Over in the new thread on buying gift cards at supermarkets, several people have mentioned Dealpass as a very attractive alternative that offers 20% off gift cards from popular retailers. There seems to be a lot of discussion about Dealpass over in FW Deal Discussion, including this monstrous thread. There also seem to be several threads over in FW Deal Discussion that act as hubs for collecting or requesting invitations or links to various Dealpass programs. A cursory review of these threads makes Dealpass sound promising yet intimidating at the same time.
Since there is already a lot of helpful discussion in FW Deal Discussion about the actual mechanics of Dealpass, I'd like to start a discussion in FW Finance about the practicality and convenience of Dealpass. Let's try to focus our discussion so as to prevent too much overlap between this thread and the FW Deal Discussion thread (which includes a helpful FAQ).
How many members use this program? Do you use it on a consistent basis? Is it worth the hassle? Should it perhaps only be used when you're buying a big ticket item at Home Depot or Sears? Or is it also feasible and worth our time to use it for smaller purchases, like gas and dining out?
THREAD GUIDELINES
To keep our discussion focused, let's try to stick to a few guidelines.
1. Please read the Quick Summary. You'll find a good summary of the Dealpass programs and a list of links to help you further understand them.
2. Please avoid asking questions like "which program has which store?" The Quick Summary has info and links to help you figure this out.
3. Please avoid asking how to get invitations to the various programs. Again, the Quick Summary has info to help you get started.
Thanks! Let's keep the great contributions coming!
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THE BASICS
Dealpass is a shell company for Adapative Marketing, LLC (formerly Memberworks). The parent company is Vertrue. Dealpass runs several programs (e.g., 24 Protect Plus, Homeworks Plus, At Home Rewards, Shopping Essentials, Galleria), each of which offers 20% rebates on the purchase of gift cards. Each program offers gift cards for different stores. Link #4 below has a great spreadsheet located near the top of the thread that outlines which programs offer which gift cards.
There is also a program known as Everyday Value Gold (EVG) (run by Trilegiant), which is not part of the Dealpass network. According to some posters, EVG is closed to new members. Nevertheless, more details about EVG and how to effectively utilize it would be appreciated. There are also various other gift card programs like BuySmart (run by Trilegiant) and MBNA's Credit Rewards. More info on these programs is available in the threads linked below. Any details about these programs and how to effectively utilize them would also be appreciated.
Dealpass programs are targeted--you need an invitation in order to join. Most programs offer free 7-day or 30-day trial periods. While the trial invitations are ostensibly targeted, these can be obtained various ways. See links #3 and #4 below. Again, you need an invitation to join a program--going to Dealpass.com won't get you anywhere.
FEES & TERMS
Membership fees range from $10-$30/month. If you cannot get a one-year membership deal (more on that down below), then you've got to carefully plan and time your membership so as to get the most bang for your buck. Some programs apparently offer a $10 or $25 gift card as an incentive to sign up. This may offset the cost of membership for one or two months.
Dealpass programs have caps on how many gift cards you can purchase for a specific store within one month or one year. Because of these caps, many people apparently trade cards so as to maximize their benefit. This would seem to come in very handy if you needed $1k or $2k in Home Depot cards for a large purchase, and your program restricted you to $500 in Home Depot cards per year. One poster has mentioned CardAvenue as a way participants can trade gift cards. There is also apparently an invite-only google group (still active?) where people who meet certain qualifications can trade gift cards. See the FAQ in Link #1 below for more details.
In order to get your 20% rebate you must still be a member at the time it is posted (usually at the beginning of the month). You CANNOT cancel your membership until you have your rebate in hand.
ONE-YEAR MEMBERSHIP DEAL
Apparently some programs are randomly offering one year memberships for the price of one month. This would seemingly be the best way to go, but there doesn't appear to be any method to the madness.
According to Montreid, interested persons should call the program's 800 number and see if the automated system generates the offer. Do not talk to a CSR; do not ask about this offer. You should call daily until the system gives you the offer.
ONE-MONTH MEMBERSHIP STRATEGIES
If you can’t the get the one-year membership deal, or if you only want to be a member for one month, consider the following suggestions.
