Cash back on gift cards using the Chase Freedom card for a easy profit?

FootInMouth said:   bigdinkel said:   
I plan on selling these gift cards on eBay for equal to more than $507 each.
AMEX/Visa/MC cards are not allowed to be sold on eBay. If your buyer files a SNAD or chargeback you will lose the case. Goodbye money.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/credit-cards.html

Find another liquidation method.

What's the best way to sell these gift cards? Would I need to just suck it up and use them?

With a $7 activation fee, you will only make $18.35 on the first two cards, and $17.30 on the third (bonus CashBack on Freedom is limited to $1,500 in spending during that quarter, not $1,521). Realistically $18 each. Not a bad idea to move the 5%, or 3.6% now, to other spending, but as FootInMouth points out, just for profit, you'll have to find a better liquidation strategy. I also don't think you were considering eBay selling fees.

Edit: The $1 off gas is also a good benefit.

geldrop said:   use them. eBay fees and paypal will kill your deal regardless

The gift card trade is extremely risky business. Even Plastic Jungle isn't safe in my experience (they've stolen a little over $100 from me so far this year), though my losses have been greater buying from and selling to private parties.

ime the best way to turn a profit on gift cards is just to buy them safely at a discount and spend them yourself.

TrentSteel said:   geldrop said:   use them. eBay fees and paypal will kill your deal regardless

The gift card trade is extremely risky business. Even Plastic Jungle isn't safe in my experience (they've stolen a little over $100 from me so far this year), though my losses have been greater buying from and selling to private parties.

ime the best way to turn a profit on gift cards is just to buy them safely at a discount and spend them yourself.

Getting the 1000 Kroger points makes sense...but if I buy a $500 gift card with a 5% card and profit the $25 or whatever...then spend the $500 gift card. Couldn't I just spend the $500 directly on the card?

Is the point of the GC just to hold the money as a storage medium until you feel like spending it? And to use other cash to pay the credit card off?

nasheedb said:   I have yet to find a grocery store that allows you to buy prepaid credit cards (AMEX, NetSpend, etc) with a credit card. Gift cards, yes, but not prepaid credit cards.
It's getting harder around Philly as well b/c too many try to abuse this. Some stores even require cash for GC purchases. I hope that people think twice before they try to do a certain deal. I think buying prepaid cards is a worst deal that people shouldn't do. They should just buy gas, department store or restaurant GCs only.

With the 5% limited to $1,500 why not just buy $1,500 in groceries over 3 months...I find the grocery rotation the easiest to hit 5% CashBack with just normal spending.

bigdinkel said:   safeway has 4x the points, so I can get a $1 off a gallon for two trips to the gas station, thus making this potentially a better deal if I switch to a Amazon.com gift card.

Fry's Kroger allows points for some Visa gift cards but doesn't exclude American Express or Mastercard.

http://www.frysfood.com/in_store/fuel/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/RewardPoints-FAQ

Weird, Smith's is a little different. Doesn't look like you can stack them for >.10 discount but I've done so within the last 2 months or so. If this has changed then it sucks because you have to redeem that month.

Smiths Fuel Program

It does say Smiths GC's are excluded but doesn't specifically mention VISA/MC or AMEX

bigdinkel said:   AdamW81 said:   With the 5% limited to $1,500 why not just buy $1,500 in groceries over 3 months...I find the grocery rotation the easiest to hit 5% CashBack with just normal spending.

I have the Pen Fed Points rewards and I get 3x for points unlimited. To maximize the full benefit, I might just get those Visa or Amazon.com cards. This is only applicable to my situation but good question.

I wish Discover and Freedom quarterlies weren't in lockstep now. You could just about always get 5% if they were staggered better. Grocery store gift cards fill in the gap. Or I guess use Penfed or AMEX BCE for 3%. Bring BCP into the mix and things get GC crazy!

What I do is buy gas cards. I know front loading the purchase of those does not make me drive any more than I normally would drive.

> a decent way to stretch our dollar and maximize our CashBack

Be careful that you don't mix these two concepts together. You are not stretching your dollar if you are spending unnecessarily. Be choosy about what type of gift card you buy and how you choose to spend it. If you're spending $1,500 unnecessarily to make $75, it is kind of ass backwards. As long as you can be disciplined or have a spending plan, it should be alright.