PayPal

PayPal Extras MasterCard Extra Bonus Rewards Offer

Posted on April 8, 2015 by admin

I received a new offer for PayPal Extras MasterCard. A type of offer is an extra bonus point with a purchase.

Overview

You can earn one extra point for every dollar spent through April 30th. It includes PayPal and eBay purchases.

3X points for every dollar at gas stations and restaurants are now 4X
2X points for every dollar at PayPal and eBay are now 3X
1X points for every dollar on all other purchases are now 2X

Limit

Extra bonus points you can earn through this offer is capped at only 2200 pts.

Activation

As usual, you need to activate the offer by clicking a link in the email to earn bonus points.

Summary

This offer is not exciting. Any types of promos that offers extra bonus points aren’t really great. That’s because there is a limit of reward points you can earn in a year (50000 pts.) Besides, a maximum bonus points you can earn through this promo is only 2200 pts. However, the email implies that there will be another offer the following month. I expect the other types of offers for the next one, like statement credit or gift card.

PayPal Extras MasterCard Special Offer

Posted on January 25, 2015January 25, 2015 by admin

PayPal Extras MasterCard credit card is not really popular because of low value of reward points. And it’s capped at 50,000 pts (≤$500) annually. Click PayPal Extras MasterCard reviews to see details. I have a cardholder for a year, and I got to know that they occasionally send a special offer. I’m satisfied with the offers. They give you statement credit or e-gift card, so it has nothing to do with reward points. Even if you have earned 50,000 points, you can get these offers. Here are some examples:

You receive an email that has a link to activate the offer. You must activate the offer by clicking a link before you use the card. I was really surprised that there were four offers in December, 2014. I received new offers almost every week that month.

It’s much easier to redeem the offers than Amex Offers. Amex Offers are similar, using the card and receiving statement credit. But for PayPal offers, you can use the card to redeem the offers in any stores.

There is one minor problem. Unlike Amex Offers, you can’t tell if you redeem the offers properly until you receive statement credit. So, it’s better to keep a record. I decided to keep a record here in this blog. The following is the first offer I received in 2015:

It’s very easy! I’m going to buy $50 e-gift card on eBay. $20 statement credit is 40% back. I will also earn eBay Bucks and 2X reward points.

$50 PayPal Business Debit MasterCard Promotional Credit Received

Posted on December 19, 2014 by admin

Today, I received an confirmation email that I earned $50 PayPal credit of this promotion. The terms of the promotion was simple. Use PayPal Business Debit MasterCard (PPBD) for purchases of more than $5000 between around end of September and November 15th. Only signature purchases are eligible for the promotion.

I’ve spent at least $5000 during the promo period, but an amount I actually spent for *normal* purchases is $1500 or so. For the rest of it, I used for online reloads to American Express Serve and Chime Prepaid Card. I’ve reloaded Serve for $1000 each in Oct and Nov. And for 15 days from the beginning of this promo, I load Chime Prepaid card for $100 each day. Back then, Chime didn’t charge a fee for reloading the card with PPBD. But after Oct 8th, they charge 3% fee. I haven’t been using PPBD for Chime reloads since then.

By only online reloads to Serve and Chime, I would earn $30 credit by online reloads. So, $1500 is a spending to get extra $20 credit. It is like 1.3333% cash back. It doesn’t sound great, but you can also earn 1% of PPBD’s regular cash back.

And, since I set PayPal Extras MasterCard credit card as funding source of PPBD, I also earned 1500 points (worth $12.50 for cash back=0.83%, $15 for gift card on sale=1%.)

What’s more? What I bought was $2000 American Express Gift Card. Topcashback offered 3% cash back for AmEx GCs at that time.

Considering all cash back, this was a very good offer. But I haven’t seen any other offers from PPBD. Unlike PPBD, PayPal Extras MasterCard credit card often sends me special offers, such as “Get $10 free GC for $50 or more purchase on eBay” and “Earn 3 x $10 statement credit for $50 or more purchase on eBay.” You can easily redeem these offers by purchasing GCs from the sellers “giftcardmall” or “paypal_digital_gifts.”

eBay Deals 6% off eBay Gift Code

Posted on November 4, 2014November 4, 2014 by admin

Last week, it was 15% off Sears gift cards (it ended.) Starting today, eBay offers 6% off eBay gift code. The deal is only for the denomination of $100 gift code. There are no terms and conditions in the listing. But when I entered more than 2 in the box of quantity, the message showed up. “Purchases are limited to 1 per buyer.”

I’d better not use another eBay account to buy more GCs. That may probably be against their policy, and they would cancel all orders just like it happened to me two weeks ago.

So, I purchased one code with one of my eBay account. The delivery was fast. Within 15 minutes, I received an email with the gift code in my PayPal registered email address.

