Double Points With The Wyndham Shopping Portal

Wyndham is offering 2x points when you shop through its shopping portal. Now I didn't even know Wyndham had a shopping portal and I love shopping portals. 

But I'm glad they do because shopping portals are a great way to build miles and points on airlines and hotels or earn cash back or FREE products. 

I tend to use the shopping portals from Southwest, American Airlines, United Airlines, Ebates now known as Rakuten (If you use my referral link, you will get a bonus discount) and the Marketplace. 

Shopping portals all work the same way, though the cash back or points/miles that you earn from each retailer can vary from portal to portal. You can use cashbackmonitor.com to quickly check rates for a specific retailer. You can see above that through the Wyndham shopping portal, Macy's is offering 1 point per dollar with the bonus. It usually offers .5 points per dollar.

Services are also included in shopping portals with big points/mile bonuses. 

To use a shopping portal:

• Log in to your membership account 
• Find the retailer you want to shop with 
• Click on that retailer, you will be redirected to the retailer's website
• Shop normally and purchase 

Note, you must make your purchase on that redirected website for the tracking to work so you get the points. If you think you lost the tracking by clicking on another website, leave your items in the cart and go back to the shopping portal and repeat the original steps. 

Your items will still be in the cart and the tracking will be turned back on. 

It takes about 1-2 weeks for you to get an email alerting you that you earned points. 

And a few weeks after that for the points/cash back/miles to post. 

How Your Holiday Shopping Can Earn You A FREE Vacation

Now that Halloween is over, the holiday shopping season is on! And when you do your holiday shopping, you can be earning your next vacation at the same time! It's all about shopping portals. Yes, I know it's an extra step and you have to remember to do it, but you know what, when you book that next vacation for FREE, it will be well worth it. 

How Your Holiday Shopping Can Earn You A FREE Vacation

Here's how it works! The major airlines United, Southwest, Alaska, Delta and American have shopping portals. You can use cashbackmonitor.com to see which airlines are participating. Now they always offer bonus miles for using the portal, but right now, there are bonuses to be earned. Thousands of extra miles in bonuses are up for grabs. 

Like the one in the picture above from United Airlines. When you spend $150, you earn 500 bonus miles. So when you buy that dog food from Petsmart.com or Chewy.com, instead of going to the retailer's website, use the portal. You can even stack bonuses if your credit card has an offer too. 

How Your Holiday Shopping Can Earn You A FREE Vacation

And it's cumulative. So you can spend $50 at Chewy.com and then $100 at Staples.com and bam, 500 FREE bonus miles. The bonus takes about 6-8 weeks to credit to your account. 

Be very careful that you click from the portal to through to the retailer so you get the credit. 

Each airline sets its own criteria for the bonus so be sure to shop around and of course, consider which airline you are trying to collect points for. 

Here are the holiday bonus offers: 

 United Shopping Portal  - Ends November 18th. Spend $150, earn 500 bonus miles. Spend $600, earn 2,000 bonus miles. Spend $1,200, earn 5,000 bonus miles. 

Southwest Shopping Portal - Ends November 21st, Spend $100, earn 500 bonus miles. Spend $500, earn 1,000 bonus miles. Spend $1,000, earn 3,500 bonus miles. 

Alaska Shopping Portal - Ends November 20th, Spend $150, earn 300 bonus miles. Spend $350, earn 750 bonus miles. Spend $650, earn 1,500 bonus miles. 

Delta Shopping Portal -  Ends November 18th, Spend $200, earn 500 bonus miles. Spend $400, earn 1,000 bonus miles. Spend $800, earn 2,000 bonus miles. 

While you are taking advantage of these holiday shopping bonus offers, you should also be working your way towards your minimum spend and bonus offer on your new credit card. 

If you are joining me in earning the Southwest Companion Pass, then we are about to apply for the Southwest credit cards. Don't do it quite yet, but when we are ready here is my referral link if that's your plan. 

If you are not joining me in earning the Southwest Companion Pass, then you should be taking advantage of the increased offer on the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. This is my favorite card because Chase Ultimate Rewards points are super flexible. You can transfer the points to dozens of airlines and few hotel chains, you can use them in the Chase travel portal and to erase purchases. Now there is an 80,000 bonus offer on this card, that's worth at least $1,200 in travel. 

