Discover

A result of Q2 Discover Cash Back

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Background

discover itI enrolled in Discover’s “Double All Cash Back” promotion last month. It’s a great promo they literally double all cash back you earn for twelve statement cycle. My promotion started on 6/12. Since then, I’ve been using their shopping portal (Discover Deals) more often. And it will be no problem to earn a full of Q3 category bonus. The bonus offers cash back for up to $1500 spent at home improvement, department stores, or amazon.com. I regularly spend more than $1500 at home improvement stores. Even if I don’t spend that much, I can buy third-party GCs at Lowes or VGCs at Sears to get a full of category bonus.

Last Quarter, however, wasn’t easy to earn. Q2 category bonus was restaurant and movie. First of all, I don’t spend very much on these categories. Second, if I seriously wanted to save more money, I would have bought GCs from GCs resellers with more discount. There are 10% or even 20+% off GCs for restaurants and movies. Thus, I used my Discover card only a few times at restaurants when I enrolled in “Double All Cash Back” promotion.

The promotion will give you another 5% cash back. So, I thought there might be a way to earn a full of bonus cash back effectively. After some research, I found Fandango might be used for this purpose. And I bought $50 e-gift card as a test.

Earn Cash Back on Discover 2nd Rotating Category 2015

I made some mistakes. I assume that Save ya accepts Fandango e-gift cards, but they don’t. And I couldn’t tell from recent activity at Discover website whether or not cash back would post. But I thought cash back from DD would most likely post because I received a confirmation email. So, I bought five $100 physical GCs. Since physical GCs took longer to arrive than I expected, I couldn’t buy more GCs in Q2.

Discover Double All Cash Back and Q2 Bonus Category

Result

Now that statement closed, I can see the result.

  • 5% CBB- RESTAURANTS AND MOVIES + $28.07
  • SHOPDISCOVER 10% – FANDANGO.CO + $55.00

I spent $559.75 in total. Shipping cost and purchase fee ($9.75) is not eligible for cash back of DD. $55 came from $550 spent. It’s easy to confirm. As for 5% category bonus, $28.07*0.05=$27.99. It posted a little more because I spent a few dollars at a coffee shop. So, both of 5% category bonus and DD have been posted without a problem.

Lastly, It’s off-topic, but I wonder why they still use SHOPDISCOVER for some merchants in a statement while some of them are written as DDEALS in a statement.detailed rewars activity

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.

 

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.

My First Discover Deals Experience

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ShopDiscover now Discover Deals

On January 8th, ShopDiscover became Discover Deals. Discover Deals also combined Discover Extra with it. My first impression was that it was a little hard to navigate in the website pages. But I will get used to it. My first purchase through Discover Deals was Kmart.com. It’s 5% cash back now. Several days ago, it was 10%. It seems that it was a promotion for the holiday. Since sometime in 2014, ShopDiscover stopped displaying promotions clearly. It used to be like that picture below.

additional bonus at shopdiscover

You were able to see clearly that a promotion was ongoing and which merchant offers additional 5% cash back. I think Discover Deals still offer the same types of promotions, but they don’t show clearly. So, you will need to pay attention. I expect the next one will be Valentine promotion, and it will start in a few weeks.

Terms and conditions of cash back seem the same. I was worried that they would get strict about a type of payment. ShopDiscover paid cash back even when I used other credit card or merchant gift card for purchases. My first transaction after January 8th was at Kmart.com. I used GCs, and two days later, I received email from Discover that informs I earned cash back. So, I believe that it’s OK with Discover Deals. I think that changes are only a name and design of web pages.

In fact, the statement of my Discover card, which closed on November 11th, 2014, already shows “DDEALS #% CCB – merchant name + $####.” I used merchant gift cards for all transactions, and they paid cash back anyway.

The statements of my Discover card says, “DDEALS 10% CCB – SEARS” since November. However, now you can’t find SEARS in a list of Discover Deals. Come to think of it, some merchants had “Discover Deals” tag or frame for the last few months in ShopDiscover pages. I don’t remember how they were for all merchants, but I do remember Kmart had the tag and Sears didn’t. It’s not a big problem, though. I found 5% cash back at ShopAtHome. And depending on categories you are going to purchase, TopCashback offers up to 7% cash back on Sears purchases.

