How to turn offline spend into online spend

While online shopping is obviously more convenient, there are still situations that call for in-person purchases.

A merchant may simply not have an online storefront, or even if they do, visiting a brick-and-mortar location to negotiate can get you discounts or extras that you wouldn’t get online. I recently bought a display set TV from Courts at nearly 50% off the list price, something I wouldn’t have been able to do online.

But just because you’re spending in-store doesn’t mean you have to give up online spending bonuses!

Which cards earn bonuses for online spending?

The two cards that should instantly come to mind for online spending are the DBS Woman’s World Card and Citi Rewards Card, both of which earn 4 mpd for online spending.

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per s. month, excludes travel and in-app mobile wallet spend Review
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.5K per c. month* Review
*Reduced to S$1K per c. month from 1 August 2025

But there’s more than just these two. It’s easy to forget that there are other cards where spending must be online in order for bonuses to be awarded. 

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card Apply	2.4 mpd	No cap. Min. S$800 on SIA Group in a m. year* Review
StanChart Journey Card Apply	3 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month Review
HSBC Revolution Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month Review
*Min. S$1,000 on SIA Group for membership years ending November 2025 onwards

The KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card earns an uncapped 2.4 mpd for online shopping transactions, defined as merchants with the following MCCs.

The StanChart Journey Card earns 3 mpd for online groceries, food delivery, transport, though this only applies to transactions charged in SGD.

Finally, the HSBC Revolution Card awards bonuses for online spending on department and retail stores, dining, transport and membership clubs (bonuses for offline spending were removed in June 2024).

So if you’re spending with these five cards, the question then becomes: is it possible to turn an offline transaction into an online one?

⚠️ When you don’t want a transaction to be online

There’s actually one card which penalises you for turning offline transactions into online: the Maybank World Mastercard. Cardholders earn 4 mpd on petrol transactions in Singapore, but only when paying offline. If you pay online (e.g. via Kris+), you will not earn the bonus.

How to turn offline spend into online spend

Amaze

Apply here

Use code 7HK2A2 for 225 bonus InstaPoints

💳 tl;dr: Amaze Card

Overseas transactions are converted into SGD (no FCY transaction fees, but subject to FX spread) and charged to the underlying credit/debit card Transaction MCC remains the same, offline transactions charged to Amaze become online transactions for the underlying credit/debit card Earn 0.5 InstaPoints per S$1 on FCY transactions of at least S$10 (except exclusion categories) charged to a wallet-linked Amaze Redeem InstaPoints for KrisFlyer miles in blocks of 1,200 InstaPoints= 400 miles

Any transaction processed through Amaze codes as online spend, while retaining the original MCC. 

However, there are two further considerations here:

• Amaze can only be paired with Mastercards
• Amaze is excluded from rewards by DBS and UOB
• Amaze charges a 1% admin fee (min. S$0.50) for all SGD-denominated transactions

Therefore, the only card that really benefits from the offline to online conversion is the Citi Rewards Card.

Atome

Get S$10 off first Atome purchase

Atome transactions code as online, whether they’re performed on a website, in-app, or physically in-store. This not only lets you turn offline spend into online, it also allows you to use credit cards at merchants which might not otherwise accept them. 

Your payment will code as MCC 5999, and split into three interest-free instalments. The first payment is due at the time of the transaction, and it’s advisable to trigger the 2nd and subsequent payments manually via the Atome app as there have been reports that automatic payments do not trigger online spending bonuses.

For a recommended list of cards to use with Atome, refer to the post below. 

What’s the best card to use for Atome?

Gift cards

👍 250 Max Miles joining bonus

Sign up for a HeyMax account and get up to 250 Max Miles as a welcome bonus

250 bonus Max Miles

Gift card purchases through websites like Giftano, HeyMax, ShopBack and Wogi all count as online transactions.

