Gift Card

New Amex Offer at Walmart.com and Purchase of Gift Card

Posted on September 17, 2014September 17, 2014 by admin

There is new Amex Offer. “Get $5 statement credit when you spend $15 or more at Walmart.com.”It is only for online purchases and not valid on gift cards reloads and prepaid cards. I understand what exactly “gift cards reloads” means, but I’m not sure about “prepaid cards.” Since the terms doesn’t say “not valid on gift cards” but “not valid on prepaid cards,” I assumed that the purchase of regular gift cards is eligible for the offer.

I browsed gift cards at Walmart.com, and I find that only Starbucks gift cards are useful to me. However, there is no denomination of $15. They have $25 and $30 (3/$10 multi-pack). If I buy $25 Starbucks gift card and get $5 statement credit, it’s like a 20% discounted gift card. It is a lot of discount, but you can find better deals at gift card exchange sites. As you see in the picture, ABC gift cards are selling them with 24% discount.

To maximize the benefit of this offer, I need to one extra step. My plan goes like this:

Buy $15 Walmart GCs -> Redeem Walmart GCs for Starbucks GCs

After adding some gift cards to a cart and pretending to check them out at Walmart.com, I found that Walmart probably allowed to use GCs for purchase of other gift cards except for Visa, MasterCard, and American Express GCs. It seems that they even allow to purchase Walmart GCs with Walmart GCs. And you can choose any amount of Walmart GCs between $10 and $1000 in one cent increment. (e-gift cards are between $5 and $200.) So, when you buy $15 Walmart GC with Amex Offer, you get 33.33% off deal.

I have two AmEx cards that can sync with Amex Offers, Blue Cash Preferred and Serve. Buying $15 Walmart GCs with each card and then redeeming them for $30 Starbucks GC will be perfect to get the full of the benefit of this offer.

Walmart Cancel My Order

I chose e-gift card to save time and checked out one $15 Walmart GC with Blue Cash Preferred. Almost at the same time as check-out, I received an order confirmation email from Walmart and “Thank You for using your Enrolled Card” email from AmEx. Then when I tried to buy another $15 Walmart GC, a problem happened. Walmart sent another email that told me the order was cancelled because my payment couldn’t be verified.

I don’t know what caused the error, but I’m sure I enter the right credit card information because I received confirmation emails from both Walmart and AmEx. My question is what happened to my Amex Offer now. It can be redeemed only once on each card. I have never experienced this type of thing before. I’d better wait till the pending transaction will be cleared.

Can’t Find Cash Back Portals for American Express Gift Card

Posted on September 4, 2014December 26, 2014 by admin

Recently, the rate of cash back for the purchase of American Express Gift Cards got lower. (see details here) But now I found it worse than ever. In the last few months, the cash back rate for AmEx GCs were between 2% and 3%. Last night, before buying AmEx GC, I went to cashbackmonitor.com to see which portal offer the best rate. As you see, 2.1% from Befrugal was the best. I was hoping for a better rate, but there was no choice. The amount of the previous AmEx GC was nearly zero. And although 2.1% was not really great deal, but I could still save money with it.

However, there was a problem. I couldn’t find a page of AmEx GCs at Befrugal.com. Then I went to TopCashBack, that offers 2.0% (according to cashbackmonitor). Same here, there was no page or link at TopCashBack. I checked some other portals. I didn’t check all of them, but I could manage to find a few portals that offered cash back, Simply Best Coupons, Ebates, and Mr. Rebates. The rate was merely 1%. The only consolation was that Simply Best Coupons had a promo code to waive a purchase fee of $3.95.

In July and August, I purchased four AmEx GCs with a promo code which is not posted on the portal site. As a result, all pending cash back ($175.50 in total) was cancelled. (see details here)

Today, I checked cashbackmonitor. As you see, all travel reward portals have gone, and there are only seven cash back portals. 1% is the highest, and promo code to waive a purchase fee can be found ONLY at Simply Best Coupons.

Is 1% cash back still worthwhile? It depends on face value of AmEx GC you buy. Say you buy $1000 AmEx GC with AmEx Blue Cash credit card. You can waive a purchase fee of $3.95 at Simply Best Coupons.

