Archives for September 2015

Refurbished LG G2 D801 (T-Mobile locked, No Contract) for $130

If you are fond of former flagship phones, you can find many and more of those at the eBay Deals. Case in point, you can get the manufacturer refurbished LG G2 (D801, T-Mobile, 4G LTE) for just $130 with free shipping from eBay seller “Pangea Deals” (98.9%). One of the reason the price is low is because this is locked to T-Mobile, so you have to use it there for cellular. As always, you can use it as a Wifi-only device. No contract!

This phone has been out for a while, so there are plenty of reviews and tips and hacks available on the interwebs for you. As a refresher, this is a 4G LTE device, running on the Snapdragon 800, with 2GB RAM, a 5.2-inch 1920 x 1080 Gorilla Glass 3 display, 32GB on-board storage, microUSB, OTG, etc. As you can see, this is not a bad spec sheet.

Good Candidate for the T-Mobile 10GB/month Family Plans
Particularly of interest if you are planning to sign up for T-Mobile’s 10GB/line family plan that requires a minimum of two lines, and it is a data-hungry user’s dream. Each line gets 10GB of its own per month, with a 12-month Data Stash (their name for rollover).

Two lines are $100 total, so you get 20GB per month, with rollover. Optionally, for +$10/month, you can add an extra 10GB per line, so $130 gets you 30GB/month, $140 gets you 40GB/month. Nom nom indeed. Plus music streaming and Speedtest does NOT count against this limit. On top of that, you can use up to 10GB per line for hotspot/tethering (this of course comes out of your total 10GB line bucket).

[DEAD] refurbished FreedomPop sale [LG G2 for $100, Galaxy S3 for $80, Moto E (2nd g) for $80]

This daily deal expired, but things have a way of resurfacing every few days at Woot…
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Refurbished 13.3″ Toshiba CB30-A3120 Chromie for $140

Chromebooks are great if you are a big fan of the Google ecosystem and bargain laptops with SSD drives without bloated OS hogs. If so, you can get the 13.3-inch Toshiba CB30-A3120 Chromebook for $140 with free shipping from VooduBlu via Rakuten’s.

This Chromie eats celery. And by that I mean it is running on an Intel Celeron processor (2955U). It has the expected specs, 2GB RAM, 16GB SSD, 1366×768 on a 13.3″ screen, card reader, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, Bluetooth, etc. You also get the 100GB of Google Drive bonus.

PS: once upon a time, Bluetooth Audio wasn’t even working on Chromebooks. They’ve come a long way since 🙂

Samsung Galaxy S6 (G920i) for $430 [no contract; unlocked!]

If you are comfortable with a Galaxy S flagship smartphone without a microSD slot and without a removable battery, you can get the international edition, factory unlocked, version of the Samsung Galaxy S6 (G920i) for $430 with free shipping, in new condition, with a limit of five per customer.

Only the black sapphire color scheme is available. The other two have sold out already. The seller of record is none other than Monoprice (their eBay store)! This is a GSM phone, unlocked, no contract!

12oz Allergo Cup Of Coffee for $0.25 at Whole Foods

Whole paycheck? What whole paycheck? Until the end of September 2015, Whole Foods is offering 12oz cups of Allergo coffee for just 25 cents each. That’s right, old school prices! Better yet, this is a sale price, so you don’t need to print or show a coupon. You can find it at the Sales Flyer page. That’s crazy 🙂

Activate now: Chase Freedom 4th Quarter 5% rewards – it’s all about Amazon

It’s September 15, and this means, among many other things, you can now activate your 5% Chase Ultimate Rewards categories for the fourth quarter of 2015 (October 1st until December 31st). As usual, the quarterly limit is $1500 in eligible purchases. After that, you earn the standard reward amount (1% in most cases).

You can easily activate them when you login to your Chase account, in the summary page, there is an “Activate Now” button in the “5% Cash Back status” line for every eligible card in your account. You have to do this for each card. The 4th quarter is very Amazon-centric as it features purchases at Amazon, Zappos, Diapers and Audible, all original or purchased Amazon companies.

chase_q4_2015_amazon_themed

Strategy vs the Discover Q4 5%
Speaking of rewards, don’t forget to also activate your Discover Q4 rewards which also include Amazon, along with various department stores and clothing stores.

Strategically, depending on your purchases, you may want to use Discover for the department/clothing stores and shift the Amazon purchases to the Chase card. That’s if you are going to get close to the $1500 limits (for the 5% rewards).

