Gift Card

$200 eBay Gift Card available at Target.com

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Target added $200 eBay gift card! They have been selling $25, $50, and $100 for quite a while. Now, $200 is the highest denomination available at Target.com. The limit is the same as other denominations, three ($200*3=$600) per day.

200 ebay gift card at target

In my experience, the higher denomination gift cards are, the better, easier, and less stressful regarding eBay gift cards, especially when redeeming them. If you used eBay gift cards before, you might have the same problem. Sometimes, they won’t take multiple gift cards. Say you have four gift cards and want to use them all for eBay purchase. A total balance of four gift cards would completely cover the amount of the purchase. You apply one by one. GC#1, #2, #3 has been applied without problem. But, after you apply GC#4, GC#1-3 are erased. Even if you try to re-apply GC#1, it won’t take it anymore. An error message in a red letter says, “This coupon or code (xxxx) is invalid. You’re not able to use it with this payment.” However, if you remove GC#4, GC#1-3 come back again. Sometimes, I can apply as many as seven gift cards. Sometimes, I can’t apply as few as two gift cards. It just happens at random.

The problem has nothing to do with the $5000-limit of redemption in 180 days. If you change an order you apply those gift cards, it may be successful. If you log out and in again, it may work, too. But, anyway, it’s very frustrating. If you have a single gift card that has enough balance to cover, you won’t have the problem. The gift card will have some remaining balance, but you can use it for the next purchase with another large amount of gift card. In my experience, the fewer gift cards you use, the more unlikely the problem happens.

Bestbuy.com also sell eBay gift cards, but it’s only $25. I never bought from Best Buy, but probably shopping portal sites won’t pay cash back for GC purchases at bestbuy.com. If you have credit cards that offer bonus rewards for electric stores purchase such as Citi Dividend (Q4 category) or US Bank Cash+, you can earn 5% cash back. And Best buy gives 2% back in bestbuy’s reward. When you consider all of them, you might as well get 7% off eBay gift card, but remember that many $25 GCs may be going to give you the problem many times.

Staples.com has the same $200 eBay gift card. And if you have Chase ink or Amex SimplyCash, you can get 5% or 5x reward for purchases at office supply stores. It’s the same deal as eBay GC purchase with Target REDcard at Target. However, category bonus of ink or SimplyCash has the limit (apply to purchases up to$25,000 or $50,000 per year) while Target REDcard’s 5% discount is unlimited! Plus, with one trick at checkout, it’s possible to get 3 to 5% more discount at Target.com.

eBay gift card is the most versatile gift card if you ask me. You can use it for almost all items on eBay. You can buy other stores’ gift card with it. And some gift cards are difficult to get with a large discount from GC exchange sites. You can get those gift cards with at least 5% discount + 2% ebay bucks. (e.g. BestBuy, Staples, and even Target GCs.)

Earn Plenti Points for GC purchase at Rite Aid 11/29-12/5

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Last week, I visited Rite Aid to redeem PayPal Prepaid payback rewards and earn Plenti points on GC purchases. That was my first time to earn Plenti points. I got $44 in Plenti point last week. They offered more, but the GCs I bought were for reselling purpose. I chose GCs that would make a profit after selling them to GC exchange sites. (I consider Plenti points as a discount.) Rite Aid weekly ad changes every Sunday. I checked it and found lots of GC deals this week, too. Click here to see weekly ad (GC deals are on page 7.)

lots of gc deals at rite aid

  • Earn 1,000 points (worth $10) when you buy $50 of Applebee’s or IHOP GC, limit 2 offers
  • Earn 500 points when you buy 2 of Vanilla MasterCard GCs, limit 2 offers
  • Earn 500 points when you buy $25 of Kohl’s, Spa&Wellness, or Saks Fifth Avenue GC, limit 2 offers
  • Earn 500 points when you buy $25 of Netflix, GameStop, or Harley-Davidson GC, limit 2 offers
  • Earn 500 Points when you buy $25.00 of Google Play GC, limit 2 offers
  • Earn 1,000 points when you buy $50 of Sears, Bass Pro Shops, or Cracker Barrel GC, limit 2 offers

I checked resale value of each gift card at giftcardgranny.com. And I decided to buy Saks Fifth Avenue, GameStop, and Sears GCs. Last week, I bought Saks Fifth Avenue GC on eBay. It was an e-code from paypal _digital_gifts. Giftcard Zen accepted e-code without reducing payment unlike ABC gift cards or Cardpool. I already sold it to them. This time, they are going to be physical GCs. So, I don’t have to worry about such things.

