Ordering flowers online? Use a shopping portal to earn more rewards

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Editor’s note: This article has been updated with the latest information.

When an occasion calls for flowers, you can order from a local florist or order online. If you make your purchase with one of the best rewards credit cards, you’ll get points, miles or cash back from the transaction regardless of how you order the flowers.

There are various reasons to order from a local florist. For example, it’s a great way to support a small business. Plus, you’ll generally get more control over the final product. But you may be leaving rewards on the table if you don’t order your flowers online through a shopping portal.

Online shopping portals can boost your earnings on many types of online purchases. But, the rewards-earning potential when clicking through a shopping portal is incredibly lucrative for flowers. Today, I’ll discuss how and why to use a shopping portal if you order flowers online.

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In This Post

Why use a portal

If you’re not familiar with online shopping portals, here’s a quick introduction to what they are and why you should use them.

In short, by using a shopping portal, you can earn cash back, transferable points, hotel points and airline miles when shopping online with select retailers.

Using a shopping portal is easy and doesn’t add much time to your purchase. Generally, you’ll need to register with the portal and then click through to your desired retailer. A cookie will track any purchases you make with the retailer during this session and you’ll automatically earn rewards on your purchase.

Related: The best ways to earn rewards when ordering flowers

How to choose the best portal

Checking a shopping portal aggregator site can help determine which portal to use for a particular retailer. For instance, if you know you want to order from SendFlowers.com, head to an aggregator like Cashback Monitor to find out which portal offers the largest return on your purchase.

© The Points Guy
(Screenshot courtesy of Cashback Monitor)

However, if you’re focused on earning a specific type of bonus provided by a particular shopping portal — perhaps to earn points to keep your points and miles from expiring — you can always go directly to the portal of your choice. You can also install shopping portal browser extensions to remind you to use portals when shopping online.

Related: TPG reader credit card question: Which credit card should I use in shopping portals?

Current bonuses by portal and vendor

Most portals feature multiple flower retailers offering bonuses. And these bonuses often increase before popular flower-sending holidays such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

Bonuses change frequently. But here are the best bonuses available on several of the most popular online shopping portals when I wrote this article. I calculate the value of each loyalty currency using TPG’s monthly points and miles valuations.

AAdvantage eShopping (1 mile = 1.4 cents)

• FTD Flowers & Gifts: 30x miles (earning about $0.42 in value per $1 spent, or 42% return)
• ProFlowers: 20x miles (28%)
• Sendflowers: 15x miles (21%)
• Flowers by Florists: 15x miles (21%)
• FromYouFlowers: 15x miles (21%)
• 1800Flowers: 10x miles (14%)
• Flowers by UrbanStems: 10x miles (14%)

To learn more, check out our AAdvantage online shopping portal guide.

Related: Maximizing redemptions with American Airlines AAdvantage

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Shopping (1 mile = 1.8 cents)

• ProFlowers: 14x miles (earning about $0.25 in value per $1 spent, or 25.2% return)
• Sendflowers: 12x miles (21.6%)
• Flowers by Florists: 11x miles (19.8%)
• FromYouFlowers: 11x miles (19.8%)
• Flowers by UrbanStems: 10x miles (18%)
• FTD: 9x miles (16.2%)
• 1800Flowers: 7x miles (12.6%)

To learn more, check out our Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan shopping portal guide.

Related: 5 things to know about Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Chase Ultimate Rewards (1 point = 2 cents)

Earning bonuses can vary across different Chase credit cards, but here’s what CashbackMonitor is currently showing for some merchants:

• Sendflowers: 12x to 20x points (earning $0.24 to $0.40 in value per $1 spent, or 24% to 40% return)
• Flowers by Florists: 10x to 15x points (20% to 30%)
• ProFlowers: 8x to 12x points (16% to 24%)
• FTD Flowers & Gifts: 8x to 12x points (16% to 24%)

See our post on how to earn bonus Ultimate Rewards points using Shop Through Chase for more information.

Related: How to maximize your Chase Ultimate Rewards points

Delta SkyMiles Shopping (1 mile = 1.1 cents)

• FTD Flowers & Gifts: 30x miles (earning about $0.33 in value per $1 spent, or 33% return)
• ProFlowers: 12x miles (13.2%)

To learn more, check out our Delta SkyMiles shopping portal guide.

Related: 5 things you need to know about Delta SkyMiles

Rakuten

You’ll earn cash-back rewards by default, but you can switch your earning preference to Amex Membership Rewards (1% cash back = 1 Membership Rewards point). TPG’s valuations peg the value of Amex Membership Rewards points at 2 cents each.

• SendFlowers: 21x miles (earning about $0.42 in value per $1 spent, or 42% return)
• FTD Flowers: 20x miles (40%)
• ProFlowers: 20x miles (40%)
• Blooms Today: 20x miles (40%)
• From You Flowers: 20x miles (40%)
• 1800Flowers: 20x miles (40%)
• Flowers by Florists: 15x miles (30%)

Related: How to use Rakuten to earn bonus cash back or Amex points

Top Cashback

• FromYouFlowers: 25% cash back
• Flowers by Florists: 20% cash back
• PickupFlowers: 15% cash back
• Overnight Flowers: 15% cash back
• 1800Flowers: 12% cash back
• The Borgs: 12% cash back
• Floraqueen: 12% cash back
• Teleflora Flowers: 11% cash back

Related: The TPG tip that helped this reader earn $10k in 4 years

United MileagePlus Shopping (1 mile = 1.3 cents)

• FTD: 30x miles (earning about $0.39 in value per $1 spent, or 39% return)
• 1800Flowers: 15x miles (19.5%)
• ProFlowers: 14x miles (18.2%)
• Sendflowers: 9x miles (11.7%)
• Flowers by Florists: 8x miles (10.4%)
• FromYouFlowers: 8x miles (10.4%)
• UrbanStems: 5x miles (6.5%)
• Teleflora Flowers: 750 miles per order (worth about $9.75)

Related: 30 ways to earn miles with the United MileagePlus program

Wyndham Rewards (1 point = 1.1 cents)

• FromYouFlowers: 19x points (earning about $0.21 in value per $1 spent, or 20.9% return)
• 1800Florals: 15x points (16.5%)
• Sendflowers: 15x points (16.5%)
• Flower: 11x points (12.1%)
• ProFlowers: 7x points (7.7%)

Related: 16 ways to earn Wyndham Rewards points for your next redemption

Deciding which card to use

© The Points Guy
(Photo by filadendron/Getty Images)

Some spending categories, like dining or travel, have many credit cards that offer bonus rewards. Flower purchases, on the other hand, fall into the non-bonus-spending category. As such, you’ll want to use one of the best cards for everyday spending that provides bonus rewards on all purchases.

In particular, here’s what you’d earn when purchasing flowers with select cards:

The information for the Amex EveryDay Preferred Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Related: TPG readers reveal their favorite shopping portals

Bottom line

You should always consider using a shopping portal when shopping online. It can be incredibly lucrative when purchasing products (like flowers) that offer high rewards. Unless you are focused on earning a specific reward type, I recommend using a shopping portal aggregator like Cashback Monitor when shopping online. Doing so will allow you to determine which portal provides the best rewards for each retailer.

Feature image by YuriF/Getty Images.