Great discount on eBay Gift Cards
I buy a lot of stuff on eBay. Sometimes I buy the gift card deals that I write about from time to time and other times I buy merchandise to resell. It isn’t uncommon for me to spend thousands of dollars per month at the online auction site.
Whenever you are spending thousands of dollars at a store then you should look for ways to save money. One of the ways to do this is through discounted gift cards. My goto for buying eBay gift cards has been Gyft. When you purchase the cards from Gyft and pay with a Chase Ink card through PayPal, you earn 5X Ultimate Rewards. That is a nice discount in my book. Unfortunately Gyft began limiting the denominations on eBay gift cards to just $25. Yikes!
Another option in the recent past has been to purchase eBay gift cards at Target online and pay with a REDcard. Unfortunately Target recently stopped selling eBay gift cards, which means no discount. Fortunately, there is a scenario I am taking advantage of right now that is helping me save at least 12%.
4X Fuel Points + 5% Cashback
My local Smith’s (Kroger) store sells eBay gift cards in denominations up to $500 each. Normal purchases at Smith’s earn 1 fuel point per dollar spent, however gift cards earn 2 points. That is normally a decent earning rate, but through June 19 they are offering 4 points per dollar on gift cards. To get that rate make sure to login to your online account and load the coupon to your card.
So for the purchase of a $500 eBay gift card, I earn 2,000 fuel points or $2.00 off per gallon. (Max $1 off per fill up.) Normally my wife and I both fill up our cars together and get about 30 gallons of gas, but for this scenario I am going to be conservative and say I only get 18 gallons per trip. (The size of my car’s gas tank.)
The Math
- So here is the basic math of my fuel savings: 18 gallons X $1 = $18 X 2 trips = $36 saved.
Not a bad little discount, but it gets better. Many cards earn a grocery store bonus. For example, the Chase Freedom card earns 5X this quarter at grocery stores on up to $1,500 in spend and others have a grocery bonus as well. (Such as my Old Blue.) Of course, I am not using my Freedom, since I have a card that is earning 5X everywhere right now!
To purchase the $500 eBay card I used my BBVA NBA Amex which earns 5% back during the NBA Finals.
- Here is my cashback earned for the $500 eBay gift card: 5% X $500 = $25
So I will earn $25 cashback on the purchase. If I add that to my fuel savings, I save about $61 total off of the $500 gift card. That makes the math look like this:
- $500 – $61 = $439 final cost
- $61/$500 = 12.2% savings!
Other Considerations
Every time I post a deal like this people come up with their own scenarios of why this isn’t a good deal. Here are some consideration you should make, but that I won’t include in my math:
- How far the Smith’s/Kroger gas station is from you and how convenient it is to visit.
- If there are cheaper stations in your local area.
- How much you would earn in credit card rewards on a simple eBay purchase opposed to using the gift card.
- The fact that fuel points expire the month after they are earned.
With That Said…
This is a good deal. I actually plan to save about $60 on gas since we will probably get 30 gallons per visit. That bumps my overall discount up to 17% which is great in my book. No matter how you slice this, the fuel points make the deal if you can redeem them.
Conclusion
While I am sad that I can’t easily rack up 5X Ultimate Rewards on eBay gift card purchases, I plan to use my NBA Amex to stockpile a few months worth of eBay gift cards. The Smith’s gas station is one block away and while they are about $.10 more expensive than Costco, it is farther away and I am still coming out way ahead with this method.
Am I wrong about this being a good deal? Found a way to save even more on eBay gift cards? Let us know in the comments!
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Guys who of you play Pokemon GO? Amazing game, yesterday i caught rare pokemon Hitmonlee using pokebusterbot !
No ban so far, still using it. You should too.
What is the best scenario for discount ebay gift cards if the fuel points are not factored in? I can buy target gift cards at 5% off using the Citi Double Cash to add another 2% and also earn 0.5% in Cardpool credits when using giftcardgranny making 7.5% off total on a fairly regular basis. Is there any easier ways to earn perhaps with cashback portals that pay out for gift card purchases?
Shawn,
Your strat sounds real good.
We dont have fuel points here in Illinois on Grocery like you can get at Kroger’s. My best Ebay gift card idea buying straight up is the MPX app. I have been getting 4X United at Gamespot but Office Max is 5X. I hear they accept, will test soon. But the math with Gamespot is 4X plus 25% bonus for United card but CC spend. I have only charged so far on Amex Plat to clean out the $200 airlines fee. But I think Premier will work for 3X.
In theory, buying Ebay gift at Office Max with MPX and having United card, charging on Premier:
3X Thank You points
6.25X United Miles
9.25 miles/points at 1.5 cents is about 14% discount.
Comments?
“You can’t buy a gift card with a gift card”, that’s Gamestop’s policy and OfficeMax’s policy (MPX = paying the merchant with a gift card).
You are right at Office Max, it was hard coded. Both Gamestop’s in my area are not problem to buy gift cards with Gamestop gift cards. It is definitely not hard coded and not against the policy of all Gamespot’s it appears.
You will get 4X plus 25% with United card and your CC points. Confirmed 5-6 times already.
The numbers look real good. Would you mind explaining a bit more on the MPS @ Office Max strategy?
I have an Ink card that I use at Office Max/Office Depot to score 5X. But looks like I am missing some points.
MPX does not work at Office Max, hard coded against.
See above comment how works at Gamestop. You will get 5X United miles (assuming have a United cc) plus your CC points with bonus however the credit card codes MPX – some may code as airline like Amex which reimburses the airline fees.
Well I am glad u discovered America Columbo (or Amerigo).:)
Man – I was really hoping for something here. Back to 5.3.
Winn Dixie also have 3x in gift cards. However i max out my BBVA with $400 visa gift card at target.com for $401 with the coupon code TGT4DN9P
Thanks for the code Atricus! Curious how you found out about it!
Thanks
It been posted in slick deals for a while
Another code: TGTJB4DD
only $100 vgc max at target & the code doesn’t even work after testing
What do most spend big bucks on eBay? Buying other GCs?
sub