Which Purchases Earn Bonus Rewards (and Which Don’t)

By Bryce Casson, Founder · Cardocrat · Updated July 2026

The short answer: Whether a purchase earns bonus rewards depends on the merchant’s category code, not the item in your cart. Dining, groceries, gas, and travel are the categories that reliably earn extra, while big everyday costs like rent, taxes, medical bills, insurance, and utilities almost always earn a flat 1x. This chart maps the purchases people ask about most — what each usually codes as, whether it earns a bonus, and the catch.

When you tap it, all it sees is a four-digit merchant category code the payment network assigns to that business, and that code — not your receipt — is what decides whether the purchase earns a bonus. It’s why a sandwich from a warehouse club and a sandwich from a deli can pay completely different rewards, and why the coffee counter inside a grocery store often doesn’t count as dining. Once you see that the card is grading the store, not the stuff in your basket, the whole thing stops feeling random and starts being something you can plan around.

It’s the merchant code, not your receipt

Every business that takes cards is tagged with a four-digit merchant category code, or MCC, that the payment networks assign based on what the business mostly sells. Your card reads that code, not your receipt, so it rewards the store, not the items in your basket. A supermarket is coded grocery, a steakhouse is coded dining, and a warehouse club is coded… warehouse club — which is why the exact same box of cereal earns a bonus at one and nothing extra at the other.

Two things follow from that. First, a purchase can miss a bonus you’d swear it should earn, because the merchant registered under a code you wouldn’t expect. Second, you can occasionally earn a bonus you wouldn’t expect, like buying a gift card at a grocery store and picking up the grocery multiplier. The tables below map the purchases people ask about most — what each usually codes as, whether it earns a bonus, and the catch that decides it.

Food, dining, and coffee

Dining is the most dependable bonus there is, but the edges are where people slip — a bakery, a food truck, or a coffee kiosk can land on either side of the line depending on how the business registered itself.

You’re paying for…	Usually codes as	Bonus?	The catch
Restaurants, bars, and cafés	Dining	✅ Yes	The dependable one — sit-down, fast food, and bars nearly always hit.
Coffee shops	Dining	✅ Yes	Standalone shops earn; the kiosk inside a grocery store or Target usually doesn’t.
Food trucks	Dining or “other”	⚠️ Sometimes	Rides on whether the vendor registered as a restaurant or a generic merchant.
Bakeries	Dining or grocery	⚠️ Sometimes	A café-style bakery codes dining; a bread counter inside a supermarket doesn’t.
Food courts and food halls	Dining	✅ Yes	Each stall almost always codes as its own restaurant.
Bars and drinks out	Dining	✅ Yes	Drinking out is dining; a bottle to go from a liquor store isn’t.
Meal-kit boxes (HelloFresh, Blue Apron)	Direct marketing	❌ No	Almost never code as grocery despite the food. Treat as 1x.
Grocery delivery (Instacart)	Grocery or the app	⚠️ Sometimes	Sometimes passes the store’s grocery code, often codes as the delivery service.
Vending machines	Other	❌ No	Usually a generic code with no bonus.

Groceries, warehouse clubs, and superstores

Groceries earn a bonus at the supermarket and almost nowhere that only looks like one. This is the single most misunderstood category in rewards, because the stores where most people actually buy groceries — Costco, Walmart, Target — don’t code as grocery at all.

You’re paying for…	Usually codes as	Bonus?	The catch
Supermarkets and grocery stores	Grocery	✅ Yes	The classic grocery bonus — but mind the exceptions right below.
Warehouse clubs (Costco, Sam’s, BJ’s)	Wholesale club	❌ No	Code as their own category, not grocery. Only a wholesale-club bonus helps.
Superstores (Walmart, Target)	Discount superstore	❌ No	Not grocery, even for the groceries in your cart. This trips up almost everyone.
Convenience stores	Gas / convenience	⚠️ Sometimes	Often ride the gas code, rarely the grocery one.
Butchers, meat markets, farm stands	Grocery or “other”	⚠️ Sometimes	Small specialty shops often miss the grocery code.
Farmers markets	Agricultural / “other”	❌ No	Most individual vendors don’t register as grocery.
Liquor stores	Grocery or “other”	⚠️ Sometimes	A handful code grocery; many carry their own code.

Gas, transit, and getting around

Getting around splits cleanly: fuel and mass transit earn bonuses on the right cards, while the services that keep your car running mostly don’t.

