SYWR

Shop Your Way Rewards – Extra VIP Choice Benefit between 12/1/15-12/31/15

Posted on November 17, 2015November 17, 2015 by admin

I received a letter from Shop Your Way. It says that there will be another VIP Choice Benefit in December. SYW offers VIP Choice Benefit every quarter. I have already redeemed 4th quarters’, but they offer another one for December.

VIP Choice Benefit is a special deal for VIP members available every quarter. VIP members can choose one of the high-value coupons and redeem. Here are some examples from 3rd quarter of this year.

To receive extra VIP Choice Benefit, I will need to go to Sears and make a purchase between 6 and 9 pm on November 22nd. The letter doesn’t mention about minimum or eligible/excluded items. Probably, it’s only important to take this letter and have it scanned at that time. Here is the letter.

They call it “VIP Member Exclusive Invitation – Members Private Night.”

I won’t be able to see Extra VIP Choice Benefits until December. I hope they will be as good as regular ones (offered quarterly.)

If you want to know more about Shop Your Way Rewards, click here.

1800flowers and Shopping Portals and Partners

Posted on October 4, 2015October 25, 2015 by admin

Many portals offer a good rate for the purchase at 1800flowers.com. I personally and exclusively use Discover Deals for 1800flowers. The following information is only from my experience with DD. So, results may not be the same when you use other online shopping portals.

GC purchase

Purchases of 1800flowers gift cards are eligible for cash back. The gift card is redeemable at 1800baskets, Cheryls, The popcorn factory, Fanny May, and fruit bouquets, too.

GC redemption

According to terms of DD, GC redemption is not eligible for cash back.

Purchase with coupon

There are always some coupons available. When you click through 1800flowers link and use coupon, you may receive a confirmation email of cash back from DD, but it will be clawed back.

Others

Shipping, Tax, or other service fees are excluded. A confirmation email of cash back won’t be sent until an item is shipped or delivered.

6 Brands, 1 Account, 1 Checkout

In 1800flowers website, you can visit stores of other 5 brands, 1800baskets, Cheryls, The popcorn factory, Fanny May, fruit bouquets with 1-click on the tabs. When you enter 1800flowers first, then click the tab of 1800baskets, a web address is www.1800flowers.com/1800baskets-home. If you click other tabs, it’s the same, www.1800flowers.com/other stores name-home. Even if you buy a bucket of popcorn, a web address always starts with 1800flowers. If you enter the Cheryls website and then buy a fruit bouquets’ item, a web address always starts with www.cheryls.com.

You can take advantage of this fact when cash back rates of 6 brands are different. For example, when 1800flowers’ cash back rate is 15%, and 1800baskets’ is 20%. Even if you want to send flowers, you’d better enter the website via 1800baskets’ link. After you enter the website, go to 1800flowers by clicking a tab and check out normally. You will get 20% cash back although it is 1800flowers’ item. And a difference of cash back rate is NOT only thing you can take advantage……

Card Link Partner – Shop Your Way

There are two types of partner. One is the Card-link partner. When you purchase something at 1800flowers.com with linked credit cards, you will receive a reward of that partners program. SYW (Shop Your Way) reward program is a good example, and I believe it has the best offer of all. You can link up to 5 Visa and 5 MasterCard credit cards. When you use linked credit card at participating merchants, you will receive SYW points. SYW has many merchants as card-link partners. Rates vary by merchants. 1800flowers offer 20% back in SYW points. Other 5 brands also are all participating and usually offer the same rate. So, you don’t have to worry about which website to enter to check out. Around the end of 2014, the rate jumped up to 40%. If you bought $100 GC at that time, you’d earned $40 in SYW points (+$20 from DD, $10 in Celebration Rewards, and your credit card reward.) I like card-link partners very much because you can earn cash back from a portal at the same time.

Promo Code Partner – Rapid Rewards

The other types of partners issue promo codes. When you check out with a promo code, you will receive their rewards. Rapid Rewards is very popular, and it offers a relatively high reward for minimum spending requirements. Promo code (RR22) is always available. A minimum purchase is $29.99, and it gives 1000 Rapid Rewards points. And the points count towards Companion Pass (but not A-List, A-List Preferred.) Rapid Rewards sometimes offers temporary promo codes that offer more points. However, the points earned through these codes may not count towards Companion Pass.

