Shops Away - Am I being thick?

Is this too good to be true? Am I being stupid or have I only just clicked on to this and how good some of the offers are?

I spend £1000 in Hilton Hotels and get 5000 miles through ShopsAway (5miles per £) as well as getting the VS double dip on my HHonors?!!? Surely not?

I mean I was looking for a new coat and watch and spending £200 in Superdry will get me nearly a 1k in miles!!! Oh lord is it really that simple?!

It really is!

Shop like I do and you will be very happy!

John Lewis, Apple, Hilton, Waitrose...and it goes on.

There are too many and sometimes the miles are doubled, tripled or better!

Clear cookies or reset your browser before you buy, I haven't lost a yard yet.

It really is that simple, I've earned about 40k miles from it over the last year.

Hotel bookings are very lucrative, but I will say this, cancel a booking or return an item and it will eventually be tracked back and the miles taken back.

I booked an hotel last year for my trip to BOS in October, and then a couple weeks before I went found a better deal so cancelled my booking. Not that I was expecting to keep the 12000 miles earned, but when they were still sitting on my account a month later I thought they'd stay. Another 2 months and the miles were deducted. Fair do's.

But yes, it's a very lucrative way of earning miles for your normal shopping habits. Now, if they'd only partner with Amazon and I'll be a miles millionaire, I think I could single handedly keep Amazon in business!!

Yep it's that simple. Get a black VS Amex card and you can add more miles.
The points bonus's at Xmas can be amazing - 16miles/£ at Selfridges!

If you use shops away and a VS card the miles really build up, oh... and Tesco, Texaco, SPG points, Honours points etc.etc.

Yeup, I've also earned a lot of miles through the shopping portal. Very useful, especially with hotel bookings as others have mentioned. I don't know if it's still the case, but for a while there was a miles bonus for installing the Mile Finder toolbar for Shops Away. I got 500 miles and the offer later went down to 250, but might be worth a look to see if it's still running

Have not done the maths but you can also use tcb for Hilton and tcb transfer to Tesco clubcard

shops away is like quidco or cashback sites & even nectarcard.

So choose which you prefer as a portal & stick to it.
Also install the plugin for your browser - you get (well used to) bonus miles.

Also, the black card has an annual fee - while the bonus for the first year makes it worthwhile - you really need to work out how much you spend & if the extra points are worth it.

For me - in my 2nd year, it hasnt been worth the fee.
Think you need to spend about £15k to make it worthwhile in miles alone - but if you use the companion ticket & upgrade option then its worthwhile at £5k & £7.5k

Simple if you actually get the miles.
I have been waiting a few months now for my purchase at John Lewis to show up, despite a couple of emails in response to me chasing it up.
Dick D

shops away is like quidco or cashback sites & even nectarcard.

So choose which you prefer as a portal & stick to it.
Also install the plugin for your browser - you get (well used to) bonus miles.

Also, the black card has an annual fee - while the bonus for the first year makes it worthwhile - you really need to work out how much you spend & if the extra points are worth it.

For me - in my 2nd year, it hasnt been worth the fee.
Think you need to spend about £15k to make it worthwhile in miles alone - but if you use the companion ticket & upgrade option then its worthwhile at £5k & £7.5k

I think vanilla8 may be referring to TCB cashback being taken in Tesco vouchers then being tipped into VS.

I don't agree that you should stick to any single cashback/miles-back site, but use whichever gives most for the transaction.

I have nearly 80k pending just from booking a couple of Dublin tricks with hotels for friends
I feel like a bit of a travel agent at the moment
It really can be quite lucrative

Yes, like mentioned, there are bonuses sometimes. Hotels.com typically offer 6 per pound, but also allow you to log in and get a free night in 10 as well. It was 12 per pound during december 2013. I got 14K miles from my hotels in cancun...

Totalcashback can perhaps be even more lucrative, you get a pound value cashback on even more sites (including Virgin Atlantic, which was 3.2% cashback a few weeks ago). You can convert the 50 pounds into Tesco clubcard then into miles, which at 250 points per pound, adds up to 12500 (plus a 5% bonus). It can be done to avios as well (BA's shopping portal is less generous and I'm not sure if it even has a single hotel partner).

At normal rate, 1 pound in topcashback converts to 100 (or 105 miles). But still, its better than buying the miles (100 per 10K vs 150 per 10K), and if you actually want to go via certain things, can get be a big chunk (like subscribing to Sky, taking an ISA, can earn you 200 quid of cashback). When say Virgin has 3.2% cashback, the big priced bookings generate a fair bit of cash.

Takes a while to payout though. Shops away takes about 8 weeks or so. I've yet to see topcashback pay out and I started on it last September...

Am I being thick too? I'm not clear how the Miles Finder tool bar actually helps but maybe I'm missing the point?

I downloaded it ages ago when there was a miles boost for doing so. If I visit a site which I know is part of the scheme (John Lewis for instance), nothing happens. I would have liked the toolbar to recognise this and flag it up somehow. I thought maybe it was because I wasn't logged in to FC, so I started again, still nothing. So I put John Lewis into the "Search Shops Away" box. And it takes me to the VS website page for Shops Away where I show as not logged in and have to log in again.

Like I say, what's the point of the toolbar if you still have to remember when you're shopping to go to Shops Away and look via that site to see whether the site you want to use is actually a member.

So, dear V-Flyers, am I being dim?


Edited to add that I've now looked on the Miles Finder page of Shops away and seen that the toolbar should drop down an additional line when I'm on one of the sites. I remember that it used to do so, mine must have fouled up. I'll try uninstalling it and downloading it again.

