How to Approach Gift Card Purchases in This Sad New World

Best Options for PPDG and Cardcash Purchases

It has been 24 hours since the news hit that the Ink Plus, Cash, and Preferred no longer earn bonus points on PayPal Digital Gifts (PPDG) and CardCash purchases.  We have gone through the grieving process and now it is time to move on and figure out what we should do now.  I went over some options in yesterday’s article but I wanted to take some time to go more in depth.

Best Cards to Use For These Purchases

There are still going to be great deals on CardCash and PPDG and we will continue to purchase them.  There is still profit to be made, just not as much as before.  Let’s go over the different options available to us.

Best Option

The best option going forward is using any card you are working on minimum spend for.  Sign up bonuses bring an overall return of 10-40% on your minimum spend.  That is hard to beat and that makes it the best option available to us going forward. Use caution if the card is an American Express card with their RAT team increasing their presence.

Next Best Option

If you do not have any minimum spend to work on or you have the minimum spend covered via another avenue these are the next best options. These are two rumored options, that we have not been able to confirm ourselves, but we would appreciate any data points you have in the comments.  They are as follows:

• AT&T Access More – Earns 3x ThankYou points on online purchases at certain retailers.  One reader on DoC reports that it was working in August and is believed to still be working.  This card is no longer available for new applicants but it is still possible to product change certain cards to this one.
• Mastercard versions of Ink Bold or old Ink Plus/Cash are rumored to still earn 5x. This is probably because Visa and Mastercard code their vendors differently. If this is true I am not sure if it will last much longer.

Best Of The Rest – Travel Cards

If you don’t have any of the cards listed above here is the best of the rest for points earning cards:

• American Express Blue Business Plus – It earns 2 MR points per dollar on every purchase up to $50,000 per year. If you have one of the old Blue For Business Amex cards, like me, you are able to earn 2.3 points until your first cardmember year is up (up to $50,000 in spend).
• Bank Of America Travel Rewards – Only useful if you have $100,000 parked at BOA (2.625%).
• Chase Freedom Unlimited – 1.5 UR points per dollar spent.
• American Express Everyday Preferred – 1.5 MR points per dollar when making at least 30 transactions per billing cycle.

Best Of The Rest – Cash Back Cards

If you prefer cash back/travel credit over miles and points these are the best options:

• Discover It Miles – 3% earned the first year of card membership.  1.5% for the purchase which is doubled at the end of your cardmember year.
• Alliant Cash Back – 3% earned the first year of card membership.  2.5% after the first year.
• USAA Limitless – 2.5% cash back on all purchases.  Must be a USAA member to apply.
• One of the many 2% cards
  • Spark Cash/Miles
  • Citi Double Cash
  • Capital One Venture Card
  • Barclay Arrival Plus – You also get 5% of redeemed points back.
  • Visa Fidelity – must transfer to a Fidelity account to get the full 2%.

That pretty much wraps up the options available to us.  Let me know if I missed anything in the comments and I will add it in.

Options to Replace PPDG and CardCash and Still Earn 5x

PPDG has the best deals and they offer them more often than other gift card sellers do.  Having said that there are still ways to earn 5x UR points without them! There may be one option left to get discounted second hand gift cards at 5x earning to replace CardCash also.

Office Stores

You can still purchase full priced gift cards at Staples or Office Max/Depot.  This is a great option for Amazon and for Target (Staples Online).  Some carry gift cards for gas stations, grocery stores, and airlines etc.  If you shop at Staples and are linked into Uber Local Offers you are able to earn between 1-5% in Uber credit (depends on where you live).  This is in addition to the 5x UR points you earn for the purchase.  The Uber credit tracks best if you keep the purchases to under $200 per transaction and no more than 2 transactions per visit.

Gyft

Gyft sells first hand gift cards and sometimes offers them at a discount, like the Nike deal a few days ago. I can confirm Gyft still earns 5x UR when checking out with PayPal and your Ink Plus/Cash card.

Gift Card Mart

GCM is a smaller reseller of discounted second hand gift cards.  They were earning 5x with Ink Plus/Cash and no one has offered a data point showing that it has changed.  So until we hear otherwise we will speculate that it is continuing to pay 5x.

Conclusion

As the game grows in popularity the opportunities tend to dry up.  We just lost a big contributor to our points earning portfolio so we need to become leaner, smarter, and more diligent.  I hope I gave you some ideas to get you on your way.  Let me know of anything I missed in the comments and I will add it in.  Let’s figure this out together!

If you would like to support the site and you are planning on signing up for any of the cards listed above please visit our providing value for value page.  Thank you in advance if you are willing to use any of our links.

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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