Other Partners and Programs

There may be other partners from time to time. Around May 2015, Fuel Rewards Network was the card-link partner. At that time, you were able to get all rewards from DD, SYW, Rapid Rewards, and Fuel Rewards Network with a single transaction. (see details here)

1800flowers has its reward program called Celebration Rewards. You can get 10% back towards future purchases. You can earn the points even when you purchase GCs but can’t earn it when you redeem GCs.

Use Sears Credit Card and Gift Card for in-store purchase

Posted on July 12, 2015 by admin

Background

I went to Sears to buy an item that is eligible for VIP Choice Benefit coupon. (Click here to see details. It’s 2nd coupon in the post.) I have made lots of online purchases, but not in-store purchases. When I order something online, I know what to do to get a maximum discount or SYWR points. There are several methods. Using Sears credit card is one of them. Some items sold at Sears are eligible for 5% instant discount, especially items in Tools category. Paying with the credit card will give you 5% instant discount, but you don’t have actually to use it. You can pay a whole amount (which is 5% off) with gift cards or even SYWR points. (Click here to see how to do it.)

The item for VIP Choice Benefit coupon is eligible for 5% discount. Here is a screenshot of an online transaction of the final step.

As you see, you will get $8.50 discount. You can go ahead and pay with gift cards. The discount won’t disappear. The problem is that my account is blocked from online orders. So, I need to go to the store to use this coupon.

My Plan

I bring gift cards and the credit card to the store. And then I pay with gift cards for the most of the charge and pay with the credit card for the rest. I bought (1) $100 GC and (2) $50 GCs, total $200 in case the price was higher than the online price.

The Result

I didn’t get 5% discount. An instant discount of $10 is from Craftsman Club. 1600 pts is a base point. 222 pts is Sears credit card bonus. (Extra 1% point. excluding tax.). And 158390 pts is from VIP Choice Benefit coupon. (158390+1600=15990, 100% back in points) I don’t know about 20,000 pts. I think some coupon was automatically loaded and redeemed.

What should I do to apply 5% discount?

This time it wasn’t successful, but the other day, it worked. At that time, I was asked “How would you like to pay?” and I said, “Sears credit card, but I’d like to redeem all SYWR points I have.” Then a clerk pressed a key on a register and continued to check out. But I turned out that I had enough points to cover a whole expense. And a receipt was printed out without using the credit card and showed 5% discount applied.

From these experiences, a requirement for getting 5% discount would be:

Have a certain key on a register pressed by a cashier? That’s it?
Have a certain key on a register pressed by a cashier and pay a WHOLE payment with either GCs or SYWR points?

Multiple coupons and discount caused the discount wasn’t applied?

As for online orders, they are always successful. It doesn’t matter if you pay GCs or SYWR points, fully or partially. Since my account is blocked from making online orders, I need to go to the store to redeem the points I just earned. I will try another approach to get the discount then.

New SYW VIP Choice Benefit is available now!

Posted on July 3, 2015July 12, 2015 by admin

There are new offers (VIP Choice Benefit) for Shop Your Way VIP members. I’d redeemed two offers per account this year. New offers became available in the first month of each quarter. So, I believe there will be other offers in October, too. If you don’t know about Shop Your Way Reward program, click here to see details.

VIP Choice Benefit for my account#1

This time, I chose the following:

At Kmart in store and online, members get 75% back in points when you purchase a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0″ Tablet w/ 16GB Memory and Android 5.0 – Smoky Titanium

After you choose the offer at shopyourway.com, you will receive a confirmation email. You can print out the coupon or load to your SYW account by clicking a link in the email. For an in-store purchase, it’s better to take a printout to a store with you and show it to a cashier at checkout. For online, you can redeem it by applying a coupon. After you load to your account by clicking a link in the email, you will see the coupon with other regular coupons. You can apply it during a checkout.

I already bought the item. It costs $199 at kmart.com. With the offer I just chose, I will earn $150-worth SYW points. And, I clicked through DD shopping portal. It offers 5% cash back. Plus, the current promotion of Discover credit cards (Double-All-Cash-Back) will give me back another 5%. I used Kmart gift cards as payment, which I had bought on eBay with 5x eBay Bucks promotion (10% back in eBay Bucks.) At checkout on eBay, I used eBay gift cards that I had bought at staples.com, paid with Chase ink that offer 5x category bonus for office supply store purchases. When I consider all cash back and reward points, the item is almost free.

