Last week I described the beginning of my quest to find the perfect Visa gift cards (see “The hunt for perfect gift cards, part 1“).  As a reminder, here are the characteristics of the “perfect” gift cards that I’m searching for:

• Low fee as a % of total value.  The ideal gift card would have a fee equal to, or less than, 1% or its maximum value.
• Ability to earn credit card category bonus points (see “Best Category Bonuses“).
• The ability to earn store reward points (such as fuel points) would be a big plus.
• Ability to set the card’s PIN quickly and easily.  I would like to be able to pickup the gift card at one store and then drive over to Walmart to load it to my Bluebird account with minimal fuss in between.
• High denomination.  Bluebird cards can be loaded up to $1000 per day (and $5000 per month) at Walmart.  If I’m going to visit Walmart anyway, I’d like to load the full $1000 each time.  The fewer gift cards it takes to do this, the better.  In other words, a $1000 gift card would be ideal (but I’ve never seen those in stores), and $500 gift cards are really good.  Cards with lower values are much less attractive.

In part 1, I visited Kroger, Speedway, OfficeMax, and Sears.  At that time I found that Visa gift cards from all four merchants worked fine to load Bluebird.  Overall, the gift card from Kroger was the best deal because I earned fuel points along with the purchase.  And, the OneVanilla card I bought at Speedway was the most convenient because it did not require a PIN to be set in advance.

In the comments of my previous post, a reader named Chris said:

I would like to add that you do NOT have to add a pin to the “Kroger” gift card. Just go to CS at Walmart give them your BB card and then swipe the card as debit, enter any pin and load. It sets up with the first pin too. It even asks if you want cash back!!

If that’s true, that would be huge.  Gift cards from Kroger would be both a fantastic deal and incredibly easy to use.  So, for the second part of this quest, I returned to Kroger to try this out.  I also bought $200 gift cards from Staples and Office Depot to see how those compared…

Kroger

I bought the same $500 U.S. Bank Visa gift card that I had bought before.  Again, I earned 500 fuel points for the purchase.

My goal was to see if I could use this card as a debit card at Walmart without first registering a PIN.  I went to Walmart’s MoneyCenter Express ATM (see “Bluebird swipe reloads via ATM“) to try to use the card to load $500 to my Bluebird card.  When it was time to enter my PIN, I made one up.  The machine tried to authorize the transaction, but it was denied.  I remembered that some gift cards use the last four digits of the card number as the default PIN so I tried again with those numbers, but once again the transaction was denied.  Ugh.  I then called Visa at 866-952-5653 to setup a PIN.  Once done, I tried again.  Again, the transaction was denied.  I then used my phone’s browser to register the card online.  And, I tried again.  Denied again.  Frustrated, I gave up on that card for the day.  I’ll try again this week.

Office Depot

My local Office Depot sells Vanilla Visa gift cards in denominations of $200 with a $6.95 fee.  I bought one and paid with a card that offers 5 points per dollar at office supply stores (see “Best Category Bonuses“). 

Since this was a Vanilla gift card sold by the same company as the OneVanilla card I had bought previously at Speedway, I thought that I would be able to use this card without first setting a PIN.  At Walmart, I went to the MoneyCenter Express ATM and attempted to load $200 using a PIN that I made up on the spot.  Success!

Staples

Just like Office Depot, Staples sells Visa gift cards in denominations as high as $200 with a $6.95 fee, but these are issued by MetaBank.  I bought one and paid with a card that offers 5 points per dollar at office supply stores (see “Best Category Bonuses“).

I wanted to see if this card could be used without setting a PIN in advance.  At Walmart’s MoneyCenter Express ATM I attempted to load $200 using a PIN that I made up on the spot. Denied.  I tried again, but this time I used the last four digits of the gift card’s 16 digit number.  Success!

Summary

My experiment to use the U.S. Bank gift card bought at Kroger without pre-setting a PIN was a failure, but I don’t know why.  Even after setting the PIN, I wasn’t able to use the card.  I’ll have to do more experiments with these cards to try to figure out what works and what doesn’t.  If you have experience with these cards, please let me know what you’ve found!

My experiments with gift cards from Office Depot and Staples were successful.  The gift card from Office Depot could be used with any made-up PIN (for the first time use), and the gift card from Staples could be used with the last four digits of the card number as the PIN. 

Let’s look at how the office supply store gift cards rate with each of my criteria:

Low Fee

$6.95 for a $200 gift card is definitely not a low fee at 3.48%.  $500 gift cards have fees close to 1%.  However, $100 gift cards generally have 6% fees, so these are right in the middle.

Category bonus

With the right credit/charge card (see “Best Category Bonuses“), 5X at office supply stores is the best category bonus available.  This goes a long way toward making up for the relatively high gift card fees.

Store Rewards

Neither Office Depot nor Staples give rewards for gift card purchases.

Easy PIN setup

It doesn’t get any easier than this.  No need to register a PIN with either card.  With the Office Depot card, use any PIN you want.  With the Staples card, use the last four digits of the card number.  If you forget which is which, simply always use the last four digits of the card number and you should be good to go.

High Denomination

These cards are in the middle of the pack again on this score.  They’re not nearly as convenient as $500 gift cards, but they’re twice as convenient as $100 gift cards.

Relative value of office supply gift cards

If you don’t mind dealing with $200 cards, then the main problem with the gift cards from Office Depot and Staples is their relatively high fee.  Suppose, though, you use some of the points earned to pay yourself back at one cent per point.  Would these cards still be a good deal?  Here’s the math:

• Buy $200 Visa gift card for $206.95
• Earn 5X:  5 X 206.95 = 1035 points
• Pay back fee with points: -695 points
• Points remaining: 340
• Points earned as a multiple of $200 spend: 1.7X

That’s pretty good!  This means that you can buy and liquidate Visa gift cards (through Bluebird) for free and still earn 1.7 points per dollar.  That’s a better earning rate than you would get from buying gift cards at a grocery store with most credit cards, but there are better deals (depending on how you value each type of point earned).  Here are a few examples:

• Earn 5X at grocery stores (and drug stores & gas stations) for the first year with the special Citi ThankYou Preferred offer.
• Earn 6% cash back at grocery stores with the American Express Blue Cash Preferred card (capped at $6K per year in spend).
• Earn 2X at grocery stores with the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card.  This is only a better deal than the office supply options if you earn fuel points for your purchases (as I did at Kroger).

Conclusion

I have more work to do to figure out what’s going on with the U.S. Bank card from Kroger, so there’s really no news right now on that front.  As to the $200 gift cards from Office Depot and Staples, I found that they are quite easy to work with, and a really solid way to earn extremely valuable points if you don’t mind dealing with their lower denominations.

What have you found that works well or that doesn’t work at all? Please comment below.

