One of the best ways to earn extra rewards is through online shopping portals such as Rakuten. By starting there (instead of a specific merchant’s website), you can make your online shopping trips even more lucrative. If you’re not a member yet, you can get a $10 welcome bonus when you join now and make one or more qualifying purchases totaling at least $30 within 90 days of signing up. Or, if you join with a friend’s referral link and make qualifying purchases, you can both get a whopping $40 back with the current referral bonus.
Rakuten lets you earn either cash back or American Express Membership Rewards points. When you set your earning preference to Amex points, you’ll earn 1 Amex point per dollar spent on a purchase that ordinarily earns 1% cash back. TPG values Amex points at 2 cents each, per our November 2024 valuations, which means switching to Amex points can double your return. However, if you maximize your Amex points, you could potentially get more than 2 cents per point.
How to earn Amex points with Rakuten
The first step to doubling your Rakuten earnings is to visit rakuten.com and create an account.
After you’ve enrolled, you can begin earning rewards by starting your shopping on the Rakuten site or app. But the easiest option may be installing Rakuten’s browser extension that will check online merchants for eligible cash back.
To install the browser extension, hover your mouse over your name in the upper right corner and select “Account” from the drop-down menu. Select the widget that says “Add to Chrome” to add Rakuten’s browser extension.
Related: Your guide to maximizing shopping portals for your online purchases
It’s important to note that new users will automatically have their earning preference set to cash back. However, as soon as your account is created, you can switch to Amex points, and all future purchases through Rakuten will earn points.
To do that, select “Account Settings” from the list of options on the left side of the screen. You’ll then see a “How you’re getting paid” section with three options.
Rakuten will require you to select one of the two cash-back options first, and you’ll need to enter your mailing address if you choose a check. But after completing the necessary verification, you’ll see the option to switch your earning preference to Amex points.
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When you choose “Membership Rewards Points,” Rakuten will redirect you to the American Express page. Just follow the onscreen prompts to sync your accounts. Once that’s complete, you can start shopping.
It’s important to note that this is a one-time switch. If you opt to switch back to either of the cash-back payment methods, the option for earning Membership Rewards points will disappear entirely from your account settings page.
Once you’ve earned rewards, you’ll receive them on a quarterly basis — generally six weeks or so after the end of the quarter. For example, points earned between July and October are paid out Nov. 15.
And, of course, in order for this to work, you must have an American Express card that earns Membership Rewards points. If you don’t already have one, here are some of our favorite Amex rewards cards that offer lucrative welcome offers:
Bottom line
Rakuten is easy and free to use and essentially pays you to shop. While many readers may prefer earning cash back on their online shopping trips, you can also opt to earn Amex Membership Rewards points — which is a great way to elevate your potential rewards. Since you can transfer Membership Rewards points to any of Amex’s travel partners, you can theoretically get more value from your points than you would from straight cash back.