And here are the other offers. You can choose only one offer. After I had chosen the offer, all other offers became Not Eligible.

VIP Choice Benefit for my account#2

Next, I logged in to my other SYW account. I have two accounts now. Last year, I had only one account and used it with SYW Max (a free shipping program for online orders) for a drop-shipping business. After about six months of use, they spotted. At first, I thought my account was shut down. Then I opened a brand new account. But the previous account has been active whole time. The only problem is they are blocking me from online orders. I can still earn and redeem SYW points as long as I purchase in a store. They even send me coupons, surprise points, etc from time to time. So, I keep this account and use it only when surprise points and high-valued coupons are available. Now, VIP Choice Benefit offer is available on this account, too. A status of this account is Gold, and the first one is Platinum. The offers are a lot different from Platinum.

I chose this offer,

At Sears, in store and online, members get 100% back in points when you purchase a Craftsman C3 19.2-Volt 4-Piece Lithium Combo Kit

Before I chose the offer, I had to check availability in my local stores. The item I chose for the last time wasn’t available at my local stores. Since they block me from online orders, I had to drive 30+ miles to buy the item and redeem the offer. I learned a lesson from it. This time, I made sure that the item was in stock at my local store that is only 2 miles away before choosing the offer. I will go and buy the item this weekend. And also I’d like to carry an experiment at checkout.

Triple Rewards on 1800flowers Purchases through July 31st

Posted on June 19, 2015June 19, 2015 by admin

Fuel Reward Network has a promotion for purchases at 1800flowers.com. You can earn 10¢/gallon discount on every $50 spent. $50 isn’t a minimum requirement. An amount you spend is cumulative and recorded in your FRN account. Once the total reaches $50, they post the reward to your account.

10¢/gallon is worth up to $2. So, the reward is equivalent to 4% cash back. If you don’t know about FRN, please click here.

The greatest point of this promotion is that it is not a shopping portal deal, but MasterCard and Visa cards link deal. In other words, you can earn cash back or travel reward from shopping portal site and an FRN reward with a single transaction.

FRN online mall has 1800flowers, but you don’t have to use this portal. There are the better ones. The best rate is 15% from Discover Deals. When you purchase something at 1800flowers with a linked credit card, you will earn 15% cash back and 4%-equivalent in FRN Rewards.

So far, it’s only double. What is the third one to make sense of the title of this post? It’s Shop Your Way. SYW is also a partner with 1800flowers. You can link your MasterCard and Visa cards. When you use a linked card for a purchase, you will earn SYW rewards. SYW offers 20% back in SYW points. Fortunately, FRN and SYW partner program don’t affect each other. You can earn both card-link partner reward. So, it’s now triple.

Plus, you can earn 10% back in Celebration Reward (loyalty reward program of 1800flowers.) And there is your credit reward, too.

What’s more? You can earn all rewards above on a purchase of GCs. 4%+15%+20%+10%+1%=50% A half of expense will be back in a variety of rewards. Their GC can be sold for around 60% of face value to GC exchange sites. By rough estimate, 10% reward will be remain!!!

Maximize the Benefit of Sears Credit Card

Posted on January 13, 2015July 12, 2015 by admin

Sears credit cards, including Sears MasterCard and Sears Store Card, are issued by Citibank. Sears MasterCard can be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Sears Store card is used at Sears or Kmart. Neither of them has an annual fee. Although Sears MC can be used outside of Sears or Kmart, they don’t give you any points or rewards. Sears CC gives you the benefit on the purchase at Sears and Kmart only.

The basic benefit of Sears CC is that you earn extra 1X base point (of Shop Your Way Rewards) on Sears purchases, extra 4X base point on Kmart purchases when you pay with the cards. Base point is worth 1% of the price of an item, and you can earn it with any type of payment except for SYWR point redemption. So, extra 1X base point on Sears purchase isn’t great at all. If you use your reward credit card, you still earn SYWR base point and 1% or more cash back from credit card. How about Kmart? Extra 4X sounds good. But, you can find around 10% discounted Sears/Kmart gift cards. If you buy GCs and pay with them, you still earn SYWR base point. And you had already got around 10% discount when you bought GCs.