Early this week I set out to find the perfect Visa gift cards.  Now that Visa gift cards can have PINs (see “Gift card PINs“), they are once again a great way to buy points cheaply and/or run up spend to meet minimum spend requirements or big spend thresholds.

Here are the characteristics of the “perfect” gift cards that I’m searching for:

• Low fee as a % of total value.  The ideal gift card would have a fee equal to, or less than, 1% or its maximum value.
• Ability to earn credit card category bonus points (see “Best Category Bonuses“).
• The ability to earn store reward points (such as fuel points) would be a big plus.
• Ability to set the card’s PIN quickly and easily.  I would like to be able to pickup the gift card at one store and then drive over to Walmart to load it to my Bluebird account with minimal fuss in between.
• High denomination.  Bluebird cards can be loaded up to $1000 per day (and $5000 per month) at Walmart.  If I’m going to visit Walmart anyway, I’d like to load the full $1000 each time.  The fewer gift cards it takes to do this, the better.  In other words, a $1000 gift card would be ideal (but I’ve never seen those in stores), and $500 gift cards are really good.  Cards with lower values are much less attractive.

I visited Kroger, Speedway, OfficeMax, and Sears.  I expect to do more exploratory trips to other stores in the near future, but for now let me describe what I found…

Kroger

At my local Kroger grocery store, I found a Visa card from U.S. Bank loadable up to $500 with a $5.95 fee.  Even though I could have paid with a card that earned a grocery store category bonus, I paid with a generic Amex gift card just to see if it would work (it did).  I was happy to see that I earned 500 fuel points from the purchase!  Each time I fill up my tank at a participating gas station, I can spend 100 fuel points to save 10 cents per gallon.  I tend to fill about 12 gallons at a time, so I would save $1.20 per fill-up.  With 500 fuel points, I could fill-up my tank 5 times, so the fuel points earned are worth $1.2 x 5 = $6 to me.  That’s pretty convenient since it exactly cancels out the $5.95 card fee!  If you have a larger fuel tank, you could save even more.

This was my first time setting a PIN on a gift card, so it took me quite a while.  First, I registered the card online using my iPhone’s browser.  I hoped that there would be an easy way to set the PIN online, but if it’s there, I didn’t find it.  Next, I called the number on my gift card activation receipt, but I was told to call Visa at 866-952-5653 instead.  At that number, after navigating through a few voice prompts, I was able to set my PIN over the phone.  If I had started with the correct phone number from the get-go, I could have set the PIN in two minutes altogether.

Later in the day, at Walmart, I used this gift card to load $500 to my Bluebird card without any trouble.

Speedway

After Kroger, I stopped at at a Speedway gas station.  They had several reloadable prepaid cards on display, but I believe those require setting up an account in order to get the PIN.  I didn’t want to do that.  The best non-reloadable I could find was the OneVanilla Prepaid Visa Card.  This one is loadable up to $500 with a $4.95 fee.  I paid with a credit card that earns bonus points at gas stations and was asked to show both my credit card and my driver’s license.  Sadly, I did not earn Speedy Rewards for this purchase.

Again, I used my iPhone’s browser to register the card online.  This time, there was an option to manage the PIN, but when I clicked it, it simply said that the PIN would be set the first time I made a PIN based purchase.  In other words, whatever PIN I type in when I first use the card would be the PIN that could be used from then on. 

Later in the day, at Walmart, I used this gift card to load $500 to my Bluebird card without any trouble.  I wondered, though, if the card would work without registering it online at all.  So, the next day I bought two more of these cards and visited Walmart again, but this time without registering the cards.  Both cards worked perfectly!  As far as ease in setting the PIN, it doesn’t get any better than that!

OfficeMax

I used to occasionally buy $200 Visa gift cards at OfficeMax (with $6.95 fees) using credit cards that earn category bonuses at Office Supply stores.  However, when I visited OfficeMax on Monday, the highest denomination cards they had were $100 Visa cards from MetaBank (with $5.95 fees).  Since it is sometimes possible (but not always!) to buy gift cards at OfficeMax with OfficeMax gift cards, it was worth finding out if these cards were any good.  So, I bought one.

Even though I didn’t think it would work, I tried to register this card’s PIN with the same number I had called earlier to register the card from Kroger (866-952-5653).  Not surprisingly, it didn’t work.  The automated system did not recognize the card number.  So, instead, I dialed a number that I found on the paper insert inside the gift card package (888-524-1283).  As with the Kroger experience, the system was fully automated, and after navigating several prompts I was able to set the PIN.  At Walmart, the card and PIN worked perfectly.

Sears

At Sears, I visited the secret gift card rack and picked up a $100 Visa card with a $5.95 fee.  This card looked almost exactly like the one from OfficeMax, except for two differences.  One difference was that this card was issued by University National Bank (as opposed to MetaBank).  Another difference was that the packaging on this card advertised the ability to manage the card with GoWallet (see my post “GoWallet.com simplifies your gift card life“).

I took the card to the register and tried to pay with my ShopYourWay Rewards points.  The cashier was happy to try it, but the system didn’t allow it.  I know from past experience that Sears’ gift cards do work, but I didn’t have any with me so I paid with a credit card that is offering me bonus points this quarter at department stores (hopefully this will qualify).

I started up the GoWallet app on my iPhone and I registered my new card.  I tried to use the QR code scanner to register automatically, but it didn’t work.  I had to type in the numbers.  I had hoped that the app would let me set the PIN, but I couldn’t find that option anywhere.  Instead, I tried calling the number I used with the OfficeMax gift card (888-524-1283).  It worked!  I successfully set the PIN.

Walmart

At Walmart, I used their ATM to swipe reload my and my wife’s Bluebird cards (see “Bluebird swipe reloads via ATM“).  I tried to use more than one gift card in a single transaction, but that attempt failed.  Instead, I successfully loaded each gift card to my Bluebird cards one at a time (with a completely separate transaction each time).

Summary

Each of the options I tried have their pros and cons, but overall I’d say that the cards from Kroger and Speedway were the best.  Let’s look at each characteristic:

Low Fee

The OneVanilla card from Speedway had the lowest fee (1%).  The Visa gift card from Kroger was very close behind with a 1.2% fee.  The cards from OfficeMax and Sears trailed way behind with their 6% fees.

Category bonus

5X category bonuses are available at all of the locations I visited except for Sears, but it is possible to buy Sears’ gift cards at other locations in order to get 5X bonuses, and then use those gift cards at Sears to buy Visa cards.  So, I’d say that all options are roughly equal here, with the caveat that the best category bonus depends on which types of points you prefer and which credit cards you have.  For example, I’m a huge fan of Ultimate Rewards points, so, all else being equal, I would always opt to earn those over Citi ThankYou points.

Store Rewards

In all of my purchases I presented my store loyalty card, but only Kroger rewarded me with points (fuel points, in this case).  Since the points earned are worth at least the amount of the card fee (to me, anyway), the rewards make a big possitive difference in the value of shopping for gift cards at Kroger.

