How to Earn 10x the MS Reward Points by Shopping on Microsoft

TL;DR

Silver or Gold unlocks 10x points: Once you reach Silver or Gold in Microsoft Rewards, you earn 10 points for every dollar spent on select hardware at the Microsoft Store online. Members at the base level earn just 1 point per dollar.
Big purchases pay off fast: Buying a Surface Laptop, 15-inch, on sale for $1,299.99 at Silver or Gold earns about 13,000 points from that one order. That’s roughly $13 in gift cards, or more than two months of daily searching.
Holiday deals stack with points: The Microsoft Store is running sales on Surface laptops, Surface Pro, certified refurbished devices, and Xbox hardware, with Black Friday deals from November 19 to 28, 2026. Sale prices still earn the 10x rate.
Use your gift card balance too: You can apply an existing Microsoft gift card balance to a purchase and pay the rest with your own card. The out-of-pocket difference is where your 10x points come from.

Most people think of Microsoft Rewards as a slow and steady program: a few points at a time, one Bing search after another. But one of the biggest point hauls in the entire program comes from something completely different: shopping at the Microsoft Store. If you’ve reached Silver or Gold, every dollar you spend on select hardware earns 10 times the points. For a big purchase like a laptop, that can mean more points in a single checkout than you’d normally earn in months. Here’s how it works, a real example with a Surface Laptop, and what’s on sale right now.

Silver and Gold Members Earn 10x on Microsoft Store Hardware

How to earn 10x the points by shopping microsoft rewards on microsoft products

Here’s Microsoft’s own breakdown of the three Rewards levels and what each one unlocks as of November 2026:

The row that matters most for shoppers is “Microsoft Store: Points per dollar spent on select hardware purchases online.” Members earn 1x. Silver and Gold members earn 10x. That means the moment you hit Silver, every qualifying dollar you spend is worth ten times as many points, with no extra steps.

The chart shows a few other perks worth knowing, too:

Benefit	Member	Silver	Gold
Hardware points per $1	1x	10x	10x
Xbox games and add-ons per $1	up to 4x	up to 4x	up to 4x
Monthly level bonus	100	300	700
Default search bonus (per month)	50	150	350
Redemption discount coupon	none	100 points	200 points

Silver and Gold both get the same 10x hardware rate, so you don’t need Gold to unlock it. Gold simply adds bigger monthly bonuses on top.

How to Reach Silver or Gold – Search Daily

The good news is that getting to Silver doesn’t take much. According to the chart, you need:

Silver: 500 points earned in a month
Gold: 750 points earned in a month, plus 2 level-up activities

Most members can reach Silver in the first week or two of a month just by searching on Bing and finishing the daily set. The fastest way to get there is to earn on both your computer and your phone, since mobile searches have their own daily limit. The Bing app also adds daily check-ins and about 30 points a day for reading MSN articles:

Keep in mind that levels are based on monthly activity. If you stop earning, you can drop back down, so keep up your routine before and after a big purchase.

Real Example: A Surface Laptop Earns About 13,000 Points

Let’s put the 10x rate to work. The Surface Laptop, 15-inch (7th Edition) is currently on sale at the Microsoft Store. The Platinum model with a Snapdragon X Elite processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage is down to $1,299.99 from $1,599.99, a $300 discount.

Here’s what that same purchase earns at each Rewards level:

Rewards level	Points per $1	Points on a $1,299.99 laptop
Member	1x	about 1,300
Silver	10x	about 13,000
Gold	10x	about 13,000

At Silver or Gold, that single laptop earns roughly 13,000 points. To put that in perspective, it’s enough for about a $13 Microsoft Gift Card, or nearly two $5 Home Depot or Walmart cards. Earning that many points through searches alone would take most members around two months.

The other sale configurations earn even more. The 1TB Black model at $1,499.99 earns about 15,000 points, and the 32GB model at $1,799.99 earns about 18,000.

What You Can Buy on Sale Right Now

The Microsoft Store deals page is packed with holiday offers as of November 2026. As a note, you can expect there to be holiday sales constantly on this page, so the inventory will be different than what this post is about. Highlights include:

Surface laptops: Deals on the Surface Laptop 13.8-inch and 15-inch (7th and 8th Edition), plus the Surface Laptop 13-inch. The 15-inch 7th Edition is up to $600 off depending on the configuration.
Surface Pro tablets: The Surface Pro 13-inch (11th and 12th Edition) and the Surface Pro 12-inch (2nd Edition).
Certified refurbished Surface devices: Up to 30% less than new, with at least 5% extra savings for a limited time.
Trade-in offers: Up to $500 cash back when you trade in an eligible device toward a new Surface, and up to $1,000 back on Surface Laptop Ultra with a MacBook Pro trade-in through November 23.
Xbox hardware: Sale prices on Xbox Wireless Controllers, plus deals on the Xbox Series S and Series X.

Timing matters, too. Microsoft’s Black Friday sale runs November 19 to 28, 2026, and holiday price protection runs through December 2. If you buy now and the price drops later, you can request an adjustment. Before you check out, confirm the item counts as qualifying hardware so you know you’re getting the 10x rate.

Combine a Microsoft Gift Card With Your Purchase

How to Get Microsoft Gift Cards Through Microsoft Rewards

If you’ve already redeemed points for a Microsoft Gift Card, you don’t have to choose between using that balance and earning 10x points. At checkout, apply your Microsoft account balance first, then pay the rest with your credit or debit card. Points are based on the amount you actually pay, so you’ll collect 10x points on that out-of-pocket difference.

For example, say you apply a $50 Microsoft balance to the $1,299.99 Surface Laptop. You’d pay about $1,250 out of pocket and earn roughly 12,500 points on that difference. You still get the full laptop, your gift card balance gets used before its 90-day window runs out, and you collect a big pile of fresh points for your next redemption. After your order ships, check your Rewards activity to confirm the points posted as expected.

The Fine Print

A few rules keep this from being unlimited:

Monthly cap: According to Microsoft’s Rewards page, you can earn up to 20,000 points per month on qualifying purchases. A $1,299.99 laptop fits under the cap, but a $2,500 order would max out at 20,000 points.
Select hardware only: The 10x rate applies to select hardware bought online at the Microsoft Store. Games and add-ons earn up to 4x instead.
No subscriptions or gift cards: Buying subscriptions or gift cards doesn’t earn purchase points.
Sign in first: Make sure you’re signed into the same Microsoft account you use for Rewards before you check out.
Returns: If you return an item, expect the points from that purchase to be removed.

Final Thoughts

If you’re already planning to buy a laptop, tablet, or Xbox gear, reaching Silver or Gold first is one of the smartest moves you can make in Microsoft Rewards. It only takes 500 points in a month to unlock 10x on select hardware, and a single Surface Laptop purchase can bring in about 13,000 points. Time your purchase around the holiday sales, use any Microsoft gift card balance you already have, and you’ll turn a big expense into a head start on your next reward.

Key Takeaways

Unlock: Silver or Gold gets 10x.
Example: Surface Laptop earns about 13,000.
Stack: Holiday sales still earn 10x.
Cap: 20,000 purchase points monthly.

How to Earn 10x the Points by Shopping on Microsoft