Best Credit Cards for Online Shopping

If you’re anything like me, your porch gets flooded with Amazon boxes and bags from OldNavy.com on a fairly regular basis. Since we almost exclusively grocery shop at Aldi, where we cant get things like the cat food and litter we prefer, we buy a lot of essentials on Amazon. And I do almost all of my clothes shopping for myself and my kids online. It just makes my life a little easier.

You may already know that shopping with a credit card is safer online. Credit cards have stronger fraud protection, so you cant be held liable for charges you don’t authorize. Debit cards aren’t required to have this same level of protection (though some do). In short, it’s a good idea to use a credit card rather than a debit card if you’re going to shop online.

Plus, there are some great credit cards out there that give you excellent points or cash-back rewards when you use them to shop online. Here are our favorite options to check out:

Related: Swagbucks ReviewEarn Rewards While You Surf

What to Look for in an Online Shopping Card

So how did we come up with this list? Well, here are some of the things we looked for in the cards that we vetted. You might want to use these same criteria when you’re looking for a credit card to use for shopping online:

• Fraud Protection: The best credit cards these days have a $0 fraud liability clause that lets you off the hook for any fraudulent charges. Since your credit card number is more vulnerable when you use it online, this is a great protection to look for in a credit card for shopping online. Federal restrictions keep fraud protections pretty solid for consumers, but $0 is the best it gets, obviously.
• Great Cash Back or Points: You want your card to give you the most cash back or points at the places you frequently shop, whether in-store or online. These cards automatically have good all-around rewards, or they have rotating categories that at least sometimes offer big bonuses for online shopping.
• Decent Bonuses: If you’re looking for a new credit card, you might as well look for one that has a good sign-on bonus. This wasn’t a deal breaker when we were looking for these cards. But it’s a helpful additional perk if you’re waffling between two options.

Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa

The Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa is a great option for straight up cash-back rewards on any purchases, including online purchases. And if you’re ready to make a big purchase or two today, you’ll get 0% APR on purchases for the first 15 months of card ownership.

What I like about this card is that it makes it easy to get your cash back without thinking about it. You can get 1.5% unlimited cash back on all purchases. Plus, you’ll get a $150 cash rewards bonus when you spend just $500 on purchases within the first three months of owning the card. And it doesn’t have an annual fee.

If you’re looking for a decent amount of cash back on a card you don’t have to put much thought into, this is a great option.

Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card

If you, like me, are an Amazon addict, this could be the credit card you need. This Amazon-branded card from Chase has some excellent benefits, including 3% cash back for every purchase from Amazon.com. It also offers 2% cash back at restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores and 1% cash back on all other purchases.

It’s also a great travel card since it offers no foreign transaction fees, travel and emergency assistance, lost luggage reimbursement, baggage delay insurance, and even protection for rental cars.

This card also has no annual fee, and you can get a $50 Amazon gift card as soon as you’re approved for the card. That will be linked to your Amazon account and available for immediate use. Since most cards require actually using the card to get any sort of bonus, this is a pretty great perk.

One potential drawback of this card is that the easiest way to redeem your rewards is on Amazon products at checkout. You can redeem these in any amount when you’re checking out on Amazon. You can also cash in points for cash through an electronic deposit or statement credit, but not until you get to 2,000 points.

Amazon Prime Rewards Signature Visa

Again, if you’re like me and you swear by your Amazon Prime membership, you can actually upgrade the above card to the Amazon Prime Rewards Signature Visa card. It has similar perks, but it offers a whopping 5% cash back on all Amazon purchases and purchases at Whole Foods Market.

This card also offers the 2% cash back at restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores, as well as 1% cash back on all other purchases. This card offers a $70 Amazon gift card upon approval. To qualify for and keep this card, you just have to maintain an eligible Prime membership.

Uber Visa

This relative newcomer offers some interesting cash back perks, though not exclusively on online purchases. Its highest earning category is 4% cash back on dining, including restaurants, bars, takeout, and UberEATS. It also offers 3% cash back on hotels and airfare, and 1% cash back on all other purchases.

But our category of interest is online purchases, which earn 2% cash back. The interesting thing here is that the definition of online purchases is pretty broad. It includes, for instance, Uber rides, online shopping, online video services, and online music streaming services. Plus it comes with a $50 subscription credit for online subscription services when you meet a spending threshold on your card.

As a bonus, this card offers an extra $100 in cash back when you spend $500 on purchases within the first 90 days of card ownership.

In short, this card isn’t anything flashy with additional features. But its cash back features are a great option for those who like to shop online and dine out.

Citi Double Cash

This no annual fee credit card offers a flat 2% cash back on purchases, though it comes in segments. You get 1% cash back when you make the purchase and another 1% cash back when you pay for those purchases. That 2% doesn’t seem like a lot, but since it covers all your purchases, it’s actually really hard to beat.

If you shop online at more stores than Amazon and hate rotating categories, the Citi Double Cash could be your best friend when it comes to shopping online. Again, it doesn’t have an annual fee, and it even has a 0% introductory APR on balance transfers for 18 months right now. The card also offers great fraud protection features, including:

• Fraud alerts monitored around the clock
• In-house identity theft help if you become the victim of identity theft
• EMV chip technology for additional protection
• $0 liability for unauthorized charges
• A lost wallet service that guarantees to replace your card, typically within 24 hours, and can provide you with emergency cash in accordance with your cash advance limit

Read our full Citi Double Cash Credit Card Review

Bottom Line

Each of these cards is a great option for shopping online. The key is to find the card that best suits your needs and spending patterns so that you can get the cash back rewards that are highest for you.