Easy PIN setup

The easiest PIN setup by far was with the OneVanilla card from Speedway since it required no setup at all!  I was able to use the cards at Walmart literally right out of the box.  Awesome.  With the other 3 cards, setting the PIN required the following: dialing the correct phone number; following voice prompts to enter the card number, expiration date, and security number; wading through menus for the option to set a PIN; and then entering the PIN twice.  It sounds worse than it is.  My phone records show that I spent only 2 minutes on each call.  So, none of the options were terrible, but the OneVanilla card was the best.

High Denomination

Kroger and Speedway sell gift cards with denominations as high as $500.  This is a convenient amount since it only requires two transactions to load a Bluebird card to $1000 at the Walmart ATM.  Dan’s Deals says that at the checkout lane you can use up to 3 cards per transaction, so it’s possible to fill up a Bluebird card with one transaction and two swipes by going to a live cashier.  With the $100 cards from OfficeMax and Sears you would need to do four separate transactions in the checkout lane, or ten transactions at the ATM.  Either way, that would be painful.

Conclusion

The Kroger and Speedway stores near me offer $500 Visa gift cards, and I consider each to be good deals.  The OneVanilla option at Speedway (and also at many other stores) is better if your main goal is convenience.  Being able to skip the step of registering a PIN is great.  If overall cost is your main concern, then the Kroger option is better as long as you can make good use of the awarded fuel points.

There are many other gift card options out there, including $1000 Visa gift cards from GiftCardMall.com, $200 gift cards at Staples and Office Depot, and more.  I’ll continue to investigate and report on other options, but I welcome reader contributions as well!  What have you found that works well or that doesn’t work at all?  Please comment below.

Buying American Express gift cards online is the first step in one of the most lucrative ways to manufacture spend.  The goal of manufacturing spend is to run up credit card charges (in order to meet min spend requirements, get points, achieve big spend bonuses, etc.) and to get your money back (or most of it, anyway).

When buying Amex gift cards online, it is possible to get cash back by going through a cash back portal.  Once you have the Amex gift cards, you can get your money back by using them to buy and cash out debit gift cards (see “Gift card PINs“), or to load and unload Target Amex cards (see “Using the Target Amex card to run up spend“), or to buy free after rebate items.

Choose a portal

BigCrumbs has offered cash back for Amex gift cards for years and has been very reliable.  Currently, they offer 1.4% cash back.  TopCashBack offers a slightly higher rate of 1.5% cash back, but many readers have reported having problems with their customer service.  Personally, TopCashBack has worked well for me, but since the difference in payout is so small, it makes sense to go with the portal you feel more comfortable with.

Regarding TopCashBack, I reported in February that my January Amex gift card purchases had reached “Confirmed” status.  I now have a quick update: my January purchases are now “Payable”, which means that I can request payment through an ACH transfer to my bank or via PayPal.  My cash back became payable almost exactly 3 months from the original purchase date.  This is a typical delay for cash back portals in general.

Use coupon codes

Many readers have reported success in getting cash back even if they used coupon codes to reduce gift card fees.  The HustlerMoneyBlog reports that the following codes are available:

No Fee Gift Card Waiver Codes:

• ADMINDAYVM- valid through 5/31/13
• ADMINGIFT6- valid through 5/31/13
• EMTHANK1- valid through 4/30/13
• EMTHANK2- valid through 4/30/13

Each of the above codes should eliminate the $3.95 purchase fee that is usually charged with each card ordered.

Free Shipping Waiver Codes:

• ADMIN2013 – valid through 5/1/2013

This code should reduce your shipping charges by $5.95.

Usually Amex will let you use either a fee waiver code or a free shipping code, but not both.  Also, sometimes Amex does not allow certain codes to be used with cash back portals.  Please report your experience in the comments below.

Update: Cash Advance Fees

If your credit card company treats gift card purchases as cash advances, then don’t do this!  The only bank I’m sure of that does this is Citibank.  With Chase and Amex you should be fine.  I don’t have personal experience with other banks, though.  If you’re unsure, you can protect yourself by calling your bank and asking them to reduce or eliminate your cash advance limit.

Related Posts and Links

• FatWallet sets a high bar for cash back portals
• Amex Gift Cards, this and that
• Using the Target Amex card to run up spend
• TopCashBack sign-up referral link (I’ll receive a very small one-time commission if you signup with this link)
• BigCrumbs sign-up referral link (I’ll receive a very small commission each time you receive cash back if you signup with this link)

The miles and points community is abuzz with talk about the fact that some Visa and MasterCard gift cards now allow you to setup PINs so that they can be used as debit cards.  Here’s why we care… 

Background

Last week a reader reached out to me with exciting news.  He had bought a $500 Visa gift card at Safeway, and along with the receipt was a piece of paper saying that these cards can now be setup with PINs.  The notice was explicit that the PIN could not be used for ATM withdrawals, but it did not exclude other ways of getting money from debit cards (reloading Bluebird, buying money orders, etc.).  Not long after receiving that email, a new thread was created on FlyerTalk with similar information (here).  Then, on Saturday, Million Mile Secrets published a well researched post on the topic: Breaking News: You Can Now Use Gift Cards For Cash Back, Loading Bluebird, and Buying Money Orders!

Why we care

There are many ways to get points and miles when buying bank gift cards. The problem has always been figuring out what to do with those gift cards once you get them.  Sure, you could use them for everyday spend, but in many ways they’re inconvenient.  Most of us would rather turn them directly into cash, if possible.  Now, with PIN numbers, there are several ways to convert bank gift cards to cash (or to pay bills that usually can’t be paid by credit card):

1. Pay for Bluebird swipe-reloads at Walmart.
2. Buy money orders.
3. Pay bills at the Walmart Money Center.
4. Get cash back at certain stores when paying with a debit card.
5. Get a cash advance at a bank.

Details about most of these techniques are in Million Mile Secrets’ post on this topic.  Note that these are ideas that might work.  I have yet to personally test any of them.

Cautions

• Not all gift cards are PIN enabled. Be careful about which ones you buy.  Million Mile Secrets was able to setup a PIN with a card from U.S. Bank National Association.  This is the one that has you register at mygiftcardsite.com.  The reader who had contacted me, had bought a gift card issued by Metabank.  This is the one that has you register at giftcardmall.com or gowallet.com.
• Not all stores accept gift cards for PIN transactions.  Again, see the research done by Million Mile Secrets.
• Please use restraint.  If you spend too much on gift cards you may be flagged by your credit card company’s fraud department for possible money laundering.  They could subject you to a financial review or simply close all of your accounts.

