eBay Gift Card Deal coming - Buying eBay Gift Cards in Anticipation and Some Details

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: eBay and Top Cashback

Updated with more Gift Cards


Well, it's officially out there on the web.  Chuck from Doctor of Credit mentioned it was coming on Twitter and he was right.  Gentle reminder to follow your favorite bloggers on twitter.  They often discuss things that don't always make it onto the blogs.

Via Slickdeals, eBay seems like they are about to have a nice gift card deal. There are deals posted on eBay which are only available to preapproved sellers and the assumption is that these deals will become available to the public at some point soon.

Here are the deals that are posted, but not available:

Up to 2,500 Bonus Points from United Shopping Portal - Up to 11.5 United Miles for a $700 Purchase

HT - Mommy Points via Doctor of Credit

The United Shopping Portal is offering bonus points for using their portal before you shop elsewhere.



The bonus is tiered in the following way:

• Spend $150, you will earn 500 bonus miles
• Spend $350, you will earn 1,000 bonus miles
• Spend $700, earn 2,500 bonus miles

5 Simple Methods I use Frequently to Save/Earn Money

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Top Cashback, Ebates, Raise, Cardpool, Discover it®


Here is a list of the methods I use on a regular basis that are not too complicated and don't require as much time as most things I talk about.  There are lots more, but these are the easiest and the most frequent.  Almost none of these actually require me to get off my lazy tuchus.


1) Online Shopping Portals - I like to keep it simple so I don't use too many.  Usually the ones I use are Top Cashback, Ebates, Shop Discover (needs a Discover it® card)and Ultimate Rewards (needs a Chase card that gets Ultimate Rewards - like Freedom and Sapphire).  Before any purchase online, I will check Cash Back Monitor to see which one is the best for that purchase.

2) Discount Gift Cards - Instead of buying items directly, I usually buy a gift card at a discount to pay for it.  Raise and Cardpool (after starting at Top Cashback) are some of my go to's, but I usually check out giftcardgranny.com to see what's the best deal out there.

After I buy the gift card I still usually go back to Top Cashback before the purchase of the actual merchandise as a "double dip" is usually successful.

3) Target Gift Cards -  Specifically with Target, I always use a gift card.  As long as I am logged into my account online that is connected to my Red Card I will get all the benefits of the Red Card and stack my savings.  See this post for more info.

4) Using the Right Credit Cards - questionable if this is easy.  This is where the most savings comes for me, but also the most mental energy.  I am constantly thinking about which is the best credit card.  My mantra is, "Maybe I can be doing better."  Check out this post to figure out which cards are the best for you.


5) Bank of America Better Balance Rewards - This card is a no brainer.  I get $120 for me and $120 for my wife's card without doing anything.  All you do is have one recurring bill automatically paid by the card and the credit card bill automatically paid from your checking account and you will get $25 a quarter.  Another $5 each quarter if you have a Bank of America checking account as well for $30 per quarter.  
A word of caution - make sure your rewards go into a separate account and not as a credit into the credit card.  I got a credit and one month my bill was negative and I wasn't eligible for the $30 at the end of the quarter.  Bummer!
Check out this post for more info.


Anyone else have super easy ways to save real money?  Am I missing anything?  Comment below

11-16% off at Lowe's

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Top Cashback, Raise




Raise.com is now offering Lowe's gift cards for 10% off.




Start your shopping from Top Cashback and you'll get an additional 1% cashback into your account for a total of 11% off.  I have been use Top cashback since November of 2012 and I already have over $500 in my account for shopping I would be doing anyway.

If you are a new customer you can use coupon code RAISE60AF and save $5 off $60.  


In addition, as I explained a while back, you can use your Lowe's gift card to double dip by using the following method:

1) Start your actual shopping for Lowe's at one of the shopping portals.

2 ) Start off by buying gift cards worth slightly less than your final price.  For example, if you expect to spend $124 at Lowe's, buy a $120 gift card.  This makes sure you don't end up with a gift card with a small balance you have to remember about later.  In addition, you will be forced to pay the balance of the purchase on a credit card.  Pay for the items with your discounted gift cards.

3) As long as some of the purchase is with a credit card, you should qualify for additional money or cashback via the shopping portal.


Lots of gift card and shopping portal experiments can be found at the Frequent Miler Labs.  Check it out.

