc. I’m also happy to just outright buy points, if the price is right.
Personally, if I can pick up transferable points for well under 1.2 cents each, I consider that to be a deal, and it’s something I’d do all day long. I absolutely can get outsized value with that. For example, I’m choosing to earn Bilt points with Rakuten right now, so indirectly earning Alaska Atmos Rewards points or World of Hyatt points for this price is tough to beat, if you ask me. There’s no way I won’t get significantly outsized value here.
And of course if you can actually get use out of these services, the math is even better. Some people may wonder why these companies are offering such a good return on spending. Clearly these companies want to acquire new customers, and the incremental cost of actually providing the service is very low. So the hope is that the big reward gets people to try the service, and then keep it in the long run. Or at a minimum, maybe the company hopes that people forget to cancel their auto-renewal.
I’ve now taken advantage of several Rakuten promotions in recent days offering 85-100x points per dollar spent, and I’m very happy with the value being offered.
Bottom line
At the moment, Rakuten is offering 100% cash back (or 100x points) on purchases with Surfshark, and 90% back (or 90x points) on purchases with LifeLock. If you value transferable points, I think most people would agree that acquiring points for 1.0-1.1 cents each is quite a good deal (and that assumes you place no value on the services as such).
The math is even better if you’re not yet a Rakuten member, as you can receive a further bonus of $50 (or potentially 5,000 points). 😉
Are you taking advantage of any of these Rakuten offers?