Credit card bonus categories

Bank gift cards charge a fee on top of their stored value so buying a gift card with a rewards credit card isn’t necessarily a good deal.  Often the purchase fee will more than offset any gain you get from your credit card.  A great trick is to use a credit card that earns extra points or cash back at certain types of stores.  Here are some of the best options:

• Citi ThankYou Preferred: A special sign-up offer exists that will give you 5 points per dollar at grocery stores, drug stores, and gas stations for 12 months.  See details here.
• American Express Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back at grocery stores, up to $6K per year in spend.
• US Bank Cash+: 5% cash back at electronics stores.
• Fort Knox Federal Credit Union Visa Platinum: 5% cash back at gas stations.
• PenFed Platinum Rewards: 5 points per dollar at gas stations.
• Citi Forward: 5 points per dollar at book stores.
• Chase Ink: 5 points per dollar at office supply stores.

In order to reduce costs, always look for the highest value gift cards available since the gift card fee will then be just a small percentage of the overall value of the card.

Opportunities

Here are a few opportunities that jump out to me:

Grocery Stores: Many grocery stores offer fuel points, and they sometimes offer extra fuel points when purchasing gift cards (see “What is a fuel point worth?“).  With the right credit card, it’s possible to earn 5X points or 6% cash back in addition to fuel points!  Not all grocery stores will give fuel points for variable load gift cards, though, so watch out for that. 

Merchant Rewards: Similar to grocery store fuel points, some stores have rewards programs in which they give you a percentage of each purchase back as rewards dollars to be spent in the future.  Try to find a merchant that offers such a program, sells bank gift cards, and gives rewards for gift card sales.  There aren’t many with this combination, but I can think of at least one. 

GiftCardMall: GiftCardMall sells Visa gift cards online with values up to $1000 each and with only a $3.95 fee.  Even after accounting for shipping costs, your total purchase cost of a $1000 card should be less than $10.  In other words, your costs will be less than 1%.  You can eliminate the 1% cost altogether by first buying Amex gift cards via BigCrumbs (for 1.4% cash back), and then buying the Visa gift cards with the Amex gift cards.  If you’re interested, please consider using my BigCrumbs referral link.  You can also go through TopCashBack to Amex for 1.5% cash back, but I’m still waiting for my own cash back to become payable from TopCashBack before I’ll feel comfortable recommending that approach over BigCrumbs.

Rebates and promotions: Every now and then a store will offer a rebate or discount on Visa or MasterCard gift cards.  Watch for those promotions and jump on them when they’re available.

Analysis

Reload cards are still a much easier option for those of us still able to buy them with credit cards.  For others, though, gift cards with PINs can be a great option for meeting credit card minimum spend requirements, buying points & miles cheaply, or working towards big spend bonuses. 

Some of the best opportunities for cashing out gift cards require visits to Walmart.  If you frequently visit Walmart anyway, gift cards with PINs may be a great new opportunity for you.

I have not yet had a chance to test any of the above ideas, so please do your own research before jumping in.

Lately I’ve written quite a bit about credit card churning (see, for example, “Million Mile Madness: The big churn story“).  Now that I have 10 new credit cards coming my way, its time to find ways to meet my minimum spend requirements.  That’s where gift card churning comes in.  Fortunately, there are several current and upcoming deals that will help:

Staples $15 rebate on $150 or more in Visa prepaid cards

I reported this deal last week, and it is now live until March 9th.  Readers are reporting that the online rebate form allows you to select a check rather than a Visa card if you prefer.  Best bet is to buy a $200 Visa for $206.95.  You’ll make a small profit.  Plus, if you use a card that gets a good bonus at office supply stores (see Best Category Bonuses), you’ll earn lots of points.  Sadly, limit is one per household.

Amex gift cards 2% cash back, March 12th

Next week, TopCashBack is planning a one day special in which they’ll bump up the payout on American Express Gift Cards to 2% from the usual rate of 1.5%.  This could be a great way to get ahead on paying taxes (see “Pay federal taxes by credit card, almost for free“).  Or, if “almost free” isn’t good enough, see “Pay Federal Taxes via Credit Card for Free.”  The rates listed in the latter post are out of date, but the general ideas still work.  If you don’t have big tax payments to make, see also “Using the Target Amex card to run up spend.”

Plastic Jungle 3.14% cash back, March 14th

TopCashBack will be celebrating Pi day (3/14) by bumping up the PlasticJungle payout from 2.5% to 3.14% just for that one day.  PlasticJungle buys and sells discount gift cards.  By going through TopCashBack on March 14th, you can get back 3.14% of the buy or sell price.

TopCashBack reliability

Quite a few readers have reported serious frustrations with using TopCashBack, and many have stopped using the service altogether.  I can’t speak for others, but I can describe what my experience has been.  In my case, the reliability of the portal seems to be linked to specific merchants.  That is, with some merchants I’ve never received cash back whereas with others cash back has been relatively quick and reliable.  Here are some specific experiences:

• CouponTrade (now called Raise): Terrible experience.  Never received cash back except from a TopCashBack customer service courtesy adjustment.
• Vision Direct: Cashback from a July 2012 purchase still shows as confirmed, but is not yet payable 8 months later. 
• American Express Gift Cards: Purchases from January 11 still show as confirmed, but not yet payable.  Often the process takes about 3 months, so I’m not yet concerned about this one, but I don’t yet have proof that this merchant is reliable through TopCashBack.
• The following have all moved reliably through the phases (from pending, to confirmed, to payable) for me:
• PlasticJungle
• Cardpool (Note: Cardpool has specific limits on cash back)
• Staples
• Marriott
• DrugStore.com

Of course, your experiences may vary, but I thought it might be helpful to show where TopCashBack has worked for me and where it has not.  What have your experiences been?

Related posts and links

• Amex Gift Cards, this and that
• More cash back for Amex gift cards
• Pay federal taxes by credit card, almost for free
• Pay Federal Taxes via Credit Card for Free
• TopCashBack referral link
• BigCrumbs referral link

A reader named Colin passed this one along to me.  Until Feb 26, 2013, American Express is offering a $25 statement credit when you use a synced American Express card to spend $100 or more at Sony.com.  The trick to getting free money and points is to go through an online portal to Sony, buy a physical gift card, and then sell the card via a reseller.

It’s possible to do this once for each American Express card you own (see details near the end of this post).  For each $100 card you buy, you can earn some cash back, plus 100 points from American Express (depends which card you use as to what kind of points you get), plus 400 Ultimate Rewards points or additional cash back.  Below are the steps to follow.  Make sure to read through them before deciding whether this is worth the effort for you.

Step 1: Sync your Amex card

Go to sync.americanexpress.com and register each of your American Express cards with one of these services (Facebook, FourSquare, or Twitter).  In general, you can only sync one Amex card to each service, but you could have multiple Twitter, FourSquare, or Facebook accounts.  For more details on syncing multiple cards, please see “Free Money 101” from Deals We Like.

No, you cannot sync American Express prepaid cards or Bluebird cards.