The Ultimate Guide to Maximizing Miles Through Shopping Portals!

 

The Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are already popping up! So if you have your eye on something, now might be the best time to press that purchase button to get the best deal. 

But be sure that you are getting the most points and miles for each purchase. 

Not only can you get the points for the purchase, but you can also get bonus points. 

We have put together the ultimate guide to maximizing miles through shopping portals to help you get that next trip for free. 

You can think of a shopping portal like a marketplace. All of the retailers are listed on one website and when you access the retailer through the marketplace, you are rewarded with extra points or miles. These are IN ADDITION to the points you get for the purchase. We call this "stacking"

1. Before you buy anything, check cashbackmonitor.com. This website lists every retail store and which portals it is listed on so you can choose the best option for you. You click through to the portal from cashbackmonitor.com

Depending on your strategy, you may pick one portal over another. 

• if you need to top off an account
• you have points that are expiring and you need some activity
• you are trying to earn enough points for a specific trip 

There are a lot of reasons to pick one portal over another. 

My go-to portal is the Chase Ultimate Rewards since I can transfer those points to dozens of different airlines, hotels, use them in the travel center or pay myself back. Points earned in the Southwest shopping portal count towards the Companion Pass. 

Sometimes the portals will offer bonus points too so if I saw a great bonus offer in another portal, I would head there. 

You can click on the portal out of cashback monitor and log in from there. Some of the portals require a separate login from your regular airline mile account. 

Then make your purchase just like you would normally. The portal will track your purchase and a few days later you will get an email letting you know that your purchase is being tracked. 

Now one more thing before you push the button to make that purchase and after you click through to a shopping portal, be sure you use the right credit card. If you have a Chase FREEDOM FLEX card, then check your bonus categories. If the store you are making a purchase from is listed, then use that credit card to get the bonus on top of the portal bonus. For example, Q4 2023 bonus categories include Paypal. Can you use Paypal to pay for this purchase? Many retailers offer the option, then do it and collect 5x bonus points on top of the portal points. 

If not, is the retailer an office supply store? If so, use your Chase Ink credit card to earn 5x points and so on. Amazing and happy shopping! 

How To Earn The Most Points and Miles on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

One of our first FREE trips was to Thailand and Japan. It was an amazing one-month adventure rich with culture and new experiences. It was especially sweet because not only was it FREE, we actually made money on the trip. I vowed never to pay for travel again. 

One of my tricks during the holiday shopping season is to lean heavily on online shopping portals and then use the right credit card to double or even triple dip on points and miles. 

As we head into Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I am going to show you how to do it too. 

Before pressing the place order button, check cashbackmonitor.com to see if the online retailer is listed on any shopping portal. Most major retailers are listed on shopping portals as part of their marketing strategies. All the major airlines and some hotels offer shopping portals plus there are cashback portals and flexible point portals like Chase Ultimate Rewards, Barclays, and Capital One.

Once you see where the retailer is listed, you can compare the points and miles offers. 

For example, I type in Best Buy and bam, it's listed all over the place from cashback to Southwest to Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Depending on your strategy, you may pick one portal over another. 

• if you need to top off an account
• you have points that are expiring and you need some activity
• you are trying to earn enough points for a specific trip 

There are a lot of reasons to pick one portal over another. 

My go-to portal is the Chase Ultimate Rewards since I can transfer those points to dozens of different airlines, hotels, use them in the travel center or pay myself back. Points earned in the Southwest shopping portal count towards the Companion Pass. 

Sometimes the portals will offer bonus points too so if I saw a great bonus offer in another portal, I would head there. 

You can click on the portal out of cashback monitor and log in from there. Some of the portals require a separate login from your regular airline mile account. 

Then make your purchase just like you would normally. The portal will track your purchase and a few days later you will get an email letting you know that your purchase is being tracked. 

Now one more thing before you push the button to make that purchase and after you click through to a shopping portal, be sure you use the right credit card. If you have a Chase FREEDOM or FREEDOM UNLIMITED or FLEX card, then check your bonus categories. If the store you are making a purchase from is listed, then use that credit card to get the bonus on top of the portal bonus. For example, Q4 2021 bonus categories are Walmart and Paypal. Can you use Paypal to pay for this purchase? Many retailers offer the option, then do it and collect 5x bonus points on top of the portal points. 