Purchase fee $0
Shipping -$8.95
1% cash back from credit card +$10.09
1% cash back from portal +$10.00
Total profit is $11.14

The profit is only 1.11% of $1000. This isn’t great. However, if you buy $5000 AmEx GC, total profit is $91.14. It’s 1.82% of $5000. Not bad. If you enroll in Premium Shipping Plan (see details here), shipping cost may be calculated less. So, you can manage to get close to 2% discount.

Just a few months ago, I had already enrolled in Premium Shipping Plan. I usually order 3 or 4 AmEx GCs per month. So, shipping cost is calculated less than $3 each order. After considering all of these calculations, I placed an order of $2000 AmEx GC. Simply Best Coupons already posted a pending cash back.

I hope Befrugal or TopCashBack offer cash back for AmEx GCs again, but for now Simply Best Coupons with a promo code is the best option for purchasing American Express Gift Cards. Click here to visit Simply Best Coupons and don’t forget to use promo code when you purchase AmEx GCs.

Use Coupon No Cash Back from BeFrugal on AmEx Gift Cards

Posted on August 5, 2014August 14, 2014 by admin

Today, I logged in my BeFrugal account and noticed that my Total Balance got significantly lower than yesterday. I checked Cash Back Activity and found out that all pending cash back on AmEx gift cards looked cancelled. I made three orders in July, and one of orders was actually cancelled by American Express. Because I tried to use AmEx Serve for the purchase of the gift card. BeFrugal shows this transaction like this (picture below).

But today, I got the same one on the other two orders, which weren’t cancelled. The orders had completed. I received the cards and used up already. I remembered that BeFrugal described the following in terms of AmEx GC.

If you choose to apply a coupon or deal that is not posted on BeFrugal.com, we are unable to guarantee that you will receive cash back on your purchase.

I used a coupon code to waive a purchase fee on all orders. Although I read terms, I assumed that I would earn cash back because other retailers paid before even when I used a coupon that was not on BeFrugal. And today, the terms have updated like this

Cash back not valid on any order with a coupon code applied

I made an order a few days ago in August. Cash Back is pending now, and I don’t see the sign of cancel. But I guess it will be cancelled later. Now that terms is very clear, I won’t use the code that waives a purchase fee of only $3.95. Pay a purchase fee and I will earn cash back which is guaranteed by BeFrugal. This is still a good deal, and I feel comfortable because there is no need to worry about cancellation of cash back.

I wish BeFrugal updated terms eariler, but I can’t blame them. Last month, they said “we are unable to guarantee that you will receive cash back” and they had to cancel my cash back. Nothing is wrong with them. It is all my fault. Befrugal describes terms on every merchants in a detailed way. This is why I continue to use Befrugal, and it is my favorite free online shopping portal!

How to Maximize Kmart Gas Rewards

Posted on July 26, 2014July 26, 2014 by admin

I like Shop Your Way (SYW) very much. SYW is a loyalty program for Sears, Kmart, and Lands End shoppers. Basically, when you purchase at these stores or online, you can earn 1% back in SYW points. Sometimes, you get multiplied points with coupons, special offers, etc. And Kmart offers another reward for SYW members to shop in stores.

Spend $50 or more and get a gas coupon to save 30¢ per gallon up to 20 gallons

To get the coupon, you need to spend at least $50 in a single transaction. If your total is less than $50, you can add some gift cards to your shopping cart. Although the purchases of gift cards are not eligible for SYW reward points, a gas coupon is printed out of a cash register automatically. This happens even when you buy only $50 gift card. You don’t get SYW point on the purchase of gift cards, but you get a save-30¢-per-gallon coupon, which is equivalent of $6 off of your gas purchase.

Kmart has a good selection of gift cards. You can probably find gift cards you need. They sell gas gift cards, too. My local Kmart prints out a gas coupon for BP. So you buy $50 BP gas card and get the coupon, and then redeem both of them at BP gas station right away.

If you usually shop a lot (more than $50) at Kmart, you should buy a $50 Kmart or Sears gift card every time you visit the store. And then use the gift card for the purchase of regular items. You spend only $50, but you get TWO gas coupons in this way. Please make sure to separate the transactions (purchase of gift card and regular items) to receive two coupons.

If you shop at Kmart moderately (less than $50), you should add Variable Load Kmart gift card to your shopping cart. You can choose any amount to make the total purchase more than $50. When you shop at Kmart next time, you can use the gift card and buy another Kmart gift card to make it to $50. By doing this every time, you always get a gas coupon.