Step 2: Register each Amex card for the promotion

Depending on which social media site you synced with, there will be a different way to register your Amex card.  Quoting from Deals We Like:

1. Twitter: You must “tweet” the promotion code, with the hash tag included (in this case the promo code is #AmexSonyOffer)
2. Foursquare: You must “check in” at the participating merchant (Sony).
3. Facebook: You must “like” the promotion in the “Link, Like, Love” app.

Alternatively, when you log into your American Express account, click on “My Offers” and see if the Sony deal is available.  If so, you can register right there.

Step 3: Go through an online portal to the Sony store and buy a $100 gift card

At the time of this writing, one of the best points earning opportunity I know of is via the Ultimate Rewards Mall, which currently offers 4 points per dollar at Sony.

Despite Terms & Conditions that say “Not eligible on gift cards,” I have found in the past that you will earn points through the Ultimate Rewards Mall as long as you buy a physical gift card.  e-gift cards do not work. 

Make sure to pay with your synced American Express card.  Yes, you can get points when you pay with a non-Chase credit card, but there is a risk because you won’t get much help from Chase if anything goes wrong.

An even better option is to take advantage of the current AAdvantage eShopping promotion in which you can earn up to 1000 bonus miles. Read details here: Up to 1,000 Bonus Miles for Joining American Airlines Shopping Mall.  Even though the AAdvantage portal only offers 2 points per dollar right now for Sony, the promo miles more than make up for that.

Alternatively, if you prefer cash, you can go through TopCashBack for 6% cash back.

Even though TopCashBack explicitly lists cash back for gift card purchases, I still would not recommend ordering an e-gift card since prior experiments have shown that e-gift cards do not result in cash back or points.

Make sure to pay with your synced American Express card!

Step 4: Sell the gift card

GiftCardGranny is a good site to go to for finding the best ways to sell gift cards.  At the time of this writing, here is what GiftCardGranny finds as options for selling Sony gift cards:

Note that there are a number of sites that will give you 75% or more of the value of the gift card.  Since you will have received a $25 statement credit (25%) from American Express, this means that you should come out even or even make a small profit on the deal.  If you sell to Plastic Jungle or Cardpool, go through TopCashBack first to earn a little bit extra.

For example, assuming the numbers above are correct, you can go through TopCashBack to PlasticJungle and sell your $100 gift card for $78.  Through TopCashBack you will earn 2.5% of $78, which is $1.95.  Your total profit then will be $78 + $1.95 – $75 = $4.95.  This does not count the points or cash back you get from buying the gift card in step 3.

Rinse and repeat

All of the above can be done once for each American Express card you own as long as you are careful to sync and register each card with a different social network / account.

Add it up

Here is an example of what you can earn each time through (assuming the GiftCardGranny numbers are correct):

• 100 SPG points by paying with your Starwood American Express
• 400 Ultimate Rewards points by going through the Ultimate Rewards Mall
• $4.95 profit

Clearly this isn’t a big score.  In fact, I’m not going to bother with it myself, but it could be a good way to dip your toe into gift card churning to get the hang of it. 

Online shopping portals are a great option for earning extra points or cash back for things you would have bought anyway.  Before buying something online or booking travel reservations, I always start with the best portal finders to find the portal that offers the most points or cash back for the online vendor where I want to shop.  Then, by going through a portal to the merchant I would have shopped at anyway, I earn extra points or cash back.  Usually its possible to take advantage of all of sales and discount codes and still get the extra kickback (although some merchants won’t give points for certain discount codes).

Gift Card Double Dip

In some circumstances, it’s possible to double your points or cash back through a “double dip”.  The idea is to go through an online portal to a merchant and buy yourself a gift card.  Then, go through the online portal again to use the gift card.  For example, let’s say that Old Navy is offering 5 miles per dollar through an airline’s shopping portal and you plan to buy $100 worth of stuff.  In that case, you may be able to go through the portal to buy a $100 Old Navy gift card in order to get 5X or 500 miles.  Then, if you go through the portal a second time and use the gift card to buy the things you want, you may earn another 5X or 500 miles.  In total, you would earn 10 miles per dollar (1000 miles) with this technique.

Double Dip Experiments

Double dipping doesn’t always work.  Not all merchants give points or cash back for gift card purchases.  And, not all merchants give points or cash back for the use of gift cards.  The trick is to find the merchants that give points and cash back for both.  Through the Frequent Miler Laboratory I’ve been tracking my own and readers’ double dipping experiences.  Of course, we’ve only tested a small handful of merchants and portals so the lab data is only helpful if we happen to have tested a merchant of interest to you.

Portal Terms & Conditions

Often, the fine print on a portal page will say something like “Not eligible on gift cards.”  What does this mean?  Does it mean that you won’t get points for buying gift cards, or that you won’t get points for using gift cards?  In some cases, I’ve found that despite the fine print I’ve received points for both buying and using gift cards.  In other words, the Terms & Conditions are often wrong.  Where those terms mostly come into play is when you do not get points you were expecting and you try to get help.  In that case, the portal’s customer service rep is likely to point to the T&C and say “sorry, gift cards are excluded.”

TopCashBack’s Merchant Survey

The cash back portal, TopCashBack, sent a survey to each of its listed merchants asking specifically whether they offered cash back when customers bought gift cards and/or used gift cards.  So far, they’ve received 48 responses and, even better, TopCashBack offered to share the responses with us!

Caution

Before I show the results of TopCashBack’s survey, I need to point out a couple of things: First, just because a double dip works with TopCashBack, that does not mean that it works with all portals.  Usually, merchants treat all portals the same, but some do not (Staples, for example, seems to have specific rules for each portal).  Second, just because a merchant reported that they give cash back for gift card purchases, does not mean that they are correct!  Shopping portals are (mostly) automated systems, and there is often a disconnect between what people believe automated systems do and what they actually do.  Only direct experience can prove the survey results right or wrong. 

One reason, in particular, that I’m wary of the survey results is that all but one responding merchant said that they pay cash back for gift card sales, but only 12 reported paying cash back for redemption of gift cards.  In practice, I usually find the opposite.  In my experience, most merchants pay points or cash back when you pay with a gift card, but relatively few pay points or cash back when you buy a gift card.  Why are the results so far off from my own experiences?  It could be due to simple selection bias: perhaps the stores that reward gift card purchases are eager to sell gift cards and so were more likely to respond to the survey.

Another thing to watch out for is the fact that merchants don’t always treat their e-gift cards and physical gift cards the same way.  There have been quite a few times where I’ve received points or cash back for buying physical gift cards, but not e-gift cards from the same portal/merchant combination.  In general, if you have time to wait for a physical gift card, you have a better chance of getting points or cash back.

