Got Discover Cashback to burn?

Greetings Fatwalleteers!

So, I have been looking for awhile for a good way to use my Discover Cash Back. I really wish that Shell promotion would come back. Well anyway, I settled on Crutchfield.com.

They are generally overpriced but if you are looking for one of those items that is pretty much the same price everywhere, you can score a good deal. You can get gift certificates at 80% of face value ($40 for $50) and get them instantly.

In my case, I got a $250 sound bar(YAS-101) less $20 (coupon 3A172, doesn't work on everything) and then bought $200 if e-certificates for $160 Discover CashBack. I ended up getting the sound-bar for $190. I also used Fatwallet 2% CashBack, not sure if I will get 2% of the whole $230 or just the $30 I paid for.

Other ideas:
Bose Soundlink $269 - $50 savings = $219 (really anything Bose is hard to find at Discount)
All the ZVOX soundbars, they are hard to find at any discount

Just thought I would share.

Klauven said:   Greetings Fatwalleteers!

So, I have been looking for awhile for a good way to use my Discover Cash Back. I really wish that Shell promotion would come back. Well anyway, I settled on Crutchfield.com.

They are generally overpriced but if you are looking for one of those items that is pretty much the same price everywhere, you can score a good deal. You can get gift certificates at 80% of face value ($40 for $50) and get them instantly.

In my case, I got a $250 sound bar(YAS-101) less $20 (coupon 3A172, doesn't work on everything) and then bought $200 if e-certificates for $160 Discover CashBack. I ended up getting the sound-bar for $190. I also used Fatwallet 2% CashBack, not sure if I will get 2% of the whole $230 or just the $30 I paid for.

Other ideas:
Bose Soundlink $269 - $50 savings = $219 (really anything Bose is hard to find at Discount)
All the ZVOX soundbars, they are hard to find at any discount

Just thought I would share.
I'm still waiting for the Shell promotion to return. :-D

I just spend it at Amazon.

My favorite is to buy Lands End e-certificates ($40CB->$50 LE GC or $80CB->$100LE GC).
I wait for one of Lands End 40% off coupon codes, click through a rebater, and redeem the GC. I'm usually buying enough that shipping is free.

I have three boys, and the Lands End quality is wonderful, especially on the backpacks.

Sam's Club can't be beat.

Whats the shell deal that everyones talking about? Can someone fill me in?

Chatterbox, Discover was selling (I think) $40 Shell gas cards for $20 in Discover CashBack rewards. Even if you assume a Shell station is 5% higher than you'd get elsewhere and you can get 5% back using a good card, it was still almost as good as cash, but at $1.90 per $1 of reward dollars. It was a limited number of cards for a limited time, and the deal is long gone, but was quite awesome. I had something like $160 in rewards dollars at the time.

I use it for Banana Republic

If you shop at Staples, that's the place to spend your discover CashBack. $25 for $20 means everything is always 20% off. You can transform your giftcards to rewards with free after rewards deals on paper, batteries, boxes, backpacks, and school supplies. You can monetize rewards via free after rebate antivirus downloads and the like. The rebates can be other gift cards, paypal deposits, or old fashioned checks. Of course, these can be plowed right back into more Staples purchases until you are a premier rewards member which doubled the ink you can recycle and gives you six months to redeem rewards.

At the end of the day, you get free paper, computers, and ink plus a lot of your CashBack wrings out as gift cards than can be re-spent. This afternoon, I'm going to take $183 in rewards plus a $50 coupon plus a $100 gift card into Staples to see if I can't pick up an inexpensive desktop. While I'm there, I'll drop off 20 ink carts for $40 in rewards.

chatterbox22 said:   Whats the shell deal that everyones talking about? Can someone fill me in?

May 2011, you could buy $40 Shell card for $20 using your Cash Back. It was around Memorial Day. I bought 8.

I am still waiting for shell gc

I get the lands end cards and redeem them at Sears or Kmart for BP gas cards.

vegas4x4 said:   I just spend it at Amazon.Yes, and may I ask how's it better than cash?

Besides, for the time being you can get Amazon GCs at supermarkets or drugstores with 5-6% CashBack using different CCs, so you're in negative redeeming Discover points at Amazon

cpaynter said:   tomprc said:   tooldogg1 said:   Sam's Club can't be beat.what Sam's Club? I only see $40 membership + $10 gift card. That is not the same as $50 gift.I know that's what it looks like, but the "$40 membership" is just a $40 gift card; you can use it on anything.
But drdobro is correct, it's currently unavailable. I hope that's only a temporary situation...

Chris.It's available in my account as of the moment. And a $40 gift card + a $10 gift card are, in fact, the same as a $50 gift card. Like Clinton said, "It's Arithmetic." They work at Wallmart, too.

From Discover's Redeem CashBack Bonus page:

"If you are a current Sam’s Club Member, the membership card has a $40 value and can also be used for merchandise at Sam’s Club in addition to the $10 Sam’s Club gift card."

bpydimer said:   I prefer statement credit. I don't see how buying anything (that I don't otherwise buy) for the sake of redeeming a bonus is a good deal.

Unless they've changed the terms, you're hurting your own CashBack with statement credits.

In the past (and I'm assuming now) when they calculate the CashBack for that month they do it like this:

Assumptions-$1000 spent that statement period, $100 statement credit, 2% CashBack rate

We would normally think it works like this:

$1000(balance) x 2% (CashBack rate)=$20 (CashBack earned) THEN $1000 (balance)-$100(statement credit)=$900 due

When in fact it works like this:

$1000(balance)-$100 (statement credit) x 2% (CashBack rate)=$18 (CashBack earned) THEN $900 due

In this example you're cheating yourself out of two dollars.

So for many of us, it is worth getting the gift card with maybe 10% more value, plus not cannibalizing our own CashBack. Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong.

edit:fixed a label

I just collect mine to see how much I can collect =/

Snyder81 said:   
I'm still waiting for the Shell promotion to return. :-D

Not seen since May 2011 and not in this year's cycle plan so I assume gone for ever

I have enough to get 20 cards waiting ... till year end then Staples it will be ... to ready for the jan-feb FAR items ...

elist said:   bpydimer said:   I prefer statement credit. I don't see how buying anything (that I don't otherwise buy) for the sake of redeeming a bonus is a good deal.

Unless they've changed the terms, you're hurting your own CashBack with statement credits.

There is a direct deposit option (maybe new) that appears to have the same redemption rates as statement credits. Should prevent the Cash Back cannibalization.

I redeem GAP cards most of time. It is 20% off. Then wait for tax free day or holiday season to spend and buy cloth for whole seasons.

DO NOT, cash out in statement credit or 1 to 1 Amazon like people are suggesting. Discover bonus is the only reward I have that I consider more valuable than cash. I netted over $600 from the Shell deal.

Patience. Wait for the deals to drop... In the meantime the $20 for $40 at car rentals has given me some real deals on 1-2 day car rentals. $40 for $100 off 2 night Hyatt and Cruise deals might be promising.

I get the Starbucks gift cards. $45 gets you $50.
Not the greatest deal, no, but I with two starbucks near my work I pretty reliably get something there every morning.
I don't buy that much other "stuff" therefore I have no interest in gc's from other stores, even at good discounts. I've lost/forgotten about a couple of gc's in the past that are from places I don't go to regularly, so unless it is something I know I can use on a regular basis, I don't want the giftcard.