Current Best Shopping Portals for Lowe's - You can check for yourself here at Cashback Monitor

Shop Discover - 5% - You must have a Discover Card to use it.
Ultimate Rewards - 3x points per dollar spent - Must have a Chase Card that gets Ultimate Rewards Point (Freedom, Sapphire, Ink series)
AAdvantage Shopping - 3x miles per dollar spent.  Must have American Airlines Frequent Flyer Account




You can also buy Lowe's gift cards that can only be used in store for 12.5% off after Top Cashback, but I don't recommend it because then you can't do the double dip with the shopping portals.



Note: Keep in mind that Raise sells gift cards sold to them by individuals.  They don't usually have a large stock of any one card and prices are changing constantly based on what is sold to them and what is bought.

Unlimited Cashback! - Best Buy and Discover Card

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Best Buy, Top Cashback, Raise, Discover it®

Update: This method no longer works.  Discover Deals no longer pays out for purchases at Best Buy made with gift cards.


This one is almost too good to be true.  In fact, it is too good to be true.  If people start doing it and corporate hears about it, this will be shut down.  Guaranteed.

What if you could get free merchandise from Best Buy and get paid for buying it?  Wouldn't that be nice?  Well, weirdly enough, you can.


Here is how it works:


1) Buy a gift card from Best Buy.  You can buy directly from Best Buy or from a company like Raise that sells discount gift cards.  If you buy from Raise make sure to start from Top Cashback  to get an extra 2% off the price.  Let's assume you are buying a $200 gift card.

• Either way, pay with your Discover it® card and get an extra 5% for every online purchase.

2) Use Shop Discover with your Discover Card to go to Best Buy and buy a new gift card for a slightly higher denomination.  In our example, let's pick a $200 gift card and a $5 gift card.

3) Pay for the new gift cards with your $200 gift card, which Best Buy allows.  This leaves you with a balance of $5 which you can pay for with your Discover Card.

4) You will get 5% from Shop Discover on the entire $205 purchase, not just the $5 portion you paid with your Discover Card.  In our scenario, you will get $10.25 into your Discover Account while you only spent $5.

5) Rinse and repeat with a slightly higher denomination.





Don't forget to sign up for Best Buy Rewards Zone to get an extra 2.5% on anything you buy at Best Buy towards a future purchase.

What to do with all your Best Buy Gift Cards?

1) Buy merchandise from Best Buy

2) Buy Kindle Gift Cards which can be used for any Amazon purchase

3) I haven't tried it yet for this, but it might work on Best Buy Visa Gift cards.  They are sold in $200 denominations with a $7 fee.

The higher the denomination you start with the quicker you accumulate more rewards.


I tried this with Top Cashback, Ebates and Ultimate Rewards from Chase and none of them worked when I tried.  Shop Discover worked twice.

Free Money from Staples - Oren Strikes Again!

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

I love it when Staples coupons come in the mail.  Their online coupons almost always work on Visa gift cards.  A Staples online coupon means that I can buy money at less than cost.  That is never a bad price.

The coupon I got was for $25 off a $75 purchase.  Staples sells Visa gift cards in $50 and $100 denominations so I picked up a $100 gift card.  The normal fee is $106.95.  After a $25 code, the final price came to $81.95 or 18.05% off!  Not too shabby, but it doesn't end there.  

Maximizing the Purchase

Now, that I know I'm going to buy the card, I need to figure the best way to buy it in order to get extra points/money.  

A check on cashbackholic.com shows that if I use my Discover IT™  and Shop Discover portal I

will get 5% extra for a total of 6% off the price.

If I use the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal I will get 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent.

However, I have a Chase Ink Bold card (there is an annual fee after the first year) which gives 5 UR points per dollar spent at office supply stores like Staples.  Therefore, if I start shopping through ultimaterewards.com and use my Ink Bold, I will get an 8 UR points per dollar spent (655 points). 

1 UR point is worth at least one cent because it can be redeemed for a penny so this is the equivalent of another 6.55% (8 points off the final price, not the value of the gift card) off the price for a total discount of 24.6%!  Far less shabby!




Incidentally, it came with a coupon that gives you 3 pieces of luggage with a $100 order. So, I bought another $100 visa gift card for $106.95 and got another 8 UR points per dollar (856 points) for the equivalent of them paying me $1.50 to take 3 pieces of luggage.  Anybody looking to buy some luggage?  I will give a good price ;)

Chase Freedom and Kohl's - 15-25% + 20% off Like a Boss

Kohl's is probably my favorite store that I just about never shop at.  I may start now.

If you have a Chase Freedom, right now is a great time to be shopping at Kohl's online.

Here is how to save a lot of money.