Double Dippers

The following merchants reported that they give cash back for both buying and using gift cards (current cash back rates through TopCashBack are listed in parentheses):

• Ahnu (8%)
• Athleta (5%)
• Banana Republic (5%)
• Best Western (5%)
• EyeBuyDirect.com (10%)
• Gap.com (6%)
• Old Navy (5.5%)
• Perry Ellis (9%)
• Teva Footwear (8%)
• The Tire Rack (6%)
• Tsubo Footwear (8%)

Marriott (5%) was also on the list, but with the notation that gift card purchases were only awarded cash back until 12/31/2012 (i.e. not anymore), and they were unclear about gift card use, but seemed to indicate that cash back would be awarded.  In my personal experience, Marriott does give cash back for gift card use as long as you do not use a special corporate code or government rate when booking your stay.  Since Marriott no longer gives cash back when buying gift cards, you can still look to other options for double dipping.  For example, buy Marriott gift cards at a discount from Plastic Jungle (but go through TopCashBack first!), then book your stay through TopCashBack, and pay for the stay with your gift card when you check out of the hotel.

Maybe Dippers

The following merchants reported that they do give cash back for purchases of gift cards, but did not answer the question of whether cash back is given when gift cards are used.  My guess is that many of these would work for double-dipping, but only through experimentation can we find out for sure:

• 4 Wheel Parts (6%)
• 6pm (7.15%)
• AutoZone (8%)
• Bass Pro Shops (6%)
• Canvas4Life (15%)
• EC Research (20%)
• Etnies (15.1%)
• JeGem (21%)
• Lids.com (15%)
• Lowe’s (2%)
• Nearlynatural.com (12%)
• Paperstyle (2%)
• Plastic Jungle (2.5%)
• Portero (3%)
• QVC (6%)
• Restaurant.com (35%)
• Scrubs & Beyond (8%)
• Staples (5.5%) [Staples gift cards cannot be used online]
• TABcom Outdoor (13%)
• TABcom Pets (9%)

A few of the above merchants sell gift cards for use with other businesses.  Plastic Jungle, Staples, and Restaurant.com (sort-of) sell gift cards for other merchants, so hybrid double-dips may be possible through these merchants.  For example, you could go through TopCashBack to Plastic Jungle and buy a discounted Sears gift card, then go through a portal to Sears to use that gift card.

Regarding QVC, last May a reader who goes by carwag25 tested a double dip by buying and then using an e-gift card through the Ultimate Rewards Mall.  She received points for using the gift card, but not for buying it.  So, despite QVC’s presence on this list, I would use caution before buying QVC e-gift cards through a portal.  If physical gift cards are available, that would be a safer bet.

No Dippers

The following merchants reported that they do give cash back for buying gift cards, but explicitly said that they do not give cash back when gift cards are used for payment:

• Accessory Geeks (18%)
• Dennis Kirk (4%)
• Discount WatchStore (8%)
• Food Network Store (8%)
• GiftCertificates.Com (6%)
• Land’s End (6%)
• Mountain Hardwear (8%)
• Online Sports (10%)
• Reebok (10%)
• Revzilla (5%)
• Shoebuy.com (17%)
• Sony (6%) [no cash back for purchases e-gift cards]
• Sorel (8%)
• StreetSideAuto (7%)
• Wetsuit Wearhouse (5%)
• WU Pay (1 – 7%)

Note that with both Shoebuy and Sony, I have received points back when using gift cards after going through the Ultimate Rewards Mall, so my guess is that the answers for these merchants are incorrect.  These things can vary by portal, though, so I may be wrong.  Also, merchants can change their gift card policies at any time, so my experiences may be out of date.

Both GiftCertificates.com and WU Pay sell gift cards to other merchants, so hybrid double dips are possible.

Next Steps

Obviously, if you expect to make large purchases at any of the above listed merchants, this data may be useful to you to earn extra cash back.  If you prefer earning points and miles, the data above is a useful indication of what might work, but it is no guarantee. 

Many thanks to TopCashBack for sharing this information with us!

Related posts and links

• Read more about TopCashBack
• Sign up for TopCashBack (if you use this link I’ll receive a small referral bonus once you earn cash back)
• Read about the best ways to find portals here: Portal finder fight! Round 2
• Visit the Frequent Miler Laboratory 
• Learn the art of gift card churning, here: The art of gift card churning @ #chicagoseminars

I recently completed a small credit card churn.  I expect this to be my last one ever.  Here’s the story…

Conventional wisdom tells us that the best way to accumulate points and miles quickly is through credit card sign-ups.  Many in the points & miles community have turned this art into a science:  every 91 days, pick 4 to 8 cards, apply for all in a single day, reap the rewards, and repeat.  People call this “credit card churning.”  And, the process of applying for lots of cards in one day is referred to as an “app-o-rama.”  For some reason I hate that term so I simply refer to it as a “churn”.

For most people, credit card churning is the best way to go.  In general, I recommend that for each churn people choose one card from each major player: Chase, American Express, and Citibank; and throw in a card or two from the lesser players: Barclays, Bank of America, etc.  That’s why I setup my “Best credit card offers” page with a separate table for each bank.  A number of the links on that page are my affiliate links for which I get paid for successful applications, but many are not. I try to list only the best offers available regardless of whether I get paid for them.

There are exceptions to the rule of applying for only one card at a time from each bank.  With each bank you could apply for both a personal and a business account at once.  And, with Citibank you can often get double the sign-up bonus in one churn by opening separate browsers and applying at roughly the same time for the same offer in both browsers.  This is usually referred to as the “two browser trick“.  Most people do the two browser trick with Citi AA cards, but it is known to work with some other cards as well.  If you want to know if the trick works with a particular offer, your best bet is to search Flyertalk for a thread dedicated to that credit card.

Gearing up for gift card churning

In the past year I’ve learned that gift card churning can be just as profitable as credit card churning.  I have earned hundreds of thousands of valuable points by strategically buying and using gift cards, prepaid cards, and reload cards.  In order to do this effectively, one must have the right credit cards.  The Chase Ink cards are great for deals that involve office supply stores (5X); American Express Hilton HHonors cards are great for deals involving drug stores, grocery stores, and gas stations (6X); Citi Forward cards are great for deals involving book stores (5X); and so on.  With credit card churning, credit cards are only as good as their sign-up bonuses.  With gift card churning, credit cards are tools to be used for ongoing earnings.

There is no reason why people can’t do both.  Churn credit cards for big payouts every 3 months.  Churn gift cards for ongoing payouts in-between.  In my case, though, I want to stay focused on gift card churning.  Not all gift card churning techniques work for everyone.  And, over time, deals come and go.  So, I feel that it is necessary to keep aggressively hunting for the next great deal.  Sure, many of us are happily enjoying 5X everywhere^*, but will it last?