One more thing. I had expected that Target would come back to the list on this occasion. But, it didn’t come back. ShopDiscover’s offer for Target was so special that I longed for its coming back. However, it seems that Target was not temporarily removed from the list but permanently.

Discover Extra was merged into Discover Deals. There are other types of deals you can browse, “Statement Credit” and “Instant Saving.” I checked all of them, but I can’t find anything interest to me. I guess these types of deals require you to use Discover card for the transactions.

It’s kind of disappointing that Sears is no longer partner. That’s about it. The changes are not much impact on me. And I hope Discover Deals will continue to offer an additional 5% cash back of a seasonal promotion. (Valentine next?)

You need to be a card holder to use Discover Deals. My card is Discover it. In addition to an access to Discover Deals, it offers 5% rotating category. Please click here to see details of Discover it card.

Discover New 5% Cashback Bonus of Your Choice

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discover 5 percent cashback choiceToday, I logged in my Discover account, and I felt something unfamiliar on the page. There are three lines in 5% Cashback Bonus section. One is “Gas Station”, which is 3rd quarter of rotating category. The other one is “Online Shopping and Department Store”, which is 4th quarter. And there is another one between these two. It was telling me to activate now. I clicked and got to know a new special offer.

5% cashback bonus on up to $1000 purchases in-store and online at a store of your choice from October through November

The time-frame overlaps with 4th quarter’s rotating category a little, but they are different offers. You need to choose one among the following stores, Applebee’s, Olive Garden, Bed Bath and Beyond, Shell, Lowes, and Walgreen.

  • Applebee’s and Olive Garden – I don’t often go. I’m definitely not going to spend $1000 there.
  • Bed Bath and Beyond – I don’t shop. They don’t sell other store’s gift cards
  • Shell – The gas station I primarily use. Although I drive a lot. I spend money a little (read Gasoline articles for details). And my local Shell don’t sell gift cards
  • Lowes and Walgreen – You can find their stores gift cards with around 10% discount. If you buy merchandises in these stores, getting discounted gift card can save more. However, they sell other stores gift cards. Especially, Walgreen has $500 ($20-$500 variable amount) Vanilla Visa gift cards, and the selection of gift cards is much better than Lowes.

discover special offer your choiceSo, I chose Walgreen and activated the offer.

I have three credit cards with rotating category, Chase freedom, Citi dividend, and Discover it. Go shopping at department stores with Chase freedom, at Bestbuy with Citi dividend, at Walgreen and online shopping with Discover it card. I will be really busy the following months.

Cashback Rate of ShopDiscover back to Normal Sears/Macy’s/Starbucks

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Today, I noticed that ShopDiscover cashback rate of Sears.com lowered from 10% to 5%. I checked other retailers, and as long as I remember the following retailers’ has been reduced by 5%.

  • Sears 10% ⇒ 5%
  • Kmart 10% ⇒ 5%
  • Lands End 10% ⇒ 5%
  • Moosejaw 15% ⇒ 10%
  • Macy’s 10% ⇒ 5%
  • Sport Authority 10% ⇒ 5%
  • Starbucks 10% ⇒ 5%

mothers day bonus shopdiscoverThey reduced, but actually the rates of these retailers got back to normal. The rates are the same as they were a month ago. (read previous post to see details) After all, it seems that it was ShopDiscover’s temporary and seasonal (maybe back-to-school?) bonus offer. Before, ShopDiscover shows bonus as pictured. And they might stop doing it for some reasons.

Despite the reduction, ShopDiscover is still one of the best cash back portals. No other portal sites beat ShopDiscover’s cashback redemption options. (See details here) And I think there is another seasonal bonus offer just around the corner.

ShopDiscover Pays 10% Cash Back at Sears

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shopdiscover 10 percent cash back at searsThere are so many changes recently that cause a slowdown on my manufactured spending or negative effect on my reselling business, but I noticed that some changes in Discover’s online shopping portal, ShopDiscover, that is good to (at least) me. It used be 5% cash back on purchases at Sears.com, but now it’s 10%. As you see in the picture on the right, it doesn’t look like seasonal, holiday, or temporary offer. It seems a new, regular, and permanent cash back rate (until they change the rates in the future.)

