The shopping cart trick is you go onto one of Comenity's partner shopping sites (Overstock, Wayfair, HSN, William Sonoma, and others), place an item in your shopping cart, and proceed like you're going to check out (Just don't pay). Sometimes when you reach that step, a pre-approved offer will pop up that you can accept or decline. You can usually accept without buying something. My wife and I did this for Overstock and HSN, and we both received large pre-approvals, but didn't buy anything (At least at that time). I try to put large dollar items in the cart so the credit lines will be bigger. You may have to try this trick over and over using different browsers, but it sometimes works.
I just remembered for the Lexus card, I didn't use the shopping cart trick. I first applied for the Lexus Visa, but was instead approved for the Lexus store card by Comenity. It was still worth it as it paid rewards (or at least it did until September 2017 when the rewards program will end). I may cancel at that time.
I hope this helps.
Good luck!