You can buy eBay GCs with eBay GCs. If you want a physical card, you can buy it later.

Hurry! I guess the deal won’t last so long. The rate of discount is a far less than Sears GCs, but eBay GCs are much more versatile and valuable. As you can see, it says, “Almost Gone.”

10% off Sears Gift Card still available on eBay

Posted on October 26, 2014October 26, 2014 by admin

I received email on Oct 22nd, and it said “Today Only.” But the deal has existed since then. 10% Discount Sears Gift Card on eBay. Limit two $100 GCs or one $200 GC per person.

The description says “Purchase limit ….. per eBay user ID.” This made me think it would be OK to buy more than $200 GCs with multiple eBay IDs. So I purchased (8) $100 GCs in total with my four different IDs. Hours later, I received warning messages to all my eBay accounts. (see details here)

Today, I received email from PayPal that told me Giftcardmall had issued a refund. As you see, there are four emails. eBay canceled each transaction of each ID.

10 percent off sears gc cancelation

As long as I can tell, you can’t buy more than $200 Sears GC during the promotion with multiple IDs and ONE PayPal account. I don’t know if you can buy more when you use different PayPal addresses as well as eBay user IDs.

My question is “now that all transactions are canceled, can I buy just one $200 Sears GCs?” I tried to purchase, but there is an error message, “Unfortunately, these items are not available. They may have been purchased already or the item listing has expired”

Now I know I had lost the deal, and it’s not retrievable. If you haven’t bought yet, don’t try to buy more than the limit or lost all deals.

Get $30 or $50 PayPal Credit by Using PayPal Business Debit MasterCard

Posted on September 25, 2014 by admin

Today, I received an email. It is about an offer for PayPal Business Debit MasterCard users. Every signature purchases made between now and November 15th:

Earn a $30 PayPal account credit for signature purchases totaling $3,000 or more
Earn a $50 PayPal account credit for signature purchases totaling $5,000 or more

Purchases have to be made with a signature, which is also necessary to earn a regular 1% cash back. Purchases with using PIN and cash withdrawals are not counted as a qualified purchase for this offer.

My regular spending

I exclusively use PayPal Business Debit MasterCard for reloading American Express Serve and Chime prepaid card. For AmEx Serve, the limit is $1000 per month. I have already loaded Serve this month. So, I will be able to load $1000 each in Oct and Nov, totaling $2000. For Chime prepaid card, I can load $100 per day until Oct 8th and $200 after Oct 8th. However, after Oct 8th, Chime will start charging a fee for loading the card with some debit cards. PayPal Business Debit MasterCard is probably one of the debit cards that Chime will charge a fee. If so, I’m not going to use PayPal debit card for loading Chime card. I have already loaded today. So, I can load Chime card with PayPal debit card for 15 times (days), totaling $1500. By the date the offer ends, the total of purchases made with my regular spending would be $3500. It qualifies for $30 credit!

Should I do extra work for $50 credit?

You can take either one of $30 or $50 credit, not both of them. And they are both 1% cash back. There is no bonus even if you spend more ($5000). So, it is not necessary to do extra spend to get $50 credit. However, I will have spent $3500 until the offer ends for sure, and it is only $1500 short for $50 credit. So I will probably use PayPal debit card somewhere else to get $50 credit. I should be careful with using the card as Credit, not Debit when I use at stores.

PayPal Prepaid MasterCard Reviews

Posted on September 20, 2014November 22, 2015 by admin

PayPal Prepaid MasterCard is a reloadable debit card issued by The Bancorp Bank. The benefits of the card are that you can add money from your PayPal account instantly and open a 5% APY savings account. Plus, it has a reward program.

PayPal Instant Transfer

You can move money from your PayPal account to a prepaid card in no time. Limited $300 per day and $2000 per month. If you need to load more, use PayPal Basic Transfer or other methods. Please note that money has to be in PayPal account for a transfer. Money won’t move from backup funding sources such as credit cards or debit cards.

Savings Account

Any cardholder can open savings account that offer 5% APY. There is no minimum balance to open or maintain a savings account. They offer 5% APY on $5000 or less in the account. For the portion that exceeds $5000, they still offer 0.5% APY. You can take money out from savings account to prepaid account six times per month. Transferring from prepaid to savings is unlimited.

How to Add Money

Here are all the ways to add money to PayPal Prepaid MasterCard.