It is not only Sears, but also Kmart, Lands End, and probably more retailers. Since I don’t memorize all retailers’ cash back rate, I can’t tell all changes, but here are the retailers ShopDiscover now pays more:

  • Sears 5% → 10%
  • Kmart 5% → 10%
  • Lands End 5% → 10%
  • Macy’s 5% → 10%
  • Starbucks 5% → 10%
  • Moosejaw 10% → 15%

Other retailers I usually shop stay the same cash back rate. So, this change is very grateful to me. In order not to miss these changes, you should visit cash back comparing sites such as cashbackholic.com and cashbackmonitor.com.

To use ShopDiscover, you need to be a cardholder of one of Discover’s cards. I believe ShopDiscover is the best online shopping portal of all. No other portals could compete with various ways of ShopDisocver’s reward redemption. (for more details, read “King of Cash Back! “Discover it” Card Review.”)

 

Attention! Lands End Gift Card not Redeemable at Sears or Kmart

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This first happened to me a month ago (May 2014). I purchased Lands End’s e-codes at Raise.com. I wanted to buy something at Sears.com, but I got an error message “please enter valid card number and PIN.” However, at Land’s End.com, it was valid. I called the number for automated balance inquiry of both Sears and Lands End. It was the same as online. Sears told me invalid number, while Lands End has no problem.

I thought this e-codes were something special that were available only at Lands End. I contacted with Raise and told the problem, and they refunded several days later. Because the e-code I got was not as described in their website. They describe that Lands End gift cards are also available at Sears and Kmart.

Today, I just redeemed my Discover credit reward for Land’s End e-code which is 20% bonus ($25 e-code for $20 reward dollars.) And this e-code also has the same problem. This time, I can’t blame on Discover because terms and condition of Lands End gift cards doesn’t say you can use it at Sears or Kmart. It just says “redeemable at landsend.com and in Lands’ End consumer catalogs, including Home, Women, Men and Kids.” It doesn’t mention about Sears or Kmart at all.

I called Lands End customer center. They told me Lands End gift cards (LEGCs) were redeemable at Sears and Kmart, and I saw an error message because of a problem in the website. So I called Sears customer center. They told terms and condition of LEGC has changed, and LEGCs are no longer redeemable at Sears or Kmart.

This problem, however, affect on newer LEGCs. I have several LEGCs that I got a few month ago, and they don’t show an error message when I enter numbers at Sears.com. Something in common is that some LEGCs that I got recently can’t use at Sears.com or Kmart.com.

What about in store? My local Sears has Lands End inside. There is no partition. All cashiers look the same. I guess it doesn’t matter which gift cards (Sears/Kmart/Lands End) you use in my local Sears. I went to Sears to make sure. I showed a print-out of e-code to a store clerk at a cashier of the tool section, which is clearly not Lands End. The clerk told me it was redeemable at only Lands End section. I mentioned that I used to use lots of LEGCs at Sears and Kmart, both in store and online. The clerk said “About a month ago, the rule of LEGCs has changed. Now, LEGCs are redeemable at Lands End section only.”

However, you can use Sears and Kmart gift cards at Land End. And I verified that old LEGCs (that is more than a month old) continue to use at Sears and Kmart.

I have redeemed Discover’s reward for LEGCs all the time, but I won’t do it anymore. That’s because I don’t shop any Lands End’s products. I have been using LEGCs for purchases at Sears and Kmart. Fortunately, I only redeemed $20 (and got $25 of LEGC) today. I have over $700 reward right now. Thank God, I didn’t redeem all of it.