• 5% 
• Kohl's is included in the current 5% rotating categories on Chase Freedom so you get 5 points back for ever dollar you spend in Kohl's up to $1,500 until the end of September.
• If you already spent the $1,500 at gas stations, like me, you aren't eligible for this 5%.
• Activate here
• 10%
• If you start your shopping from Chase's Ultimate Rewards Shopping Portal. You will get an additional 10 points per dollar spent.  Either do your shopping this way or buy physical gift cards and you now have 15% off the next time you shop at Kohl's.
• 10% 
• According to Frequent Miler labs, you can use a Kohl's gift card to pay and you will still get 10 points from Ultimate Rewards Portal.  So, buy physical gift cards to get your first 10% through Ultimate Rewards.  Then, go back through Ultimate Rewards portal to get another 10% when you pay with your gift card.
• If you follow these tips, you will get 25 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar that you spend at Kohl's.
• 20% 
• Use coupon code MARCHING to save 20% off a $100 purchase.  There is almost always some sort of coupon code available.
• Kohl's Cash
• Get $10 off Kohl's Cash for every $50 you spend.  This is officially expiring today, but they usually have a similar promotion.

Soda Stream Kit for $86, 2,175 Ultimate Rewards Points and $10 Kohl's Cash

A Sodastream Soda Maker Starter Kit from Amazon costs $80 with free shipping.  From Kohl's the same product costs $100 + a $5 shipping surcharge, which is not a good deal on its own.

However, when you add coupon code MARCHING (you have to add another product to get over $100 to qualify for the the 20% discount).  The price drops to $86.11 before taxes, which is still more expensive before the Chase Freedom kicks in.

You will however get 2,175 Ultimate Rewards points which is a minimum of $21.75 back so you are really only paying $64.25.

Then you will get $10 Kohl's cash for spending over $50 which can be used on your next purchase.

Overall, not too shabby!

One Caveat

If you buy the gift cards, it will take a few days to come in the mail and there is no guarantee of a promo code and Kohl's cash at that point, but I think it is still likely.  You can still everything else today and get 15 Ultimate rewards points instead of 10 and skip the gift card step.

Lowe's Triple Dip - 15% Cashback

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

About 10 days ago, I posted about saving 10% off Lowe's Purchases.  I want to confirm that it is possible to get 15% off every Lowe's purchase until the end of June using the Chase Freedom or Discover it cards!

I'm not going to repeat everything here, but here is the basic idea:

• Buy physical gift cards at Lowes.com after starting your shopping at either the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal or the Shop Discover shopping portal.  Buy in increments that are less than you expect to spend.  For example, I am probably going to spend $400 at Lowe's when I move.  I will buy a $300 gift card and 4 $25 gift cards so that it isn't all on one card. 
• Both cards have Lowe's among their 5% quarterly categories and both give another 5% for starting at their shopping portal for a total of 10%
• It takes about a week for the gift cards to come for free or you could get them rushed for $4.95
• Do not buy eGift cards as though are processed by a different company and won't come back as a Lowe's purchase
• Once you have your gift card, go back to the shopping portal and pay with your gift card.  As long as what you are buying is slightly more than the balance of your gift cards, use the appropriate credit card to pay the rest of the balance, you will get the extra 5% on the entire balance, not just the portion you paid for with the credit card!

I bought something for $10, put $2 on gift cards, the rest on my Chase Freedom and I got 50 points, not 40 points!

If you are moving, like me, make sure to sign up for a 10% moving coupon on up to $5,000 in purchases.

If you want to see similar experiments, check out the Frequent Miler Labs where he tests many theories to see what does and what doesn't work.  The one I posted about today, I have tried and confirmed myself.

20% off Keurig OfficePro B40 - as low as $90

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

Here is the link. coupon code is 15178486 or 83738268 (I tried to do both but they wouldn't work together)

If you have always wanted a single serve Keurig coffee maker, right now is the time to buy.  Normally $119  in officedepot and $122 from Amazon, it will come out to $94 and with extra savings, it can be as low as $89.30

If you have a Discover it™ or Chase Card, you should buy it through their online portals.  Discover will give you 5% off and Chase will give you 3%.  If you do not have either of these, you can buy it through ebates and they will give you 1% back.

This one makes 7 1/4oz cups and 9 1/4oz cups.  If you want 6 oz cups, you should go for the B145, which is a little more expense.  It will come out to $104.  Normally $129


I personally am not a fan of the coffee maker simply because it is significantly more expensive to buy the maker and more expensive for each cup of coffee but many people swear by them.

From slickdeals