Online shopping portals can be a great way to pick up additional 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’s such a promotion available right now, which I think is worth taking advantage of.
A few days ago I wrote about a great opportunity with data removal service Incogni, and now there’s a good promotion with NordVPN. Not only is this a great way to generate points at an attractive cost, but it can also get you a VPN for two years for basically nothing, which is something that every traveler should have.
Earn 97% cash back or 97x points with Rakuten
Rakuten is my favorite online shopping portal, and at the moment, Rakuten is offering 97% cash back or 97x points on purchases with NordVPN, which offers a VPN service (as the name suggests).
So that I don’t bury the lede, the idea is that you can spend $81.36 on the most expensive eligible plan, and then earn either $78.92 back, or receive 7,892 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.
Before we even get into that, let me mention that Rakuten has a great refer-a-friend program. 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 this offer, to really get the best value, as you’d then earn up to $128.92 (or 12,892 points) on the $81.36 purchase.
Taking advantage of this is easy. Once you’re registered for Rakuten (if you’re not already), follow this link to go to the NordVPN page, and make sure you see the 97% back offer (this likely won’t be around that much longer). Then click through to be redirected to NordVPN’s website.
Here are the key terms of this offer:
Cash Back is only available to new NordVPN customers. Cash Back can only be earned on the initial sign-up. Limited to one per Rakuten member. Cash Back is earned only on the NordVPN Basic plan portion of a bundled subscription of Plus, Complete or Prime plans. Cash Back is not available on NordPass, NordLocker, Incogni and Dedicated IP subscriptions, NordLayer, B2B orders or refunded orders.
I should highlight that this is only available to new NordVPN customers, rewards can only be earned on the initial sign-up, and you only earn rewards on the NordVPN Basic plan portion of a bundled subscription. I know the language is confusing, but you don’t need to buy a bundled package, and even the NordVPN Basic plan would be fine.
If you want to get as many points as possible, buy the two-year plan for the Basic bundle. Some might want to buy the two-year Plus bundle, since you pay an extra $12, and you get a $20 Amazon gift card.
The price should then be $81.36, so you can pay for that with whatever credit card you’d like.
While 97% 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.
Again, you’ll want to act fast, and if you do make a purchase, be sure you see the correct return on spending listed at the time of purchase.
This is a great deal for buying points, I’m in!
I think it’s important to emphasize that this promotion isn’t a mistake, or anything. Clearly NordVPN wants to acquire new customers, and the incremental cost of actually providing the service is very low. NordVPN hopes that this big reward will get 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 took advantage of this, because acquiring Amex or Bilt points at around one cent each is quite a good deal. I’m choosing to earn Bilt points with Rakuten right now, so indirectly earning Alaska Atmos Rewards points or World of Hyatt points for one cent each is tough to beat, if you ask me.
For that matter, a VPN is actually useful, so there’s value to this beyond just the points.
Bottom line
At the moment, Rakuten is offering 97% cash back (or 97x points) on purchases with NordVPN. The play here is to spend $81.36 on a two-year Basic plan, to earn 7,892 points with either Amex or Bilt. If you value transferable points, I think most people would agree this is a good acquisition cost, so definitely act fast.
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). For that matter, the math is the best if you actually want a good VPN. 😉
Are you taking advantage of this Rakuten 97% cash back or 97x points offer?