According to Alcibiades, the best time to sign up for a Dealpass program is between the 9th and the 23rd of the month (Montreid recommends the 15th-25th). You should order as soon as you can after sign-up (before the 24th to be safe, according to Alcibiades). You should then verify receipt of your rebate (it will post to your CC) early in the following month (according to Montreid, the rebate is typically posted on the 1st-5th, latest seen is 7th). In order to avoid incurring a membership fee for the second month, you need to cancel within 30 days of the sign-up date (but remember, be sure to have your rebate in hand by that point).
BLACKLIST
The programs will blacklist people for abuse, so moderation and careful planning is your best bet. The risk of getting blacklisted goes way up if you sign up too many times across too many programs. Try to avoid ANY contact with CSR. Never return gift cards, even if they messed up your order. Swallow the mistake--it's not worth the risk of getting blacklisted, especially if you want to continue to reap the benefits of these programs for years.
If you get blacklisted, there are several ways to get around it. Change your address (add a letter or number to your address--i.e. if your address is 1600 Main Street, change it to 1600A Main Street), phone number AND name spelling. Always use different credit card numbers on sign-up. Alternatively, you could purchase a MC/VISA/AMEX gift card and use that for sign-up.
See Link #5 for more info.
THE DOWNSIDES TO DEALPASS
Because you're getting the gift cards at a discount, you may be very tempted to spend more freely and make unwise and unneeded purchases. If you participate in a Dealpass program, you need discipline and planning in order to save money the FW way. It may make sense for some people, therefore, to only participate during the holiday season when they *know* they are going to be doing lots of shopping.
When buying items on gift cards, you miss out on the extended warranty benefits offered by credit cards. This may be an especially important consideration when buying big-ticket items. Since many FW'ers report positive experiences in utilizing these extended warranty benefits, this consideration should not be discounted. Alternatively, you could purchase the store's extended warranty (at a 20% discount, obviously).
OPTIMIZING SAVINGS
An effective Dealpass strategy can make rebates and hot deals even hotter (but see the warning and undisciplined overspending above). Aside from looking for hot deals, Dealpass members can also increase their savings by purchasing the gift cards with a 1% or 2% Cash Back card. Though uncapped 2% cards are somewhat elusive, there's been discussion about the intriguing 2% cash back card from Household and the Advanta Platinum Business card.
You can further increase your savings by using a shopping rewards program like Starclubrewards (also consider FatCash, Ebates, Mypoints).
MISCELLANEOUS
To help organize your gift cards, consolidate in-store where possible (posters have given mixed reports on whether Home Depot and Lowe's will consolidate--in all cases, be polite). Consolidating may have the extra benefit for residents of California (and perhaps other states) where gift cards by law cannot have an expiration date.
EVG DETAILS
Poster Janwad has given a few details about how EVG works (but remember, it's closed to new members). EVG has a limit of 4 cards per store per month--up to 20 per year (not 48). Membership costs $12/month. The 20% discount is given somewhat differently. Instead of giving rebates, EVG simply sells all gift cards (except Home Depot) at a 20% discount--meaning a $25 card costs $20. For Home Depot cards, however, the traditional Dealpass-type rebate is given (you pay $25 up front and get a $5 rebate the next month). If you call to cancel, they will offer you a weird rebate program where you send them a grocery receipt every 3 months and they send you $10.
Key with dealpass as with GCs from safeway is to be sure you're never spending money just to use the GCs you bought. Any discount - 21-22% or 5% is too little for that scenario.
Much less important is timing of purchases when you get the credit for the 20% back and when to cancel to minimize fees - I'll leave those to the big thread. Same goes for possible eBay/sale strategies for GCs.
Kempman said:A cursory review of these threads makes Dealpass sound promising yet intimidating at the same time. Maybe a detailed review will show that a new thread is not really required?
bozo007 said:Kempman said:A cursory review of these threads makes Dealpass sound promising yet intimidating at the same time. Maybe a detailed review will show that a new thread is not really required?
Actually, I agree that it probably is necessary... I am not a N00B, yet have a real hard time comprehending the "totality" of the Dealpass thread... I would LOVE it if there were a FAQ, or a shortened version of the dealpass thread (almost like the rolling thunder threads for the Target, Office Depot, and Staples deals in the Hot Deals forum).
If I understood everything about it, I would be glad to HELP put something together... but I don't (even after TRYING to read it). Once I understand it, I WILL contribute...
Technologist said:bozo007 said:Kempman said:A cursory review of these threads makes Dealpass sound promising yet intimidating at the same time. Maybe a detailed review will show that a new thread is not really required?
