the new to me method that I find easier and more profitable is ordering VGCs online using the portal with the highest CB offer and using a 2 and 3 percent CB credit card. With the USPS informed delivery system that informs me when my priority packages are coming, I know when to expect them. It’s worth to pay the shipping to ensure they don’t get lost or delivered to someone else’s mailbox since signature is required for this. I order $7.5K or higher at a time since it is easy to drain them to prepaids and MOs where I’m at. I was hesitant in the past because of a lot of cases I’ve read of these delivered unsealed, stolen in mailboxes or delivered to someone else’s mailboxes. With signature required, the carrier will make sure it is delivered to the right address.
Buying VGCs at b&m stores is not only exhausting but at the same time I cannot buy $7500 in one transaction regularly without drawing attention from cashiers. Buying online is also a lot more profitable done via click thru a portal. VGCs bought online also have my name on them which is very important in case a cashier wants to check that my name is on the DC and it has passed the sniff test of the strict cashiers so they don’t ask to see my VGCs now.
I miss dollar coins
One method I did not see specifically mentioned is reselling gift cards.
If you can find a discount on gift cards or any promotions for gift card sales it can sometimes be worth it.
I have gone through most of the methods and I really find using a payment processor to pay my heloc for 3% is the best value for me. I usually do 9k at a time and I do not need to stand in line or mess with deposing MO’s.
Once that method gets shut down, I may be done with MS.
I’d argue that gift card arbitrage is not MS. But I guess I see how it could be considered loosely as such. Really you’re just buying low and selling high. MS is more about utilizing cash equivalents to generate credit card rewards. Shhh, don’t tell Amex.
Nothing easier and cheaper than doing it home IMHO. There is currency risk and repayment risk (although many loans are delinquent, few default, but I would not want loans in Puerto Rico or Mexico right now) as well as time value of money, but better than 20 minutes driving and waiting in line on my Friday off to a post office.
[quote] Shhh, don’t tell Amex.[/quote]since the rats (that’s what the abuse team is called) came about…you don’t have to tell them, they’ve been hired to sniff all forms of MS that’s why they’ve even put the terms that bonus rewards may take 8 to 12 weeks to post which means they can take their time to manually review purchases to make sure NONE of it goes against their terms. IOW…STRICTLY NO MS or you don’t get your sign up bonus/reward.
when it comes to AXP cards, it is best NOT to MS to meet your min spend requirements because it’ll be too late to know after 12 weeks is up (90 days is average time to meet MSR) and find out all purchases you made have been found out to be GCs at the store or online. They can do this from L3 data. If it’s purely organic, one can battle with them and even go to CFPB with a leg to stand on since their purchases were not MS at all.
While you make all valid points, and I agree, we’re talking about repeatable MS (I think). When it comes to signup bonuses, YMMV and proceed at your own risk, no doubt.
Sorry… when I think “MS,” I think about recurring activity to generate cash back/points/miles. Signup bonuses are so easy to organically spend in the three months that I never think about MSing to hit the spend.
There’s a reason eBay is still around, and continues to increase their pricing. They’re arguably THE best marketplace for selling something, exposure wise. If Raise can adopt a similar program, they’ll be in it for the long haul.
while it may be easy for you to do all organic spending to meet MSR, it is NOT the same for those who sign up for the plat with a high MSR requirement and have no expenditures to meet organically.
Let this serve as warning to those who aren’t aware that AXP has come up with these “pests” to sniff all purchases especially those who churn cards. NO EASY way to MS the MSR on AXP cards; to do so is AT YOUR OWN RISKS and no way to win because they’ve CTA with the revised terms and conditions. It’s like they’ve warned about spending that does not count so those who willfully go against it should not complain later if they don’t get their sign up bonuses.
FWIW, I think it only applies to sign up bonuses for now, after meeting MSR and earning one point per $ spent, I don’t think they’d care at all.
[quote]when they say ‘do the research’ what they really mean is go out and pound the pavement looking for loopholes.[/quote]when I was just learning the ropes, I see this a lot and it challenged me to find those loopholes. I did eventually find some and have learned to milk it as much as I can; some have eventually shutdown but I noticed if they’re not discussed on FT, reddit or dissected by bloggers, these loopholes can really last a long time. Once these are leaked to the public, it shuts down in 3 days and I know it’s not mere coincidence.
What I have done to help meet those high minspends is to use it as an excuse to shop around for car insurance and/or homeowners insurance. Those are usually nice chunks that eat into the minspend quickly. Especially since Amex is once per lifetime now, this is really a rare problem these days.
I’m fighting them (Amex) now x2. I did a huge churn right before we went on a trip and ended up getting pinched for time, finishing min spend on two cards through VGCs. They’ve been jerking me around for months on the points. I don’t want to push too hard, but it’s not looking good.
I had issues with them when my starpoints didn’t post for the first 25K points and also the 10K points (this was offered in spring this year) while most had theirs posted soon as they met the required spend. I had to call/chat just to follow up and each time they’d say another 8 to 12 weeks until the last time I called when it was way over 12 weeks when I’ve already spend over $5K and still none of my bonus points posted. I told the rep in chat (made a screenshot of this conversation) that I’ll give it another 10 days and if I still don’t get my starpoints, I’ll see if CFPB can assist me with it since I’m not getting anywhere each time I call/chat. When I checked on the 5th day, my full bonus finally posted. It was a relief that I didn’t have to go to CFPB.
It’s trite to say patience is a virtue but it has worked for me a lot of times, it may work for you, too. I’m sending you positive thoughts your points will post soon!
IME Amex’s reps are clueless and useless. Things process in due time and nothing you say makes any difference on speeding that up. They feed you meaningless deadlines to get you off the phone, and frustrate you.
After reading many of the replies, I decided it’s not worth doing MS for me. It sounds like $30/hour is what people are making and that’s not worth my time. I did decide to max out my Q4 Chase Freedom $1500 of spend at Wal Mart on $500 visa gift cards. So far I’ve used $500 worth on various day-to-day spending that I’d otherwise have used my 2% generic cash back card at. I’ve specifically only used it on things like services or Costco groceries that I wasn’t going to return or care to retain charge back/extended warranty privileges.
I expect that I might do something similar to meet minimum spend on any new card signs up I do in the future, peppered in with real purchases during that initial promotion period. However, I doubt I’ll get into MS in any serious way. Not enough reward for my time and I don’t want to look back at my life when I’m in my deathbed and realize I wasted weeks of my life churning CC rewards for a few bucks.
I can see it as a fun game to do, mixed in with errands you run around town, once you have it figured out, but the game seems to keep changing and the “research” part will cut into my hourly rate of return. Also, I have no desire to argue with minimum wage Walmart/CVS cashiers or government workers at the post office which it seems like is some part of this. Best of luck to everyone who’s doing it and please keep sharing ideas to assist others who may decide it’s worthwhile for them to do.