You’re paying for…	Usually codes as	Bonus?	The catch
Gas stations	Gas	✅ Yes	Reliable, though warehouse-club and supermarket pumps can code elsewhere.
EV charging	Gas (sometimes)	⚠️ Sometimes	Growing fast, but many networks still code as a utility or “other.”
Rideshare (Uber, Lyft)	Transit	✅ Yes	Most transit-bonus cards count rideshare.
Tolls, parking, and public transit	Transit	✅ Yes	Buses, subways, ferries, tolls, and garages usually hit the transit bonus.
Trains and Amtrak	Travel or transit	✅ Yes	Typically counts as one or the other.
Car rentals	Travel	✅ Yes	Codes as travel, not “auto.”
Car-sharing (Zipcar, Turo)	Travel / transit	⚠️ Sometimes	Depends on how the platform codes.
Auto repair and car washes	Auto services	❌ No	Almost always plain 1x.
Moving trucks and storage units	Services / “other”	❌ No	No bonus; treat as 1x.

Travel

Travel is a wide, generous bucket — flights, hotels, rentals, cruises, even campgrounds usually count. The gaps are the odd add-ons, like an in-flight snack or an RV rental that codes as something else.

You’re paying for…	Usually codes as	Bonus?	The catch
Airfare (booked with the airline)	Travel	✅ Yes	The core travel bonus.
Airline fees — bags, seats, upgrades	Travel / airline	✅ Yes	Usually ride the airline’s travel code.
In-flight food and Wi-Fi	Dining or “other”	⚠️ Sometimes	Sometimes dining, sometimes a generic airline charge.
Hotels (booked direct)	Travel	✅ Yes	Reliable; some third-party rates differ.
Online travel agencies (Expedia, Booking)	Travel	✅ Yes	Usually travel, occasionally the agency’s own code.
Airbnb and Vrbo	Travel	✅ Yes	Both code as travel on most cards.
Cruises	Travel	✅ Yes	The fare counts as travel; onboard spend may not.
Rental cars and RV rentals	Travel	⚠️ Sometimes	Cars yes; RV rentals sometimes code as “other.”
Campgrounds and RV parks	Travel	✅ Yes	Usually travel.
Theme parks	Travel or entertainment	⚠️ Sometimes	Codes vary by park and by card.
Ski resorts	Travel / recreation	⚠️ Sometimes	Lift tickets and lodging can code differently.
A trip booked through your card’s travel portal	Travel (elevated)	✅ Yes	Portals often pay the highest rate of all — just weigh the redemption tradeoffs.

Entertainment and recreation

Entertainment is a bonus only on the specific cards that offer it, and even then the definition is narrower than you’d hope. Most recreation earns a flat rate.

You’re paying for…	Usually codes as	Bonus?	The catch
Streaming services	Streaming	⚠️ Sometimes	Only cards with a streaming bonus, and the list of qualifying services is specific.
Movie theaters	Entertainment	⚠️ Sometimes	Only cards that carry an entertainment category.
Concerts, live events, sporting events	Entertainment	⚠️ Sometimes	Same — needs an entertainment-bonus card.
Museums, zoos, aquariums	Entertainment	⚠️ Sometimes	Often, on entertainment-bonus cards.
Golf, bowling, mini golf	Recreation	❌ No	Rarely a bonus; usually 1x.
Escape rooms, trampoline parks, arcades	Recreation	❌ No	Almost always 1x.
Gyms and fitness	Health / fitness	⚠️ Sometimes	A few cards bonus this; most don’t.
Casinos, gambling, lottery	Cash equivalent	❌ No	Treated like cash — no rewards, and often a cash-advance fee.

Shopping and retail

General retail is the land of 1x. Outside of pharmacies and office supplies on the right cards, the way to earn extra when you shop is a shopping portal, not the store’s own code.

