Retailer overview
Saks Fifth Avenue is the flagship banner of Exemplar Luxury Group, the company formerly known as Saks Global that also owns Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. The group filed Chapter 11 in January 2026, closed a dozen full-line Saks stores and every OFF 5TH and Last Call location, and emerged at the end of June with roughly 75% less debt and 49 stores across all three banners. The website kept running throughout, and vendor shipments have largely recovered.
The change that matters most to stackers happened on July 1: the Amex Platinum’s Saks credit ended. For a decade that credit was the reason a Platinum cardholder bought a $50 belt at Saks twice a year. Without it, the Saks stack looks like other luxury department stores, which is to say it depends on timing.
Cashback portal strategy
| Portal | Current rate | Recent high | Exclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| TopCashback | 5% | 5% | Fine jewelry, gift cards, Dior pop-up items, pre-owned watches, Dyson, phone orders, unlisted codes |
| Rakuten | 2% | 10% (April 2026) | Jewelry, gift cards, associate-discount orders |
TopCashback is the default today. Rakuten is the one to watch: it ran 10% on April 19, 2026, and older 10-15% spikes during Friends & Family are widely reported (unverified for this year). Neither portal excludes sale merchandise or beauty, which is unusual in this tier and makes Saks a better portal target than Neiman for sale items.
Cashback on both portals is calculated on item price only, after any code, before tax and shipping, and stays locked until the return window closes.
How Rakuten works, and how to get the $50 welcome bonus →
Credit card / Amex Offer strategy
Amex said new Platinum-only Amex Offers would roll out from July 1 to replace the credit. As of this writing, no Saks offer has surfaced on Amex or Chase for 2026. Check the Offers tab on every card before a $250+ order, and don’t wait on one.
Saks codes as a department store. No travel-card category bonus applies. The card that earns here is the store card.
SaksFirst loyalty program
SaksFirst requires the Saks Credit Card or the Saks World Elite Mastercard (both issued by Comenity). Tiers reset by calendar-year net spend:
- $1 to $2,499: 6 points per dollar
- $2,500 to $9,999: 12 points per dollar
- $10,000 and up: 18 points per dollar
Points convert to gift cards; Saks doesn’t publish a fixed point value on the public program page, so we don’t quote a percentage with confidence. Points below the 2,500 threshold reset to zero every January 1, so spend down before year-end. Exclusions: tax, shipping, salon, restaurants, gift cards.
SaksFirst is separate from Neiman’s InCircle even after the merger. Points don’t move between programs.
Because the points are earned by the card at checkout, they stack with any portal. Saks runs double-point days during Friends & Family and periodic triple-point promotions (beauty and fragrance, September 10 to 20, 2026).
Promo code opportunities
Saks issues real codes, which is rare at this tier:
- Friends & Family: up to 25% off new arrivals, 20% jewelry, 15% beauty. Spring (late March / early April) and fall (mid to late September). VIP and cardholder access first.
- Email signup: 10% off one online order. Excludes stores, pre-orders, gift cards.
- App: 15% off a first app order.
- Designer sale: “$50 off $200” style codes in early June, on top of markdowns.
Saks-issued sitewide codes track fine on Rakuten when Rakuten lists them (it usually does for F&F). TopCashback voids cashback for unlisted codes. The safe move is to check the portal’s Saks page for the exact code before clicking through.
Heritage houses (Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and similar) are excluded from sitewide percentage codes. If you’re buying one of those, the portal is your only layer.
Best time of year to buy
Common exclusions
- Fine jewelry earns no cashback on either portal
- Gift cards earn nothing anywhere
- Heritage luxury houses are excluded from sitewide codes
- TopCashback voids cashback on any code not listed on its Saks page
- Returns and in-store exchanges of online orders cancel the cashback on that order
- SaksFirst points require the Saks card; OFF 5TH purchases (now closed) never earned
Checkout sequence
- Check whether Friends & Family is open. If it's within a few weeks and your item qualifies, wait.
- Compare Rakuten and TopCashback on the saksfifthavenue.com store pages. Take the higher rate. If you're using a code, confirm the portal lists it.
- Check Amex Offers across all your cards.
- Clean browser session, ad blockers off. Click through the portal to Saks.
- Sign in so SaksFirst credits. Build the cart. Apply the code at checkout.
- Pay with the Saks card for points, or the card holding a live offer if it's worth more.
- Confirm the portal shows the order pending within 48 hours. It stays pending through the return window.
$1,000 new-arrivals order during Friends & Family, Saks card
If Rakuten spikes to 10% during the event, the portal line becomes $75 and the total clears 32%. Outside Friends & Family, the same order returns about $50.
Get alerted when Friends & Family opens.
VIP access goes first and popular sizes go with it. We email the day the code drops, and the day either portal spikes past 5%.
FAQ
Sources
What we read to write this page. Every link is the company's own page, not a summary of it.
- SaksFirst program termssaksfifthavenue.comPoints tiers, card required, annual reset
- Returns and exchangessaksfifthavenue.comRefund within 30 days of delivery
- Rakuten store page for Saks Fifth Avenuerakuten.comWhere the Rakuten rate on this page was read
- Capital One Shopping page for Saks Fifth Avenuecapitaloneshopping.comWhere the Capital One Shopping rate was read
- TopCashback store page for Saks Fifth Avenuetopcashback.comWhere the TopCashback rate was read
Ready to buy?
If Friends & Family is open, take the code, the higher portal, and the Saks card. If not, wait for it.
Already on Rakuten? Open the Saks Fifth Avenue store page →