Note that you need to be an SYW member to receive the coupon. And please don’t forget to have your SYW member card scanned every check-out. Otherwise, cash register won’t print out the coupon.

No Longer Purchase Gift Cards with Staples Gift Cards Online?

Posted on July 25, 2014 by admin

I noticed today (July 25th, 2014), Staples gift cards can’t be used for the purchase of any gift cards at Staples.com. The last order I made was a week ago. I bought one $200 Sears e-gift card. I used five Staples GCs (that had all small amounts) and Chase ink business credit card for the rest. The check-out was smooth, and the e-gift card was delivered a few days later.

And today, I tried to reorder, but can’t choose Staples gift card as payment. In check-out page, there are five payment methods: Credit Card, Visa Checkout, Staples Gift Card, Staples Rebate Card, and Pre-Paid Card. However, a check box of Staples Gift Card is dim and not clickable. I tried for Visa gift cards, but it was the same. I couldn’t choose Staples Gift Card as a payment.

Next, I added regular items like k-cups and copy papers, but the check box is still not clickable. Then I removed gift cards from a cart. Now I was able to click the check box of Staples Gift Card.

It seems that Staples no longer accepts Staples GCs for purchases of any gift cards. I was receiving Staples GCs from Discover credit card reward, and also purchasing at 5% to 7% off price at gift card exchange sites like Cardpool or ABC Gift Card.

Discover offers 20% discount when you redeem the reward for Staples GCs while it offers 10% discount for Sears GCs. So, I redeemed for Staples GCs and purchased Sears e-gift cards at Staples.com. It takes time, but I managed to get 20% discounted Sears GCs in this way.

The reason I bought Staples GCs at Cardpool or ABC Gift Card was that I wanted to speed up the process of spending American Express Gift Cards. I bought 5% to 7% discounted Staples GCs with AmEx GCs, then purchase Visa GCs at Staples.com. Visa GCs charge a purchase fee, but 5% to 7% discount offsets the fee, even leaves a profit. Once I get Visa GCs, I can reload AmEx Serve at Walmart, and then pay bills or withdraw money to my bank account.

Now that Staples GCs can’t buy other gift cards, I should stop ordering Staples GCs. I can continue to buy gift cards with Chase ink credit card, but I should look for another way to spend down AmEx GCs.

American Express Promo Code for Premium Shipping Plan

Posted on July 15, 2014 by admin

Today, American Express sent me an email about Premium Shipping Plan. Premium Shipping Plan costs $99, and you will get the following benefits:

Next-Day Shipping on gift card purchases on americanexpress.com/gift for a year
No limit, as often as you use for a year
No minimum purchase
New customer gets a 90-day free trial

An email I received today notifies that my free trial is about to expire. If I don’t cancel until the free trial ends, AmEx will charge $99 and process one-year enrollment. And they are going to send me $25 gift card as the thanks for an enrollment.

So, it is like a $25-off deal on Premium Shipping Plan. Since I intended to keep using the Plan anyway, I was very happy with this offer… However, after some research on the internet, there WAS a much better deal. According to Frequent Miler blog, there was a promo code to waive the fee of Premium Shipping Plan completely. Unfortunately, this code expired last month. I might have found and gotten this offer if my free trial expired last month.

What’s done is done. Now I have two options. One is to do nothing and let them charge $99 automatically, and then get $25 gift card. The other is to cancel Premium Shipping Plan and wait for a code to show up, which waives 100% of Premium Shipping Plan fee. If I take this option, I will lose the $25-off deal. Besides, nobody knows when the code shows up. Or nobody even knows if the code shows up again.

So, what I do is to pay attention to promotions for American Express Gift Card until my free trial expires. If the code shows up before it expires, I will cancel the Plan and then make a new enrollment with the code. Otherwise, I won’t do anything. AmEx will charge $99 automatically and send me $25 gift card. I purchase AmEx GCs every week or two. I don’t want to risk losing $25-off deal for the code that is uncertain to show up.

There are two weeks until my free trial expires. I hope the code will show up.

Amex Offer amazon already $20 back for $20+ Purchase

Posted on July 14, 2014September 6, 2014 by admin

Get a one-time $20 statement credit by using your enrolled Card to spend a total of $20 or more online at Amazon.com by 8/31/2014

I received this offer in July 2014. I purchased $20 Amazon E-Gift Card with AmEx card synced with this offer (Blue Cash Preferred). Usually, AmEx sends a confirmation email (picture below) in a minute, but I didn’t receive one this time.