You’re paying for…	Usually codes as	Bonus?	The catch
General online shopping	Retail	❌ No	1x unless you route through a shopping portal first.
Amazon	Amazon (its own code)	⚠️ Sometimes	Only a co-brand card or a portal turns it into a bonus.
eBay and online marketplaces	Retail	❌ No	Usually 1x; watch for third-party payment coding.
App Store / Google Play	Digital goods	⚠️ Sometimes	Codes as the platform; occasionally hits an online or entertainment bonus.
Pharmacies and drugstores	Drugstore	⚠️ Sometimes	Only drugstore-bonus cards, and big-box pharmacies may code elsewhere.
Department, electronics, furniture, appliance stores	Retail	❌ No	Plain 1x on nearly every card.
Bookstores, sporting goods, craft, hobby, jewelry	Retail	❌ No	1x.
Pet stores	Retail	❌ No	1x (a couple of niche cards bonus pets).
Garden centers and nurseries	Retail / agricultural	❌ No	1x.
Office supply stores	Office supplies	⚠️ Sometimes	A business-card category, not a personal one.
Thrift, consignment, antiques, pawn shops	Used goods / “other”	❌ No	1x, and pawn shops can trip cash-like coding.
Vape and smoke shops, gun stores, dispensaries	Restricted / “other”	❌ No	1x at best; some issuers flag or block these outright.
Florists	Florist	⚠️ Sometimes	Has its own code; a rare few cards bonus it.

Home, services, and health

Here’s the honest bad news: the everyday services that fill a real budget — home repairs, childcare, medical bills, the vet — almost never earn a bonus. Put them on your highest flat-rate card and move on.

You’re paying for…	Usually codes as	Bonus?	The catch
Home services (plumber, electrician, handyman)	Home / “other”	❌ No	Nearly always 1x.
Lawn care, landscaping, pest control	Services	❌ No	1x.
Cleaning, junk removal, dumpster rental	Services	❌ No	1x.
Home warranty, security systems, solar	Services / home	❌ No	1x.
Dry cleaning, laundry, alterations, tailoring	Personal services	❌ No	1x.
Salons, spas, barbers	Personal services	❌ No	1x.
Photographers and photo printing	Services / retail	❌ No	1x.
Locksmith, notary, legal fees	Professional services	❌ No	1x.
Childcare and daycare	Services	❌ No	1x.
Medical, dental, therapy, eye doctor	Medical	❌ No	1x — and consider paying from an HSA instead.
Veterinarian	Veterinary	❌ No	1x on most cards.
Pet insurance, boarding, dog walking	Services	❌ No	1x.
Vitamins and supplements	Retail / drugstore	❌ No	1x unless it happens to code as a drugstore.
Funeral expenses	Services	❌ No	1x.
Tutoring, lessons, online courses, driving school	Education	❌ No	1x.

Bills, taxes, and the “earns nothing extra” list

These are the big-ticket line items people most want to earn on — and the ones that most reliably earn nothing extra, often behind a processing fee that costs more than the rewards. The one exception worth engineering is using a large bill to clear a welcome bonus.

You’re paying for…	Usually codes as	Bonus?	The catch
Rent	Real estate	❌ No	Usually 1x, and often behind a 2–3% processing fee that wipes it out.
Mortgage	Real estate / loan	❌ No	Rarely chargeable; 1x if it is.
HOA dues and property tax	Government / real estate	❌ No	1x, and the convenience fee usually beats your rewards.
Utilities — power, water, internet, cable, phone	Utilities	⚠️ Sometimes	A few cards bonus utilities or the phone bill; most pay 1x.
Insurance — auto, home, life, pet, business	Insurance	❌ No	1x.
Income taxes	Tax payment	❌ No	1x, plus a ~1.75–2% processor fee. Only worth it for a welcome bonus.
Tuition and student loans	Education / loan	❌ No	1x, usually with a processing fee.
Charitable donations	Charity	❌ No	1x (a rare card bonuses giving).
Membership, union, and professional dues	Other	❌ No	1x.
Government and DMV fees	Government	❌ No	1x.
Money orders, cashier’s checks, gift-card cash-outs	Cash equivalent	❌ No	No rewards, and usually a cash-advance fee on top.
Buying cryptocurrency	Cash equivalent	❌ No	Most issuers treat it as a cash advance — no rewards, extra fee.
P2P — Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, Zelle	Varies	❌ No	Sending money to a person earns nothing; paying a merchant through PayPal may.
Balance transfers and cash advances	—	❌ No	Never earn rewards, by definition.

Business and professional expenses

Business cards open up categories personal cards ignore — advertising, shipping, software, office supplies. If you run anything on the side, the right business card rewrites this table.

