Why is the travel portal price higher than the airline's?
Chase, Capital One and Amex travel prices often beat or miss the airline's by real money. Here's where the gap comes from, and whether it gets matched.
Blog
The blog is maintained by one person, reviewing all portals' data - so you don't have to. Posts about shopping portals more broadly, including news, best practices, and stacking opportunities.
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%, mi/$, pts/$: how to read every portal's earning unit
Cashback pays in percent, airline portals in miles per dollar, points portals in points per dollar: how to read each unit and spot a one-time bonus.
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Travel portal or book direct? Four questions to decide
Booking through Chase Travel, Capital One Travel or Amex Travel can cost you refunds, hotel points and elite night credit. Four questions tell you when it's still worth it.
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Is cashback actually worth it, or a gimmick? An honest take
Cashback portals do pay real money, but it's not necessarily free money. Here's the math on when they're worth the effort, and when they're a trap.
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What can you redeem Capital One Shopping rewards for?
Gift cards only, from a catalog that changes without notice. Here's what's redeemable, why stores vanish, and what to do when a card arrives empty.
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Do you need a Capital One card for Capital One Shopping?
No. Capital One Shopping is free for anyone and pays on any card, from any bank. Here's what a Capital One card actually changes, and what it doesn't.
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How we track portal rates (and show the whole history)
A look under the hood at how CheckBeforeYouShop records rates over time, what 'stale' and 'up to' mean, and why history is the whole point.
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Can two Amex Offers stack on one purchase?
No. An offer goes on one card, and pays one credit per account. Here's what genuinely does stack with an Amex Offer, and what the terms actually say.
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GoCashBack and RebatesMe: are smaller portals worth it?
Yes, GoCashBack and RebatesMe are real shopping portals. Each sometimes beats Rakuten, TopCashback, and BeFrugal outright. Here's when to use them.
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Filing a missing-cashback claim: the evidence that wins
A missing cashback claim is approved on five things: the click, the order number, the order total, the order date, and a screenshot of the confirmation.
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How can I be sure the cashback will actually come through?
You can't be certain, but you can make failure rare and recoverable. The 30-second pre-purchase ritual, and what to keep so a missed credit stays claimable.
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Does cashback stack with credit cards? Yes, here's how
Yes, and it's easy: portal cashback and credit card rewards are two separate payments on one purchase. Click through first, then pay with your card.
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Last-click attribution: why the last link before checkout wins
A portal only gets paid if its link was the last one you clicked before checkout. That single rule explains nearly every reason cashback fails to track.
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Electronics cashback: why it's low (and the 'up to' trap)
Electronics cashback runs low because store margins are thin - and the 'up to' rate you see rarely covers the laptop or phone you're actually buying.
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Chase and Amex shopping portals: what we track, and what nobody can
Chase Freedom and Chase Sapphire rates are on this site, one set for each family of Chase cards. Amex Offers are added per account, so nobody can publish those.
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The three ways a portal purchase fails to track
Outside coupon codes, gift cards, and finishing in the store's app are the three tracking traps you can avoid before checkout. Here's the pre-flight check.
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Card-linked offers vs shopping portals: swipe vs click
Amex and Chase Offers track by the card transaction. Shopping portals track by the click. Here's what breaks each, and why extensions matter for only one.
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Cashback not tracking? Here's why, and how to fix it
An ad blocker is one of the most common reasons cashback fails to track. Here's every other cause, how to tell which hit you, and how to get the money back.
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Shopping portal vs travel portal: what's the difference?
Portal means two different things: one pays you cashback or miles for shopping, the other is your bank's booking site. Here's how to tell which one you need.
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Cashback Monitor alternative: is today's rate good?
Cashback Monitor shows you today's rate across dozens of portals. Here's what it does well, where it stops, and how a rate-history tool fills the gap.
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Black Friday cashback: does the rate spike actually happen?
Black Friday cashback rates really do jump, but not everywhere. Here's what's verified, why it's uneven, and how to watch this year's spike live.
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The best cashback portals in 2026, ranked by how they pay
TopCashback and BeFrugal lead on rate, Rakuten is the mainstream pick, and Capital One Shopping and the airline portals cover what they don't.
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BeFrugal vs TopCashback: which pays more?
Neither wins outright: BeFrugal and TopCashback trade the lead store by store. Here's how to check which pays more right now, plus how their payouts differ.
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The shopping-portal glossary: every term decoded
Click-through, up-to, pending, stacking, mi/$: every piece of shopping-portal jargon, defined in plain English.
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Are cashback portals safe? What to check first
Yes, the established cashback portals are legitimate. Here's how they make money, what data they need, and how to vet a new one before you trust it.
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Rate Watch #1: the biggest portal moves right now
The first in a monthly series tracking where cashback and mileage rates jumped, which stores hit new highs, and what's worth acting on.
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How long does cashback take? The real payout timeline
Most cashback takes 3 to 14 weeks to confirm, then a portal-dependent wait to withdraw. Here's the real timeline for Rakuten, TopCashback, and BeFrugal.
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Do airline shopping portals share the same platform?
Some do and some don't. American, United, Delta, Southwest and Alaska share one platform; JetBlue and the international programs share another.
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Is 10% cashback actually good? How to tell in ten seconds
10% is a 'good' rate only if you're able to compare it to what a store's rate typically is. The ten second test tells you if today's rate is a steal, average, or not great.
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Why I built CheckBeforeYouShop (and how the tracking works)
I got tired of not knowing whether a cashback portal's rate was actually good, so I built a tracker that compares today's rates to historical rates. Here's how it works.