If not, is the retailer an office supply store? If so, use your Chase Ink credit card to earn 5x points and so on. Amazing!

If you don't have a Chase FREEDOM card or Southwest Credit Card, consider using my referral links so we can continue helping you get the best deals in travel. 

That's how we do it here at almostfreefamilytravel.com. Happy holidays! 

 cashback monitor 

Chase and use the Chase Reserve Credit Card 

How I Earned An Extra 600 Miles By Doing A Little Research

If you read my blog at all, you know how much I love shopping portals. These are basically offering you FREE money. And I love FREE money. The idea is when you make a purchase, one that you will make anyway, you make that purchase through a shopping portal instead of straight from the company's website. The shopping portal then gives you a bonus cash back or extra points or miles for FREE. 
But here's a tip, you need to check several portals to make sure you are getting the best deal. 

My all-time favorite shopping portal is offered by the manufacturer, Melaleuca. However, you can only shop there if you are referred by a current customer. If you would like to be referred, email me. 

If not, several airlines offer shopping portals and, of course, Ebates.com offers cash back. (If you use my link to open an account, you get a FREE $10 and I get a FREE $25 to help keep the blog running). Take a look at this offer from the American Airlines portal. 1200 miles for signing up for Blue Apron, the meal delivery service. 

Then the same offer listed on the United Airlines shopping portal below, but here you only get 650 bonus miles for signing up for Blue Apron. The miles are valued just about the same by both airlines, so that's a huge difference. 

Now if you normally fly United and you never fly American, then even 1,200 miles on American are worthless for you. But if you fly both airlines, you may want to choose American with this offer. 

I use cashbackmonitor.com to check all the top sites for cash back and miles/points offers before I make any purchases. 

That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel. 

How To Get The Most Points From Shopping Portals

 

Dreaming of traveling to faraway places? Of course, you are. One of the best ways to get there for FREE is to use shopping portals for your everyday purchases. You can read about how to use the portals in general here. However, today, the portals launched their Halloween special offers which means increased points on your purchases. 

But the rates are not the same on all the portals. Now sometimes it has to do with the value of the points in that rewards program. But for you, it may mean the difference between a free ticket and not quite being there. 

So we have to be very intentional about which portal we use for what purchases. 

So let me show you! 

Take a look at this offer I got this morning in an email from the American Airlines shopping portal. If I go thru the portal and sign up for the Motley Fool newsletter, I get 7,500 American miles. Pretty sweet. If I sign up with Blue Apron through the portal, I get 2,000 American miles. 

Now at the exact same time, I got an email from United Airlines Mileage Shopping with these offers. 

If I sign up for Motley Fool through United, I get 4,000 United miles and if I sign up for Blue Apron, I get 1,000 miles. Now if you need United miles to top your account or you only fly United, then you should go through this portal. 

But if you fly both American and United, you may want to make your purchase through the American Airlines shopping portal. 

We value American miles at 1 cent and United miles at 1.1 cent. 

I always check cashbackmonitor.com to see which portal has the best offer before I make a purchase. 

Good luck! 

Find out how you can get bonus United miles!

You know how much I love shopping and cash back portals! Now this summer, American Airlines launched their mystery bonus offer on its shopping portal. Not to be left out, United just launched its own bonus offer.
This one is more straight forward. Spend $150 through the shopping portal, get a bonus 500 miles. Spend $350, earn a 1,500 bonus. The shopping period is 6/9-6/23.
To me, shopping and cash back portals offer FREE money! If you are planning to shop at those retailers anyway, why not get a bonus.
I shop through Ebates.com or my shopping club's cash back portal most of the time, but when bonuses come up like this, I take advantage to top off my accounts.
I am working on the American Airlines mystery offer right now so I'm directing all of my spending through that portal. I ordered my cat food, bathing suits for my children, new yoga pants for myself, and new headphones for my son. Will I reach the $500 minimum spend through the portal this month, maybe. Since I'm consolidating all of my spending through one portal, it's likely.
Those 2500 points will give me a free domestic ticket on American Airlines. Yes, I could have transferred Starwood points over to reach it too, but why?
Plus I am charging everything to my Southwest credit card because they offered me a deal if I spend $500 they will give me a bonus 500 miles. That deal is good for 3 months so I'm directing my spending onto their card.
I pay off my cards every month so it doesn't really matter to me which card I spend on.
That's how we do almost FREE family travel.

