Even if you’re not an avid crafter, there’s something about Michaels that just begs you to spend money on crafty things. Fortunately, there are also a lot of ways to save at Michaels. There are Michaels coupons (even if they aren’t the 40% off variety of yesteryear), teacher discounts, and, just as important, ways to earn on your purchases with Michaels Rewards.
Michaels Rewards is free to join and serves as the retailer’s loyalty program. It gives shoppers the chance to earn a bit back on the copious amounts of yarn, beads, and other maker things they’re collecting on the regular. Here's how Michaels Rewards works, and how to maximize it for extra savings.
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How do Michaels Rewards work?
Michaels Rewards works as the retailer’s loyalty program. It’s free to join and when you sign up, you’ll receive a $5 Rewards voucher after making a qualifying $25 purchase in one transaction (we’ll get to which items qualify and which don’t in a sec). After that you earn 3% in Rewards on every eligible purchase you make at Michaels.
So let’s say you spend $50 on qualifying items in one Michaels order. You’ll receive $1.50 towards your next $5 Rewards voucher. Once you’ve accumulated enough to hit that $5 threshold, Michaels will issue a Rewards voucher for $5.
Everyone in the program starts off earning 3% in Michaels Rewards. But, you can earn 6% in Michaels Rewards if you spend $300 or more in a 12 month period.
If you spend regularly at Michaels, there’s a chance you can start earning 6% in Rewards instead. Rewards members who spend $300 or more in a 12-month period (again, on qualifying items) will get their earnings increased to that 6%. That means a $50 purchase will earn you $3 in Rewards, as opposed to $1.50 with the 3% earning rate.
To sign up online, follow these steps:
Head to Michaels.com/rewards and click on the 'Enroll Now' button.
Enter your email, mobile number, name, and a password.
Click on the verification link sent to your email.
Voila! You are a Michaels Rewards member.
How do you earn Michaels Rewards?
Simply put, Michaels Rewards are earned and calculated by taking 3% of your qualifying purchase (unless you’ve unlocked 6% earnings) and putting that amount toward a $5 Rewards voucher. However, you keep hearing us say “qualifying,” which means not all items purchased at Michaels will count.
Do you earn rewards on sale items?
Yes, you can earn rewards on sale items at Michaels. Clearance is another story...
Clearance purchases and gift cards are among the items excluded from earning Michaels Rewards.
You can earn rewards on regular price and promotionally-priced (i.e. sale) items, as well as Michaels Custom Framing jobs, but anything you find on clearance won't count towards your earnings. Here's a list of what's excluded:
Clearance items
Gift cards
Extended warranties
MakerPlace by Michaels orders sold and shipped by third-party sellers
Purchases made on Michaels Pro (those would be bulk orders), MichaelsPhotoGifts.com, and Minted.
How do I access my Michaels Rewards?
This part is actually really easy.
When you’re on the home screen of Michaels.com, look for the ‘Sign In’ icon on the top right of the screen.
Click on that icon and it will ask you to sign into your account.
You’ll be sent back to the homepage but your name should be where the ‘Sign In’ icon appeared before.
Click on your name, then ‘Account Dashboard’ from the menu.
At the top it will show you ‘My Rewards’ on the left with how much you have left to go to earn your $5 Rewards voucher.
On the right it says ‘My Voucher’ and shows you which Rewards vouchers you have available.
Note: When you have earned a $5 Rewards voucher, it will be sent to the email in your account file within 72 hours.
How do I use my Michaels Rewards?
You can use your Rewards voucher on anything you buy at Michaels except for the following:
Gift cards
Extended warranties
MakerPlace by Michaels orders sold and shipped by third-party sellers
Tax and shipping
But, hey, clearance items are fair game to purchase with your vouchers. So there’s that!
In order to redeem a Rewards voucher, you'll need your Rewards account info and the voucher's barcode.
Whether printed out on paper, shown in an email on your phone, or within the Michaels app, you'll have to show the barcode scan to redeem your Michaels Rewards voucher. The cashier needs that barcode to apply it to your purchase.
Redeem a voucher in-store:
At the register you'll be asked to enter the phone number associated with your Rewards account.
Provide the voucher barcode, accessible either through the email in which it was sent, in the Michaels app under your account, or on Michaels.com via the web browser on your phone (you'll have to sign into your account to access it).
Redeem a voucher online:
If you're shopping online, make sure you're signed into your Michaels Rewards account before you head to checkout.
When you click on your cart, you'll see any Rewards vouchers available to you in the upper righthand corner. Click 'Apply' and the voucher will be deducted from your subtotal.
Note: You can only use 5 Rewards vouchers in one transaction, both in-store and online. So if you have more than 5 vouchers to use, consider breaking up your order into two.
You'll need to meet a $5 Rewards threshold to redeem a voucher at all.
If you have $3.50 in Michaels Rewards, that isn't going to fetch you a Rewards voucher. You have to hit $5 in rewards earnings in order to receive that sweet, sweet voucher to use on an eligible purchase.
Do Michaels Rewards expire?
Yep, they sure do. In fact, Michaels Rewards vouchers expire within 32 days of their date of issue, which doesn't feel like a very long time to use them. And let's say you use $2 of a $5 Rewards voucher and have $3 left on that voucher (which you can totally do), that doesn't reset the clock another 32 days. That remaining $3 is still only good for the 32 days from the original date of issue. Womp, womp.
If you never hit the $5 threshold to get a Rewards voucher during a 12-month period, whatever you have accrued towards it will disappear at the end of that year. So if you earn $1.50 towards a $5 voucher in March 2024, but haven't hit the $5 mark by March 2025, that $1.50 goes away and you're starting over from scratch.
Tips to Maximize Your Michaels Rewards Experience
Not to be a total skeptic, but often times store loyalty programs seem more beneficial to the retailer than the consumer. They're tracking your spending habits and you're getting a small compensation in return. Here's how to make the Michaels program really work for you.
Stack Rewards vouchers with a Michaels coupon.
Rewards vouchers are valid for 32 days from date of issue, so stack them with a Michaels coupon on a single purchase. Because, yes, you can use a rewards voucher and a Michaels coupon on a single item.
The Bonus Rewards section of your account will occasionally populate with "just for you" offers.
One helpful aspect of Michaels tracking your purchases is that they will occasionally pop a Bonus Reward in your account. These are based on previous purchases, to offer savings on the items that you buy regularly. One of our favorites is:
$5 in Rewards on a $25+ purchase
That equals a 20% return on your $25 purchase. Typically you have to spend in the neighborhood of $170 to get 3% back for a $5 voucher.
Use your Rewards account as a backup if you misplace a Michaels receipt needed for a return.
The Michaels return policy relies heavily on receipts to get a full refund. If you can't find a receipt and need to make a return, a Michaels employee should be able to locate the order by offering the phone number linked to your Michaels Rewards account. There's a better chance you'll get your full refund (and in the form of payment you used to pay for the item) using this method if, in fact, you don't have your receipt.
Michaels Grab Bags make for great Rewards voucher purchases.
If you haven't already heard about Michael's $10 Grab Bags, they're basically mystery bags or boxes full of clearance items the retailer needs to move quickly. Now these grab bags only pop up a few times a year — typically February, June, and September. But if you have $5 Rewards vouchers that are about to expire and there are available grab bags, scoop one up. Because while you can't earn Rewards on clearance items, you can use Rewards vouchers on clearance.
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