Direct Deposit – Free
Bank Transfer – Free (your bank may charge a fee)
PayPal – Free (Instantly $300 per day, $2000 per month by PayPal Instant Transfer. Use PayPal Basic Transfer to add a larger amount. It takes 3 to 5 business days.)
Reload Pack – Up to $4.95 for a purchase fee
Reloads Center – $2 to $5 depending on retail locations

Fees

Monthly Fee – $4.95 (There is no option to avoid a monthly fee. They charge $4.95 on 11th of each month.)
ATM Withdrawal – $1.95 + ATM owner’s fee

Rewards

As I wrote this page, I don’t have any information about its Rewards Program. Before I applied the card, I learned at least there was a reward program, but there were no details in their website. I searched on the internet, but I couldn’t find the details, either. That is probably because most of writers of review sites don’t actually own the card, or they don’t use the card. Rewards are targeted offers. The issuer sends them based on your shopping habit. If you don’t use the card much, you don’t see any offers. I haven’t been using much, so there have been no offers so far. I will make some experiments and upload results on the other page. Here are the posts related to Rewards Program.

Payback Rewards of PayPal Prepaid MasterCard 11/2014
My First Cash Back Rewards from PayPal Prepaid MasterCard 07/2015
PayPal Prepaid Payback Rewards for Sears and Kmart 09/2015
PayPal Prepaid MasterCard Rewards Dos and Don’ts 11/2015
10% PayPal Prepaid Payback Rewards for Rite-Aid purchase 11/2015

Summery

PayPal Prepaid MasterCard has a savings account which offer 5% APY. You can open and maintain savings account with no minimum balance. Unlike Mango Money Card, you don’t need to enroll direct deposit to earn higher APY. Adding money from your PayPal or bank account is free. $4.95 monthly fee is non-avoidable. If you keep $1200 or more in a savings account, interest offsets monthly fee, and you can start saving. Apply through this link to get $5 sign-up bonus.

Chime Card Reviews

Posted on August 18, 2014July 7, 2015 by admin

Chime Card is Reloadable Prepaid Debit Card that has a logo of Visa on it. Since it is a debit card, you can withdraw cash at ATM and get cash back with a purchase where available. But, the main feature of the card is that you can earn Instant Cash Back when you make qualifying purchases with the card.

Chime Offer

There are two types of rewards you can earn with Chime card, Earned Credit and Store Credit. Earned Credit is just like Amex Offer. Spend a certain amount at certain store and you will get certain amount credit. This type of offers looks like a left picture. One thing that is different from Amex Offer is you don’t need to sync with offers. As long as you use the card for a purchase that costs more than a requirement, you will get the credit. Store Credit has no minimum requirement and looks like a right picture. No matter how much you spend you will earn the credit. If you spend less than the amount they offer, you will receive the same amount of credit as you spend. The remaining balance of credit is kept for the next purchase.

How to Add Money

There are three ways to add money to Chime card.

Debit Card – ~~$100~~ $200 per day
Bank Transfer – $200 per day
Direct Deposit

~~None of them is charged a fee.~~ Some debit cards are charged up to 3% as a reload fee. Click here to see more details about charges. If you have a reward/point earning debit card, use it. You can do it online or with a mobile app. Money is available in no time. For example, PayPal Business Debit MasterCard offers 1% cash back for every purchase. Transferring money to Chime account is treated as a purchase in PayPal statement. So, you can earn 1% cash back every time you add money to the card.

A limit of $100 per day seems a little, but all Chime offers are mostly less than $50 (e.g., spend $35, get $5). And I have never seen an offer more than $100. When you find a good offer and don’t have enough money in the card. No problem. You can use the internet or smartphone to add money in a minute.

Fees

They charge a fee for the following transactions

Domestic Cash Withdrawal Fee: $2.50 per transaction
ATM Balance Inquiry Fee: $0.50 per transaction
Account Maintenance Fee: $5.00 per month ONLY AFTER 180 consecutive days of no purchases, withdrawals, or deposits on your account.
International Transaction Fee: 3% of the total purchase amount
International Cash Withdrawal Fee*: $2.50 + 3% of the total withdrawal amount
Check Refund Fee: $5.00 per check issued
Express Card Replacement Fee: $25.00 per card issued

As long as you use the card for redeeming Chime offers, you won’t get charged any fees. $5 for maintenance fee is avoidable. Any transaction you made waives the fee for 180 days. It is hard to get charged!

What Else?

On the back of the card, at the bottom, it says:

This card is issued by The Bancorp Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A Inc.

It reminds me of something. The Bancorp Bank also issues Visa gift cards. Vanilla, OneVanilla, and Target Visa gift cards are all issued by the same bank. Since Walmart updated POS system, these gift cards can’t be used for reloading American Express BlueBird, Serve, or other reloadable prepaid cards (see details here.) Apparently, the problem is that these gift cards can’t be registered (or attached your name and billing address) because of their feature. However, Chime card is personalized. Your name and address are surely attached to the card so you can make online orders. And your name is also on the card. There is nothing shady to use the card for reloading BlueBird/Serve at Walmart.

So, I went to Walmart Kiosk and added $100 to my Serve card with Chime card. The transaction went through, and here is how it looks like in Chime history.

