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Ninja Tricks Xbox One Edition
A few months ago in the first part of my Ninja Tricks series, I showed how I was able to buy Dell gift cards at a huge discount to achieve an additional 10% discount over the already low price I was receiving. Today I will show you how I am turning an amazing deal on the Xbox One into an even better one.
The Deal
Best Buy has the Xbox One 500GB Halo: The Masterchief Collection Bundle for $349.99. They are also selling an extra controller for $9.99 with the purchase of the console. Additionally, the Nokia Lumia 635 AT&T GoPhone is free when you purchase the Xbox One.
So on the surface the deal looks like this:
- Xbox One – $349.99
- Controller – $9.99
- Phone – $0
- Total $359.98 plus tax
But of course we can do better. The USPS gives out 10% Best Buy coupons as part of their mover kit. Some locations only have the older kits with in-store only coupons which won’t work. Unfortunately that is the case for me, but luckily eBay came to the rescue.
I was able to purchase a 10% off online coupon for $2.99 on eBay which brought the cost of the console down to $314.99 or $324.98 for the three items. You can find the coupons here.
Stacking More Savings
While this is a good price overall, I knew that I could do better. I was already out and about, so I stopped into Lowe’s to see if they sell Best Buy gift cards so I could use the recent Amex Offer. Unfortunately they do not, so I turned to online gift card resellers.
Best Buy gift cards are in high demand and thus the discount on them is very low. I found Cardpool sold them at 4.5% off face value. Since I hadn’t purchased from them before, I also received an additional $5 off. In the end, I purchased five cards with a face value of $349.96 for $329.19.
New Math
So my total for the three items including tax was $354.15. I used gift cards to pay $349.96 of it and my ThankYou Preferred earning 3x to pay the $4.19 difference. I also used the same card to pay Cardpool when buying the gift cards.
So my actual cost is:
- Cost of gift cards: $329.19
- Overage paid on cc: $4.19
- Cost of mover’s coupon: $2.99
- Total cost: $336.37
Portals
Top Cashback offers 2% cashback for purchases from Cardpool. I had worried that the new member $5 code could invalidate the cashback, but the $7 is already showing in my account for the $349.96 gift card purchase.
Additionally, Discover Deals offers 5% cashback at Best Buy. By going through the Discover portal, I should earn an additional $16.25 in cash back. There is a chance that using the mover’s coupon may invalidate this cashback, but I don’t think so since I have used the mover’s coupon and a portal before.
- Total Paid: $336.37
- Cardpool Portal: $7
- Discover Deals: $16.25
- Total Cost: $313.12
So now my total cost for an Xbox One, a second controller and a smartphone is $313 out the door. Pretty good, but I can make it even better.
Selling the Phone
I really don’t have a use for the Lumia 635. When researching this deal I found that the phone sells for $50-$60 on eBay. Since I am always trying to be conservative, I will say that after all fees I can net about $40 from the sale of the phone. In doing this, my total cost will be $273.12 out the door. I will have also earned 1,009 ThankYou points.
How to Get the Deal
To get this deal simply follow the steps as mentioned above. You can find the mover’s coupon on eBay (get 1.5% back through a portal to save a few more cents) and if you decide not go the gift card route, you could still get the whole thing for less than $300 which is an amazing deal.
Since it can be a little tricky, once you click through the Discover portal to Best Buy, click “Deals” on the top of the page and then “Weekly Ad”. From there click on Video Games and go to the second page. You will see an ad that says “Get this Xbox One controller for $9.99”. Click the “Shop Now” button below that and add both items to the cart from the next screen.
Once the Xbox One and controller are added to the cart, search for the Lumia 635. You should see the AT&T version show up in the results. The price shows as $69.99, but once you add it to the cart, the price will be $0. From there you can choose to have your order shipped, or like me simply pick it up in store.
Drawbacks
There are two main drawbacks to this method. By using gift cards instead of a credit card, I do not get an extended warranty through my credit card. I am alright with this, but I know some people will feel differently.
Also, Cardpool held my gift card order for almost the entire day yesterday waiting to call me for verification. Luckily this deal stuck around, but that isn’t often the case. If you decide to purchase gift cards at a discount, it can take up to 24 hours for them to send the cards to you. If the deal dies during that time, you end up being stuck with the cards.
Conclusion
I know this post has been a bit complicated, but I am always trying to show new and different ways to make great deals into better ones. By thinking outside of the box, I took what was already a great deal and turned it into an even better one. I am definitely satisfied with the result and other than waiting for Cardpool to send the gift cards, the entire process took just a few extra minutes.
HT: Slickdeals for the initial deal
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[…] written a few posts about some of my everyday purchases. For example, I wrote about how I got an incredibly low price on an Xbox One earlier this year, how I combined a number of deals to score a fantastic deal on my desktop […]
I don’t understand one thing. If you are paying using gift cards why would you get the discover deals cashback? Doesn’t discover deal require you to pay via the discover card?
You don’t have to use a Discover card when using the Discover portal.
Hmm. May be I didn’t know about this. But this is what’s on the website:
Click the “Shop Now” button to visit the merchant’s website
Use your Discover card to make a purchase within three hours
Receive your Cashback Bonus within 8 weeks
Cardmembers who participate in a Cashback Bonus Program will receive the specified Cashback Bonus on Discover Deals purchases made with your Discover card in connection with these promotions during valid promotion dates in addition to any other Cashback Bonus you will earn on that purchase
Yes that is in their terms, but I have been using the portal for years without paying with a Discover card. The Chase portal says the same thing and works in much the same way. I can’t promise you will receive the cashback, but I can say that I have done dozens of purchases through that portal and always received the cashback.
Thank You. Appreciate your reply. I will give it a shot 🙂
By using the gift card, u also lose the bestbuy rewards. If you have a upromise master card, the 2+5% could be a good alternative.
Good point. I often find Best Buy is overpriced, so I would rather forego their rewards since they tend to expire before I use them.
Good thing of their rewards is it works like a coupon so reduce the tax. 😀 you can bank your rewards points and redeem it to certificates whenever you need it.