Actually, I agree that it probably is necessary... I am not a N00B, yet have a real hard time comprehending the "totality" of the Dealpass thread... I would LOVE it if there were a FAQ, or a shortened version of the dealpass thread (almost like the rolling thunder threads for the Target, Office Depot, and Staples deals in the Hot Deals forum).
If I understood everything about it, I would be glad to HELP put something together... but I don't (even after TRYING to read it). Once I understand it, I WILL contribute...
There is a FAQ in the summary of this thread. DP is basically for people who can benefit from buying large amount of GCs within a short/limited period of time, not for an occasional user.
Also, if you don't understand something, just ask!
If you have $1000 or more to spend in a month on GC's for stuff you really need (or will need over the next year), then get your GC's, get your Cash Back, cancel....awesome deal.....
There was an FAQ done my montried but that was deleted after the TE fiasco. The current FAQ is a shell of what it used to be.
There are at least 3-4 older threads as well, they all have gotten too big for anyone to read. Here's a super-short Cliff-Note version of it:
- Dealpass programS are "value-added" membership program selling discount product and/or services.
- The programs are all targeted to specific groups, for example Vistapoint customers, HSBC customers, etc.
- It's all run by the same company (except the Everyday Value Gold stuff) but each program maintain their own website and sells different products (mostly Gift Cards).
- most of the DP program sells Gift Cards at face value then REBATE 20% of it at the beginning of the following month IF YOU ARE STILL A MEMBER.
- Membership fee varies, usually $10-$15 per month.
- Most DP program offers free "trial" period (7 days or 30 days). You have to time your buying correctly if you want to get your rebate within the trial period. I recommend you stay for a month or two to make sure your rebate shows up.
- DP program can and will "Blacklist" you if they *think* you are abusing the system (ie. joining a bunch of programs, buying a lot of GC then cancel within the trial period).
- DP program are targeted, they will kill a link if they see it posted on FW, therefore links are passed only within PMs. (see the begging thread in Deal Discussion).
I have been using these programs for years now. I have probably purchased $20,000 worth of gift cards over the years. I mostly buy Home Depot, Lowes, Circuit City, Amazon, Staples, and Target. I have also done a few rounds with Sears, Sports Authority, Kohls, JC Penney, some of the restaurants, LNT, Walgreens... I'm sure there's more.
I like to have some cards ready at any particular time to be able to take advantage of any deals that might pop up, but I also buy them specifically for certain purchases. Of course, if you buy them and don't use them immediately, that's money that is not earning interest. But, if you buy them with a credit card, you obviously get the rewards $$ for that purchase, too. This can really help when you have promotions for online purchases or double/triple points with your card, etc.
Many of my purchases include rebates, which is a good thing when you are paying 80% of the value of the cards. For example, if you buy something that you pay $100 for and it has $50 in rebates, you are actually only paying $30 (plus tax on $100, stamps, etc.). I have done many, many deals that end up paying me money after rebates. So, while $20,000 in gift cards might sound like a lot, actual $$ spent is much less.
We do tend to shop almost exclusively at the stores we have gift cards for, but we never buy things just because we have gift cards. It does tend to spoil you, and you end up resenting those "other" purchases you have to make.
Here are some examples of how we use our dealpass GCs:
1) We buy Walgreens giftcards to fill our (unfortunately many) prescriptions. Combine this with any incentives for new/transferred prescriptions, and the pre-tax medical savings plan, and the cost is a little more bearable. 2) Hot deals at Amazon, CircuitCity, Staples, Target, etc. Gotta love the fact that you're paying 20% less than the price most everybody else is going crazy over. 3) At certain places, you can buy GCs with your GCs. I'll just leave it at that.
Can someone please explain how you are getting a CC Cash Back on the purchase of these gift cards? I just signed up on the Vista Print Savings program and have a $2000 purchase at Home Depot in a few weeks. Any advise?
One major disadvantage of DP program if you are buying a high ticket item is that you tend to miss the default benefits that come with a cc purchase. For e.g. you can buy a laptop using cc gift cards, you wont get extended warranty which may anyways cost an extra 20%. I have used the extended warranty offered by cc and can tell you it is fantastic.
In summary, i prefer to buy rebate items or "profitable" items using gcs but expensive items that i really intend to use, i prefer to keep it on cc. Oh i also buy gas and restaurant gcs which dont require warranty etc.
