The holiday season is a great time to stock up on gear, and we are starting to see some fantastic deals come our way. Currently, there is a way to get a Kelty Cosmic 20 degree DriDown Bag for just $68 at eBags.com, which normally retails for $169.95. If you’re “going basic” for your upcoming thru-hike or are just in need of a good all-around sleeping bag, the Kelty Cosmic is a sure-thing. Below, I’ll show you how to save $100 in just a few clicks.

Setup

To get this deal, you will utilize (1) an eBags discount code & rewards account, (2) an Amex Offer (explained below), and (3) a Cash Back portal (read my article for a primer on cashback portals).

Amex Offers are coupons that can be added to an American Express card which give discounts or credits for purchases made at particular merchants. From now until January 8, 2018, there is an offer for 2,500 Membership Rewards Points (American Express’ reward currency) if you spend $125 or more at eBags.com. To use Amex Offers, you must have an American Express credit card and you must add the offer to your account before you make your purchase.

Most any Amex card has the ability to add Offers, but I prefer those with additional cashback. My favorite is the Amex EveryDay card, which gives 1.5% cash back on all purchases with no annual fee. If you’d like to sign up for this card, consider using my referral link. If you do, you’ll get a bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards Points after making $1,000 in purchases within the first three months.

Also, if you don’t have an account at TopCashback (the cash back portal we will use for this deal), feel free to sign up here (my referral link).

Finally, you should sign up for an account at eBags.com because they give you 5% back on all purchases in the form of Rewards Points, which can be used as a credit toward future purchases. Sign up with my referral link and get an extra $10 after your first purchase.

Once you have the Amex Offer added on your card and your accounts created at TopCashback and eBags, you’re ready to go.

Recap of what you’ll need:

• An American Express card (sign up here for bonus offer)
• A TopCashback account (sign up here)
• An eBags account (sign up here for $10 in credit after your first purchase)

 

Step 1: Add the Amex Offer to your Credit Card

Log in to your online account at AmericanExpress.com, and scroll down past the Recent Transactions until you see the Amex Offers & Benefits:

Scroll through the offers until you see the offer for eBags, and click “Add to Card” (once clicked, the button will change to “Redeem Now”).

You can verify that the offer was added correctly by clicking on the “Added to Card” tab. Note – you must add the offer to your card before you make the purchase, otherwise you will not get the points. There is no way around this!

Step 2: Go Through the Cashback Portal

Go to TopCashback.com, log in, and search for eBags. It should auto-complete and find the store right away. Go to the store page, and scroll down until you see the “Save 25% off Sitewide” line under “eBags Coupon Codes” and select “Get Cashback and Code”.

You will now be directed to eBags.com, with the 25% coupon code automatically applied.

Step 3: Add the Kelty Cosmic bag to your cart

If you correctly navigated through the portal, your 25% off coupon should already be reflected in the price. Thus, the bag (long version) should come up as $127.46. Add this to your cart.

 

Step 4: Checkout with your American Express card

Once the bag has been added to your cart, begin the checkout process. Double-check that the savings are as you expect by looking at the Promotion Code box (it should be filled automatically) and that the discount is reflected in the final price. Continue to checkout.

 

Notice that the final price of $127.46 is just over the $125 threshold to get the 2,500 points from the Amex Offer. Booya! Continue with checkout by logging in to your eBags account. Complete the checkout with your Amex card which has the eBags offer added.

Step 5 Check your Email

Once you see the confirmation screen that your transaction has processed, go check your email. There, you should not only see an confirmation email from eBags, but also an email from Amex confirming that you successfully used your Amex Offer. The subject will be “Great news! You just used your Amex Offer“. Sometimes it can take a few minutes for the email to arrive, but if you have added the offer to your card then you should be fine. The body of the email looks like this:

Recap

If you followed the directions above, here is how the savings break down:

• 25% off Site-wide Coupon: $42.49
• 20% Cash Back from TopCashback (20% x $127.46) = $25.50
• 2,500 Membership Rewards Points (1% x 2,500) = $25
• eBags Rewards Cash = $6.37
• Amex EveryDay Cashback (1.5% x 127.46) = $1.91
• Total savings: $99.36

Out-of-pocket expense: $68.68, which translates to a 60% savings. Not bad for a few minutes of clicking!

Note: 2,500 Membership Rewards points have a minimum value of 1 cent per point, but they can be much more valuable if transferred to some of their airline partners and used for travel. That is out of the scope of this post, but if it interests you check out this article to learn more.

If you missed the deal

This is a great example of how to “stack” various promotions and opportunities to get a great price. The normal cashback rate for eBags hovers around 10-15%, and Amex Offers are not always available for eBags. If you are reading this and the deal is no longer available, fear not – it will come around again. Keep an eye on your Amex account for another offer and check Top Cashback once in a while to see what their rate is. Once you try a couple of these deals you’ll learn to spot them when they come up and will be one of the first to jump on it.

The same method of applying a Store Discount + Amex Offer + Cash Back can be replicated at nearly any retailer, but the value will depend greatly on the promotions available at that time.

Summary

This is just one example of how you can save a boatload of cash on new gear. The best deals come from combining multiple offers and promotions on somewhat obscure sites like eBags. You won’t usually find these kinds of deals on REI or Backcountry simply because they have a small and more controlled niche with more obstacles in place (i.e. low cashback amounts) that make it more difficult. However, with a keen eye and a little practice, you can easily score some great deals!