So far, you may not see any benefits of Sears CC. And you don’t know the reason to apply although there is no annual fee. However, I will tell you in advance. If you purchase at Sears (not Kmart), especially online, you’d better have one of these cards. You may not actually use the card. But, it’s important to have the card. I will explain.

Instead of Kmart’s extra 4X, Sears offers 5% discount on selected items when you pay with Sears CC. These items are found in all categories. For my business, I purchase a lot of items in Tools category. Most of the items in Tools category I buy are eligible for 5% discount. The point is that 5%-discount is applied on your purchase even when you pay with GCs.

It’s easy to do. If you set your Sears CC as a default payment method, 5%-discount will automatically apply on eligible items. If you don’t see the discount, proceed checkout. And choose Sears CC as payment method. (You may need to enter 3-digit security code.) And then click “Review Order.” After making sure that the discount appears, go back to the Payment page and choose GC and enter GC numbers. Now, you can place an order, but it’s better to review the order again.

It doesn’t matter if you partially or fully pay with GCs. The discount is reflected on a list price of items. It also works with SYWR point redemption. Let’s say you have enough points to pay the entire amount of your purchase. After you make the discount show up, go back to the Payment page and redeem points. Review an order to make sure that everything looks good, and then place an order.

You should click through shopping portal sites on every online order at Sears and Kmart. Surprisingly, portals don’t see the 5%-discount or SYWR point redemption. It means that cash back is reflected upon a price before the discount. Even when you entirely pay with SYWR points, you still earn cash back from portals.

And, it may work in store purchases. But you have to tell a cashier that you will use Sears CC. Then a cashier presses a button on a register and rings up 5% discounted price. There is one problem, though. Unlike online orders, you can’t tell if items are eligible for 5% discount.

What about Kmart? Kmart offers 5% back in SYWR point when you pay with Sears CC. Let’s try. 5% in points stay even after GCs are applied. But, when you review the order, points are reduced from 5% to 1%. And don’t bother to place an order without reviewing. It won’t work.You will earn only 1%. For Kmart, you can get 5% back only when you use Sears CC. However, some items at Kmart.com are marked “Sold by Sears.” These items may be eligible for 5%-discount, and you may use the strategy.

On some holiday season, Sears CC offers 10% back in point on up to $500 Sears purchases. Except the period of this promotion, I don’t actually pay with my Sears CC. Sears CC doesn’t have many promotions. But, it’s a great benefit that just having the card qualifies 5% discount on selected items. If you often buy products at Sears, you should apply for one.

The Benefits of Shop Your Way MAX

Posted on January 9, 2015January 9, 2015 by admin

Shop Your Way MAX is an annual paid membership program for Shop Your Way Rewards (SYWR) members. SYWR is free loyalty rewards program for Sears and Kmart shoppers. SYW MAX offers free shipping on many items at Sears.com and Kmart.com. But, large or bulky items are excluded. Items that cost less than $10 are MAXELIGIBLE. They don’t qualify for free shipping by themselves, but they do when total purchase is $30 or more. Depending on items, they send them either 2-day or standard shipping. You can upgrade standard shipping to 2-day shipping for 99¢ and next-day shipping for $3.99. Annual membership fee is only $39. A few years ago, I was $79. It’s a great reduction.

90 Days of Free Trial

They offer 90 days of a free trial. You don’t need to tell them your credit card info. You can just use the program for 90 days. You may think that it’s better to use a free trial for the full 90 days. However, depending how often you shop online, you should pay $39 and become a MAX member as soon as possible. That is because of extra benefits you will get as a MAX member.

Benefits of SYW MAX

In addition to getting free shipping, you will get more benefits when you become a member. One of them is that base points of SYWR will double. When you buy at Sears or Kmart, you earn SYWR points, 10 points on every dollar. 10 points are worth 1¢. So, it is like a 1% cash back. After you become a MAX member, base points will be double on all purchases. It is like a 2% cash back.

Another benefit is that they just give you 3000 points (=$3) on the beginning of every month. It makes the membership fee only $3 in last month of annual membership. Please note that these points expire in 14 days. You need to redeem them within the first 14 days of each month.