Certified Preowned Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (Verizon) w/1yr warranty for $250 [no contract]

More Note temptations, especially if you are fond of the microSD card which Samsung took away with this year’s model. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in the Verizon version, in either black or white, is now on sale for $250 with free shipping in certified pre-owned condition (without contract) at Amazon.com by Amazon actual. It comes with a 12-month warranty.

This offer is currently restricted only to Prime members. If you must have it and you are not a Prime member, you can always start a Prime Free Trial (30 days)… The S-Pen’s siren’s call is hard to resist 🙂

Since it is a Verizon phone, if you plan to use the cellular part, you have to use it on a Verizon-compatible network, but you can always use it over Wifi.

Warning: Staples changed (restricted) how you can use your Rewards

The Staples Rewards for August 2015 were sent out earlier in the week. And with them comes an unwelcome surprise. Staples is now restricting how you can use your rewards. I found out while trying to use them. The rewards are good towards the purchase of regular price items and clearance items, however they will not work on promotions.

Of what I tried so far, these items CANNOT BE PAID with Staples Rewards:

  • Less List items (they end 9/12/15 anyway, after a 2.5 month run)
  • 1pk Staples 8.5×11 copy paper with the Easy Rebate promotion and coupon (1c after rebate and coupon)

There is an explanation on the cash register receipt – ineligible items have a * next to their name, and at the bottom of the receipt you have this message:

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Anker PowerPort Qi Wireless Charger for $12

IF you have a smartphone with the Qi charging technology, you can get the Anker PowerPort Qi Wireless Charger for just $12, in new condition, with a limit of 30 per customer, sold by the manufacturer, with the order fulfilled by Amazon, so if you are a Prime member, you get it for free in 2~ days. It averages 4.3 out of 5 based on 220+ customer reviews and has 25+ questions answered if you are curious about it.

$5 off your first order with Dash button (Prime only)

Amazon is trying to encourage all their Prime members to try out their new Dash buttons. If you purchase a dash button for $5, they will deduct $5 from your first purchase made with that Dash button. So it is a net zero transaction, assuming you can find something you want/need to order.

As of the time of writing, there are 29 different brands participating, a combination of household items (Tide, Hefty, Ziploc) and foods (Larabars, SmartWater, Orbit, Gatorade, etc).

Each Dash button can be used to order a variety of items from that particular brand. You select which one by using the Amazon app and connecting it to the Dash button through your Wifi network. For example, the Larabar Dash button has 42 different choices.

This is decidedly convenience over bargain, but since the first order is essentially free, it could be a fun thing to try out 🙂

Sept 10-14: Free Small Drink with select Food Items

The fall promotions are rolling in faster now, it’s harvest season after all, and the halloween candy are blooming on every aisle 🙂 Good between September 10 until the close of business on Monday September 14 in 2015, at Peet’s stores, this new coupon (sent to customers in their email list but good for everyone) offers you a free Small Hot or Cold drink when you purchase an eligible food item (it has to be a salad or pastry or oatmeal or other fresh items). You don’t have to print it, show it on mobile, or just mention it to the barista.

peets_free_drink_with_purchase

[DEAD] Wing Commander Academy (Animated TV series) for $8 [DVD]

As of 9/13/15, the discounted DVDs from marketplace sellers got all sold-out…

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[DEAD] Sept 11-13: Spend $7+ in a single purchase, get 4 Bonus Stars (SBUX Rewards)

This particular offer expired, but fear not, new Starbucks Rewards offers are rolling out every few days…

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Refurbished Motorola Moto E (Net10-Verizon) for $20 w/free s&h

If you want a general purpose basic but functional Android phone and you have exactly $20 to spare, you found the right post! For $20 with free shipping you can get the manufacturer refurbished Motorola Moto E (XT830C) from eBay seller “WW_Manufacturing” (99.7%). This is a “Verizon Towers” edition and comes with a one year warranty from Net10. No contract. You can use it as a Wifi-only device or signup for a Net10 (Verizon Towers) plan. You can buy as many as you like.

With more and more things becoming connected, this could make (among many other things) a handy in-home remote control 🙂

Sept 8-14: 25% off lunch item for Starbucks Rewards members

If you are a Starbucks rewards member, check your email or your app inbox. There’s a new promotion circulating for their Rewards members that gets you 25% off the purchase of any lunch item. There is a promo code for this offer (2281) which you have to show the barista. This offer can only be used once during the promotional period of September 8-14 in 2015.

starbucks_25off_lunch_item

Eagle eyed readers may have noticed something off with the above screenshot. Yes, *spoiler alert*, they mistyped “lunch” as “luch”. Which humanizes Starbucks, they are not a giant coffee robot after all 🙂

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