Vanilla MasterCard GC deal is not good for me. First of all, you have to buy two cards to receive 500 Plenti points. I don’t know exactly how much a purchase fee of the smallest denomination GC is, but I believe that 500 points (=$5) won’t cover purchase fee of two GCs. If you have a credit card that offers a high reward for drugstore’s purchase, it may be worth it. Second, probably Vanilla MasterCard can’t be used for Serve reload at Walmart or even Family Dollar. In my experience, I tried to load Serve at FD, using $100 MasterCard GC from Target, and it didn’t work. Click here to see details. So, I had to use a bunch of MasterCard GCs for regular purchases. Reportedly, Walmart accepts $49.99 reload with Vanilla Visa GCs, but it’s not sure for MasterCard GCs. In general, MasterCard GCs are more problematic than Visa GCs.

Earned Plenti points are used for future purchase at Rite Aid. You can redeem them at Macy’s, Exxon/Mobile, and AT&T, too!

All About 1800flowers Gift Card

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Basic

1800flowers gift card is redeemable at 1800baskets.com, 1800flowers.com, cheryls.com, fanniemay.com, harrylondon.com, fruitbouquets.com, and thepopcornfactory.com. You may also use it to order by phone and purchases at participating retail stores. A physical card has no magnetic strip. It only has numbers printed on the back of the card. (19-digit of Serial Number and 4-digit of PIN without a silver scratch) Gift cards are redeemable for regular merchandises, not for another gift card or membership of free-shipping program.

Where to Buy

You can find discounted gift cards at gift card exchange sites, such as ABC-Giftcards and Raise. A discount rate is relatively high. It’s around 15% or more. However, the best place to buy is their own website. That’s because shopping portals pay cash back for purchases of gift cards. And it’s usually higher than GC exchange sites. Discover Deals offer 15% to 20% cash back.

How to Redeem

After you choose an item, shipping address, and a gift message, you will see a page as a picture below. Enter a serial number and PIN. And then click “Apply”.

GC redemption and Cash Back Eligibility

According to terms of DD for 1800flowers, gift card redemption is not eligible for cash back. When you make a purchase with a gift card through DD’s 1800flowers link, DD sends a confirmation email and even posts cash back, but cash back will usually be canceled in the next statement. But there may be a way to get around this. Click here to see more details of the online portal.

How many gift cards can be used per transaction

1800flower gift cards limit 2In checkout page, it says,

Limit one Gift Card, Voucher, Fresh Rewards Pass and/or Saving Pass per order. If you have any questions or you do not have your PIN, please call 1-800-993-1192 Monday to Friday from 8am-8pm EST for assistance.

But it’s not true. You can enter 2 GCs per order without any problem. When you enter numbers of 3rd GC, you will see an error message.

You can apply up to 2 gift cards per order. Call 1-888-216-0235 to apply more gift cards to your order.

It sounds you can apply more than 2 GCs if you call the number, but I haven’t done it yet.

Don’t throw the gift card until order was processed and shipped

Say you used two gift cards, the gift cards had enough balance to cover the entire purchase. When you apply a gift card, the website shows an amount they charge on the gift card and the remaining balance of it. Card#1 was redeemed the whole amount and now zero balance. They charged the rest on Card#2. However, gift cards are not charged when checkout. They will be charged when items are shipped. And most importantly, amounts they charge on gift cards are sometimes different from amounts you see at checkout. You believe that Card#1 was fully redeemed, but it may not be charged at all, and the whole amount was charged on Card#2, or they charge different amounts on the both gift cards. These things happened to me so many times. So, it is very important that you keep gift cards until your order was processed and shipped and then check the remaining balance of the gift cards.

Other deals

1800flowers has its own reward program called Celebration Rewards. You can earn 1 point on every dollar you spent. Every month, they issue Saving Pass if you earn enough points. A minimum is 200 pts and worth of $20. Simply put, it’s 10% back in point. Saving Pass is just like e-gift card. It has 19-digit of Serial Number and 4-digit of PIN, and you can use them in the same way as gift cards. But remember that there is an expiration date. Saving Pass is valid for 90 days after it’s issued, and points are valid for two years. You can earn reward points by purchasing gift cards, but not on redemption. Celebrations Rewards is common program among all participating brands including 1800baskets, Cheryl’s, Fannie may, harrylondon, fruit bouquets, and The popcorn factory.