^{* See “One card to rule them all,” “Bluebird takes flight and changes the game,” and “The 5X everywhere backup plan.”}

In order to hunt for the best deals, I need the best tools.  So, I recently did a mini credit card churn focused not on signup bonuses, but on acquiring the tools I need for gift card churning.  Here are the cards I signed up for (all of these can be found on my “Preparing for Miles” page):

Citi Forward

The Citi Forward card earns 5 ThankYou points per dollar for restaurants, books, movies, and music.  What interests me most here is the “books” category.  The Forward card earns 5 points per dollar at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, to name just a couple of interesting merchants.  Barnes & Noble is particularly interesting since my nearby B&N Campus Bookstore carries gift cards and reloadable American Express Campus Edition cards (see my post “American Express Campus Edition” for more information).  I’m looking forward to running some experiments there!  ThankYou points are not always easy to get good value from, but when combined with a Citi ThankYou Premier card (which I already have), the points become worth 1.33 cents each towards airfare.  So, 5 points per dollar earnings, becomes 6.65% towards airfare!

US Bank Cash+

I recently argued that the US Bank Cash+ card may be the best cash back card there is (see “The best cash back card?“).  Cardholders are allowed to select two categories with which they will earn 5% cash back without limit.  Even better, when you redeem rewards for cash in $100 increments, you are given a $25 bonus.  That means that the real earnings are 6.25% cash back!  There are many 5% categories to choose from, but for this quarter I selected department stores, and charities.  I plan to run some experiments to see what exactly qualifies and how best to leverage this outstanding card.

Discover More Card

The Discover More card is similar to Chase’s Freedom card in that it offers quarterly rotating 5X categories.  What really interested me in this card, though, was getting access to the ShopDiscover online portal.  This shopping portal consistently has higher cash back rates than just about any other portal.  I’ve spent a lot of time learning and publishing the ins and outs of Chase’s Ultimate Rewards portal, but now its time to give Discover some love as well.

American Express Hilton HHonors

The Hilton HHonors card gives 3 base points per dollar for all purchases.  That in itself is not bad, but its not as impressive as it sounds.  I value HHonors points at about half a cent each, so this is like getting 1.5 cents per dollar.  That’s better than many cards, but not as good as some.  What makes this card really interesting to me is that it gives 6 points per dollar at supermarkets, gas stations, drug stores, and Hilton properties.  It also gives 6X for phone, cable, and satellite charges but I’d rather get 5X from my Ink Bold for those charges.  One surprise I got when I received my card was to find that the drug store bonus is limited to specific drug stores: CVS, DUANEreade, Rite Aid, and Walgreen.  That’s OK, there’s still plenty opportunity in those stores.  Keep in mind, for example, that many people have reported success in buying Vanilla Reload cards at Walgreens!

What’s Next

Now that I have “tooled up” with some terrific new credit cards, I plan to continue to aggressively search for the next great deal.  Not everyone has access to the deals I’ve published previously; and you never know how long the existing deals will last.  I do know, though, that there are plenty of opportunities out there, and I believe that we’ll find them.

I no longer plan to signup for lots of credit cards for the signup bonuses.  I’m not stupid, though — when great offers come along, I’ll snatch them up just like anyone else.  And, I’m not arguing that others should follow in my footsteps.  Credit Card churning remains an incredible way to rack up points and miles quickly.  You can earn huge numbers of points and miles through credit card churning, or gift card churning, or both.  Personally, I’ve decided to focus primarily on gift card churning.  How about you?

Last week I outlined ways to earn hundreds of thousands of points and miles through gift card churning (see “The art of gift card churning @ #chicagoseminars“).  Today, I have a number of specific updates for people who have taken gift card churning to heart…

Kohl’s triple dip not working

In my recent post “How to maximize your Freedom 5X purchases” I suggested that it might be possible to earn 25 points per dollar at Kohl’s by going through the Ultimate Rewards Mall to Kohl’s to buy Kohl’s gift cards with your Freedom card, and then go through the mall again to use the gift cards.  However, a reader reported on Saturday that this trick didn’t work for them.  They received points for using a gift card at Kohl’s, but not for buying a gift card.  One reader experience doesn’t prove that the triple dip won’t work for everyone, but its probably not worth the risk.

PlasticJungle / TopCashBack drops to 2.5%

PlasticJungle is a gift card buyer / reseller.  They’re a great resource if you have unused gift cards you’d like to sell (at less than face value).  And, they’re a great resource if you want to buy gift cards at a discount (which is a great way to save money almost anywhere).  Until recently, a cash back portal (TopCashBack) offered 4% cash back at PlasticJungle if you started from their site.  Cash back is awarded whether you buy gift cards from Plastic Jungle, or sell them.  Recently, TopCashBack reduced the payout to 2.5% cash back.  Accordingly, I’ve updated the post “Gift cards: buy low, sell high, get cash back” which can always be found on my Resources tab:

Walmart gift cards cheaper than usual

Lately, $500 Walmart gift cards have been on sale on EBay for about 5% off of face value (e.g. $475).  That’s pretty good, especially considering that purchases of merchant gift cards on EBay earn EBay bucks, which means you get an additional 1.9% rebate (2% of $475 = $9.5, which equals 1.9% of $500).  The catch is that the sellers don’t ship the cards for a month or more.

One reason that discount Walmart gift cards are interesting is that Walmart sells Visa gift cards online and will let you pay with gift cards.  The best value, currently, is to buy $200 Visa or MasterCard gift cards for $206.88 each.  This amounts to a 3.44% fee.  However, if you pay with a Walmart gift card that you bought at a 6.9% discount, you are still well ahead!

OfficeMax tightens up

In the posts “10% off everything and 7% off everything else” and “How to buy points for free” I described a few great ways to leverage the American Express OPEN Savings program now that those savings apply only to online orders at OfficeMax.  The trick involves buying OfficeMax gift cards online (for 10% cash back) and then upgrading them in-store (e.g. use them to buy better gift cards).  I haven’t had any trouble upgrading at my local OfficeMax, but a number of readers have reported that their OfficeMax stores don’t allow it.  In fact, fellow blogger Delta Points tells me that his OfficeMax used to allow it, but has recently cracked down.  If you’re thinking of trying this technique, consider starting very small to check whether your local OfficeMax store is upgrade-friendly.

Last weekend I had the awesome opportunity to present some of my wacky point-earning ideas to almost 500 new friends.  We were at the Chicago Seminars, which is an annual event for frequent travelers / travel hackers.  You can read about my experiences at the seminars here; or read Mommy Points’ top ten highlights here; or read Mile Value’s recap here (with photos!).

For those who didn’t make it to my presentation, I’ll give you an outline in this post.  For those who did make it, you may find this post helpful as a reminder and/or for the embedded links to many resources.