During 90 days of a free trial, you don’t get these benefits. If you purchase something online at least once a month, it’s better to pay the annual fee as soon as possible and get the full of MAX benefits.

Summery

There are some reasons you should be a MAX member. First of all, $39 of an annual fee is relatively cheap. Without being a MAX member, Sears and Kmart still offer free shipping on the total purchase of $59 or more (as of 2015.) However, the benefit will give you back more than a membership fee in the form of SYW points. (Free 3000 points (=$3) every month & double base points on all purchases.)

Shop Your Way Rewards Review

Posted on January 6, 2015January 12, 2015 by admin

Sears or Kmart are probably not offering the cheapest price when you compare with the other major department stores. However, Sears and Kmart’s common loyalty program called Shop Your Way Rewards (SYWR) is a great program for giving you back in store credit called SYWR points. You will be able to use SYWR points for future purchases at Sears and Kmart. It is free to join. When you take a full advantage of it, SYWR has a potential to beat the best price of other stores.

Basic

Earn 10 points on every dollar you spend on qualifying purchases. The purchase of gift cards is not eligible for earning points. 1000 points is worth $1. So, it is 1% back in store credit.

Double or 5X base points with Sears credit card

You can easily double or 5X the base point by paying with Sear credit card or joining Shop Your Way Max (SYW Max.) Sears MasterCard and Sear store card (Sears CCs), these credit card’s benefits are almost the same. One of the benefits is that paying with Sears CCs doubles base points on Sears purchases, multiplies base points by five on Kmart purchases. (it’s like 2% back on Sears, 5% back on Kmart purchases.)

Double base points by joining Shop Your Way MAX

Sears and Kmart offer a free-shipping program called Shop Your Way Max (SYW MAX.) Most of the items are eligible for free shipping. Some large or bulky items are excluded. Once you become a member, base points you earn will be double. As of 2014, an annual membership fee of SYW Max is $39. But somehow, they just give you free 3000 points ($3) every month. $3 x 12 months =$36 will be back in points!

You will receive bonus points from both Sears CC and SYW MAX in the same transaction. For example, if you are a member of SYW MAX and buy $100 merchandise with Sear CC at Kmart, base points will be 1000. And bonus points for using Kmart CC will be 4000. Plus, bonus points for being SYM MAX will be 1000. Total points you earn on this purchase will be 6000 (=$6.) It’s like 6% cash back.

Coupons

Basically, there are two types of coupons, “Discount” and “Point.” It’s simple. You can get discount with “Discount” coupons, so you will pay less. With “Point” coupons, you pay the same price, but you will receive bonus points. Coupons have restrictions to apply. Some coupons can apply to items in a specific category, some coupons can’t apply to clearance, sale items, etc. It is important to review your order before placing an order. Online, on the final page, there is “Review Order” button right next to “Place Order Now” button. Check the price and the details of SYWR points to see if a coupon is applied. In store, you can load coupons to your SYWR account and then purchase in store. Coupons may apply automatically. To make sure of it, you have to ask a cashier before paying. If you think it’s bothersome or shameful, you’d better avoid purchasing in store.

VIP Status

There are three VIP status, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. To obtain VIP status, you will have to spend $2500 for VIP Silver, $5000 for VIP Gold, and $10,000 for VIP Platinum in a calendar year. The purchase of gift cards and SYWR point redemption are not qualified spending for VIP status. Your account will be automatically upgraded when your total spending reaches each minimum spending requirement. Once you obtain VIP status, you will keep the status until the end of the following year. If you spend $2500/$5000/$10000 in the following year, you will be in VIP Silver/Gold/Platinum next year. Total qualified spending for VIP status resets to zero on December 31. For example, if you spend $6000 in total in 2014, you will be VIP Gold until the end of 2015. And if you don’t spend more than $2500 in 2015, you will be no longer VIP in 2016.

Benefits of VIPs

Here are the basic benefits of VIP Status

You automatically receive 20% in Points on all computer accessories
Exclusive VIP Member offers throughout the year.
Enjoy a 5%/10%/15% points special bonus day each quarter. (Silver/Gold/Platinum)
Treat yourself to 5%/10%/15% points on all qualifying purchases during your birthday month. (Silver/Gold/Platinum)
$4.99 oil change with free tire rotation at Sears Auto Centers twice/3 times/4 times a year. (Silver/Gold/Platinum)

The higher VIP status is, the more points you can earn on special bonus days and in your birthday month. Please note that in order to receive 5%/10%/15% points, you need to load a coupon that is sent to you by email and apply it at checkout. You can use the same coupon many times during the promotion period. Special bonus day is only one day long, but you can use a birthday coupon over and over during your birthday month!