Am I being thick too? I'm not clear how the Miles Finder tool bar actually helps but maybe I'm missing the point?

I downloaded it ages ago when there was a miles boost for doing so. If I visit a site which I know is part of the scheme (John Lewis for instance), nothing happens. I would have liked the toolbar to recognise this and flag it up somehow. I thought maybe it was because I wasn't logged in to FC, so I started again, still nothing. So I put John Lewis into the "Search Shops Away" box. And it takes me to the VS website page for Shops Away where I show as not logged in and have to log in again.

Like I say, what's the point of the toolbar if you still have to remember when you're shopping to go to Shops Away and look via that site to see whether the site you want to use is actually a member.

So, dear V-Flyers, am I being dim?


Edited to add that I've now looked on the Miles Finder page of Shops away and seen that the toolbar should drop down an additional line when I'm on one of the sites. I remember that it used to do so, mine must have fouled up. I'll try uninstalling it and downloading it again.

I prefer a sticky note on my screen, the toolbar seems to flash so fast it might bring on a headache.

whiterose, I almost always go through the Shops Away homepage to click through to earn miles as I don't fully trust the toolbar. It doesn't always show up on websites that I know full well are part of the scheme. I downloaded it largely for the bonus miles, and also as a reminder just in case I visited a site that I could earn on, but I definitely don't rely on it. Hopefully a re-install will mean it works a little better for you.

Not all the retailers listed on the site are actually included in the mile finder toolbar - they have to opt in.

Hmm. Thanks Bretty and Spacedog. I've uninstalled it, I'll reinstall it but I shan't rely on it. Not really worth having is it. Virgin IT strikes again?

Hmm. Thanks Bretty and Spacedog. I've uninstalled it, I'll reinstall it but I shan't rely on it. Not really worth having is it. Virgin IT strikes again?

Unfortunately I don't think this is down to VS IT, it seems the retailers who make agreements with the portal have the option to be included in the tool bar and it obviously involves some code that they have to place in their pages.

Much easier to go through the website and ensure your purchases are tracked.

Hmm. Thanks Bretty and Spacedog. I've uninstalled it, I'll reinstall it but I shan't rely on it. Not really worth having is it. Virgin IT strikes again?

Unfortunately I don't think this is down to VS IT, it seems the retailers who make agreements with the portal have the option to be included in the tool bar and it obviously involves some code that they have to place in their pages.

Much easier to go through the website and ensure your purchases are tracked.

not sure if that is true or not. I quite often get popups to collect miles at places that are not listed on shops away

Quick question - I think I know what the answer will be, but someone may be able to suggest a solution! My OH spends at least 2 nights a week at a Hilton Hotel, but these are booked by a 3rd party, although he pays for the stays on his black Amex. Is there any way at all he could be credited with shopsaway miles in this situation?

Quick question - I think I know what the answer will be, but someone may be able to suggest a solution! My OH spends at least 2 nights a week at a Hilton Hotel, but these are booked by a 3rd party, although he pays for the stays on his black Amex. Is there any way at all he could be credited with shopsaway miles in this situation?

The only way he could get them is by booking himself. It's not like points where you can claim for a stay/purchase, it's from the cookies when you book through the site.

Quick question - I think I know what the answer will be, but someone may be able to suggest a solution! My OH spends at least 2 nights a week at a Hilton Hotel, but these are booked by a 3rd party, although he pays for the stays on his black Amex. Is there any way at all he could be credited with shopsaway miles in this situation?

The only way he could get them is by booking himself. It's not like points where you can claim for a stay/purchase, it's from the cookies when you book through the site.

Indeed, you have to make the booking yourself. It is the act of booking via their website which gets the credit.

Also, it doesn't affect your booking either, but also you get miles or nights credit if you book using your membership. Ie: Hilton via the hilton website will get you stays towards qualification to hilton gold and platinum (room upgrades, free breakfast and wifi), points for hilton, plus extra points for your chosen airline (used to be a lot, just a few now). Also 5 points per pound.

Do it via hotel.com and you can log in, and you get one free night in 10 bookings too, of a value of the average of the 10 nights. Gets 6 points per pound.

Hotel.com via topcashback gives about 8% of your cost in pounds, which can be converted via tesco at 240 points per pound until 50 quid, and 100 (or 105) after that. 6% via hilton on topcashback. It tends to have more offers too (and others via lastminute and expedia too).

So doing the math, 200 quid via shops away gives you

* 1200 VS points via hotel.com and shopsaway.
* 1000 VS points via hilton and shopsaway.
* 4000 VS points (to 50 pounds) then 1600 via hotel.com on topcashback.
* 3000 VS points (to 50 pounds) then 1200 via hilton on topcashback.

Takes longer to get points on topcashback though.

the 3rd party booking may get preferential rates compared to booking through click through

Quick question about Shops Away... any reason why this message would appear when clicking through? It's from Hungry House.

If your orders are completed within 3 minutes your rewards will be cancelled.

Quick question - I think I know what the answer will be, but someone may be able to suggest a solution! My OH spends at least 2 nights a week at a Hilton Hotel, but these are booked by a 3rd party, although he pays for the stays on his black Amex. Is there any way at all he could be credited with shopsaway miles in this situation?

The only way he could get them is by booking himself. It's not like points where you can claim for a stay/purchase, it's from the cookies when you book through the site.

In my experience,if any kind of corporate / discount is plugged in at booking time, the miles will get reversed at some point in the future...