robertLP

I see these guys on ebay selling 'information' on getting store gift cards (Home Depot, Lowes, Target, etc) for 20% off the face value. Here's an example:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=31411

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with this. Is it worth it? Or is there some huge catch?

Thanks in advance,
Rob

Jtnguyen12

Yeah..... u can buy it......but not guarantee any $$$ left in the gift card.

tannersarms

Sites like the ones that offer $1 for a months trial plus a free digicam/$20 Gift Cert apparently allow you to buy gift certs at 20% off. Look up connections 123 at mypoimts and the like.

asabase

I forget the names of the site, but there's two or three membership clubs ($80-$150 yearly fees) that let you buy discounted gift cards. They are legit.

zgenerale

Skip ebay.

More info re: what was started by Tannersarms & asabase:

Checkout Connections123.com, dealpass.com

You order GC's from them and they credit you back ~20% the following month (if charged on your cc). Annual membership fee is $80 at Connections, ~$140 at DealPass per year but you can cancel anytime and get a pro-rated refund (please double check). When cancelling, they would usually offer you something to keep you on.

Trial membership (one month) is available - not enough time to captialize on the 20% savings as that is refunded in the month following, if you are still a member.

Merchants in the past included: Target, Sears, Circuit City, B&N, Borders, KMart, Toys R Us, KB Toys, Blockbuster, Chucky Cheese. Participating merchants vary by program (Connections vs DealPass vs others)

zgenerale

Also go through sites like NetFlip and the such which can earn you points or cash back for "being referred" by them.

tannersarms

Bored on Sunday, I splurged on a bunch of these memberships for a $1 a time over at www.freedvds.com. By carefully making note of my membership numbers and the cancellation numbers on a sheet of paper, along with the day that I have to cancel by, I now have about 3800 points, which I was thinking of putting towards the 5200 KLH HT system ( a friend has it and it's easily multi-region hackable). All for about $8.

Having done some of these memberships in the past, I know the score with the freebie offers, but if I/they/the USPS are quick, I might also get about $100 in various GCS and 2 DVDs as well. To those that say it's not possible, I have to disagree with you, as my George Foreman Grill and crappy Digital Pen camera will atest. Managed to get those two in the 30 day trial period. As others have mentioned as well, sometimes when you call to cancel, you'll get an extra 90 days free or whatever (all I presume in the hope you'll forget to cancel)

Anyhow, I've had numerous freebies out of these things. Haven't had any major problems (not sure whether a couple of the 1 day memberships are cancelled cause of tech issues on their website, but I can tell you now I'll not be paying for them). If you're good at rememberbering to do stuff, and can resist sales pitches when trying to cancel, then go for it.

Mark

tannersarms

Oh yeah, should have mentioned as well that even if the GCs don't come, aside from the DVD Points, I was also able to get three or 4 free 1 yr Mag subscriptions to the likes of Glamour, Marie Claire and Bon Appetite

robertLP

Thanks for the info everyone.

I signed up with dealpass.com as a 'homeworks plus' member. I've got a large purchase at Home Depot coming up, so I bought a bunch of gift cards. The $140 annual fee seems kinda steep, so I may just cancel after I get my 20% rebate.

The cards arrived just 2 days later, so I was quite pleased.

Question: can I cancel before the fee hits my CC, then sign up again under a different program? (or maybe under a different CC?)

Thanks again.....

Jeraden

I was an essentialsgold.com member through citibank (credit card) where they charged you $11 a month instead of a whole year up front. I got a whole ton of gift cards and cancelled after a couple months. Everything went pretty smoothly and was very satisfied with the savings. Even if you had to buy a whole year of membership up front, it still is worth it as long as you'd end up shopping at the places anyways.

TiBoss2

RobertLP,

I am thinking of joining but would like to know more.

1. Is there a limit on how many giftcards you can buy on Target, Circuit City and Home Depot?

2. Are there any other stores included aside from these 3?

3. Did you get the 25 dollar gift card from Home Depot when you signed up?

4. Do you get pro-rated refund if you cancel in less than a year?

thanks, i appreciate your inputs.

MichaelBlanton

I'm a member of mainstreetsavings ($100/yr or monthly). I get the giftcards for Lowes, HD, Circuit City, Best Buy, Target, and others. There's a limit of $500 per store. When teamed with the 10% off coupons for Lowes and HD, it's a 28% savings!

Here's a link: https://www.membershipme.com/orcbnk/...4&orcmssgas002

MichaelBlanton

Go directly to the site: http://www.mainstreetsavings123.com

robertLP

1. Yes, you can buy $500 max each year for each retailer

2. There's roughly 70 different stores to buy GC's for. The biggies include Circuit City, Borders, Sears, Linens & Things, Lowes, Home Depot, Kmart, Blockbuster, JC Penny, Pier 1, Target, Sharper Image, Macys, Brookstone, Sam Goody, Media Play.

3. No, but they sent me a form to claim it about a week after signing up. It says I have to be an 'active member' to get it, but I probably have to pay the $140 annual fee before they process it. I plan on cancelling before the 30-day trial, so I'm not counting on getting the $25 bonus GC.

4. I believe so, yes

Again, this info is for www.homeworksplus123.com. If you have questions call them at 1-888-681-7216

A word of warning: the 20% discount is credited back to your CC at the end of each month in which you purchase gift cards. If you purchase cards on the 30th day of a month, it may not post to your CC until the next month; therefore you may have to wait more than 30 days (length of trial period) to get your credit. I'm not sure how they'd handle that. Best to order in the middle of a month if you plan on cancelling.

