Shoprunner + Portal = ?
I was recently in contact with someone in the shopping portal industry and he mentioned as an aside that Shoprunner may negate portal cashback. I was very surprised to hear this since I’ve never seen anyone mention that; everyone just mentions Shoprunner as this cute, easy way of getting free shipping.
After a little digging, I found in the BeFrugal T&CÂ that they write clearly that Shoprunner can make problems with portal cashback.
Can I use ShopRunner and still earn Cash Back?
No. To ensure Cash Back, you should not use ShopRunner, including their toolbar or extension.
I was very perplexed by this because when using Shoprunner you don’t need to click-through from Shoprunner to the merchant. So long as you are signed into your Shoprunner account, the system automatically pops up with the ‘free shipping with Shoprunner’ option. If there’s no click-through, then there’s seemingly no way for them to place their cookie on the order and thus the portal cookie should work fine.
If you look at the language of BeFrugal (“to ensure Cash Back”), it also does not sound convincingly that it will always negate the cashback.
My Thoughts
My best guess right now is this: Shoprunner is technically a paid subscription service – they like to compare themselves to Amazon Prime. Thus, you can use Shoprunner without doing a click-through. In that case there is no cookie placed by Shoprunner and you will earn the regular portal points/cash-back, without Shoprunner harming you. However, Shoprunner tries making a buck wherever they could. If you click-through the Shoprunner site or if you use their toolbar or extension, then they’ll place a cookie of their own which may negate the other cookie placed by the portal.
If my theory is correct then it would be safe to use Shoprunner by signing in to your account but not clicking through to the merchant. (Also, make sure not to download their toolbar or extension.)
If my theory is wrong then we have to rethink when we use Shoprunner and when we don’t. It could often be worthwhile to use Shoprunner even at the risk of losing portal cashback, depending on  how much the shipping cost is and how much the portal cashback is.
If anyone has any data points or knowledge on using Shoprunner in conjunction with a shopping portal, please let us know in the comments.
New Partners
In other Shoprunner news, we reported that Staples now partners with Shoprunner. As noted there, this isn’t huge news in regard to free shipping since that’s easy to come by with Staples, but it could be important with regard to free return shipping for an item you wish to return.
It’s also been publicized  recently that Newegg is now partnering with Shoprunner again which is great to be able to get free shipping with no minimum from Newegg. Back in December 2014 Newegg dropped Shoprunner, but they have now re-partnered with them and are clearly advertised on the Shoprunner site.
DP: I use shoprunner on Neiman Marcus Last Call, and got no cash back from Topcashback
DP: I purchased from Saks back in Feb using United Portal (8 miles per dollar). I wanted free 2-day shipping so I used Shoprunner. I DID NOT Log in into a separate page, I just logged in from Sak’s website. However, there is a SHOPRUNNER PROMO CODE when I checked out. United showed this order in my account a week later. However, the miles were never posted even after one month, so I think that maybe because of that promo code the miles cannot be posted anymore and I lost hope. The miles are posted today, but think about it, if United does not post the miles, they have all their rights to do so. So, bottom line, maybe stop using shoprunner if you freak out easily… However, the conclusion is that for all my experiences up till now, simply logging in to shoprunner does not negate your miles. Going to their website, on the other hand, is another story…
Somehow Lord & Taylor declined my cashback from Topcashback. I guess I can not have cashback and 2-day shipping (shoprunner) at same time on Lord & Taylor.
I purchased a bag on tory burch last month. The cashback for that order was tracked. It’s pending now. The order was shipped for 2-day shipping.
Does Shoprunner Negate Portal Cashback? I think it is depends on which brand you are dealing with.
And I purchased on Calvin Klein at 05/24/2017. That order is untracked. I’ve lodged a missing cashback claim for that. I’m not sure if this is because of shoprunner.
Shoprunner definitely invalidated cashback with FTD
Interesting data point. Could it be there was some other problem with the tracking, unrelated to Shoprunner? And, did you clickthrough from Shoprunner to FTD?
On a related note I have made a few purchases on TigerDirect through Discover Deals in the past couple of month and haven’t received any cash back. On at least one of the orders I did use Shop Runner although that might just be a coincidence. Has anyone else had this negative experience?
Actually yes, I remember now I used Discover Deals and Shoes.com with Shoprunner and didn’t get my cashback automatically. I just sent a missing cashback message to CS and they manually applied the cashback.
Thanks. I wonder if it really is related to Shoprunner or it was just a coincidence.
Unfortunately I won’t be able to do this. I didn’t use my Discover card for payment on those purchases. In the past they automatically credited me even when I didn’t use my Discover card. They might finally be enforcing their policy of having to use a Discover card to receive credit.
I use Shoprunner whenever it is available and I requently use it with American Eagle + coupon codes with a click through from TopCashback. No issues so far with multiple orders.
thanks
This is news to me. I’ve purchased a number of items that were shopprunner shipped and they all earned cash back. They originated from different websites too, at least 4 of them on last count. The key is to never go through the Shoprunner website, just go through a portal and sign into shoprunner on the retailer website. Purchases have always tracked that way for me.
That has been my experience as well, earning full cashback + using Shoprunner.
I think it’s just some disclaimer to cover all bases to ensure cashback is properly tracked
Thanks for the data points. I guess that the theory is like I wrote in the post that so long as you don’t click through from Shoprunner, we’re okay.
Last week I ordered a bag from ebags. I was able to get my portal cash back, use 20% off coupon from ebags and use shoprunner. The cash back has shown up on my topcashback account as well.
Thanks for the data point.