Summary

  • You can use gift cards at all participating brands including 1800baskets.com, 1800flowers.com, cheryls.com, fanniemay.com, harrylondon.com, fruitbouquets.com and thepopcornfactory.com.
  • You can use up to 2 gift cards per transaction.
  • You can earn cash back from DD for the purchase of gift cards, but not on redemption (according to terms of DD.)
  • You can earn Celebrations Rewards points for the purchase of gift cards, but not on redemption (for sure.)

New Amex Offer $10 back for the purchase of Amex Gift Card $200 or more

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New Amex Offers are available. I glanced all of them, and one is a really good offer.

Get a one-time $10 statement credit by using your enrolled Card to spend a total of $200 or more online at americanexpress.com/gift by 12/31/2015

I’m glad that all of my Amex credit cards have the offer. And, it’s funny!? Amex Serve also has the offer. I believe that Amex doesn’t accept GCs including reloadable prepaid cards. Last year, they offered exactly the same one for my credit cards and Serve. Redeeming the offer with credit cards was no problem, but I couldn’t do it with Serve because they declined the order and sent an email saying ” At this time we do not accept gift cards as a form of payment.” Money was on hold for around two weeks and returned. (see details here) Then, around two months later, Amex credited $10 to my Serve account as “Good Faith Credit” because they offered something that was impossible to redeem. (see details here)

Now, there is the same offer to my Serve card. What is going to happen this time when I use Serve for the purchase?

Probably, the order will be declined, and luckily get $10 good faith credit later or they don’t give me good faith credit this time.

Whatever it happens, I don’t lose money. So, I checked out $200 gift card with Serve via Topcashback (1.5%) portal. As I expected, I received an email of “You just used your Amex Offer” right away. And, 15 minutes later I knew that my order was approved. I was surprised. Last year, they said in the email, “At this time we do not accept gift cards as a form of payment.” So, do they accept GCs as a form of payment now? Can I use Amex GCs to buy Amex GCs?

If they accepted Amex GCs for Amex GCs purchases, and cash back from portals pays $2000 GC purchase, it would be great. For example, you order $2000 Amex GC via 1.5% cash back portal (say you have enrolled in premium shipping plan) and you use that GC for smaller denominations of Amex GCs purchases.

  • 1st order: spend $2003.95 out of your pocket and earn $30 cash back
  • 2nd order: spend $1003.95+$503.95=$1507.90 with $2000GC and earn $15+$7.50=$22.5 cash back
  • 3rd order: spend $503.95 with $1000GC and earn $7.50 cash back
  • Now you have 4 Amex GCs, $1988.15 in total (2*$500, $496.05, and $492.10.) and earn $60 cash back!

However, the rule of cash back has changed recently. They pay cash back for the purchase of $200 or less. A purchase fee of $200 GC is roughly 2%. 1.5% cash back isn’t good enough to earn extra cash back.

Please note that I’m not sure that Amex accept Amex GCs for Amex GC purchase. And my order ($200 GC purchase with Serve) can be declined in the future.

Update 10/09/2015

$200 Amex gift card (the order placed on 10/3) has arrived on 10/6, and $10 statement credit has been posted on 10/9. So, they now accept Serve as a payment for the purchase of gift cards. What about other cards? Probably, they accept Bluebird as well, but what about Amex Gift cards. Can I buy a gift card with a gift card over and over? On the order placed on 10/3, I didn’t use a promo code to waive a purchase fee. That was stupid of me because cash back earned from Topcashback is only $3. It won’t even cover a purchase fee. I shouldn’t have expected cash back and just used a promo code. So, on my next order (paid with one of my Amex credit cards), I used a promo code. However, just in case I clicked Topcashback’s link. Then, I received email from them and saw $3 pending cash back posted in my account. I hope this won’t be clawed back.

Things You should know before buying Visa Gift Card from giftcards.com

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Visa gift cards are available to purchase online at giftcards.com. The highest denomination is $500, and a purchase fee is $6.95. (It used to be $4.95. It’s increased recently.) And they also charge a shipping fee. There are several options for shipping, and I will show the details later.