Hope this helps.

TiBoss2

Thanks, RobertLP.

Their website does not have too much information unless you are willing to try them for 30 days. so I appreciate all the info. I will probably sign up soon.

bdhart

I signed up for Simple Escapes on Tuesday the 22nd and ordered $2100 worth of cards (Circuit City, Blockbuster, Target, Regal Cinemas, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Outback). The plan I signed up for is 30 days for $1.00 and then $14.95 a month, plus 2 free $25.00 GC's for Kmart & Blockbuster.

The cards arrived Friday morning by UPS 2nd day air and they haven't even charged my cc yet.

They are supposed to credit back 20% of the cost at the end of the month in which you purchased them. So, hopefully I will be able to get this wrapped up within the $1 30 day trail period. If not, it will only cost me $14.95 for another months membership.

Best of all, these are all places that I frequent anyway and I will be able to get an additional 20% off of DVD New releases and sales prices

zgenerale

Usually the 20% credit appears the following month after your purchase. So you're on the hook for at least one month.

You can always cancel and get a pro-rated refund once you get your credit. (They'll try to sweeten the deal to keep you on).

You can always rejoin (make sure you get all your credits back first), but I believe they track you based on your phone number. (So give them an alternate # to join again).

MichaelBlanton

That's typical of how these work. Order the cards online (they track how many you've bought) and they arrive about three days later, usually in a 2-day UPS envelope. A credit usually appears in 3-6 weeks and the account must be active to receive the credit. I maxed out my Lowes and Target cards after four months, canceled and got a pro-rated refund, and signed up again online using my wife's name (you get an immediate account number to use). Just ordered another $500 in Lowes cards to buy a storage building. Earlier this year I replaced our dishwasher (Lowe's). It was $547, after the 10% coupon and these cards it was $416 (28% off!) AFTER tax. The Target gift cards make excellent gifts to have handy, we've used them several times. I'm also planning to buy a Weber Q portable grill from HD, at $179- 28% (net combined discount) = $129.

I was VERY skeptical before signing up for this. It was pushed during a rare call to my credit card company (GM Card). I thought about it for about two months then bit the bullet expecting to cancel. Like I said, I've 'renewed' to get more. I also learned that Sears is now one of the available stores. If only Amazon would become one too...

uniquelyyours

Sound like something I would definitely be interested in I will check them out and post back thanks.

Zedsed

Memberworks appears to own some of these and has some bad press in the past:
http://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/p...rks_41900.html
http://www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?S=903650
http://twiki.cageyconsumer.com/MemberWorks

But apparently has resolved their practices enough for the BBB:
http://www.heartlandbbb.org/Reliabil...compid=7000028

Anyone have a bad experience?

robertLP

Okay, so I called to cancel today after receiving the 20% credit posted to my CC. Again, we're talking www.homeworksplus123.com here.

The operator said they'll credit back $100 of my $140 membership fee due in a few weeks if I sent them 'receipts' of some of my utility bills...and the package they send will have all the details. Anyone know what he's talking about? I'm not thrilled about giving all that detail to some random company; but this reduces the cost of a yearly membership to only $15 ($140 - $100 - $25 free gift card). Not bad at all.

Anyone have experience with something like this?

bdhart

CompleteHome offered me the same type of deal, I could get a credit back of $70.00 for household bills. The package came yesterday. It contains 4 certificates.

The first one is good thru Sept. 2003 and is good for 10% off of one bill up to $10.

The second one is good 10/03 thru 12/03 and is good for 10% off of one bill up to $15.

The third one is good 01/04 thru 03/04 and is good for 10% off of one bill up to $20.

The fourth one is good 04/04 thru 06/04 and is good for 10% off of one bill up to $25.

You must be an active member at time of rebate. One coupon per receipt and one receipt per coupon. Coupon must be submitted within 30 days of the monthly bill.

You would have to have some whopper bills to get this to pay off.

bdhart

Update on my Simple Escapes membership that I signed up for on 07-22:

I received the forms to fill out for the $25.00 gift cards for Kmart & Blockbuster on 07-28 (they mailed them on 07-24).

I received the 20% credit back to my CC on 08-04.

Now all I have to wait for is the gift cards in the mail and I will be able to cancel this within the $1 - 30 day trial period.

sykotic

After extensive research on various boards, I decided to sign up with Galleria at https://www.membershipme.com/savings...siteID=_MEA063. Sign up between the 10th and the 20th of the month so that you can receive your rebate in the first week of the next month. This way you can cancel and not have to pay the $14.95 a month charge. I ordered $1000 worth of gift cards from Target, Kohl's, Borders and Marshals.
The way it works I will receive $200 as a credit to my credit card within the first few days of next month.
They also have Amazon certificates which comes out better than STL because you are saving 20%.
Other stores included were Circuit City, Dillards, ToysRUs and Blockbuster.
There is a limit of 20 gift cards per store per year.

Y2K Falcon

So, these are straight gift cards, as if issued by the store itself. I'm assuming some of these will have that "must use within 12 months or a inactivity fee will apply", but I wouldn't buy any more than I expect to use in 12 months...

As long as they are regular GCs, and not "coupons" with odd restrictions on use.

Why wouldn't you then be able to use it WITH a STL purchase at Amazon?