How To Score A Major Bonus When You Send Valentine's Flowers

What are you going to send to your Valentine on Thursday? Chocolates? Candy? If you are thinking flowers, you could score a lot of bonus miles. All the shopping portals are offering huge bonuses and discounts when you send those flowers. 
Check it out. 

Southwest Shopping Portal is offering 1,750 bonus points if you use the code SW63. 
American Airlines Shopping Portal is offering 40% off and double miles at 20 miles per dollar. 
United Airlines Shopping Portal is offering the same deal. 

Ebates.com is offering up to 20% cash back. And if you use my referral link, you will get an additional $10 back. Woohoo! 

Remember, never buy anything online without using a shopping portal. You can rack up lots of points this way. That's how we do it at almostFREEfamilytravel.com. 

Two Shopping Portal Promotions End This Week

 

Two shopping portal promotions ending this week, one from American Airlines and one from United Airlines. If you need a few miles to top off your account or if you need some activity on your American Airlines account, then you might want to take a look. 

United Airlines miles never expire, however, American Airlines miles expire after just 18 months of no activity. Shopping portals are a great way to show activity on your account and reset your expiration date. 

Two Shopping Portal Promotions End This Week

Right now, both promotions are the same. Spend $150 and get 500 miles, spend $300 and get 1,000 miles. You do not have to spend the entire amount on one purchase. You just need to spend the total by the promotion end date. 

If you don't know how shopping portals work, check out this post. Shopping portals are a great way to earn airline miles and points without actually flying. Many of your favorite retailers are listed on the marketplace and may have different offers on each portal. I use cashbackmonitor.com to see the offers in one place. Stacking offers can make shopping portals even more lucrative. 

The American Airlines promotion ends Jan. 20th. 

The United Airlines promotion ends Jan. 19th. 

Double and Even Triple Dip On Your Back To School Shopping

 

You can earn points by flying OR you can earn points by using your credit card to buy the things you purchase everyday. Are you going to the grocery store? Yep, earn points. Are you going to fill your car with gas? Yep, earn points. See how easy it is. 

Now it gets even more fun when you get leverage that spending two or maybe three times like when you shop for school or college dorms. 

I use the website cashbackmonitor.com before I buy anything. This site lists hundreds of stores and how many points they are offering on a variety of credit cards or through the shopping portals. 

If you click on a specific store, then you can see exactly how many points each shopping portal is offering. Shopping portals are a marketplace of retailers hosted by a a specific credit card, hotel or airline. For example, let's look at walmart.com. If you shop through the United Shopping portal with a United credit card, you can earn 1 mile per dollar, without a United card, you will earn .5 miles per dollar. In the American Airlines Shopping portal though you can earn 1 mile per dollar and use whatever credit card you want. 

This could work to your advantage IF you have an Amex offer or another discount. You can check your Amex offers by logging into your online account. 

Here's where it gets even more fun. The Chase FREEDOM, FREEDOM Unlimited and FREEDOM Flex cards earn 5x points on rotating quarterly categories. This quarter the categories are gas, car rentals and streaming. Probably can't double or triple dip on those, but sometimes the categories include home improvement stores and those are super easy to stack. You can earn up to 10x points on those purchases if you play your credit cards right. Here are the airlines that have shopping portals. 

Many of the shopping portals offer bonus points too if you spend a certain amount during a specific time frame. These bonus offers happen during holidays or back to school shopping periods. 

Happy shopping and earning FREE travel at the same time! 

Rack Up Miles Fast By Shopping Online

Hopefully, you are not running around to all the stores like we used to right now to find the items you need. Instead, you are discovering the joys of online shopping. You can peruse the aisles of the store from the comfort of your home and slippers. Use coupons. Just push the button and a few days later, your purchase arrives on your doorstep. Amazing! 

Rack Up Miles Fast By Shopping Online 

Now, in case you are new to online shopping or even if you are a seasoned internet shopper, there are some ways to maximize your savings. The most important is to use a shopping portal when you shop online. Why? You ask. Because you want to squeeze every last mile/point or cashback you could be getting with each purchase. It's like going to a store and not using a coupon. Yikes! 