Good point, lifeonitsown. I'm actually in a little bit of a pickle because I purchased my DLP TV a year ago with dealpass GCs (instead of a CC that might've doubled the warranty, etc.) and now am at the end of my 1 year warranty. I knew about this when I made the purchase, but used the cards anyway.
But I was reading the T&C on a couple of my cards, and it seems like almost everything is excluded and/or the wording is vague enough that I can see them getting out of paying.
robinso123 said:I just signed up on the Vista Print Savings program and have a $2000 purchase at Home Depot in a few weeks. Any advise?Sign up for 3 more programs to accumulate the $2000
Alcibiades said:robinso123 said:I just signed up on the Vista Print Savings program and have a $2000 purchase at Home Depot in a few weeks. Any advise?Sign up for 3 more programs to accumulate the $2000HD is only available at one or two of the programs, unless things have changed (please PM me if you know different). HD is one of the hardest to get.
Edit: Apparently things have changed since I last tried to buy HD cards. Looks like there are more programs that carry HD now. Thanks for the update Alcibiades.
<<Good point, lifeonitsown. I'm actually in a little bit of a pickle because I purchased my DLP TV a year ago with dealpass GCs (instead of a CC that might've doubled the warranty, etc.) and now am at the end of my 1 year warranty. I knew about this when I made the purchase, but used the cards anyway.
But I was reading the T&C on a couple of my cards, and it seems like almost everything is excluded and/or the wording is vague enough that I can see them getting out of paying. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->>
I may be wrong, but most everything that you purchase entirely with the cc is covered. The only things excluded are things that are hard to put value too like art etc.
On a side note, if you are still a member of DP program next year (which i highly doubt) you may have extended warranty from them. I am not sure how it will work, but thats what their website says.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <<Getting a CC to pay on an insurance/warranty claim is like trying to get Holocaust reparations from Switzerland... it'll take 50 years. >>
I have had more than pleasent experience with cc warranty. My Toshiba laptop failed on me twice at the end of second year. Both battery and adapter went out the first time and there was a firmware problem the second time. I called and talked to the warranty guy at the cc and suggested that if i get a repair estimate it would cost $150 extra when i can just replace the battery and the adapter. They asked me to send them the receipts and i got the check in a weeks time. Total $300. The firmware was similarly paid in a week total $300. In other words they settled a claim of 600 dollars on my old laptop.
The other benefit that i have never used, but have seen my friend use it is if the stuff is lost or stolen, or cell phone falls in water within first three month. You can get a new one at ccs cost.
ArbolLoco said:Getting a CC to pay on an insurance/warranty claim is like trying to get Holocaust reparations from Switzerland... it'll take 50 years.not necessarily...Ive had no problems with AMEX warranty protection, no problem with visa lost luggage insurance, some hassle with Visa Enhancement BVG (but eventually paid)
I think the point that you LOSE many consumer protections when making purchases via giftcard is important...and you should purchase items on GCs accordingly.
I have been a mainstreetsavings memember for awhile and maxed out most of the bene's....was looking to join with a DP deal link TE, but it seems the monthly fees are now ~$20/month instead of the ~$10/month I was paying before. This eats into your "profits" if you stay a few months to max everything and make sure you get your rebates....do these companies have other links where they still only charge $10 or $15 per month ?
I used a Deal Pass type program all of last year (Everyday Values Gold). Instead of putting my Christmas fund money in to a savings account every month, I bought GC's through the program at stores I knew I would shop at during Christmas (mainly Sears and Toys R Us). Since I have 2 kids, saving 20% on all the kids toys was great. Especially since I didn't have to wait for sales and I could just go on one trip and get everything.
I also like to have a few cards to other stores on hand, like Kmart and Target. That way I can save 20% on things that hardly every go on sale (like food, soap, diapers).
My program had GC's to restaurants too. My wife likes to go to the Olive Garden. I saved 20% every time.
I don't see any inconvenience with the program. I go online, order, and they mail me the GC's. Nothing hard.
We did get a lot of strange looks from cashiers at Christmas time. When you are buying a couple of hundred dollars in toys and give them like 8 GC's, they look at you funny.
ToHellWithUGA said:Alcibiades said:robinso123 said:I just signed up on the Vista Print Savings program and have a $2000 purchase at Home Depot in a few weeks. Any advise?Sign up for 3 more programs to accumulate the $2000HD is only available at one or two of the programs, unless things have changed (please PM me if you know different). HD is one of the hardest to get. Can you please pm me the link to do this.
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