You’re paying for…	Usually codes as	Bonus?	The catch
Advertising and ad spend	Advertising	⚠️ Sometimes	A strong business-card category; personal cards pay 1x.
Shipping and postage	Shipping	⚠️ Sometimes	A business-card bonus on several cards.
Office supplies	Office supplies	⚠️ Sometimes	A business category that also covers some electronics at office-supply stores.
Software and SaaS subscriptions	Software / business services	⚠️ Sometimes	Some business cards bonus this.
Web hosting and domains	Internet services	⚠️ Sometimes	Occasionally rides a software or online bonus.
Coworking space	Rent / office	❌ No	1x.
Payroll and payment-processing fees	Business services	❌ No	1x — and often a fee just to pay by card.
Freelancers and contractors	Services	❌ No	1x.
Conference and event registration	Business / travel	⚠️ Sometimes	Sometimes travel, sometimes 1x.
Reimbursed business expenses	By category	✅ Yes	Earn normally — just check your employer’s rules first.
LLC formation and business filings	Government / professional	❌ No	1x.

The rewards edge cases: miles, awards, and refunds

A few reward questions aren’t about a store at all, but about how points and miles are earned in the first place. Here’s how the common ones actually work.

You’re paying for…	Usually codes as	Bonus?	The catch
Award tickets (flights booked with miles)	—	❌ No	You don’t earn miles on an award ticket; only the taxes may post.
Paying with points or a travel eraser	—	❌ No	Redeeming points isn’t a purchase, so it earns nothing.
Partner and codeshare flights	Airline	✅ Yes	You earn, but crediting rules and rates vary by fare and carrier.
Basic economy fares	Airline	⚠️ Sometimes	You still earn card points; airline miles may be reduced.
Card points and airline miles on one flight	Both	✅ Yes	Your card earns points; the airline earns you miles separately.
Hotel points and card points on one stay	Both	✅ Yes	Both stack — card points on the charge, hotel points in the program.
Hotel points on award nights	—	❌ No	Free-night stays usually earn no hotel points.
Foreign purchases	By category	✅ Yes	You earn rewards, but a foreign-transaction fee may apply.
Authorized-user purchases	By category	✅ Yes	Everything an authorized user spends earns to the primary account.
Refunds and returns	—	❌ No	A refund reverses the rewards you earned, and doesn’t count toward a welcome bonus.

How to check before you buy

When you’re not sure, there are three quick ways to find out. Make the purchase and see which category it posts under in your card’s app; read the merchant’s billing name on your statement, since the DBA name often hints at the code; or, for a big purchase, call your issuer and ask what MCC the merchant uses. For the biggest recurring bills, run the math first — our guide on paying taxes with a card shows how a processing fee usually beats the rewards.

And when the answer is “no bonus,” that isn’t a failure — it just means the purchase belongs on your flat-rate catch-all card, which exists for exactly this. The goal was never to earn a bonus on everything; it’s to never leave one on the table when it’s actually there.

The bottom line

Bonus rewards follow the merchant’s category code, not the product you bought.
Dining, groceries, gas, and travel are the categories that reliably earn a bonus.
Warehouse clubs and superstores like Costco, Walmart, and Target do not code as grocery.
Big recurring bills — rent, taxes, medical, insurance, utilities — almost always earn a flat 1x.
Cash-like moves (crypto, money orders, P2P to a person) earn nothing and can trigger a cash-advance fee.

Frequently asked questions

Why didn’t my purchase earn bonus rewards?

Because the merchant’s category code didn’t match your card’s bonus category. Cards reward based on how a business is coded, not what you bought, so groceries at Walmart or a meal from a truck coded “other” can quietly miss the bonus.

Do Costco and Walmart count as grocery stores?

No. Costco codes as a wholesale club and Walmart and Target as discount superstores, so the groceries you buy there earn your card’s base rate, not the grocery bonus. Only a card with a wholesale-club or flat everything bonus helps there.

What purchases almost never earn bonus rewards?

Rent, mortgage, taxes, tuition, medical bills, insurance, utilities, and most services and general retail earn a flat 1x on nearly every card. Cash-like moves — crypto, money orders, sending money to a person — earn nothing and can add a cash-advance fee.

Do I earn rewards paying taxes or rent with a card?

You earn your base rate, but both usually run through a processor that charges roughly 1.75–3%, which typically costs more than the rewards. It’s generally only worth it to help clear a welcome bonus.

How can I tell what a purchase will earn before I buy?

Check how similar purchases posted in your card’s app, read the merchant’s billing name on your statement, or call your issuer and ask the merchant’s category code for a large purchase.

Does buying gift cards earn bonus rewards?

Sometimes. A gift card bought at a grocery store or drugstore can pick up that store’s bonus, a common way to boost earnings — but cash-equivalent gift cards can be treated as a cash advance, so check first.