Buy $50 Best Buy Gift Card, Get 800 Plenti Points

If you are participating in the Plenti Rewards program [see our Introduction], good until Saturday night 8/20/16, at Rite Aid brick and mortar stores, if you buy a $50 Best Buy Gift Card, you will earn 800 Plenti Points, which have the buying power of $8.

They don’t have preset amount Best Buy gift cards, you have to tell the cashier how much you want to load. I loaded exactly $50 and sure enough, the cash register receipt showed the 800 points, as you can see in the picture below:

bestbuy_plenti_50gc_600

So you get immediate confirmation (as soon as you pay), and the points become available to spend the next day. That’s it. You have to remember to show the cashier your Plenti card or enter your phone number. This is a limit two promotion for this shopping week.

Assuming you have no problem spending Plenti points on things you need (gas, future Rite Aid purchases, Macy’s, etc), that’s effectively a 16% off discount on everything you buy at Best Buy using this particular gift card. Not bad because that’s on top of any sales or coupons or rewards or other promotions.

August 16, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

July 31 – August 6: Buy $25 Google Play Gift Card, Get 600 Plenti Points

This is the best Google Play gift card deal as far as I can recall. To get it, you have to be a member of the Plenti Rewards program (free to join) and be near a Rite Aid store when the offer is running. So here’s how it goes…

For the shopping week of Sunday July 31 until the close of business on Saturday August 6 in 2016, at Rite Aid brick and mortar stores, if you are a Plenti rewards member and buy a $25 plastic Google Play Gift Card, you will receive 600 Plenti points on your account. These are the equivalent of $6 in future purchases at Rite Aid or Exxon-Mobil gas stations or Macy’s or other participating retailers. You can’t convert the points to cash, but the have the equivalent spending power. If you do the math, that’s a 24% off effective-discount assuming you’ll have no problem spending the Plenti points.

Better yet, this is a “limit 2” promotion for the whole week, so you can get two $25 gift cards and score 1200 in Plenti points.

July 29, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

July 17-23 at Staples B&M: Buy $300+ Mastercard Gift Cards, Get $15 via Easy Rebate

If you are a fan of the Staples Gift Card offers, good news for you! Per the teaser of their Weekly Ad for the week of Sunday July 17 until the close of business on Saturday 23, 2016, at their brick and mortar stores, it is the return of the Mastercard Prepaid Gift Card offer. It’s similar style, buy $300+ in prepaid Mastercard gift cards, and receive a $15 Staples Gift Card via Easy Rebate. Easy Rebate means you can submit the offer online, you don’t have to mail or photocopy anything, you just need the numbers from your receipt.

staples_mastercard_gift_cards

The usual strategy applies here, if you can get to $300 with two or one gift card, then this is a money maker deal worth doing. The activation fee of a $200 gift card is $7, while a $100 has a $6 activation fee. So with this combination, you make a $2 profit on a $300 investment. Not as sexy as back when the Easy Rebate was $20.

Now if you can find a single $300+ gift card, then that would be awesome, but those are about as rare as unicorns 🙁

July 14, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

Great Plenti Gift Cards deals at Rite Aid 6/19 to 6/25/16

If you are part of the Plenti Rewards program [see our TL;DR if you are not familiar with it], there are some hot gift card deals running there between Sunday 6/19/16 AM and Saturday 6/25/16 PM. The two best offers are:

  • Earn 500 Plenti Points on $25 Google Play Gift Card (limit 2)
  • Earn 800 Plenti Points on a $50 eBay Gift Card (limit 1)

That’s a 20% discount on Google Play and a 16% off discount on eBay. Both are pretty good discounts, especially considering these too are rarely discounted. Unlike iTunes that has discounts all the time. Plenti is a pretty good program, and if all else fails, you can redeem your points at Exxon-Mobile gas stations since almost everyone needs to refuel their cars.

June 17, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

June 5-11: Buy $300+ AMEX Gift Cards, Get $20 back via Easy Rebate

If you are a fan of the Staples gift card EasyRebate promotions, we have good news for you! For the shopping week of June 5-11 in 2016, at participating Staples brick and mortar stores, you can get a $20 Staples Gift Card via EasyRebate (can be submitted online, no need to mail anything in) when you purchase $300+ in American Express gift cards.

spls_amex_giftcard_easy_rebate

These have activation fees, so generally they are best if you can get to $300 with either one or two (most likely) gift cards. These offers have a small but very loyal following so you may need to be there Sunday AM if you want to guarantee finding the gift cards in-stock for this promotion.