I wondered e-gift card might not have been eligible for the offer. So, I logged in my AmEx account to double-check its terms and conditions. Then I noticed that $20 had been already credited to my account. ^^

I purchased the e-gift card on July 10th, and the credit was posted on the next day. Since amazon gift cards are eligible items for this offer, just buy a $20 gift card for a future purchase if you don’t find anything you want right now.

Another great offer became available at the same time. It’s for Staples.com

Get a one-time $15 statement credit by using your enrolled Card to spend a total of $100 or more on qualifying purchases online at Staples.com by 7/31/2014

I purchased $100 Sears gift card with the card. For this purchase, I received a confirmation email (2nd picture) right after the check-out. Please note that Staples offer is valid online only, and e-gift cards are not eligible items.

And today, I see another offer added. It’s for BestBuy. (sync up with Serve, too)

Get a one-time $25 statement credit by using your enrolled Card to spend a total of $250 or more at Best Buy by 9/2/2014

What generous offers! Thank you, American Express!

New Amex Offer at amazon.com and Staples.com

Posted on July 11, 2014 by admin

I just found two new Amex Offers. Both of them are really great.

Get $20 statement credit when you spend $20 or more at amazon.com (expires 8/31/2014)
Get $15 statement credit when you spend $100 or more at Staples.com (expires 7/31/2014)

They are both one-time deal on each card. I have two American Express cards, Blue Cash Preferred and Serve, but I don’t see these offers on Serve (facebook nor twitter).

Please note that e-gift card purchase are not eligible for the offer at Staples.com. It’s clearly described on the top row of Terms. Here is the full description of terms.

Offer valid online only at staples.com. E-Gift Card purchases sent directly to recipient’s email address are excluded. Quill, Smilemaker, Staples Business Advantage, Staples Toner Services, Staples Technology Solutions, Staples Promotional Products, Staples Print Solutions, Staples Contract & Commercial, Staples Simplexity & international purchases are excluded. If you order an item during the offer period but it is not sent to you until after 7/31/14, it may not count towards determining whether your purchase qualifies for the offer. Offer is non-transferable. Limit 1 statement credit per American Express online account. Enrollment for the offer is limited. Statement credit will appear on your billing statement within 90 days after 7/31/14, provided that American Express receives information from the merchant about your qualifying purchase. Statement credit may be reversed if qualifying purchase is returned/cancelled. If American Express does not receive information that identifies your transaction as qualifying for the offer, you will not receive the statement credit. For example, your transaction will not qualify if it is not made directly with the merchant. In addition, in most cases, you will not receive the statement credit if your transaction is made with an electronic wallet or through a third party or if the merchant uses a mobile or wireless card reader to process it. POID: BG3A:0001

I appreciate that American Express clearly describes terms because purchasing e-gift cards was the first thing I came up with when I saw the offer. Plus, they usually send a confirmation email right after you use a card synced with Amex Offer. So even if you order something, but don’t receive a confirmation email, you should check your order and re-read Terms to see if your order is eligible for the offer.

While e-gift card purchases are not eligible, physical gift card purchases seem to be OK. I plan to use this offer for either $200 Visa gift card (+$6.95 purchase fee) or $100 Sears gift card (+$1.99 shipping fee).

As for amazon, it seems any items are OK. So, I purchased $20 e-gift card. But it’s been 12 hours since check-out, I haven’t received a confirmation email from American Express. E-gift card may be excluded from eligible items. But I will wait and see for at least a week. I don’t have to rush. The offer at amazon.com expires on the end of August. There is plenty of time.

Serve Can’t Redeem AmEx GC Offer

Posted on July 11, 2014October 3, 2015 by admin

American Express Serve is a reloadable prepaid card. One of its benefits is that you can sync up with Amex offers. Currently, there is an offer of $10 statement credit on the purchase of $200 or more American Express gift cards online. (expires on 07/30/2014)

The offer was able to add to my Serve card, but you can’t redeem the offer because American Express doesn’t accept prepaid cards as payment for purchases of AmEx GCs.

After I had placed an order, I received an email from AmEx network. It said:

Thank you for using your synced American Express® Card

ending in xxxxx at AMEX GIFT CARDS!

Look out for a statement credit within 90 days.