What and why

Gift card churning is the art of buying and liquidating gift cards for the purpose of earning extra points and increasing credit card spend.  Here are a few reasons it may be worth your time:

• Meet sign-up bonus minimum spend requirements
• Get credit card big-spend bonuses
• Earn hundreds of thousands of extra points and miles
• Earn high level airline and hotel elite status

Types of gift cards

In order to understand gift card churning, its necessary to understand the different types of gift cards.  Merchant gift cards are the ones that can be used only at specific merchants (e.g. StarBucks, Marriott, etc.).  Bank gift cards are those that are branded with Visa, MasterCard, or American Express logos and can be used almost anywhere just like credit cards.  Prepaid products are very similar to bank gift cards in that they also work like credit cards.  One of the ways they differ is that some prepaid products are reloadable and therefore can be more convenient than regular gift cards.

From 20K to 800K

Consider a person who spends about $20,000 per year with his/her point-earning credit card.  That person most likely earns between 20K and 40K points per year.  In this presentation I showed how, with some effort, this same person can pump up their point earnings to 400K to 800K per year.  And, that is in addition to any points earned from credit card sign-up bonuses!

How its done

The key is to take full advantage of the best points earning portal promotions and credit card bonus categories.  And, to creatively “manufacture” additional credit card spend by buying and liquidating gift cards…

Gift card churning techniques

Through gift card churning, it is possible to increase regular 1X or 2X earnings to 5X, 10X, or more.  Here are some of the techniques I described in the talk:

• Buy gift cards for points.  Leverage shopping portals and credit card bonus categories.
• Double dip.  When shopping online, get more portal points via a classic double dip (buy gift cards through a portal, and then use gift cards through a portal), or by leveraging both a shopping portal and credit card bonus category.
• Triple dip.  Get even more points by combining a credit card bonus category with a classic portal double dip.
• Upgrade.  Sometimes the best point earning opportunities are for gift cards that you don’t really want.  In some cases it’s possible to use those gift cards to buy better gift cards.

For an idea of which merchants allow portal points for gift card purchases, and which allow gift card upgrades, please see the Frequent Miler Laboratory.  I realize that the above descriptions aren’t enough to get you started if you’re new to this.  There’s simply too much complexity and nuance to cover in a single post.  If you need help, be patient: read this blog regularly, subscribe to my free beginners newsletter, and/or ask me for help.

Interim summary

By learning to capitalize on the above techniques, it should be possible to average between 5X and 10X across everyday spend.  So, the hypothetical person I mentioned earlier should be able to earn 100K to 200K points per year with their $20K spend!

Spending more

There are many ways to increase credit card spend without increasing your overall annual budget (at least, not by much).  I described several approaches:

• Spend creatively.  Use bank gift cards and prepaid cards (for which you earned points to acquire) to pay taxes, mortgage, rent, insurance, healthcare, etc.  Also consider coordinating events with friends and colleagues.  Pay for the events yourself (ideally, with a gift card!) and ask participants to reimburse you.
• Buy & sell merchandise.  If you’re willing to take the risk of buying and selling merchandise, you can greatly increase your spend and point earnings all at once.  At the seminar, HansGolden showed us the tricks of the trade.  If all goes well, he will follow up with a guest post or two on the Frequent Miler site.
• Buy & liquidate gift cards.  While the point multipliers aren’t usually as high as with buying and selling merchandise, buying and liquidating gift cards can be a great option.  Prepaid cards, in particular, offer an easy path towards increased spend and 5X points everywhere (see, for example, “One card to rule them all“).

The path to 800K

If our hypothetical gift card churner were to use the above tricks to increase spend by $5000 per month, he/she would spend $80K per year.  By averaging 5X to 10X, he/she would earn 400K to 800K points per year.  As icing on the cake, one could use the increased spend to get big spend bonuses from credit cards.  For example, one could use the Delta Reserve card to reach or increase Delta elite status; or use either the Citi Hilton or Amex Hilton Surpass card to reach Hilton Diamond elite status; and so on.

Advice and resources

Learn the basics.  If you’re new to “travel hacking”, sign up for my free newsletter.  You’ll receive an email once a week that goes through the basics.

Get a good credit card.  For many of these techniques you need a credit card that offers great category bonuses.  My favorite is the Chase Ink Bold or its twin Chase Ink Plus.  You don’t need to have a “real business” to get one of these business credit cards.  For details please see “How to sign up for the Ink Bold“.  If you are unwilling or unable to get a Chase Ink card, see “Preparing for Miles” for a full list of cards that offer great earning potential.

Go slow.  The techniques outlined above take time and patience to master.  Start small and build up as you gain confidence.  “800K” earnings is just an example.  Many people will never feel comfortable with the lengths it would take to get there.  That’s fine, do what works for you.  Others will take things much further.  If you fall into the latter camp, just please realize that there are serious potential hazards.  All large financial transactions involve some risk.  Plus, while the methods outlined above are perfectly legal, they may look like money laundering activities to auditors.  There is a real risk of having your accounts shut down.  See, for example, “Why Chase cancels accounts (and how to protect yourself).”

Maximize portal shopping.  Here are some helpful posts and tools:

• Read “How to ensure your portal points.”  Portals and merchants don’t always perfectly track your portal use.  Read this post to learn ways to ensure you get the points you are due.
• When shopping online, find the best portal for the merchant you plan to shop with.  Here are my favorite portal finders:
• Cashback Holics: In my experience, this is by far the most accurate portal finder, but it doesn’t include airline or hotel portals.  Fortunately, it does include my favorite portal: the Ultimate Rewards Mall (listed on this site as “Chase.com”).
• Ev’Reward and NerdWallet Shopping include both cash back and airline/hotel portals.  Unfortunately, neither is very accurate.
• When shopping via the Ultimate Rewards Mall, note that Chase occasionally offers different bonus points depending on which card you log in with (e.g. Ink, Freedom, or Sapphire). Luckily, HikerT updates this list every month to show the bonus multipliers side by side.
• Read my blog at the beginning of each month.  Each month, the Ultimate Rewards Mall lists new monthly specials.  I’ll report on each one and describe how to leverage each deal.  See, for example, “Ultimate Rewards Mall October Edition.”

Buy gift cards for points.  Buy cards you know you’ll be able to use. When buying through an online portal, keep in mind that not all merchants will give points for gift card purchases or gift card use.  See the Frequent Miler Laboratory to see what works and what doesn’t. 

Sell a few items.  Wait for the next “mega” shopping deal in which you can earn 20X or more (through double dipping or otherwise).  Buy a few low priced items that you think you can resell, and try selling them on Amazon and/or EBay.  If you’re new to selling, it can be scary and confusing at first.  By starting with a few relatively inexpensive items you can learn the ropes with little risk.  For an overview of how I go about finding items to resell, see “Hunting for deals.”

Wrap Up

The outline above should give you an idea of what my presentation covered, and maybe even get you thinking about how to earn more points and miles. For those who attended my session in Chicago, was this summary a helpful reminder?  For those who missed it, was this post useful?