After I signed up for the Capital One Venture X card, I started exploring all the perks tied to Capital One’s ecosystem. One of those was the Capital One Shopping Portal—a tool that promises rewards when you click through to an online store before making a purchase. But spoiler alert: it’s not what it appears to be.
At first glance, it appears to be just another shopping portal. If you’re not familiar with them, shopping portals can be a great way to stack rewards on top of credit card points, loyalty bonuses, and sale prices. I covered the basics of how they work in a previous post, and tools like Cashback Monitor and CashBackHolic are great for comparing portal payouts before making a purchase.
What Are Shopping Portals?
Shopping portals are websites that reward you (with cash, points, or miles) for clicking through them to shop. The portal earns a commission from the retailer and shares it with you.
There are several types:
- Cashback-focused: Sites like TopCashback, BeFrugal, and RebatesMe pay you in actual money.
- Points-earning:
- Rakuten offers cash back or American Express Membership Rewards when linked to an American Express account.
- Chase lets you earn Ultimate Rewards if you’re a cardholder.
- Airline and hotel portals like United MileagePlus Shopping, Alaska Mileage Plan Shopping, and Wyndham Rewards let you earn travel currency directly.
These are simple and effective ways to boost your rewards, especially when combined with card bonuses or stacked with Amex/Chase Offers.
Capital One Shopping: Not What You’d Expect
Given the name, you’d assume Capital One Shopping would earn you miles or rewards tied to your Venture or Spark card.
Nope.
It’s completely separate from your Capital One account. The “cash back” you earn can only be redeemed for gift cards, and not particularly great ones anymore.
At one time, it had some things going for it. The payouts were often high, and if you installed the browser extension, you’d sometimes receive follow-up offers after browsing a site but not making a purchase. For example, I recently got an email for 8% back (up to $250) at Marriott after clicking around but not booking.
Then It All Went Downhill
Even with its limitations, I used Capital One Shopping from time to time—mainly when I wasn’t interested in researching portals for a small purchase and the browser pop-up caught my eye.
But lately, the value has evaporated.
According to Doctor of Credit’s May 2025 update, Capital One Shopping has quietly removed nearly all of the useful or high-value gift card options. Gone are:
- eBay
- Home Depot
- Lowe’s
- Walmart
- Safeway
That leaves mostly low-demand retailers. It’s now challenging to find a worthwhile option even if you have a balance saved up.
Cashing Out While I Still Can
I’ve racked up enough in rewards over the years for a modest redemption—but what’s left barely feels worth the effort. I’m probably going to grab a JCPenney card to use up the balance and then remove the browser extension entirely.
Going forward, I’ll stick with Rakuten, which lets me earn Amex Membership Rewards—something I can transfer to travel partners or use flexibly. If you haven’t made that switch, I strongly suggest it. Here’s a guide on how to link Rakuten with Amex MR.
Final Thought
Capital One Shopping had potential. But when the only thing left to redeem for is a gift card at a limited number of retailers, the whole platform loses its usefulness. With better alternatives out there—offering real cash or valuable transferable points—it’s time to move on.
Are you still using Capital One Shopping? Have you noticed the shrinking catalog of rewards? Or have you already jumped ship to a better portal like Rakuten or TopCashback?
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
4 comments
Did you hit the “load more” at the bottom of the page.
Yes, Home Depot was gone – but it is back (together with Lowe’s, ACE, Ebay, Zappos,….)
Yes I did. These are my only options.
I am still seeing eBay, Home Depot, and Lowe’s as a redemption option. I can confirm that I don’t see Walmart or Safeway. There might be something buggy with your account.
I’ve seen online that the gift card options can differ for each person. Which makes it even more frustrating.