How do shopping portals work?

At a glance#

Why a portal pays#

A merchant pays a commission for referred purchases. The portal receives it, keeps part of it and passes the rest to the buyer, so the payout is a share of a referral commission and not a merchant discount.

Everything else follows from that model. The payout depends less on the purchase itself than on the evidence of the referral, and without that evidence there is no commission and therefore no payout. For buyers that is an unfamiliar logic: what matters is whether the route to the purchase is cleanly documented.

The rate is a moving target. A percentage is advertised, it can change without notice, and what governs is the rate at the moment of the click. Some portals hold a rate for a day, others change it hourly, so the rate worth checking is the one shown immediately before buying. Rates also vary by product group. Electronics pay far less than clothing at many merchants, and the advertised rate frequently applies to part of the range only.

For larger purchases comparing several portals pays. The differences for the same merchant are frequently larger than the difference between two cards.

How tracking works#

A payout passes through three stages: the marker being set, the merchant reporting the sale, and the final confirmation after the return window closes.

The marker#

Clicking in the portal sets a marker in the browser, carrying the information about who referred the purchase. At checkout the merchant reads that marker and reports the sale to the portal; without it the merchant knows of no referral.

Anything that disturbs the marker prevents the payout. Ad blockers, strict privacy settings and a device switch all belong there, as does an old link from a bookmark. Checking the browser settings once takes two minutes and removes the most common cause of missing tracking.

The last click counts#

With several sources the last one usually counts. Visiting a coupon site after the portal click overwrites the marker, and so does a search advertisement. The order therefore matters: all preparation first, then the portal click, then the purchase without detours. Put simply, the portal click has to be the last thing that happens before the checkout page.

An empty basket helps. Filling it first and going through the portal afterwards has frequently lost the tracking already. Browser extensions that set a marker automatically when a merchant is opened are a special case. They work as a reminder and can overwrite tracking that was already in place.

How quickly tracking is lost shows in an ordinary sequence. Clicking in the portal, abandoning the purchase, returning the next day through a search engine and buying then creates two sessions, and only the second counts. To the portal the first visit looks like a session without a sale, and the merchant reports nothing, because no marker was present at checkout.

Reporting and confirmation#

After the purchase the transaction shows as pending at the portal. It is confirmed only once the merchant has waited out the return window, and until then everything is provisional: a return, a cancellation or a price change reduces the payout or removes it.

Travel takes particularly long, because it is cancelled often and its final price is only certain once the service has happened. Longer windows and more exclusions apply there, and months are the rule. Booking in January for the summer means seeing the payout in autumn at the earliest. Many portals also pay on travel only on the fare excluding taxes and fees, so the advertised percentage applies to a smaller sum than expected.

Payment method plays a role too. Some merchants do not report purchases settled through certain payment services, and that rarely appears visibly in the terms. Deviations in the order, such as a changed price or a partial return, reduce the payout accordingly once the merchant reports them.

Some portals show a purchase within hours, others take days. A missing entry after a week is the point at which a claim makes sense.

Worked example: the same purchase, two routes#

The same purchase is made once directly and once through a portal. The price is identical, the outcome is not.

The two payouts are independent and combine. The card pays by merchant code, the portal by referral, as the merchant code decides describes for the card side.

The certainty of the payout is the core of the comparison. A portal payout is a claim with a condition attached, and the condition only falls away after weeks. The direct purchase is finished the moment it is paid, while the portal purchase stays open until the merchant confirms it, and a return in the meantime takes the payout with it.

The effort row is small but real. A click before buying and a check a few days later come to about a minute per purchase, which is nothing on a large booking and a poor trade on a small everyday one.

A claim for a missing payout follows a process similar to missing points, described in what to do when points are missing. It needs the order number, the date, the amount and the merchant, and with those four at hand the matter is settled in minutes. Without a marker the prospects are slim, because success depends on the merchant confirming the referral.

What makes a payout fail#

Five causes explain nearly every missing payout.

No marker was set. Blockers, strict settings or an old link from a bookmark.

The marker was overwritten. A second visit through a coupon site or a search advertisement.

A device switch. Click on the computer, purchase on the phone, and the chain is broken.

Excluded products. Individual categories or brands are excluded by the merchant, and the exclusion list sits in the merchant’s portal terms, which few buyers open before paying.

Cancellation or return. The commission disappears and the payout with it. That is also why portals pay so late on travel: until the trip every booking is reversible, and the portal waits that period out.

When it is not worth using a portal#

The detour is not worth taking in these situations:

• On small amounts. Clicking, checking and possibly claiming cost more time than the payout is worth.
• On trips with uncertain plans. A cancellation removes the payout entirely.
• When a coupon code delivers more. Both at once rarely works.
• When the price through the portal is higher. The price is certain before buying and the payout is not, so a better price elsewhere beats any payout.
• On complex bookings. The more intermediaries a trip involves, the higher the chance the tracking is lost along the way.
• On subscriptions after the first month. They are usually paid only on the first sign-up.
• In a physical shop. Portals refer almost exclusively online, and buying in person creates no referral even at the same merchant.

Distinguishing between those two kinds of purchase saves more time than any optimisation of the portal process itself. Portals pay on planned, larger purchases and on bookings that will certainly happen. Everything else is a game with many unknowns. The portal improves purchases that happen anyway, and it justifies not a single extra one.

How a portal purchase runs cleanly#

Four steps sharply raise the hit rate.

The purchase is prepared without putting anything in the basket, so that the choice is made and the session starts fresh. Then comes the click in the portal and the purchase without detours: no second tab, no coupon search, no device switch.

The confirmation gets saved straight away. Date, time, order number and a screenshot of the portal page are enough, and with several portals in use a note of which one each purchase went through belongs with it. Without that note a later claim is almost impossible to make.

After a few days the purchase should appear in the portal. If it does not, the claim starts inside the window. Regular users keep a short list of pending payouts, which shows what is due when and stops a claim window from passing unnoticed. Many portals also set a minimum payout, and a balance below that threshold sits until further purchases arrive.

A first attempt works best with a larger purchase that will certainly happen. Running the whole process once shows how reliably the chosen portal tracks. One portal’s record is no verdict on all of them, though. Tracking quality differs noticeably between providers, and it only shows across several purchases, because a single failure can equally have been your own browser.

Portals paying points#

Many programmes run their own portals and pay in their currency. The mechanism is identical; only the unit differs.

The advertised multiplier says little. What matters is the value of the currency, and that only appears at redemption. A high number in a weak currency is worth less than a small one in a strong currency, as how do bonus categories work describes for the card side. Some travel portals of programmes pay in miles, and their value then depends on the redemption, as what points are worth shows.

Travel portals with their own booking engines are a different animal. Nothing is referred there; the portal sells directly, and its terms govern the whole booking, including changes and refunds.

The most common mistakes#

• Filling the basket first. The click comes first and the choosing second, or the marker may never be set.
• Hunting for a coupon after the click. Codes are checked beforehand, because a coupon site visited afterwards overwrites the marker.
• Switching devices. Click and purchase belong on the same device.
• Leaving blockers on. Switching them off briefly for the purchase is enough.
• Saving no evidence. The order number and a screenshot are what a claim rests on.
• Missing the claim window. A look at the portal after a few days catches a missing purchase in time.

Related topics#

• How do bonus categories work
• The merchant code decides
• What to do when points are missing
• What points are actually worth
• Booking direct or through a portal
• How do I calculate an annual fee?