One day, travel will go back to the way it was and you want to be ready with lots of points/miles. 

Let's run down the list of available shopping portals to choose from depending on your goals. A good habit is to check cashbackmonitor.com before you purchase online. You just enter a retailer and this website will show you which portals it is listed on and how much each one is offering in points/miles or cash back. There can be a huge variation between online portals so don't skip this step unless you are loyal to one airline. 

All the major airlines have online shopping portals; United, Southwest, American, Delta, and Jet Blue. Plus Wyndham Hotels and Chase Ultimate Rewards offer portals. And then there are the cashback portals from companies like Rakuten. If you use my referral link, you will get $10 FREE cash back on your first purchase. 

Rack Up Miles Fast By Shopping Online 

It's easy to use a portal. Login to the portal using your airline, hotel or regular information, then find the store you want to shop at and click shop now. You will be shown a cashback percentage or points/miles awarded per dollar spent and then be taken to the retailer website. Shop just like you normally would and the portal will keep track of how much you spend. It takes about 6-8 weeks for the points/miles or cash back to post to your account. You can even double dip and use a credit card that gives you miles/points or cashback too. 

Look for bonus points/miles offers from the portals as well. 

This a good way to top off an airline loyalty account or keep those points/miles from expiring. 

How To Get Bonus Miles On Your Holiday Shopping

        The holidays are just six weeks away so the countdown has begun. Most Americans spend about $1,000 a year on holiday gifts. You can take the sting out of the spend by earning miles and points for your next trip.
        Plus if you plan it right, you can double or even triple dip!
       Shopping portals also offer extra miles per dollar spent at your favorite store. 
        Right now, United and American Airlines have launched holiday bonus promotions.

For United, you can earn up to 5,000 bonus miles. 

• Spend $150, earn 500 bonus miles 
• Spend $750, earn 2,500 bonus miles 
• Spend $1,500 earn 5,000 bonus miles 

You do not have to spend the total in one purchase, it can include multiple purchases at different stores. You do need to do your shopping through the United shopping portal so it is tracked by the system and you need to reach the total by 11/21. 

For American, you can earn up to 3,500 bonus miles. 

• Spend $150, earn 500 bonus miles 
• Spend $600, earn 1,500 bonus miles 
• Spend $1,200, earn 3,500 bonus miles 

This promotion also ends by 11/21. 
To use a portal, click on the airline above, login to your account (be sure you are logged in) and click on your favorite store. Triple check that when you are ready to place the order, you are still on the link from the portal. 
Depending on whether you prefer American or United will decide which shopping portal you use. If you need to top off one account versus the other, that could be a deciding factor as well. Remember to use the right credit card as well for your holiday shopping so you can double or triple dip. 
That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel. 

Top 5 Portals To Use For Your Holiday Shopping

One of the best ways to earn airline miles or cash back is with shopping portals. And now as we head into the holiday season, the portals are offering bonus miles so it's easy to earn free plane tickets and hotel rooms. 

Here are my top 5 shopping portals:

1. American Airlines shopping portal - right now, you can earn up to 4,000 bonus miles if you spend $1200 by November 19th. 

2. United Airlines shopping portal - right now you can earn up to 5,000 bonus miles if you spend $1500 by November 19th. 

3. Southwest Airlines shopping portal - right now, you can earn up to 3,000 bonus miles if you spend $1,000 by November 20th. 

4. Dining reward programs where you link your credit card to the dining program offered by an airline like United or Southwest. Any time you dine at a particular restaurant that is in the program, you earn bonus points. 

5. Ebates.com for cash back on purchases. When we went returned home from Europe, ebates.com sent me a check for $54. Nice. 

Remember, always set your credit cards on autopay and pay them off each and every month in full. That's how we do almost FREE family travel. 

More Ways To Earn Southwest Points Without Flying

Hotels at Kaanapali, Maui 

Now that Southwest Airlines flies to Hawaii, let's talk about some other ways you can boost your Southwest points balance. 

Here are some awesome ways to earn points without flying:

1. Shopping Portal - Never buy anything online without going through a shopping portal! It's FREE money if you use a cashback site and its FREE points (FREE travel) if you use an airline shopping portal. 

