Which purchases qualify for 3 points per dollar with the Ink Business Preferred?
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is popular for small-business owners because it earns transferable Ultimate Rewards points in multiple common business spending categories.
It’s currently offering a welcome bonus of 100,000 points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first three months.
Let’s take a closer look at the types of purchases that earn bonus points on the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, as well as the details of the sign-up bonus.
Bonus categories
With the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, you’ll earn 3 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on the first $150,000 you spend in combined purchases each account anniversary year in the following categories:
- Travel
- Shipping purchases
- Internet, cable and phone services
- Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines
If you spend $150,000 in these categories during an account anniversary year, you’ll earn 450,000 Ultimate Rewards points on your purchases.
Based on TPG’s valuation of Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 2.05 cents each, these points would be worth a whopping $9,225.
Even if you only value Ultimate Rewards points at the 1.25 cents of value you can get from the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal (1.5 cents if you transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to the Chase Sapphire Reserve), these points would still be worth $5,625 in travel — giving you a minimum return of 3.75% on your purchases.
Related: How to choose the right credit card for your business expenses
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Qualifying merchants
You may wonder exactly which merchants are covered by the Ink Business Preferred’s 3-points-per-dollar bonus categories. Luckily, Chase provides more guidance on its website. Here are the definitions:
Travel
Merchants in this category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages.
Some merchants that provide transportation and travel-related services are not included in this category; for example, real estate agents, educational merchants arranging travel, in-flight goods and services, on-board cruise line goods and services, sightseeing activities, excursions, tourist attractions, RV and boat rentals, merchants within hotels and airports, public campgrounds and merchants that rent vehicles for the purpose of hauling. Purchases from gift card merchants or merchants that sell points or miles will not qualify in the travel category.
Related: Which purchases count as travel with Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve?
Shipping purchases
Merchants in this category specialize in mailing packages, hauling freight, and transporting goods or documents. Shipping merchants include couriers, postal and freight shipping companies, express shipping services and mailbox stores.
Merchants who sell a wide variety of general goods but also ship items, including office supply stores that also mail packages will not be included in this category. The additional cost to ship something you buy, or using a third party (such as Amazon) for bulk warehousing and shipping will not qualify. Merchants that primarily sell boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap or other shipping supplies are also not included in this category.
Internet, cable and phone services
Only purchases for internet, cable, satellite television and radio, cellular, wireless data, and landline services will qualify.
Purchases of equipment are not included. If you purchase or pay for your internet, cable and satellite television, phone or related services in a merchant’s store that is not classified by the merchant in the applicable services category, the purchase or payment will not qualify; for example, phone bill payments in a merchant’s store that is classified as a telephone equipment store.
Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines
Merchants in this category include social media websites and online search engines that advertise a business, brand, products or services.
Advertising purchases that are not made directly from a social media website or online search engine merchant may not qualify; for example, advertising purchases made through a third party such as an ad agency or web designer offering related services. Also, purchases from social media websites or online search engines that are not for advertising will not qualify; for example, subscription or app purchases.
Related: One year of earning and burning with the Ink Business Preferred Card
Sign-up bonus
Currently, the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card offers a sign-up bonus of 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first three months. These 100,000 points are worth $2,050, according to TPG’s valuations, if you transfer them to airline and hotel program partners.
There are 11 airline and three hotel Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners, so you can snag many sweet spots when you utilize this redemption option.
One valuable transfer partner is World of Hyatt for redemptions at low-category or high-category properties. Another popular option is to transfer to Iberia to redeem for distance-based, nonstop flights between the U.S. and Madrid.
Finally, United MileagePlus is a solid transfer choice for many U.S.-based travelers, even with the removal of fixed-award charts.
If you plan to use your points to book travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal at 1.25 cents per point of value (1.5 cents if you transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to the Chase Sapphire Reserve®), the sign-up bonus would still be worth $1,250 in travel.
Related: Why do Chase and TPG list different values for Ultimate Rewards points?
Bottom line
The Ink Business Preferred Credit Card opens the door to accelerated earning in the Chase Ultimate Rewards landscape with just a $95 annual fee.
Now that you better understand the 3-points-per-dollar earning categories, you can use the Ink Business Preferred alone or add other cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards, like the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card to the mix to further maximize the points you earn.
To learn more about the card, read our full review of the Ink Business Preferred.
Apply here: Ink Business Preferred Credit Card
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