You can then use those gift cards for in-store transactions at places including Best Denki, Challenger, Cold Storage, Courts, Giant IKEA, Natureland, Shell, and Sheng Siong. 

MCC 5311 MCC 5399 Amazon processes transactions over a range of MCCs, so use a card that awards bonuses for general online spend
Amazon Courts Challenger Best Denki Dairy Farm	Eu Yan Sang IKEA Klook NTUC FairPrice TADA

MCC 5999
Amazon Best Denki Cold Storage Courts Dairy Farm Group eCapitaVoucher* Eu Yan Sang Giant	Grab Guardian IKEA Lazada NTUC FairPrice Sheng Siong TANGS ZALORA
*Admin fee of up to 5% applies to purchases

MCC 5311
Amazon Best Denki Courts Deliveroo Foodpanda Giant Grab IKEA Klook Lazada	Natureland NTUC FairPrice Oddle Eats Pelago Ryde Shein Shell Sheng Siong TADA TANGS ZALORA

MCC 5812 MCC 5814 MCC 5311 ShopBack processes transactions over a range of MCCs, so use a card that awards bonuses for general online spend
Amazon Foodpanda Gojek Grab IKEA Lazada	NTUC FairPrice Ryde Shell Shopee TADA Uniqlo

MCC 5947
Amazon Best Denki Caltex Challenger Cold Storage Courts Giant GrabGifts Guardian IKEA	iStudio Klook Lazada Muji NTUC FairPrice Shell Shopee TADA TANGS Trip.com Watsons

I found this particularly useful when buying my TV from Courts, in a month when I’d already maxed out the 4 mpd caps with the UOB Visa Signature and UOB Preferred Platinum Visa.

I was still able to earn 4 mpd by purchasing Courts gift cards via HeyMax using my Citi Rewards Card and HSBC Revolution, then redeeming them in-store (yes, the OCBC Rewards Card would have offered 6 mpd, but I’d also maxed that out for the month).

Kris+

S$5 for new Kris+ Users

Get S$5 (in the form of 750 KrisPay miles) when you sign-up with code W644363 and make your first transaction

Kris+ transactions code as online spend, whether you’re buying deals via the app or making in-store payments. The original MCC is usually maintained, though there are some very limited exceptions (mostly for travel agencies).

For a recommended list of cards to use with Kris+, refer to the post below. 

What’s the best card to use for Kris+?

ShopBack Pay or FavePay

Payments made via Shopback Pay or FavePay will code as online spend, even when payment is made in-store.

These transactions usually (but not always) retain the MCC of the underlying merchant. However, do note that DBS cards explicitly exclude FavePay, so don’t use the DBS Woman’s World Card here.

Frasers Experience

FRx Experience gift cards can be used to make payment at most merchants inside Frasers malls. This includes clinics, tuition/enrichment centres, and other places that might not otherwise be eligible for bonuses.

Gift card purchases will code as MCC 5965, and while this isn’t whitelisted by any particular card, it’s still eligible for 4 mpd with the Citi Rewards and DBS Woman’s World Card. 

Do Apple Pay and Google Pay count as online transactions?

I might as well address this too, given how often it comes up.

Asking “do Apple Pay and Google Pay count as online transactions” is a very strange question. It’s a bit like asking “do credit card payments count as online transactions”. They do, if you make payment online! 

When you use Apple Pay and Google Pay to make in-store payments, it’s conceptually similar to tapping your physical card to pay, and considered an offline transaction.

When you use Apple Pay and Google Pay to make an in-app or website-based payment, it’s conceptually similar to entering your card details in the app or website, and considered an online transaction.

Conclusion

While some cards will only award bonuses for online spending, that doesn’t necessarily mean that physical stores are off-limits. By buying gift cards, paying with certain apps, or using Amaze, you can convert that transaction into an online expenditure. 

I’m guessing there are probably other ways that I’ve missed out, so feel free to share other options in the comments too!

What other ways do you know of turning offline spend into online spend?