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For years, we have seen the same reflex among savvy shoppers: they don’t buy when they feel like it, they buy when the calendar works in their favour. In Canada, the price gap between an impulse purchase in September and the same item bought on Black Friday often exceeds 30%. Add the right credit card and a cash back portal, and you recover an extra share of every dollar spent.
This page is your permanent reference point. You will find the calendar of the biggest deals, the detailed guides for each event, and the cards we recommend to stack points and cash back. We keep it updated before every sale wave so you arrive prepared.
Four key dates structure the shopping year. Three are seasonal, the fourth is permanent: cash back portals and cards work for you all year long, no matter the date.
Prime Day has become the kickoff of the deals season. Reserved for Prime members, it returns first in June or July, then a second time in October. Each year we watch which categories actually drop, because not all advertised discounts are equal.
To prepare for the next wave, check our roundup of the best Amazon Prime Day 2026 deals. Also consider 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 worthwhile.
Amazon accepts Visa, Mastercard and American Express, so you can pick the most rewarding card. We favour a card that boosts online purchases or offers a high rate 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: that is often where the real value hides.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the peak of the shopping year. This is when we recommend planning your major purchases: electronics, appliances, travel. Loyalty programs also use it to launch their most generous points promotions.
To not miss anything, follow our roundup of the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and our top tips to make the most of them. On the points side, watch Black Friday Aeroplan and Air Canada as well as the Marriott Bonvoy Black Friday promotions.
Once the holidays are over, retailers clear out their inventory. Boxing Day on December 26 now stretches over a full week, sometimes to mid-January. It is the time for the best discounts on seasonal items and end-of-line products.
Loyalty eStores join the party too. Watch in particular the Aeroplan eStore Boxing Week sales, which boost points on a selection of merchants.
There is no single perfect card for shopping. Shoppers who truly maximize their rewards combine a few cards and pull out the right one for each purchase. For online purchases in particular, the best choice depends on the merchant and the currency. Here is how to build a high-performing wallet, from the foundation card to the advanced strategy.
The foundation is a card that pays a high rate on everything, with no categories to manage. The SimplyCash® Preferred Card from American Express pays 2% cash back on all your purchases, with no cap, which makes it ideal for online purchases where American Express is accepted. If you prefer a no-fee card, the Rogers Red World Elite® Mastercard pays 1.5% everywhere, or 2% for Rogers, Fido, Shaw and Comwave customers, on the Mastercard network accepted almost everywhere, including at Costco.
No Canadian card offers a universal “online purchases” category. The right card depends on what you buy and the currency you use.
Beyond the foundation, one or two annual-fee cards supercharge your heaviest categories. Here is our comparison of the best cash back cards in Canada.
Advanced shoppers don’t limit themselves to one card: they combine a few to capture the best rate in each category. A powerful wallet brings together a foundation card at 2% on everything for out-of-category purchases, the BMO CashBack World Elite for groceries at 5%, the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite for subscriptions at 4%, and the Rogers Red Mastercard for U.S.-dollar purchases at 3%.
With this combination, a household spending $25,000 a year can target an average rate of 3% or more, that is over $750 in annual cash back, whereas a single no-fee card would often return less than half. Once your grocery and transit spending exceeds roughly $8,000 to $10,000 a year, the $139 fee of the BMO CashBack World Elite is entirely covered by the 5% rate. Keep in mind that American Express is not accepted everywhere: always keep a Visa or Mastercard as a backup.
To go further, compare the best cash back credit cards in Canada, our head-to-head between Neo and BMO and our guide to maximizing the Tangerine card based on your spending profile.
Here are our recommended cards to shop online and maximize your cash back:
Here is the technique that changes everything. By going through a cash back portal before reaching the merchant’s site, you earn a layer of points or money on top of your credit card. Savvy shoppers call it double-dipping: the portal pays you, and your card pays you too on the same purchase.
To understand the mechanics, 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 promotions like the Rakuten and Scene+ promotion.
The holiday season concentrates a large share of your annual spending. Well orchestrated, this peak becomes a chance to earn points and cash back rather than just an outflow of money. We plan our holiday purchases to run them through the right card categories and the right portals.
Our guides to save money during the holiday season and to earn points on your holiday spending bring together the right habits.
The real gain doesn’t come from a single discount, but from stacking several layers on the same purchase. Here is the order we follow before every major purchase.
Each layer looks modest on its own. Together, they turn an advertised 20% discount into real savings that are often much higher.
Gift cards are a discount layer few people use. By buying a merchant gift card at a discount, or buying it in a boosted category of your credit card, you save before you even shop. Some promotions give up to 5 times the points on the purchase of Amazon, Walmart or Netflix gift cards.
To make the most of them, read our guide to earning points with gift cards, see how to buy gift cards with your points, and take advantage of promotions offering up to 5 times the points on gift cards.
Buying during a big wave is pointless if the item breaks or its price drops the next week. Many credit cards include extended warranty insurance that doubles the manufacturer’s warranty, plus 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 of whether it is worth buying an extended warranty.
Periods of big deals also attract fraudsters: fake sites, phishing emails and bogus promotions multiply. Always pay by credit card rather than debit, because fraud protection is stronger, and beware of discounts that are too good to be true.
To protect yourself, follow our tips to avoid credit card fraud and to secure your accounts against online fraud.
Smart shopping is not about luck, it is about preparation. Beyond the big waves, keep an eye on secondary dates like the back-to-school sales in August or Singles’ Day on November 11. First set up a good cash back card, add a shopping portal, then let the deals calendar guide your major purchases. By stacking the right layers, you keep hundreds of extra dollars in your pocket each year, and we keep this page updated before every big wave.
Savings this way:
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