This is great! When I add money to Chime with PayPal debit card, I got 1% cash back from PayPal. But you can bring money back to PayPal through Serve and Bank account. You can load Serve or Bluebird with PayPal debit card directly, in the same way, at Walmart, but this transaction is a PIN-used purchase which PayPal doesn’t offer 1% cash back.

I also shopped at grocery stores. I used self-checkout cashiers and got $50 (Pathmark) and $80 (Stop and Shop) cash back. ($50 and $80 are the maximum amounts for cash back allowed by self-checkout cashiers)

Aside from Chime Offer, the card can also be used for manufactured spending if you have a point/reward earning debit card. I wrote “there is nothing shady” earlier, but I think you should do these kinds of things moderately. Check all Chime Offers every week and redeem them from time to time, and reload BlueBird/Serve between these transactions.The history of Chime card shouldn’t be only Walmart and Debit Card Transfer.

Summery

Chime Offer is very good for money savings. You can see new offers every week. Each offer has a limited number, but it doesn’t fly away so quickly at least for now. As long as you use the card for redeeming Chime Offers, you won’t get charged any fee if you make any transaction within 180 days. If you add money to the card with point/reward earning debit cards, you can boost up the earning by reloading BlueBird/Serve or get cash back at registers.

You can only apply the card online. Please click here to get started.

Earn $30 through PayPal Credit Card Promotion

Posted on June 3, 2014June 3, 2014 by admin

I received an email about Father’s Day Promotion by PayPal Extras MasterCard. According to the email, you will get $10 statement credit for every eBay purchases of $50 or more made with PayPal Extras MasterCard between June 2nd and 15th in 2014, a maximum of $30 in statement credit. It doesn’t say anything about eligible or non-eligible items, so it seems any purchase on eBay will be qualified. Currently, I bid at many auctions of gift cards, but I’m not sure if I will win and spend $50 or more on eBay by June 15th. So, I bought one $50 eBay gift card for now, and maybe two more later if I don’t win any actions.

Make sure to activate offer prior to purchases.

This is an easy $30 statement credit earning!!!

2X Points on eBay Shipping and Seller Fees with PayPal Extras MasterCard

Posted on April 25, 2014May 20, 2014 by admin

To maximize the reward of PayPal Extras MasterCard, let’s make all PayPal transactions charge on PayPal Extras MasterCard. Once you active the credit card, make sure that PayPal Extras MasterCard is your preferred way to pay with PayPal. When you buy something on eBay, it automatically charges on the card. It doesn’t matter you have enough money in your PayPal account, or you added other credit cards or bank accounts, it charges on the credit card as long as you choose this option.

However, PayPal Extras MasterCard can’t be used as an automatic or recurring payment, such as monthly membership fee of health club, subscribing a magazine, etc. Although you choose PayPal credit card is your preferred way to pay with PayPal, these payments withdraw from a regular PayPal account or bank account or charge on other credit card. If you want to earn 2x reward points on these payments, you need to cancel subscriptions and pay each month. (or year, every time, etc)

eBay shipping labels and selling fees are the type of payment that you can’t pay automatically. eBay shipping labels and selling fees are not cheap, I’m sure all sellers want to save money on these payments. Here is how to pay eBay shipping labels and fees with PayPal Extras MasterCard.

Step 1: Choose PayPal Extras MasterCard is your preferred way to pay with PayPal

Probably, it’s been already done when you got approved or activated the card. Just make sure.

Step 2: Cancel Automatic Payment for eBay Shipping Labels and Selling Fees

Click “Update” on the row of “My preapproved payments”

Find “eBay Inc” in a list and click

Click “Cancel” and do the same for “eBay Inc Shipping” (Don’t worry about a discount on labels you are receiving from eBay. It will continue.)

Step 3-1: Pay eBay selling fees

Go to your My eBay and click “Account” tab and Click “one-time payment” in a section of “Payment methods for Seller Fees” and complete the transaction.

From now on, you have to do this every month. Don’t bother click “Change automatic payment method” and enter card# of PayPal Extras MasterCard. You can successfully set up an automatic payment in this way, but you will earn only 1x reward points because the transactions don’t go through PayPal.

Step 3-2: Print eBay Shipping labels

Go to the page of shipping labels, click “Purchase postage” With the box unchecked. Enter email address and password of your PayPal account and complete the transaction.

From now on, always leave the box unchecked. And you will need to enter the password every time you pay for shipping labels.

Paying all PayPal transactions by PayPal MasterCard will boost your earning of reward points. Remember that you can redeem the points for gift cards. The higher face value of gift cards you check out, the higher value of points. For example, $25 Sears gift card needs 3300 points (1pt=$0.00757), $200 needs 22500 (1pt=$0.00888). Enjoy your rewards!

Ways to Save Money when Shopping

Money Saving Strategies