From now on, I will redeem Discover’s reward for Sears or Kmart gift cards which are offered by 10% discount, or Staples gift cards which are offered by 20% discount. But Staples GCs are only a denomination of $25 and physical card only.

lands end gift card not accepted at sears kmartAnyway, if you use gift cards to save money on purchases at Sears or Kmart, you’d better avoid purchasing LEGCs. At least, LEGCs from Discover’s reward redemption is no longer good for Sears and Kmart. And gift card exchange sites, such as Cardpool, ABC Gift Cards, you will need to confirm that LEGCs are redeemable at Sears and Kmart. At eBay auction, it is the same, you should contact the seller and make sure of it before bidding. And one more thing, if you see a picture on the right in eBay listing, it is a great chance that the item is “NEW LEGC”, meaning that you can’t use at Sears or Kmart. It will be clear if you ask the seller about it, though.

Take precautions when purchasing Lands End Gift Cards!!!

King of Cash Back! “Discover it” Card Review

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“Discover it” is a credit card which I earn cash back the most every month among all credit cards I have. I think that this is the best card for those who shop online a lot. Discover’s online mall, ShopDiscover has over 200 retailers. This number is much fewer than other online portals such as Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi Shopping Center, but ShopDiscover covers most of major retailers. I can find almost all retailers I usually shop in ShopDiscover. Although it has fewer retailers, some retailers can find ONLY in ShopDiscover, like Moosejaw.com, Harborfreight.com. Shopping through ShopDiscover gives you at least 5% cash back. As compared ShopDiscover’s cash back bonus of my favorite retailers with other online portals, I found some of them are the same, but most of them are better.

It is my first credit card which offers the reward (cash back). When I just received the card, I was so happy about 5% cash back on rotating category and 1% on everything else. And it is a shame that I didn’t know about online portals and hadn’t used it for first 4 months although I made many online purchases. I have missed so much cash back during that time. So, for those who don’t know about online portals, here is a walk-through of ShopDiscover.

Please note that ShopDiscover became Discover Deals on January 8th, 2015. Click here to see details.

Login and click “See Retailers”

enter shopdiscover

Either type a name of retailer or choose in a drop-down list

search a retainer at shopdiscover

Click “Start Shopping” and complete a check-out

start shopping thru shopdiscover

 

Mostly in a few days, you will receive an email look like the below

shopdiscover confirmation emal

Sometimes, ShopDiscover page looks like this

shopdiscover additional bonus

The seasonal or occasional bonus offer. Not all but many retailers offer additional 5% cash back. Here is an example, Macy’s.com’s page.

mothers day bonus shopdiscover

You will see this type of bonus very often throughout a year! While 5% cash back on rotating category are capped $1500 on the purchase each quarter, cash back earned through ShopDiscover is NO LIMIT! The more you buy, the more you earn!

Please note that ShopDiscover became Discover Deals on January 8th, 2015. Click here to see details.

There is another point I like “Discover it” card the best. That is its great redemption options. Here is a list of options.

  • Statement Credit
  • Direct Deposit
  • Partner Gift Cards
  • Discover Gift Cards
  • Charitable Donation
  • Pay with Cashback Bonus

redeem cashback for partners gift cardsBasically, one reward dollar= one USD. However, when you redeem for partner gift cards, one reward dollar can be worth more than one USD or even doubles. Partner gift cards (over 150 retailers’) are ALL on sale. You can get $50 Macy’s gift card for $45 reward dollar (10% discount), $25 Lands End gift card for $20 (20% discount), most gift cards in travel and vacation category are more than 50% off!

pay with cashback bonusNever choose “Pay with Cashback Bonus”. This feature, which is also found in Ultimate Reward, lets you redeem your reward dollar directly at amazon.com. If you do so, you can’t get any cash back through the transaction at amazon. If you redeem for statement credit, or direct deposit and then make a purchase at amazon.com with Discover card, you will get 1% cash back. So, don’t use this feature unless you need it for some reasons.

Like Chase Freedom and Citi Dividend, “Discover it” offer 5% cash back on rotating category. Discover’s Q4 is very unique and useful. This offer is capped $1500 on purchases each quarter. If you want some ideas to get  a full cash back ($300 a year) from Rotating Category.

Overall, “Discover It” is the best cash back credit card for those who shop online. Any other online portals don’t offer as good rewards as ShopDiscover. And you can’t see so many gift cards with discount to redeem.  That is all about King of Cash Back “Discover it” and why I like it the best.