FRN (Fuel Rewards Network) have started (2) new MasterCard offers.

If you  don’t know FRN, please read “Ultimate Strategy of Fuel Rewards Network” and join. You will get a signup bonus (20¢/gal) and another 20¢/gal when you link your MasterCard.

• MasterCard Winter Shopping – Earn 20¢/gal for every $100 you spend at Toys “R” Us, JCPenney and Olive Garden
• MasterCard Electronics offer – Earn 5¢/gal for every $100 you spend on qualified electronics purchases (Best Buy, Radio Shack, etc.)

Both offers are eligible for purchases online and in store. You should use MasterCard credit or debit card that is linked to your FRN account. You don’t have to spend $100 or more at single transaction. An amount you spend accumulates. When a total spent exceeds $100, you will receive a reward. Eligible purchases should be made between November 3rd, 2014 and March 1, 2015.

MasterCard Electronics offer is easy to get. Go to Best Buy store and find Visa gift cards. They are variable GCs, $20-$200 and charge $5.95 purchase fee. However, Best Buy’s loyalty reward program (My Best Buy) give you back 2% in store credit. (see details here) As combined with credit card reward, a purchase fee is completely covered. Visa GCs can be used for BlueBird/Serve reloads at Walmart. So, you can earn 10¢/gal on each Visa GC purchase. The only drawback is you can’t use the store credit for a purchase of GCs. You will need to use it for some merchandise in the end.

There may be better ways from other stores. MasterCard Electronics offer is not limited on Best Buy purchases. Log in your FRN account and check all participating stores in your area.

Conversely, MasterCard Winter Shopping is limited on three stores, Toys R Us, JCPenney and Olive Garden. At this moment, I can’t come up with any strategic ways to earn rewards. But, 20¢/gal is very appealing. And I need it because AmEx GC offer has just disappeared from FRN Online Mall again.

When I browse info about the stores to find a way to earn a reward, I saw some interesting blog posts and forums about Toys R Us gift cards. They said, “You can buy other store’s gift cards, such as amazon GCs, with Toys R Us GCs in stores.” I don’t know what other gift cards they have. And the problem is that blog posts and forums are years old. I don’t know if this strategy works now.

I will need to find that out for myself. At first, I’m going to buy a $100 Toys R Us GC online. I’m pretty sure that it is eligible for FRN reward. During the previous MasterCard offer (Home Improvement Stores), I bought many gift cards at harborfreight.com, and the rewards were posted (cash back from ShopDiscover as well.) However, I’m not sure about cash back from shopping portal, though. Upromise offers 5% cash back which is the best right now. The blog post says he or she got cash back although its terms stated that a purchase of GCs was not eligible. But again, the post is years old. I will need to do it myself, anyway.