VIP member always gets more. Here are other useful coupons.

Get $10 back in points (10,000 points) when you spend $50
Get $20 back in points (20,000 points) when you spend $75

I don’t know the requirement to receive these coupons, but they send me every 2 or 3 weeks. And, unlike regular coupons, VIP coupons (above two, special bonus day, and birthday month coupons) can be applied to almost all items.

VIP CHOICE

This is a new one. I believe it just started in 2014. Here is how it works. You can select one of the exclusive offers. And then you will receive VIP CHOICE Benefits certificate by email. Print for in-store purchase or load and apply at checkout for online purchase. It sounds like the same as VIP coupons, but the offers are so special, such as 100% back in points when you purchase Dell Laptop Model# xxx or $40 back in points when you spend $50 or more in apparel at Kmart.

I don’t how many times a year they release new offers. According to their website, they say, “CHOICE Benefits change seasonally.” They also say, “CHOICE Benefits are limited in quantity, so choose your favorite today before it’s gone!” That is true. Popular offers become all taken very quickly. You will receive an email when the next VIP CHOICE release date is close. Visit the VIP CHOICE page on a release date and choose your favorite. You don’t have to check out at that moment, but just click and claim your benefits so you can get it later.

How to Become VIP effectively

Since the purchase of gift cards are not qualified spending for becoming VIP, I don’t think there is a special easy way to obtain VIP status. However, there are items that help you obtain VIP status. SYWR program offers a lot of points when you purchase some items. There is always something. You can find in their websites. Look for a link “Member Exclusive” or “ShopYourWay Exclusive.”

For example, Kmart sells this headphone for $12.50, and SYWR gives you $10 back in points. The base point is 125 points. If you are a MAX member, you will get another 125 points. And if you pay with Sears CCs, you will get 125 x 4 = 500 points. Plus, let’s say you clicked a link of shopping portal site that offers 10% cash back. The cash back will be $1.25. So, you pay $12.50 + tax and earn $12 in points and cash back. If you use Sears gift cards instead of credit cards, it could be a better result. You can easily find their gift cards with around 10% discount. When you use the gift card for the purchase, you may as well get $1.25 discount in advance. You won’t receive 500 point, but will receive base points and MAX bonus (125+125 points.) The total of cash back and points will be $12.75! (And don’t forget that headphone is yours!)

Redeem Points

You can redeem your points both in-store and online. You can’t redeem for the purchase of gift cards. In-store, you will need a PIN to redeem more than 10000 points ($10). You can choose any amount in 10 (points) increments. Point redemption is applied pre-tax total. So, if you pay the whole amount with points, there is no sale tax. Please remember you should click through a shopping portal site on every purchase. It doesn’t matter if you redeem points partially or fully, portal sites use list prices to calculate the cash back.

When you pay the whole amount with points, you earn zero points. If you buy lots of “Member Exclusive” items (such as the headphone’s example above), you may have lots of points and probably want to redeem them. Let’s say you buy another headphone. To earn $10 bonus in points, you will need to pay at least $10 out of your pocket. So, redeem 2500 points and pay $10 + tax with GCs or CC. Again, shopping portal sites use $12.50 to calculate the cash back. If a portal site offers 10% cash back, you earn $1.25 no matter how many points you redeem.

Please note that SYWR points have expiration dates. They are various. In general, base points and MAX or Sears CC bonus are valid for one year. Points earned through promotions and by using coupons are valid for 90 days from the date you earned them. And some points are valid for much shorter period. You can check the expiration date of your point at shopyourway.com.

Summery

I think Shop Your Way Rewards is the best loyalty rewards program because of the volume of points you can earn. None of other programs don’t give you back that much. Some “Member Exclusive” items give you back enough points to make items virtually free. It is fun to buy only those items over and over. And you may obtain VIP status before you know it. And the benefits of VIP makes the program even greater!

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.

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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