Sales in Canada: the calendar and the cards that pay
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Between now and the end of the year, your spending carries more weight than at any other time. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, gifts, hosting and flights home all land within a few weeks. Handled well, that concentration pays for part of your next trip.
That is why now is the moment to choose your card. An application submitted today has time to be approved and to reach you before the first big wave. You then hit the welcome bonus with purchases you were going to make anyway. The same application in December arrives once the wave has passed.
So take ten minutes this week. Look at where your money will actually go before January: groceries, gifts, restaurants and travel. Then pick the cards that pay the most on those categories. A household spending $25,000 a year across two or three cards is aiming at more than $750 in cash back, with the SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express as the 2%-on-everything core.
Where should you start? Three cards cover most of your spending over the next few months, and two of them carry an offer that ends soon.
- Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite + Card: 15% cash back on your first $2,000 in purchases over three months, up to $300, and no annual fee in the first year for an account opened by November 1, 2026. After that, 4% on groceries and recurring payments, $120 a year, $60,000 income required.
- BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard: 5% on groceries, 4% on transit and 3% on gas, with the $139 fee waived for the first year. $80,000 income required.
- Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card: 2% in two categories of your choice, a third if your cash back goes into a Tangerine savings account, 0.5% on everything else, no annual fee and a $12,000 income requirement. Its welcome offer ends September 30, 2026.
| Credit card | Annual fee | Welcome offer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | |||
| $0 | |||
| $0 |
For years, we’ve seen the same habit among savvy shoppers: they don’t buy when they feel like it—they buy when the calendar is in their favour. In Canada, the price gap between an impulse purchase in September and the same item bought during Black Friday often exceeds 30%. Add the right credit card and a cash back portal, and you get an extra slice back on every dollar spent.
This page is your permanent reference point. You’ll find the calendar of major deals, detailed guides for each event, and the cards we recommend to earn points and cash back.
Canada’s annual deals calendar
Four key moments structure the shopping year. Three are seasonal; the fourth is permanent: cash back portals and cash back cards work for you year-round, no matter the date.
| Event | Period | What you get out of it |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Prime Day | June or July, then a return in October | Lightning deals on Amazon, Aeroplan eStore bonuses |
| Black Friday and Cyber Monday | Late November | The broadest discounts of the year, Aeroplan points and Marriott Bonvoy promotions |
| Boxing Day and post-Christmas sales | From December 26 to mid-January | Inventory clearance, loyalty eStore sales |
| Cash Back and Portals | All year round | Ongoing cash back, double earning on your online purchases |
Amazon Prime Day
Prime Day has become the kickoff to deals season. Reserved for Prime members, it comes back once in June or July, then again in October. Every year, we track the categories that truly drop, because not all advertised discounts are created equal.
To get ready for the next wave, check our roundup of the best Amazon Prime Day 2026 deals. Also keep an eye on the Aeroplan eStore and Amazon promotion, which multiplies points on your purchases, and the option to shop with your points on Amazon when the transfer value is attractive.
Which card to use on Amazon
Amazon accepts Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, which gives you the freedom to use the most rewarding card. We favour a card that boosts online purchases or offers a high return on the general category. Before a big purchase, check whether your loyalty eStore or a cash back portal gives you an extra layer of points—often that’s where the real value is hiding.
Travel buys worth watching on Amazon
Some categories drop with almost every wave, and they are the ones that actually serve you on a trip. The links below open the category on Amazon.ca rather than a specific model, because models and prices change from one wave to the next.
- Carry-on luggage: check your airline’s cabin dimensions first.
- Luggage scales: about twenty dollars against $100 or more in overweight fees at the counter.
- Universal travel adapters: the one item you forget and buy back at triple the price at the airport.
- Bluetooth luggage trackers: you know where your suitcase is before the baggage desk does.
- Noise-cancelling headphones: the purchase that changes an overnight flight.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the peak of the year for shopping. It’s the time when we recommend planning your big purchases: electronics, appliances, travel. Loyalty programs also use this period to launch their most generous points promotions.
To miss nothing, follow our recap of the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and our best tips to make the most of them. On the points side, watch for Aeroplan and Air Canada Black Friday as well as Marriott Bonvoy Black Friday promotions.
Boxing Day and post-Christmas sales
Once the holidays are over, retailers clear out inventory. Boxing Day on December 26 now stretches into a full week, sometimes until mid-January. It’s the time for the best discounts on seasonal items and end-of-line products.
Loyalty eStores join the party too. In particular, watch for the Aeroplan eStore post-Christmas sales week, which boosts points on a selection of merchants.