Update 11/18/2015, Giftcards.com removed $500 VGCs from the option about a month ago. The highest denomination of VGCs is now $250 with $4.95 activation fee.

Update 11/27/2015, Giftcards.com put back $500 VGCs! A purchase fee is the same, $6.95. I don’t know the exact date they were back.

First of all, I’ll show the details of the gift card itself.

Features

The card is issued by the Bancorp Bank. It’s the same bank as Vanilla brand gift cards, but the cards from giftcards.com are NOT Vanilla. You can use them at Walmart. So far, I have been using them for only reloading Amex Serve, and they were accepted at Walmart kiosk, Money Center, and Family Dollar.

Design

Your name, expiration date, and card# are embossed. On the top right corner, there is a small print “Gift”.But it’s so tiny that you can remove it by a knife, sand paper, or conceal it by a sticker.

The card needs an activation at giftcards.com or over the phone. You will see or be told a pre-set PIN at that time, and you can change it to your own PIN later. Unlike VGC from Staples, there is no way to register your name and address. I think it’s already registered because my name is on the card and accepted at Walmart. So, I don’t really care.

Fees

The minimum cost per card is $6.95 (purchase fee)+ $1.99 (USPS first class mail) = $8.94. Before they raised a purchase fee, there was always a promo code to waive a shipping fee (UPSP first class mail only), but I can’t find the code anymore. I think they stop offering free shipping codes. All I can see now are codes for free personalization or free greeting card. For your information, you can check current promo codes on the activation page of the website. Activate (Enter a card number of) any VGC from giftcards.com (it doesn’t matter if the card has been activated) and it shows one promo code. Refresh the page to have it changed to a different code. I used to do this until a free-shipping code showed up, but now it never shows up.

There are several other shipping options:

  • $7.45 USPS Delivery Confirmation
  • $16.56 FedEx Express Saver
  • $18.08 FedEx Two Day
  • $45.00 FedEx Priority Overnight

All these options are charged per order while $1.99-USPS First Class is charged per card. Now that they don’t offer a free-shipping promo code, you’d better order 4 or more cards and choose $7.45-USPS Delivery Confirmation. (There is no option of $1.99-USPS First Class when you added 4 or more cards to a cart, anyway.)

Besides, I had a bad experience with this option on the last order. I bought two $500 VGCs. A purchase fee was $4.95 per card back then, and shipping fee $1.99 x 2=$3.98 was weaved by a promo code. A week later, only one card arrived. I waited for another week, but the other one didn’t arrive. So, I sent an email to a customer service. They told me that I needed to pay $4.95 for a re-issue fee. I called the customer service to make sure, and their answer was the same. The envelope might be lost in transit. Or, it is possible that giftcards.com forgot to send one envelope in the first place. Either way, it is not my fault. But, I’m the one who has to pay the extra money. I don’t think it’s reasonable. So, I canceled the order and received a refund of $500 ($4.95 didn’t come back.)

From this experience, you should avoid $1.99-USPS First Class. Order 4 or more cards at a time and choose $7.45-USPS Delivery Confirmation. If you order four cards, the shipping cost is $1.86 per card. And a purchase fee is 6.95. The total fee is $8.81 per card. It’s expensive for $500 VGC, but “G-Money” will reduce the most of it.

G-Money

You can earn G-Money Points on every order at giftcards.com. Earn 1 point on every $1 spent. 1 point is worth 1 cent, and you can redeem for future purchases. That is to say, it’s 1% back loyalty rewards program. The points are redeemable at giftcards.com only. However, since you can redeem for VGC purchases, you can consider them as cash. And, a purchase fee and shipping fee are also eligible for the reward points. For example, when you bought four $500 VGCs with $7.45 USPS Delivery Confirmation, you pay $2035.25 and earn 2035 points. When you repeat this transaction, you earn and redeem around $20-worth of GMoney on every order. ($2035.25-20)/4=503.8125. The fee will be less than 1%!

Update 11/18/2015, A purchase fee, Shipping fee, and G-Money redemption are no longer eligible for G-Money. If you buy $250 VGC, you earn 250pts=$2.50. When you redeem this points on the next $250 VGC purchase, you will earn 247 or 248 pts. Here is the calculation of $250 VGCs version when you buy eight VGCs. A total cost will be $254.95*8+$7.45=$2047.05. You will earn $20-worth G-Money on the first order, but if you keep using G-Money for the following orders, you will earn a little less than $20 G-Money. But, let’s make it simple, say you earn $20 G-Money every order, you pay $2027.05. $2027.05/8=253.4375. As you see, the fee is now more than 1%.

