Just stock up on count chocula and frankenberry while you can.
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Thatâs fair. Sometimes I wondered why I was spending 30 minutes at Walmart trying to feed nine Visa Gift Cards received in the mail from Staples. But then I remembered that the Ultimate Rewards points received were transferable to airlines for international business class and hotel experiences that I enjoyed. If you donât have a premium Chase card (to let you transfer the points), and are just taking straight cash, then that might not be worth it. If you already have too many UR, like I do, the Walmart deal may or may not be worth it, if I can liquidate easily without using more Kiva capacity. I may just do normal Walmart spending and then top it off at the end of the year, and use the VGC purchased then to pay taxes. I ended up getting an OBC per jaytraderâs suggestion, but with a 5,000 bonus AA mile deal I am doing and having to hit minimum spend on a BoA Premium Rewards and the Freedom deal, hitting the $50k on the OBC seems more of something to dread, even if that payment processor is going away.
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I feel you. For me itâs not worth $30/hr doing something I donât enjoy. I honestly donât enjoy MS at physical stores and I donât do it often. It does become worth it when a hot deal comes up like when Discover IT 10% CB got doubled for first year making it 20% CB, while running Apple Pay purchases promo for first $10k. I netted well over $100/hr after fees on that one month crazy run for two cards.
It also makes all kinds of sense to meet minimum spend requirements for signup bonuses. It can be tedious to do MS month after month though and I find I donât enjoy it enough to do so.
However, when you can also find ways that come up from time to time to make it easier to either purchase or liquidate and the fees still make sense, then you found a sweet spot (unfortunately these methods often get shut down if they become well known).
Hey, if it was so easy and lucrative that everyone and their mom wanted to do it, then it wouldnât last to be profitable for the rest of us!
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Mentioning the CFPB might be the way to go. Thanks! 
It is frustrating, but I want my Hilton points!
Since I found the VGCs via portal were a lot more profitable than buying them at B&M stores, I just do once a week (twice a week at most depending on how many packages I received) draining of a huge stash done in one or two stores has proven to be time and cost efficient for me. If I have to hop from store to store buying VGCs and then lining up at MC to buy to MOs, I wouldâve stopped. With my current method, I do my weekly grocery shopping after all my GCs have been drained. Where Iâm at, the best time to go to MC is soon as they open.
It is true that MS is not for everyone, but for those who benefit a lot from it know its worth thatâs why they keep on going especially if they live in MS friendly areas where competition is almost nil.
If you think all you can make is 30 an hour, youâre not seeing the forest through the trees. It takes me about 15 minutes round trip on the example I posted earlier. I net 40 bucks per trip. Thatâs 120 an hour. If I go late at night, I can do it in 10 minutes. Also, remember, people who are serious about MS donât just do one method. We have many things in motion at the same time.
However, I do agree that it can be a time suck. Especially if you live far enough away from a source or liquidation method (not even talking about gas or wear and tear on your vehicle).
[quote=âcalwatch, post:105, topic:649â]
hitting the $50k on the OBC seems more of something to dread, even if that payment processor is going away.[/quote]
Why is this, calwatch? Just want to make sure Iâm following.
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" For me itâs not worth $30/hr doing something I donât enjoy". Well, do you actually enjoy going to work everyday? I have to travel 80 minutes on commuter train one way to work. When I am at work, I like it, same with MS,. donât enjoy the âtravelâ, but the 23k per year, non taxable, makes it rewarding. I consider MS an actual job.
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WowâŚ23k/yr.
Unfortunately I may never know how you do it.
Itâs true, we should all crunch our numbers and decide if itâs worth doing. And I have other methods as back up when I reach the max orders allowed by GC merchants.
For me once a week draining my GCs at a friendly WM for eight to ten thousand worth bought from online merchants via portals has been very rewarding. Our numbers can vary depending on your CLs and CCs youâre using and if the merchant allows your order to proceed. Many have tried it and were banned by merchants for whatever reasons. No one has cracked the reasons behind this random bans done by GC merchants.