Cash Back and Card Strategy
There isn’t one perfect card for shopping. Shoppers who truly maximize their returns pair a few cards and pull out the right one depending on the purchase. For online purchases in particular, the best choice depends on the merchant and the currency. Here’s how to build a high-performing wallet, from the core card to advanced strategy.
The core card: 2% everywhere, without thinking about it
The foundation is a card that earns a high rate on everything, with no categories to manage. The American Express SimplyCash PreferredMD Card is the only one in Canada that pays 2% cash back on all your purchases, with no cap—making it an ideal card for online purchases where American Express is accepted.
- Annual fee
- $119.88
- Our valuationMilesopedia first-year estimate First-year valueWelcome bonus$200Total$200Plus $50 of bonus paid after the first year, not counted in this total.Rewards on your spending are not included. The calculator that adds them from your own profile is on the card's page.
- $200
- Welcome offerAfter $2,000 in 3 months
- Up to $250 cash back
Apply Now
on American Express's website
Apply with confidenceCheck whether your application will be approved before you submit it, with no impact on your credit score*When you apply for a personal American Express Credit Card, we will tell you whether you are eligible without affecting your credit score. So you can apply with confidence.*Instant decisions are only available for consumer Card applications (also called “personal Cards”).
The math is simple. On $25,000 of annual spending, this card pays you $500, or $380 net once the $119.88 fee is covered. A no-fee card paying 0.5% on the general category would return $125. Your groceries and gas even earn 4%, up to $1,200 in cash back per year.
The best card depending on your online purchase
No Canadian card offers a universal “online purchases” category. The right card depends on what you’re buying and the currency used.
| Your online purchase | Best card | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| General store where Amex is accepted | Amex SimplyCash Preferred | 2% on everything |
| Subscriptions and recurring services | Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite + | 4 % |
| Online grocery (Voilà, IGA, Walmart) | BMO World Elite CashBack | 5 % |
| Restaurants and meal delivery | American Express Cobalt | 5 points per dollar |
| Hundreds of partner merchants | Neo World Elite | Variable boosted cash back |
Maximizing each spending category
Beyond the core, one or two annual-fee cards can supercharge your biggest categories. Here’s our comparison of the best cash back cards in Canada.
| Card | Annual fee | Top cash back rates | Ideal for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amex SimplyCash Preferred | $119.88 | 2% on all purchases, no cap | Core card and online purchases where Amex is accepted |
| BMO CashBack World Elite | $139 | 5% groceries (cap $500 per month), 4% transit, 3% gas | Big grocery and transit budgets |
| Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite + | $120 | 4% groceries and recurring payments, 2% gas and transit | Subscriptions and online services |
| CIBC Dividend Platinum Visa | $99 | 3% groceries and gas, 2% dining, transit and recurring bills | Families with a big gas budget, $15,000 income required |
| Tangerine Money-Back | $0 | 2% in 2 or 3 categories of your choice, changeable every 90 days | Getting started with no fee by targeting your categories |
Compare these cards side by side, then click a card’s name to open its full review.
| Credit card | Annual fee | Welcome offer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | |||
| $0 | |||
| $119.88 | |||
| $0 | |||
| $0 |
The optimal wallet: pairing your cards
Advanced shoppers don’t stick to one card: they pair a few to get the best rate in each category. A formidable wallet combines a 2%-everywhere core card for out-of-category purchases, the BMO CashBack World Elite for 5% groceries, and the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite + for 4% subscriptions.
With this pairing, a household spending $25,000 per year can aim for an average rate of 3% or more—over $750 in annual cash back—where a single no-fee card would often earn less than half. As soon as your grocery and transit spending exceeds about $8,000 to $10,000 per year, the BMO CashBack World Elite’s $139 annual fee is fully offset by the 5% rate. Keep in mind that American Express isn’t accepted everywhere: always keep a Visa or Mastercard as a backup.
To go further, compare the best cash back credit cards in Canada, our Neo vs. BMO head-to-head, and our guide to maximizing the Tangerine card based on your profile.
Shopping portals: the “double dip”
The technique that changes everything? Go through a cash back portal before landing on the merchant’s site: you earn a layer of points or cash that stacks on top of your credit card. Savvy points-focused consumers call it double earning, or a “double dip”: the portal pays you, and your card pays you too on the same purchase.
To understand how it works, read our strategy to optimize your online purchases with a cash back site and our guide to rewards and discounts on online purchases. On the program side, learn how the WestJet Rewards eStore works and take advantage of promos like the Rakuten and Scene+ promotion.