Update 11/27/2015, I also found that there is 1% cash back deal from some shopping portals, Simply Best Coupons, ShopAtHome, and Panda Cash Back. I just checked out four cards via SBC’s link. However, it seems you can’t earn G-Money on VGC purchases, instead.

giftcards.com 500 visa gift card

And, there is a promo code for free shipping. It’s valid for USPS First Class mail only. So, I don’t recommend using it.

giftcards.com free shipping promo code

Summery

Card#, expiration date, and your name are embossed on VGCs. The highest denomination is $500 with $6.95 fee. The cheapest shipping cost is $1.99-USPS First Class Mail. There used to be promo codes to waive this fee. It may be available sometimes in the future, but I wouldn’t use it. $1.99-USPS First Class Mail isn’t reliable. You’d better choose $7.45-USPS Delivery Confirmation. Giftcards.com offers their own rewards program. It gives you back 1% of every dollar you spend at giftcards.com. And most importantly, VGCs from giftcards.com are WM, TGT, and FD friendly.

Discover Double All Cash Back and Q2 Bonus Category

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Background

2nd quarter of Discover will end in 10 days. I don’t spend much on these categories (restaurants and movies), and usually, these GCs can be purchased from GC resellers with more than 5% discount. So, I hadn’t even tried anything to earn bonus rewards until I enrolled in Double All Cash Back promotion. Now, a category bonus reward is 10% cash back. Although there is not much time left, I tried to find a way to earn Q2 category bonus reward.

discover double all cash back

Transaction in a statement

As a test, I bought $50 e-gift card. A category of the transaction is Travel/Entertainment. I don’t know if it’s eligible for Q2 category bonus. As for Discover Deals, I received a cashback confirmation email a few days after the transaction. Hopefully, both category bonus and Discover Deals cash back will be posted and then doubled. When everything goes well, I can make a profit by buying and selling gift cards.

cashback from dd for fandango gc purchase

Physical or Electrical Gift Card?

I didn’t know much about Fandango. But at least I knew it was the website you could buy movie tickets online. And I thought their gift cards were used online only. For that reason, I assumed that Save Ya would accept e-gift cards for sale. That was a mistake. They need you to send physical gift cards for sale. Cardpool accepts e-gift cards, but payment is 5% less than a payment of physical gift cards sales.

Recalculation

If cash backs from DD and category bonus are posted and then doubled, e-gift cards are like 30% off price. Cardpool offers 70% for Fandango GCs. So, if you buy and sell e-gift cards, you can’t make a profit. If you buy and sell physical gift cards for 75% of face value, you can make a profit although physical gift cards charge a $1.95 fee. So, around 3% will remain in Discover’s reward. There is $1.95 fee per card and no discount even if you order multiple gift cards.

Physical Gift Card Order

I decided to keep $50 e-gift card for myself and order physical gift cards for resell. I ordered five $100 gift cards. The total is $509.75. Fandango has a promotion for GC purchase of $50 or more. For each order, I got one $20 promo code to spend at Shutterfly (one for e-code purchase and one for physical GC purchase, total two promo codes.) I don’t know what they are. I will find out later.

fandango gc promotion

Summary

All Double Cash Back promo is great, but the timing is bad. It’s the last month of Q2 now, and there is no way to confirm all cash back before Q2 category bonus ends. Since I received an email from Discover Deals, it’s most likely that cash back from DD will be posted. Q2 category bonus remains unknown. But Discover has many discounted gift cards for redemption. I always redeem the reward for Staples GCs, which is 20% discount. Considering this, I won’t lose money even if Q2 category bonus won’t be posted.

