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Discover Announces 5% Bonus Categories for Fourth Quarter 2025
Discover is rounding out 2025, locking in its bonus category picks for the fourth quarter.
About Discover’s Q4 2025 Bonus Category Selections:
From October 1st through December 31st, Discover It cardholders can earn up to 5% back in two categories: Amazon and Drug Stores.
First, the Amazon category covers Amazon.com purchases, including Amazon Fresh orders, digital downloads, Amazon Local Deals, and items sold by third-party merchants in the Amazon.com marketplace. Amazon Prime subscriptions are also eligible for this category. However, while Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh in-store purchases do qualify for this bonus, purchases at Whole Foods Markets are not eligible.
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Bonus OfferAs for the Drug Stores category, this includes standalone drug stores and pharmacies, as well as online pharmacies. Discover does warn that pharmacies found inside of other retail stores may not qualify.
Notably, Amazon has been a fixture of Discover’s fourth-quarter bonus categories since at least 2015 (a more generic “Online Purchases” category predates that streak). Last year, the online retailer was paired with Target for the final quarter of 2024. Incidentally, the last time Discover featured Drug Stores as a category was the start of 2024, where it was included alongside Restaurants in Q1.
In order to be eligible for the 5% back, Discover It cardholders must activate this quarter’s offer on the Discover site or app. Additionally, the 5% back is capped at a total of $1,500 in combined bonus category spending. This means that, at most, cardholders will earn $75 cashback from this offer.
What They’re Saying:
Explaining the fourth quarter’s selections, Discover VP Shannon Kors stated, “With the holiday shopping and cold and flu seasons approaching, we’re putting 5% cash back where our cardmembers seek it most, whether they’re shopping for gifts at Amazon.com or stocking up on wellness essentials at the pharmacy.”
Kors added, “Cardmembers can make it even easier to earn online by linking their card to their Amazon.com account.”
My Thoughts:
Seeing as Discover has now included Amazon in its Q4 picks for the past decade, I am not at all surprised to see it here again. That said, I do find it interesting that Discover still excludes Whole Foods purchases from its Amazon category while other issuers (like Chase) do bundle in the grocer. Regardless, this is always a solid 5% option for the holiday season.
Meanwhile, the Drug Store category doesn’t do much for me. But, for those with regular prescriptions that they pay out of pocket for, this could easily come in handy. Kors also makes a good point about flu season — although I sincerely hope you don’t have to spend $1,500 on flu medicine.
Overall, 2025 was another decent year for Discover’s 5% bonus picks. Here’s hoping for better (including the return of a mobile wallets category?) in 2026.
Note: Click here for the current Discover It 5% Bonus Categories.
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