For example an $8K order has $95.20 fees attached to it (ouch!) plus extra $10.95 shipping with signature delivery confirmation. Signature delivery is very important to avoid this from getting stolen. Just one order using CC with 3% CB that can be drained easily in less than 20 minutes (with 4 cards swiped per *transaction to drain all 16 cards) after all fees have been taken off, the net profit is still substantial. It is best to do our own computations instead of relying on others since we donât know what CCs they have and if theyâre MSing for miles/points/cashback. Currently, Iâve focused on CBs since cash is more flexible although I still collect URs and SPG points here and there.
*This requires cooperative cashiers and YMMV if youâll find one depending on your relationship with them. Such stores and cashiers still exists; it just takes perseverance to find them.
A lot of this varies by region, even by neighborhood, and requires a lot of trial and error to scale.
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I was just referring to jaytraderâs use of Tio above in the thread.
Thanks calwatch. Iâm still not sure Iâm tracking, that is why this is more to dread with OBC than other cards. But no biggie either way.
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Thereâs a new trend at drugstores now where many have been reported to removed all stocks of vanilla GCs with $4.95 fees. More and more are now selling with the higher $5.95 fees which comes up to substantial amounts when done in volume.
With OBC, drugstore vanillas are one of the easiest way to meet the required spend of $6.5K in order to start earning 5% bonus on gas,groceries,drugstores. But with this increased fees, many of those with OBC will probably weigh its worth especially if drugstores are their main source of vanillas. Iâm not too keen on this card now, Iâm researching on that CC that others say give a lot more cashback returns with its cap removed.
I am curious to see what the newly empowered RAT âabuseâ team at Amex may do about churn on OBC. Maybe it will continue to fly below the radarâbut as itâs overwhelmingly used by churners for churn only, Iâd not be surprised if they started disallowing 5% or worse.
When it was uncapped, this was the churn card to beat. Now, not so much IMO.
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True, it was the CC to beat when it was uncapped. Since the $50K cap started for most last year, the max rewards has been limited to $2500 per reward year.To think that same amount was just a fraction of what we can earn per month with a lot of easy ways to MS then.
Thereâs still many ways not discussed in public and hopefully it remains that way so that anyone who finds it can also benefit without the venue getting shutdown soon as they found it.
Just scale up the cards. One person can do the 56k spend in a month, per card. I did 6 cards, one per month, January to July. We have had basically free groceries the whole year. I just redeem as a statement credit and spend down the credit balance on each one. Easy, simple, no refund checks to request.
The first 13 cards, I break even on, and use for other organic spending.
[quote=âjaytrader, post:120, topic:649, full:trueâ]
Just scale up the cards. One person can do the 56k spend in a month, per card. I did 6 cards, one per month, January to July. [/quote]
Do you ever worry what you will say if AMEX calls you and asks why youâre spending $56k a month on groceries? Worst they could do is close your cards, I guess.
[quote=âTripleB, post:121, topic:649â]
Do you ever worry what you will say if AMEX calls you and asks why youâre spending $56k a month on groceries? Worst they could do is close your cards, I guess.[/quote]
There hasnât been much reason in the past to worry about this. There are other worries, however:
-Amexâs RAT team is growing increasingly aggressive. See Is American Express Cracking Down On Giftcard/Simon Malls Purchases For Minimum Spend Requirements/Authorized User Bonuses? - Doctor Of Credit and the associated links.
-These cards are increasingly being used only by the hard-core churners. They havenât even been advertised by Amex for years. This makes it more likely that they would eventually attract Amexâs attention, IMO. It also means that once they do, picking off gamers would be easy pickings. Moreover,
-Amex is adding new language as of Nov 1 which they claim will give them broad powers to claw back rewards from âgamingâ as well as other forms of abuse. See New Amex T&C: "Gaming" grounds for freezing, taking your MR points - #25 by DaveHanson . Super easy for them to bust GC-looking GGD buys down to 1% IMO, if not worse.
Maybe nothing will ever happen, of course. But is the juice here, limited as it is by the $50k caps, worth the possible squeeze? Not for me.
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I like your philosophy. You should consider teaching it!
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