 

Amex Business GC Offer returned to Fuel Rewards Network Online Mall

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In 2014, there was the offer of FRN (Fuel Reward Network) 2X then reduced to 1X, then it disappeared. It came back for a while and then disappeared again. After that, there has been no offer for Amex GC purchase. I check the portal site recently, and I found the offer was back. It’s 1X, which is equivalent to 2% cash back.

amex gc is back to frn online mall

As far as I can tell it’s been three weeks in FRN online mall, and may have been around for more than weeks. The offer can’t be found in “Gift Card” category, but there is in all store’s list or by typing “american….” in a search box. Last year, the offer was easily found in “Gift Card” category. Of course, you were able to found in all store’s list or by entering “american express gift card” in the search box, too. But, it’s easier to click “Gift Card” than to type the word in search box. I had been checking the site to see if the offer came back, but I checked only in “Gift Card” category. Weeks ago, I glanced all stores without any expectations and found the offer back although you can’t find in “Gift Card” category.

all gift card offers of frn online mall

1X FRN reward is equivalent to 2% cash back. 1X means that you can earn 5¢/gallon discount on every $50 purchase through FRN online mall. FRN rewards can be redeemed at participating Shell gas stations, up to 20 gallons in single fill-up. 5¢ x 20 gallons = $1.00. $1.00 back on $50 spent. So it’s equivalent to 2% cash back.

Terms and conditions of this offer are the same as other online shopping portals, such as Befrugal and Topcashback. But it seems to be limited to Business Gift Cards. You can’t use promo codes. And the denomination more than $2000 are not eligible for the reward. When you buy the highest denomination, (it’s $2000) you will earn a $2.00/gallon discount.

frn 1x rewards at american express business gift cards

Again, according to terms and conditions, only Business Gift Cards are eligible for the offer. Sometimes, Topcashback offers 2.25%, and Simply Best Coupons offer 2% cash back for Amex Business GC purchases. But they are usually a daily deal. FRN is continuously offering a 2%-cashback-equivalent deal.

If you want to know more details of Fuel Reward Network, please click here.

Until July 31st, FRN has a linked MasterCard or Visa card promotion. With some conditions, you may earn the reward virtually for free. If you are interested, please click here.

Best Buy E-Gift Card Promo with Cash Back Portal Deal

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You may see a lot of Father’s Day’s promotions throughout the web. The promotions are not limited to regular merchandises, you may also see the promotion on gift card purchases. Personally, I just bought Staples and Best Buy e-gift cards and happened to know that there was a cash back portal site for BBY e-GC purchases.

best buy e-gift card promo

Many merchants sell e-gift cards as well as physical gift cards. Some merchants pay cash back for purchases of both physical and e-gift cards, and some merchants don’t pay for either of them. And also some merchants pay only for physical gift card purchases. This may happen because e-gift cards are sold at different sites called Cashstar.

When you enter bestbuy.com and click Gift cards on the top, you are still in bestbuy.com. However, when you click Get Started (left at the bottom of the picture below,) you are taken to the outside of bestbuy.com. A web address is bestbuy.cashstar.com. The same things happen to some other merchants. For example, you enter gap.com and try to buy an e-gift card, you are taken to gap.cashstar.com.

best buy e-gift card link

If you have Amex Offer, you can’t redeem some of them with e-gift card purchases because of this fact. That’s why you see “e-gift cards are excluded” in terms and conditions of many offers. It actually happened to me with Chime Offer. The offer was $5 back on $50 or more spent at Best Buy. I purchased $50 e-gift card, but I couldn’t see $5 credit posted in my account. An hour later, I purchased $50 physical gift card. $5 credit was posted instantly.

Today, I happened to find this “Cashstar” in cashbackmonitor.com while I was checking cash back rate for other merchants. So, I have no idea how it’s been existing. SimplyBestCoupons offered the highest, 2% cash back yesterday. Best Buy’s link was in the section of sale/discount. I clicked the link and bought $150 e-gift card. Soon, I received an email from SimplyBestCoupons, and a pending cash back was posted. So many merchants use Cashstar for e-gift card selling, but merchants offering cash back seem to be limited. I check the website today, and they have updated terms and conditions. Now you can see a full list of merchants that is available for cash back. And the rate is reduced to 1.75%.

simply best coupons cashstar list

What I like about Simply Best Coupons is that they send an email for all transactions very quickly. They send an email and post $0 even when you purchase something that is not qualified for cash back. I bought Starbucks gift card at Target.com on 6/2.

simply best coupons cashstar cash back

As you see, I received $0. So, I’m sure that the item is not qualified for cash back. (As long as I know, there is at least one GC at Target.com is qualified for cash back.) And also, they sometimes offer 2% cash back on Amex Business gift card purchases. The next offer is coming soon. It’s on 06/22/2015. If you don’t have your account yet, please use my referral link to sign up.