Maximizing during the holidays
The holidays concentrate a large share of your annual spending. Done right, that peak becomes an opportunity to earn points and cash back rather than just money going out. We plan our holiday shopping to run through the right card categories and the right portals.
Our guides to saving during the holidays and to earning points with your holiday spending bring together the habits to adopt.
For your holiday gatherings and meals, two points cards earn 5 points per dollar on groceries and restaurants:
- American Express Cobalt Card: 5 points per dollar on groceries, restaurants and food delivery, up to $2,500 in spending per month in those categories. No minimum income required.
- National Bank World Elite Mastercard: 5 points per dollar on groceries and restaurants as long as your purchases for the month stay under $2,500, accepted wherever Mastercard is, Costco included. It reimburses up to $150 a year in travel expenses, the equivalent of its annual fee. Required income: $80,000, or $150,000 for the household.
| Credit card | Annual fee | Welcome offer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $191.88 | |||
| $0 |
The method for stacking discounts
The real win doesn’t come from a single discount, but from stacking multiple layers on the same purchase. Here’s the order we follow before every major purchase.
- Go through a cash back portal to get a first layer of points or cash.
- Pay with the most rewarding card for the purchase category.
- Pay with a discounted merchant gift card when possible.
- Add a valid promo code or coupon at checkout.
- Watch the price after purchase: many merchants and some cards offer a price adjustment or price protection.
Each layer seems modest on its own. Together, they turn an advertised 20% discount into real savings that are often much higher.
Gift cards: the often-forgotten lever
Gift cards are a discount layer that few people use. By buying a merchant’s gift card at a discount, or buying it in a boosted category on your credit card, you save before you even shop. Some promotions offer up to 5x the points on purchases of Amazon, Walmart, or Netflix gift cards.
To get the most out of it, read our guide on earning points with gift cards, see how to buy gift cards with your points, and take advantage of promotions offering up to 5x the points on gift cards.
Protect your purchases: warranties and price protection
Buying during a big wave loses all its appeal if the item breaks or its price drops the following week. Many credit cards include extended warranty insurance that doubles the manufacturer’s warranty, as well as purchase protection against theft or damage. Before a major purchase, check your card’s coverage.
To understand these protections, read our feature on credit card extended warranty insurance and our analysis on whether it is worth buying an extended warranty.
Shop safely
Big deal periods also attract fraudsters: fake sites, phishing emails, and bogus promotions multiply. Always pay by credit card rather than debit, since fraud protection is stronger, and be wary of discounts that seem too good to be true.
To protect yourself, follow our tips to avoid credit card fraud and to secure your accounts against online fraud.
Our tip for smart shopping year-round
Smart shopping isn’t about luck—it’s about preparation. Beyond the big waves, keep an eye on secondary events like back-to-school sales in August or Singles’ Day on November 11. Start with a good cash back card, add a shopping portal, then let the deals calendar guide your big purchases. By stacking the right layers, you keep hundreds of extra dollars in your pocket every year.
Subscribe to our free newsletter to get the deals calendar and our alerts before each major sales wave.
Want to apply this logic to sport and fitness? Check out our guide to getting fit without breaking the bank with points and cash back.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Amazon Prime Day in Canada?
Amazon Prime Day usually returns in June or July, then a second time in October. Amazon announces the exact dates a few weeks in advance.
Is Black Friday a good time to earn points?
Yes—it’s often the best time of the year. Programs like Aeroplan and Marriott Bonvoy launch their most generous points promotions during this period. By stacking a portal and the right card, you maximize every purchase.
Which credit card should you use to shop online?
Prioritize a card that boosts online purchases or offers a high cash back rate on the general category. A solid cash back card remains an excellent default choice. Always check whether a shopping portal accepts your card to add an extra layer.
Can you stack a cash back portal, a card and a promotion?
Yes—and that’s exactly the “double dip” principle. You go through a cash back portal, pay with a rewarding card, and take advantage of an ongoing promotion. All three layers stack on the same purchase.
Should you pay with points during a sale?
It depends on the value of your points. During a sale, the cash price drops, which often reduces the value of paying with points. Compare the value per point before deciding, especially on Amazon.
In what order should you stack discounts?
Follow this order: cash back portal, then the most rewarding credit card, then a discounted gift card, then a promo code, and watch the price after purchase. Each layer stacks on the same transaction.
Do gift cards really help you save?
Yes—especially for a merchant you already shop with. A gift card bought at a discount or in a boosted category on your card saves you money before you even pay, and it stacks with the other discounts.
Does your credit card protect your purchases?
Many cards include extended warranty insurance and purchase protection against theft or damage. Check your agreement before a major purchase, especially for electronics and appliances.
