Online shopping portals allow you to earn bonus points, miles or cash back on purchases from select retailers. By logging into your favorite portal, clicking through to the store and shopping as usual, you can earn these bonuses on top of the rewards you get from your credit card.
Capital One Shopping is a portal that helps you find deals and save money, even if you don’t have a Capital One credit card. It offers targeted deals that are separate from the Capital One offers found in your account and will automatically add coupons to your shopping cart.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about using Capital One Shopping to save money on purchases.
Related: A Beginner’s Guide to Airline Shopping Portals: How to Earn Bonus Points and Miles
What is Capital One Shopping?
Capital One Shopping is an online shopping portal that can save you money on your purchases. It’s free and available to everyone, even if you don’t have a Capital One credit card or bank account. However, features may be limited if you live outside the US
Unlike other shopping portals that give you points, miles or cash back, Capital One Shopping earns you credits that can be redeemed for gift cards. Although it’s not the same as getting cash, many merchants are available for your gift card redemption, including Walmart and eBay.
Capital One Shopping also offers a browser extension that you can easily download after logging in. Once installed, the extension will prompt you to activate any available Capital One shopping offers when you search online.
To use it, visit your desired retailer. You will be prompted to activate the available offers in the top right corner of your screen. This extension is a convenient solution to simplify the process of finding rewards and avoid the need to find them yourself.
Related: Best Credit Cards for Everyday Spending
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How to use Capital One Shopping
To use Capital One Shopping, start by visiting capitaloneshopping.com and creating an account. You can set up your own credentials or choose to log in through Capital One (if you’re already a Capital One customer).
Alternatively, you can use referrals to jump-start your earnings. Capital One Shopping is known to offer referral bonuses when you join using a referral link from a friend or family member. For example, when you create an account using a referral link and download a browser extension, then spend $10 in the first 30 days, both you and your referrer will receive a one-time bonus of $40 in rewards.
Once you have an account, you can find what you’re looking for using the search bar at the top of the page. From the individual merchant page, click “Visit Site” in the top left box. You can also click “Activate” or “Get Coupon” on one of the offers below. You will be redirected to the merchant’s site to complete the purchase.
As with other shopping portals, you must click through the portal to receive rewards (unless you have a browser extension that will prompt you to activate rewards when you open the appropriate merchant’s site). You should avoid navigating to other websites or shopping portals during the process and avoid using coupon codes not listed on Capital One Shopping, as this will prevent your purchase from being properly tracked with Capital One Shopping.
If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, you can browse the options by clicking the “Brands” or “Products” tab at the top, or select the “Events” tab to find current deals. Capital One Shopping now offers a wide variety of merchandise, from pet supplies and electronics to hotels and concert tickets.
When you search by product, Capital One Shopping will display the various merchants that sell your item, including product status, estimated delivery time, potential rewards, and final out-of-pocket costs after rewards. For example, when I searched for Apple AirPods Pro, I could save over $70 when buying them from Amazon instead of eBay.
Capital One Shopping has a similar price comparison tool for hotel reservations. Start by searching for your destination and dates, then click on the hotel you’re interested in and scroll down to see available offers.
As you can see, booking with some online travel agencies can save you money on your hotel stay. But remember that you generally won’t receive elite status benefits or earn elite-qualifying points or nights unless you book directly with the hotel. If you receive a lower rate than is available by booking directly at a Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton or IHG property, you may submit a price match/best-rate guarantee request, and if approved, the lower rate will be honored.
Related: 9 Things to Consider When Choosing to Book Through a Portal Vs. Direct booking
How to redeem Capital One Shopping Rewards
As mentioned, Capital One offers rewards in the form of shopping credits that can be redeemed for gift cards at select retailers. This is different from similar programs Rakuten, Dosh and TopCashback, which allow you to earn cash rewards (usually delivered via PayPal, check, automated clearing house service or Venmo transfer).
When you’re ready to redeem your Capital One Shopping Rewards, you can order a gift card by selecting “Redeem Now” under the “My Rewards & Savings” tab.
From there, you can view your redemption options. There are currently over 50 retailers to choose from.
Related: Use Shopping Portal Aggregators to Increase Online Purchases
Which Credit Card Should You Use With Capital One Shopping?
You can use Capital One Shopping without using a Capital One Card. However, several Capital One cards can be great options for these types of purchases, including:
For additional suggestions, check out our list The best card for online shopping.
Related: Capital One Miles: How to earn, redeem and transfer rewards
The bottom line
The Capital One shopping portal can help you save money, even if you don’t have a Capital One credit card. Although it falls short of offering cash back, it rewards you with gift cards at various merchants, and it differentiates itself from many shopping portals with valuable price comparison functionality and the ability to find and apply coupon codes to your transactions. Plus, the Capital One Shopping browser extension makes it easy to activate available offers and earn rewards while shopping online.
Overall, using Capital One Shopping is an easy and effective way to maximize savings on your purchases – so Sign up today.