Earn Cash Back on Discover 2nd Rotating Category 2015

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Discover it card offers 5% cash back on restaurant and movie theater’s purchases of up to $1500 in 2nd quarter (April, May, and June.) The offer will end in a few weeks, and I have earned almost nothing in this quarter. That’s because I don’t spend that much on these categories, and those stores (restaurants and theaters) don’t sell 3rd party gift card. They do sell their own gift cards, but you can buy them with more than 5% discount from eBay, GC Exchange sites, etc. That also means that you can’t sell their gift cards for good prices. So, I haven’t been doing anything for this category bonus. But thing’s changed now, and it may be possible to earn cash back effectively.

2nd quarter 2015 discover category bonus

Discover is now offering “Double All Cash Back” promotion for both new and existing cardholders. They double all cash back you earn for the next 12 billing cycles. Here is the fine print.

Double First Year Cash Back:After the first 12 consecutive billing periods that your new account is open, we will double all the cash back rewards you’ve earned and apply them to your account in the next billing cycle. You’ve earned rewards when they have posted to your account by the end of the 12th consecutive billing period. You will not receive Double Cash Back if your account is closed or no longer in the cash back reward program as of the award date. This promotional offer may not be offered in the future.

discover double all cash back

Please note that you need an enrollment over a phone or chat by July 31st if you are an existing cardholder. I did it over chat, and my bonus started on June 12th.

Now, rotating category cash back is 10%. However, you can’t expect to sell restaurants gift cards for 90% of face value. You have to accept significantly lower price when you sell. But, what if you can buy gift cards through Discover Deals?

discover 2nd 2015 category bonus lists

A website shows a lot of places you can earn 5% rotating category cash back. There are a lot, and these are not all.

discover deals and 2nd 2015 category bonus

 

Go to Discover Deals. Filter by category. There are only 11 offers, eight restaurants and three entertainment. Among them, there is only one store that offer cashback. It’s Fandango. (The others stores offer either instant savings or statement credit. They won’t be doubled.) Here is the fine print.

10% Cashback Bonus on Fandango Bucks at Fandango online

Offer valid on Fandango Bucks gift certificates only. Offer is not valid in combination with any other offers. Must have cookies enabled on your web browser, link to retailer site from the Discover Deals web page, found at Discover.com/deals or through the Discover mobile app, and use your Discover card for each transaction.

Next, go to gift card granny to see if their gift card be sold.

Fandango gift cards can be sold to five different GC exchange sites. And Cardpool, Monster gift card, and Save ya offer the highest rate of 75%. It’s a good sign that Save ya offer the highest because they accept e-codes without reducing payment. Cardpool also accepts e-codes but reduce the payment to 70% for Fandango e-code. Fandango sells both physical gift cards and e-codes. They charge $1.95 fee for physical gift card purchase per card while e-codes has no fee.

Say you do earn both 5% cash back from category bonus and 10% cash back from Discover Deals. The cash back will be double. So it’s 30% cash back in total. And then, when you sell e-code to Save ya, 5% of total purchase will remain in your pocket.

There are some things that are uncertain now.

Q1 Will you receive 5% category bonus?

Not sure yet. I bought $50 e-code. My order is still pending.

Q2 Will you receive 10% Discover Deals cash back?

The fine print says, “Offer valid on Fandango Bucks gift certificates only.” Are Fandango Bucks and Fandango gift cards the same things? I tried to find the answer, but I couldn’t find this term in the website.

Q3 Will Save ya accept Fandango e-code?

You can’t tell whether you can sell e-code until you enter the code and PIN. So, I did and click “Sell My Card!”

saveya fandango ecode

I was wrong. Save ya doesn’t accept Fandango e-codes. So, there are few options now.

  • Buy e-codes and sell to Cardpool for 70% of face value
  • Buy Physical gift cards ($1.95 fee per card) and sell to Cardpool or Save ya for 75% of face value

If a purchase of Fandango gift card is qualified for both category bonus and Discover Deals, (5% + 10%) *2=30% cash back will be posted. When you choose e-codes, it breaks even. When you choose physical gift cards, you will earn around 3% profit although you pay $1.95 fee per card.

My transaction of Fandango e-code is still pending, and I don’t know whether it is qualified for Discover’s cash back. If either one of them is not qualified, I will just keep the code for a regular spending in the future.