Find the store you want to shop at and get rewarded 1x, 2x, 3x or 4x bonus points per dollar. Charge the purchase to your Southwest credit card and earn 1x points for your purchase. So let's say you spend $100 at 1-800 Pet Meds, you would be rewarded 400 bonus points for using the portal and another 100 points from using your Southwest credit card for a total of 500 bonus points for something you were going to buy anyway. Wow! 

2. Rocketmiles.com  - Same idea, but with hotels. We had a layover in Houston, TX on our way back from Panama. I looked on Rocketmiles.com and found a hotel near the airport that offered free breakfast and 2,000 Southwest bonus points per room. I booked two rooms and got 4,000 bonus points. I used my Southwest credit card and got another 200 points. 

3. Dining Program - You can join Southwest dining program, link your credit or debit card and then when you dine you will earn bonus points. This is not going to rack you up a lot of points, but they will trickle in. 

4. If you live in certain states, you may be eligible to earn more Southwest points by enrolling in NRG, Reliant or buying gas at Marathon. Check out the home and lifestyle offers on Southwest.com. 

5. You can take surveys too to boost your points balance. Again, these are small amounts, but if you just need more points, it might work for you. Check out this page to enroll. 

How To Get Bonus Miles With Shopping Portals

The holiday bonus offers are starting early this year! American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines are all offering bonus miles if you use their shopping portals. Shopping portals are online marketplaces that earn you extra miles when you shop. Remember we at almost FREE family travel do NOT support manufactured spend. Instead, let's maximize the power of what you are going to spend anyways.
For example, instead of typing in Old Navy in the search bar and shopping there, type in American Airlines shopping portal, log in with your Advantage membership information and then click on Old Navy in the marketplace. American will reward you with a few miles for each dollar spent. Plus if you spend enough before 11/20, they will give you bonus miles. The prices are the same, you are just harnessing the power or using leveraged spending.

Here are the details of each offer:

American 

Spend $150 for 500 bonus miles 

Spend $600 for 2000 bonus miles 

Spend $1200 for 4000 bonus miles 

United 

Spend $150 for 500 bonus miles 

Spend $750 for 2500 bonus miles 

Spend $1500 for 5000 bonus miles 

Both airlines are offering the bonus for shopping done between 10/30 and 11/19. 

Southwest is also in the game with its new shopping portal. Here are the details of their offer:

Spend $150 for 500 bonus miles 

Spend $500 for 1000 bonus miles 

Spend $1000 for 3000 bonus miles 

The bonus is for shopping done between 10/30 and 11/20. 

So if you are trying to top off your accounts, my recommendation is to pick one airline portal and stick with it. You might buy a few holiday gifts early and earn a few miles on the side. 

That's how we do it at almost free family travel. 

Get American or United Miles Fast for FREE

Since we aren't traveling right now, the easiest way to earn points and miles is by shopping online through a portal. Most of the airlines have shopping portals plus there are some cashback shopping portals as well. Many of the major retailers like Target, Walmart, Home Depot are participating. All you do is instead of going straight to the retailers' website, you log into the portal and then click on the same retailer. You are connected to the retailer's website, but the portal is tracking your purchase and will give you points/miles or cashback on anything you buy. 

It's a way to double or even triple dip on your purchase. 

For example, we just spent a few days in the mountains. I rented an Airbnb for our stay and used the Delta Airbnb website. So I earned Delta miles on the reservation. Then I used my Chase Sapphire Reserve to earn 3 points per $1. Cha-ching. 

If you want to know the absolute truth, the $300 travel credit also kicked in and erased most of the rental fee. We did rent a boat while we were at the lake and I'm considering cashing in some Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to cover that purchase. 

But back to portals, through August 17th, American is offering bonus miles if you spend a certain amount using its shopping portal. You can spread the dollar amount over several purchases and just have to complete the spend by August 17th. Be sure you click through on the portal as well and don't accidentally get out of it. 

United Mileage Shopping is offering a similar bonus. Though this one ends August 16th. 

Southwest is also offering the same promotion ending August 16th as well. As always, don't buy extra, just buy what you need, but do it smart and get the bonus. 

That's how we do it at almostfreefamilytravel.com

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