June 2, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

May 22-28: $20 VISA Gift Card via EzRebate with $300+ prepaid VISA Gift Card purchase

If you are a fan of doing the Staples gift card rebate promotions, we have good news for you! The VISA promotion is returning at Staples brick and mortar stores for the week of May 22-28 in 2016. The terms are as before, you buy $300+ in prepaid VISA gift cards, and you will receive a $20 prepaid VISA gift card by Easy Rebate (you can submit it online, no need to mail anything in).

staples_visa_GC

The gift cards you buy have an activation fee, so to make this a money-maker deal, you have to get to $300+ by buying two or one gift cards. Finding $300+ unicorn gift cards is near impossible, so most people do this with a $200 + $100. You then submit the Easy Rebate at the Staples rebates website, and wait for 4-6 weeks for the rebate to arrive in the mail. Assuming you spend your $20 prepaid VISA gift card bonus wisely, it’s about a 2% return on investment ($20 gift card minus $13 in activation fees = $7). Not a bad return considering today’s interest rates 🙂

PS: three gift cards (eg three $100) are technically also a money-maker, but a profit of $2 on a $318 investment might be too small for many people to consider it worth their time.

May 19, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

Buy $10+ Starbucks eGift Card with VISA Checkout, Get $10 Bonus

Don’t sleep on this offer, because it’s both a limited quantity and a limited time offer! Good until 5/17/16 or when 325,000 people take advantage of it (whichever comes first), if you purchase a Starbucks eGift Card from their website of $10+ AND pay for it with VISA Checkout, a $10 bonus will be automatically added to the gift card amount.

You can send this to your own email address or send it to another person’s. Its your choice. Starbucks don’t care but they have a limit of one per customer during this promotional period.

starbucks_visa_checkout_bonus

The bonus amount will not show in the VISA Checkout process, but a few minutes after you place the order, you will receive an email from Starbucks with the gift card and that will have a +$10 egift card bonus.

If you already have a Starbucks card in your account, you can also directly transfer the new gift card balance to your existing card. It’s only a matter of a few clicks, if you don’t want to shuffle multiple gift cards in your Starbucks app.

May 6, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , ,

$10 off future Smart & Final purchase with $50+ in select Gift Cards

Starting with the new May 4 weekly ad, at Smart and Final brick and mortar stores, there is a two-part promotion running until 5/10/16. The first step is purchase $50 or more total in gift cards from a list of options: Macy’s, Michael’s, Fandango, Nike, Panda Expess, Jiffy Lube or Lucille’s. When you make this qualifying purchase, their cash register will print a coupon with your receipt that gets you $10 off your future purchase at Smart and Final.

NOTE: the fineprint in their weekly ad says that gift cards can only be purchased with cash or a debit card. I don’t know if this is a new restriction, because I remember in the past buying gift cards with credit cards (when they have the 5% quarterly grocery rewards offers).

May 3, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , ,

Buy $25 Google Play Gift Card, Get 500 Plenti Points

Unlike iTunes Gift Cards, Google Play gift cards are rarely discounted, so this is a good opportunity to scoop them up at a good discount. This promotion is available through the Plenti rewards program at Rite Aid stores. You purchase a $25 physical plastic Google Play Gift Card, and receive 500 points in your Plenti Rewards program. This offer ends at the close of business on Saturday April 30 in 2016 at Rite Aid brick and mortar stores.

riteaid_google_play_gift_card_plenti

500 points have the buying power of $5, which you can spend in future purchases (the morning after your purchase) at Rite Aid or Exxon-Mobil gas stations or Macy’s or other participating locations.

I haven’t seen the weekly Rite Aid ad this week, but these promotions are typically two per customer during this week, so that’s pretty good. Google Play Gift Cards can be used on Apps, Music, Video, and eBooks purchases through the Play store. NOTE: they cannot be used to purchase subscriptions (eg Google Play Music All Access) or hardware from the Google non-Play Store.

PS: if you are not familiar with the Plenti rewards program, check our introductory post.

PS2: these are a great way for cordcutters to buy Season Passes for their favorite TV shows. Amazon rarely discounts their gift cards since they sell at pretty much face value in the used gift card market.