Soon after, I received another email from AmEx. It said, “Your Card order cannot be completed.” Here are the details.

Thank you for placing your order for prepaid American Express Card(s). Unfortunately, we cannot fulfill order #1114xxxx at this time.

Your order was not fulfilled for the following reasons: At this time we do not accept gift cards as a form of payment.

It’s not big deal, but money I tried to use for AmEx GC has been on hold for a long time. It’s been three days after the check-out. The money is still on hold.

And here is how the page at BeFrugal.com (online shopping portal) show this transaction.

I kind of knew that AmEx wouldn’t accept prepaid cards for the purchase of AmEx GCs. However, Serve synced with this offer. So I thought it would be worth a try. I missed one thing. I didn’t expect Serve kept the money on hold for so long time. ~~You’d better not try to use prepaid cards for AmEx GCs~~.

Vanilla / OneVanilla / Target Visa Gift Card Problems

Posted on July 9, 2014July 9, 2014 by admin

It used to work before, but didn’t work yesterday. Since I found out that ShopDiscover, Discover’s shopping portal, pays out cash back on the purchase of Target Visa GCs, I have purchased many Target Visa GCs. It used to be able to reload American Express BlueBird/Serve with Target Visa GCs at Walmart MoneyCenter Express. But their system has recently updated so that it declines Prepaid gift cards issued by Bancorp, such as Vanilla, OneVanilla, and Target Visa GCs. I also used $100 Target Visa gift cards for purchases of Costco Cash Cards and got cash back at the same time. But now this isn’t available, either.

Visa GCs issued by Bancorp can’t be attached with your name or address. All you can do is to assign Zip code. Since online merchants can’t verify your billing name and address from the cards, many online merchants decline transactions.

So, for what can you use them?

Purchase at stores

You can use it anywhere it accepts Visa, purchase for merchandises that cost less than $100 in total. Depending on stores, you can use multiple GCs for a single transaction. You should ask store clerks at first.

Add to your amazon account

You can add not only Visa prepaid GCs, but also AmEx GCs to your amazon account. You can shop items at amazon.com. If you have “left-over” GCs, like $1.37 or $5.69 left, redeem for amazon e-codes. A great feature of amazon e-codes is that you can choose any amount in increment of as little as 1¢. (As of July 2014, an e-code can be purchase between $0.50 and $2,000.)

Send Via Amazon Payment

Since you can add prepaid GCs to your amazon account, you can send money to your friend, member of your family, or someone you can trust, through Amazon Payment. Unlike PayPal, Amazon Payment doesn’t charge a fee to send money from debit or credit cards. Someone who receives your money either sends back to you through Amazon Payment or withdraws to his or her bank account and then give you back in cash.

Add to your PayPal account

Even if an online merchant declines the card due to being unable to verify a billing name and address, you can pay through PayPal as long as online merchants accepts PayPal payment. Before adding the card to your PayPal account, you should assign Zip code in the website, www.mybalancenow.com. Otherwise, PayPal rejects the card.

Buy merchant gift cards

Unlike bank GCs, such as Visa, MasterCard, or AmEx GCs, merchant gift cards don’t charge a purchase fee. So, you can use up the card without leaving a small amount.

Tips of buying merchant GCs

Depending on stores, you may get a reward on the purchase of merchant GCs. For example, when you buy a $100 BestBuy GC at Stop & Shop supermarket, you will get a fuel reward, which you can save 10¢/gal. Sometimes, there is a promotion. During this promotion, the fuel reward you earn will be multiplied by 3 to 5.

Maximize Shop Your Way Fuel Reward

Kmart has also a fuel reward program. When you buy a $50 merchant GC, you will get a 30¢-off-per-gallon coupon. You can buy (2) $50 GCs with $100 Target Visa GC, but you should make two separate transactions to receive two coupons. If you buy Sears or Kmart GCs, you can use them at Kmart later. If you use the GCs for something that costs $50 or more, you will get another coupon. So, in the end, you will get four coupons out of (1) $100 Target Visa GC.

I needed to come up with these methods because I have many Target Visa GCs right now. My plan was reloading Serve and Walmart MoneyCard with them, and also getting cash back at stores whenever I got a chance. But that is no longer available. I’m not going to order Target Visa GCs anymore unless ShopDiscover has a promotion, or I get a new credit card with sign-up bonus, etc.

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