April 26, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

[DEAD] Cordcutter Deals until Sat PM: $10 back on $50+ Netflix, $6 back on $30+ Google Play

This particular promotion expired, but Rite Aid has Plenti Gift Card promotions almost every week. Some of them are better than others ~ partially depending on which ones are your favorite stores 🙂

[Read more…]

March 24, 2016 Filed Under: tech Tagged With: , , , , ,

[DEAD] March 20-26: Buy $300+ Mastercard Gift Cards, Get $20 Staples GC via Easy Rebate

This is another cyclical promotion that returns every few weeks. Keep checking their Weekly Ad to see when it comes back again. Keep in mind these have their dedicated fans, so your best bet is to get there as early on Sunday as possible…

[Read more…]

March 17, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

[DEAD] VISA Gift Card Promotion Returns at Staples (March 13-18)

This offer ended…

[Read more…]

March 10, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

Buy $25 Google Play Gift Card, Get 500 Plenti Points (limit 2)

We have a little bit of a cordcutter theme today! If you are an Android user, the Google Play Plenti Gift Card promotion is coming back at Rite Aid stores during the week of January 31 until the close of business on Saturday 2/6/16. You buy a $25 Google Play Gift Card and you receive 500 Plenti points. That’s the equivalent of $5 you can use in future purchases at Rite Aid, Macy’s, Exxon-Mobil, and more.

It’s essentially a 20% off discount on everything you buy at Google Play using this amount. Unlike iTunes (a bit ironic considering Apple’s crazy profit margins), Google Play rarely has sales on their gift cards. So this is a good opportunity.

The promotion is “limit two” during this promotional period. I’ve done this a couple of times in the past, and it works like clockwork. A pretty good way to buy Season Passes for TV shows if you are a cordcutter, or any other digital content (apps, music, ebooks, movies, etc) from Google Play.

NOTE: Google Play Gift Cards CANNOT be used to purchase hardware from the Google Store or subscriptions through Google Play (eg their Music service). Those have to be charged to a credit card. I don’t know why they have this restriction, probably to keep us spending more, because if a subscription or hardware purchase empties your gift card balance, you are less likely to make digital content purchases?

NOTE #2: if you are not familiar with the Plenti Rewards program, check our earlier introductory post.

January 30, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

Buy $125+ in Select Gift Cards, Get $20 off in future purchase at Smart and Final

Smart and Final is back with another gift card promotion, this one running from December 2-15 in 2015. If you make a total purchase of $125 or more in select gift cards, you will receive a coupon code for $20 off a future purchase at Smart and Final. The $20 off coupon must be used by 12/29/15. The $125+ purchase must be made in a single transaction, it will print at the register if it qualifies.

A total of 11 gift cards are eligible for this promotion. Enough for a soccer team 🙂 This includes big stores like Kohl’s and Lowe’s, along with specialty stores like Nike and Sephora, and restaurants like iHOP and Panda “MSG” Express, and Cold Stone Creamery. Also eligible is the orange “Dinner and Movie” gift card that is Darden restaurants (for the dinner part) and Fandango for the movie part.

December 3, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

Dec 6-12: Buy $300+ in Gift Cards, Get $20 Staples Gift Card via Easy Rebate

There’s a new twist in the Staples Gift Card Easy rebate promotion that will run from December 6-12 in 2015 at their brick and mortar stores. The buy $300+ in Gift cards and a get a $20 Staples Gift Card via Easy Rebate is back and this time all three major credit cards are participating: VISA, Mastercard and American Express.

staples_gift_card_promo_returns_all_three

I don’t recall seeing this offer before, so I don’t know if you have to get to $300+ with one kind (eg only VISA gift cards) or any combination. This offer is a money-maker if you can get to $300+ with two or one gift cards because of the unavoidable activation fees. With two gift cards ($200 + $100), you pay $13 activation fee but you receive a $20 gift card, so you end up with a $7 return on a $313 investment with a 1-month vesting period. Can your investment adviser guarantee such a return? 🙂

TIP #1: these sell out fairly quickly, so if you want a good chance of finding them, you may have to be there as early on Sunday as you can. There are some “professional shoppers” who buy multiple of these, even though it is limit one per customer. Grandma and Grandpa becomes very popular when extreme couponers want to use them as mail-in rebate participants!

TIP #2: Gift cards are not refundable, so make sure the items you get are eligible for the promotion and you won’t change your mind. While other rebate items (eg the various copy paper offers) can be returned if you change your mind or you accidentally get the wrong items, gift cards are not returnable. So pay extra attention to the terms and eligible options!

December 3, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , , , ,