What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?

Until recently I was using a coupon code for a pizza store which allowed me to get any pizza for $5.
I may be selfish but decided not to post it here for fear of it being canceled.
Until recently where one of the friends I shared this code with shared it with some friend of his who got a job at this pizza place causing the deal to "expire".

So coming to my question: What was a loophole that you found and exploited/are exploiting the hell out of?
It doesn't have to have expired if you wish to keep it a secret like me you may wish to censor the affiliated company.

If you need some inspiration/a good read

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/44tard/what_was_…

Comments

    • +4

      "We would like to also say thank you for bringing to our attention that vouchers could be used to buy gift cards , This how can been fixed and will no longer work in the future."

      Haha, great response from StyleTread.

  • +2

    Whenever I need a trailer I pop down to Bunnings and buy a length or two of pine decking or timber and make use of their courtesy trailer. I always ask for the larger one. I managed to move pretty much my whole house by doing this a couple of days in a row. They are fairly lax with the return time, you generally have two hours. You can also return the timber and just say it was the wrong type etc.

    • +2

      You pretty much copied this guy's comment…

      paizuri 15 hours 17 min ago
      Whenever I moved house I would always go to Bunnings and buy a $6 piece of timber that was too long to fit in my car. So I would ask for the courtesy trailer. I was only supposed to have it for two hours but if it took five hours for me to move house they didnt mind, I would just make some bs excuse about a flat tire when I got back.

      Pretty cheap trailer hire. I couldnt figure out a use for all the bits of wood until I used a table saw to cut them up into Jenga blocks for the kids.

      • +3

        Oh lol I didn't see that guys comment obviously.

  • +1

    The snooze button

  • +15

    I once realised that when I deposited money into my online betting account from my credit card I received frequent flyer points from the transaction. I then realised that I could just withdraw the money back into my savings account.

    I used to deposit all of my credit limit from my credit card into my betting account and just withdraw it again a couple of days later. And then just transfer it back to the credit card before the interest free period expired. Because I was turning over so much money in my credit card they started offering me bigger and bigger credit limits.

    I probably earned about half a million frequent flyer points doing this.

    This was at least 10 years ago. Much harder to do now…

    • +1

      That's awesome.

    • Nearly all banks now class credit deposts as cash advance. Crazy.
      there must ben a lot people like you

      • Strange as it's not the credit card company who is losing out here. They still get the transaction fees from the betting company. It's the betting company who are losing money

        • They are losing out on the cash advance fee people might have paid if this loophole didn't exist. Plus the frequent flyer points.

        • @realfancyman: They aren't missing out on frequent flyer points. The frequent flyer points are funded by the processing fee charged to the merchant by Visa/Mastercard/Amex. It isn't really a loophole, as I said, it's only the betting company that lose money when you do this.

    • The pricks at beteasy wouldn't give me $7 back I had deposited. Not even related to a bonus bet deal.

  • +1

    Years ago, Event Cinemas had $10 movie tickets any day of the week and at any time for any type of screen except Gold class.

    I kept it hush and shared it with friends until it was posted on Ozbargain and eventually expired the deal.

  • +4

    This what I've been doing for a while, not sure if it would be considered as a loophole, but it works:

    1. Make online purchases on David Jones (or similar). Make sure purchase amount qualifies for free shipping.

    2. Pay with Paypal, select the Amex, get points

    3. Wait for goods to arrive

    4. Return goods in person in store

    5. Invoice only says it is paid through PayPal and does not state which card

    6. Refund onto Offset account

    7. Pay off card balance by due date.

    8. Get points + save on interest on both mortgage and card.

    I have not had any problems so far. Been doing it since November, and have earned about 30k points so far.

    • How do you get them to refund into your offset account? I thought they would automatically load back onto your credit card, and thus the points will be nullified…?

      • The refund will be a manual process, not automatic.

        When you bring the item in store to refund, they would normally say "ok so this will go back onto the card you paid with", but the invoice only shows the items are paid online, doesn't say where it's from.

        The sales assistant will need to select a method of refund, in this case, a card.

        So you just whip out the debit card that is associated with your offset account. Done. (If your offset account doesn't have a debit card, then just refund it onto another debit card, and then transfer it to your offset).

        If they really insist on it going back to the same card (they won't), then just say you paid with paypal.

        I've done it heaps of times since November, and I haven't had any problems.

        • +1

          Well, as long as it's working for you. Just be careful, as DJ's specifically states: "Please note that a David Jones Returns Card will be issued for PayPal returns."

        • +1

          @ninja33:
          Ohh didn't see that. Thanks for that!

          Ok I'll just continue at Myer. Their returns policy appears to be better:

          "If the purchase was made by PayPal for instore returns the refund will be processed to a credit card issued in the same name of the purchaser or a Myer Returns Card will be issued"

          Appears to be any credit card issued in the same name of the purchaser.

          Will put it back on the debit visa and press the "credit" button.

        • I wonder if this would also work for Click and Collect - at least that way you don't need to wait for the goods to get to you. You could collect and refund in one trip.

        • @ninja33:
          I thought of that.

          But I normally buy high priced items to maximize points, and they're never available in the store near me.

          And I can't be bothered buying cheaper items cos it might look suss returning multiple items at once.

          By buying high priced items, I only need to return one or two items at once, and only maybe once a fortnight.

        • @mishmish:

          careful! they might get your name blacklisted sometime and banned you from buying their online store.

        • @ninja33:

          It can also help them to save the shipping.

        • @mishmish: Wow, nice idea! Can I ask what sort of items you buy from Myer (small / high-priced)? Don't they normally take down your details - does it ever seem sus that you return things so often, or not really?

        • @kyttiekat: I mostly shop online, so when I see a sale on Myer, I select what I really want, then add a few Maticevski or Alex Perry dresses onto the order, and return them the day after I receive them. I usually keep the sale items that I was meant to buy though. So I don't really return the whole order.

          They never asked for my details, they have them already from my online order. And no, they never ask questions about returning items. In fact, one of the sales assistants told me that it's quite common for them to do refunds of online orders, because the items always look better online than in person haha.

    • +1

      Ah I know of this one. This works with any merchant that accepts PayPal as a payment method and accepts in-store refunds.

      Some others that come to mind are Officeworks, Target.

      • A couple of laptops from Officeworks might work well.

    • I got a question about the points.Do you still earn double or triple points from Paypal AMEX payment or is it just flat 1 point per $1?

      • +1

        The earn rate is not affected by Paypal. It will be whatever it is your financial institution has set for your particular card.

        • +1

          I think what Neoika is asking is lets say you pay for something through Coles with your AMEX Plat Edge which normally earns 3pts/$ at Coles. If, however, you pay through PayPal (hypothetically speaking), I'm pretty sure you only get 1pt/$.

          So not technically quite right. PayPal is just a "standard merchant" so when you make payments through PayPal, you only get it at the "standard" earn rate of your card.

          edit: May need someone to confirm, but my experience of doing this was using my Velocity Plat AMEX to pay for a booking on HotelClub. You're supposed to earn 2pts/$ on "Accommodation/Hotels", which I did earn when paying for stuff on AirBNB. However, when paying for my HotelClub booking with PayPal, which is obviously also Accommodation/Hotels, I only earned 1pt/$ which is the standard.

        • @illumination: Yes I understand what you and Neoika are asking.

          I should've written "from my personal experience". My ANZ Black Qantas Amex card has an earn rate of 1.5pt/$, and the points earned shown on my monthly statements also reflect that.

          I guess it's best to check with your financial institution.

          Either way, this is what works for me in terms of earning points for little effort.

        • @mishmish:

          But the ANZ Black Qantas card does not give you any bonus points, so as long as you use ur AMEX to pay on PayPal you will get the 1.5pts/$ no matter what. There's no "alternative".

        • @illumination:

          Like I said in my above post. I said that I understood what you are both asking. Yes I know you are both talking about bonus points.

          And I also said "from my personal experience" etc etc. I was merely writing out what my card's earn rate was. At no time did I say that my ANZ earns bonus points.

          And I did say to check with your financial institution.

        • @mishmish: I didn't misunderstand your understanding. I guess what got to me was you saying "earn rate is not affected by PayPal" which isn't true (from my personal experience but not yours). But my point was that you can't use your ANZ card experience to comment because there is no alternative points earn/bonus points on the card, i.e. your personal experience can't answer his question

        • +1

          @illumination:

          Yeah totally. Really should've made my first response clearer.

          Moral of the story is, check with your own bank re earn rates + whatever works for you!

  • -2

    Not a loophole but I worked in a big store and someone left their gift card with like $200 on it and the gift card had no customer details so I got a free gift card :)

    • -1

      So you blatantly stole someone's gift card… Shame on you.

      • +2

        How did I blatantly steal it?
        There were no customer details, they could never be identified and no one came to collect it for 1 week.

        What should I do? Throw it out? Keep it indefinitely even though it expires?

        • +1

          I see you've negged my comment. Well after justifying that, it's not that bad. Judging by your first comment, not so much… I also don't know why I used that particular word, maybe because I'm a wee bit drunk.

        • +2

          @TheOneWhoKnocks:

          I sure did after what you wrote.
          "Shame on you."

          Re - "its not so bad." It's not bad at all. My options were to throw it out or use it.
          I sure used it and enjoyed every cent.

  • +17

    I once found 10 cents on the sidewalk.

    • +2

      You're a MADMAN

    • +6

      I found a dollar coin once. But it was superglued to the cement.

      • +2

        THAT is my nightmare scenario . Trying to pick up money lying on the sidewalk but not able to.While everyone is watching.

        • +2

          Better when it's in the centre lane.

        • The glued coin trick was how people trolled before there was internet.

  • +2

    Actually I just remember a loophole the Finance Manager found and everyone in the company exploited that.

    The company uses a novated lease company for salary sacrificing. The residual value of the car will be reduced by 65% / 55% / 45% for 1 / 2 / 3 years respectively under the tax rule. For example, to lease a $30K car for 3 year, the residual value will be 13.5K (45% of the original value) (16.5K for 2 yr and 19.5K for 1 yr). The Finance Manager found that if you lease the car for 1 year and renew it twice, the residual value will be 65% x 65% x 65% = 27.4% instead of 45%. So, in the previous example, you can actually get the car at 8.2K instead of 13.5K. This is a loophole by the lease company and almost every employee who lease a car use that method. For some expensive cars, they can even make money by selling the car after the 3 yrs lease.

    • +1

      Hey that's awesome. Residual value refers to the amount YOU have to pay for the car after the lease ends right?

      Doesn't this affect the amount that is sacrificed from your payslip though? I.e. I'd imagine this would actually end up evening out because each time you do the new 1 year lease, the value is being recalculated and is lower each year?

      • Yes, residual value is the amount that you need to pay outright after the lease finishes.

        The first year repayment will be higher, the second year is similar and the third year is actually less as the repayments are based on the residual value, which is the lease amount after the first year.

        The value was supposed to be recalculated. That was not how the lease company do it and thus the loophole.

    • But you pay more per month if the lease is for a shorter period (I.e 1yr vs 3 yrs)?

      • The first year repayment will be higher, the second year is similar and the third year is actually less as the repayments are based on the residual value, which is the lease amount after the first year. You will actually be better off as you can obtain the vehicle at 27% instead of 45% of the original value.

  • +40

    Some vending machines at Burswood Casino used to accept any card with a magnetic strip to pay for your drink/food.
    2 coffees on Medicare thanks.

    • +2

      gold

  • +1

    About 5 years ago when TPG used to offer ADSL2+ plans with 100gb of data, I would often download loads of data. I'm talking 20 gigabytes over one night.

    I would often notice discrepancys between the counted usage and what I actually had downloaded. Sometimes I would download 40 gigabytes over a few days, and TPG would only record maybe 8 gigabytes of that.

    Ended up downloading 200-300gb easily in a month and still wouldn't get capped. Eventually they worked this out and fixed it but it was good while it lasted.

    • +1

      Ha i used to do that to with internode. Save 500 mb of quota for the last day and smash my link all day long. Always took em quite a few houra to get shaped.

      Managed to get 15gb extra each month. Back when quotas were around 60gb

      • used to do that when we were on 150gb, but found it was just easier to call and they would give you an extra 20gb free.

    • I'm on a really old TPG ADSL2+ plan (10GB) and NEVER get capped. I'm not sure why, but I presume it's because of the age of the plan.

    • They used to have a plan where you had xxgb per month during peak, but off peak was unlimited. this wasnt advertised and was in the fine print for some reason

      my parents were on that for ages since we could just download overnight

  • +9

    A few people have mentioned some loop holes in making money from MMORPGs

    This is mine for WoW back in… i think 2005.

    There was an in-game auction house where items could be listed for sale. Yes, you'd stop by and search quickly for any bargains and list your own crap.

    Then it advanced somewhat and a few ingenuous people invented an "Auction Scanner" software add-on that would help people identify bargains and then you could also get the software to easily purchase bargains that were X% off the historical price. Yes, you could get a bargain or two and then re-list it for some profit, which I did.

    But I worked out that there were also a few junk items that were never listed on the auction, who'd want to buy a "torn cloth"? (or whatever junk item was).
    You could start listing a lot of them for crazy crazy prices over a week or two. So that everyone using the "auction scanner" would eventually build up a baseline of what a torn cloth would be worth. You could then list some for still expensive, but lower prices so that it looked like a great bargain against the baseline. The junk items would sell and I'd rake it in :)

    Could then use the gold or occasionally I'd on-sell it, but selling gold in real life was a pain. Amassed a massive amount of gold though. When I quit the game I just stood in the new player lvl 1 spawning area handing it out to everyone.

    • Very clever for outsmarting the bots!

      • +2

        I was playing WoW when I should have been studying for my statistics degree, specifically statistical decision making and game theory.

        I recon my trick should have counted for some partial credits :)

    • Yeah I remember there were some bargains to be had when the Diablo 3 auction house first opened. Like I sold some junk for real money and made about $10 on the first day. I should have sold more stuff…

      • some guys were telling me to play d3 (while playing another game) they were making $500 per week selling random crap they would never use.

        Only lasted a few weeks though

  • +1

    I recall my dad telling us kids the story about the old GM Card in the 80s or 90s (issued by Holden and you would earn money off a new car for each dollar you spent).

    A that time my parents were building a house so they would prepay the entire amount into the credit card and then pay the house progress payments on credit card. (ie may have only had a $5000 limit but they would prepay $10,00s into it and then make $20,00, $50,000 payments on the card.

    I think i recall my dad saying he got $10k-$15k off a new car.
    The did challenge him on his process, to which he said there was nothing in the rules against it.
    They came to the party, but then immediately changed the terms and conditions such that prepayments into the card weren't eligible for earning the rewards.

  • +3

    Street fighter 2 arcade machine. Electric shocks to metal coin slot would add free credits.

    • +1

      we would spin 5 cent pieces into the slot and if done correctly it would register as a $2 coin.

    • +1

      Back in the day I would stumble upon a video arcade just after a Happy Hour or a birthday party. Usually there would be free credits in Street Fighter EX, King of Fighters, Mortal Kombat, Dead or Alive, Samurai Showdown, Dark Stalkers, Tekken, Marvel Super Heroes.

      I remember hearing about people carrying the electric shocker/car part but I don't like the idea of people using them because the high voltage could cause glitches and would damage the CRT screen and potentially burst the speakers.

      I wasn't the best at spinning coins but certain machines would give me double credits occasionally when spinning $1 coins.

      • they used to give out "birthday" timezone cards ~ where you could play unlimited for 2-3 hours on non-ticket machines.

        the thing is they would never expire the cards, so you could swap it with a regular card.

        I had a good 3 years of free tekken 3, street fighter vs xmen and King of Fighters

  • +10

    I setup a website to pay cash rewards to people after capturing click through commissions from ebay and then never pay people! Genius!

    • HAH! Love it!

    • +6

      You may also need to hire a top player here to promote your website so that people believe in your business.

  • +1

    Back in the 90's american express had a promotion where if you referred people to amex you could be rewarded. I recall if if you referred 10 people you could get an ibm ps1 computer or 2 return tickets to Hong Kong. To refer the 10 people i simply approached poople at work and family and asked whether they had an amex card. Those that didn't i offerred to pay their annual fee of $60. There was no minimum time that the card had to be active nor minimum spend. So for $600 i got 2 return tickets to HK flying Cathay Pacific. Basically everyone in the company had a card and were in on the scam. Funny thing was i recall is the shit hit the fan with amex as they didn't forsee the scam and the costs associated with the promo (not just flights, but PC's, weekends away, restaurant meals at top restaurants) that it made the press because it cost amex a motza. Obviously someone in their marketing dept no longer had a job.

    • What was Hong Kong like in the '90s?

      • I dont know . Not a single Bollywood song was ever filmed there in the 90s

      • +1

        It was very un-PC in the early 90s. Great place to live. It has changed a lot under the dead weight of mainland Chinese government influence.

    • AMEX still runs referral system now.Each referral generates 10k-20k points depending on your card.

    • I recall if if you referred 10 people you could get an ibm ps1 computer or 2 return tickets to Hong Kong

      "Could" as in it was possible with some uncertainty or do you mean "would" as in that being part of the terms?

  • +3

    For those who need to take an IELTS test for immigration purpose. In the reading test, if you see any TRUE, FALSE questions come with keywords: ALL, ONLY, the answer would always be FALSE. Don't waste time to think the answer.

    • how? can you please explain?

      • Possibly because there's always exceptions to English which makes it quite difficult to learn. So a statement that says 'all' would never be true. Just guessing btw…

  • +2

    Buying an insurance policy on your credit card, cancelling it within the cool off period, receive cheque back.

    I've never done this, but I'm considering doing it in future, so would like info from anybody who has. Basically I'm trying to find ways to run money through some CCs, and recall reading a long time ago that some posters had success receiving refund cheques for car insurance policies they'd paid for by credit card… Does this work? AAMI would be the one I'm considering…

    • +2

      If you get ahead in payments with most utility companies, they'll refund by cheque.

      • Wow guys… we may have a faster way to reach the minimum spend for credit card FF bonus points!

        • You could try with AAMI and see what happens - worse thing is that they simply refund back onto your card. You won't lose anything.

        • Just FYI: I've never done it to accumulate points, just always paid more than the bill in regular installments.

        • @OzJD: I was talking through you to our ex^5 PM's eyebrows, and our FF point accumulating schemes. Sounds dodgy as hell. I like it.

        • [@OzJD](/comment/3474149/

          For example, if my electricity bill is $200 and I paid them $500, so will they issue a cheque of $300 to my address automatically? Thanks.

        • @divious: No. Nothing is automatic. You need to request it.

        • @OzJD:

          ok thanks, do they know I overpaid? And do they ask anything? or just issue a cheque to me.

      • How far ahead do you have to get before they issue a refund?

        • $1? They have to return money when requested as it's not their own.

        • @OzJD: Cool. So that is if you request it, but how much over do you have to be for them to automatically do it and also if you pay on a CC do they refund to that CC or can you get a cheque?

        • @JIMB0: they don't do it automatically. I've received cheques, but YMMV.

      • How? Can you tell me more details? For example, if my electricity bill is $200 and I paid them $500, so will they issue a cheque of $300 to my address automatically? Thanks.

    • +4

      Brb, gonna sign up as an 18yo male wanting to insure a Lamborghini

  • +7

    New Woolies customers 10% off plus free delivery. But in my defense I have had a lot of visitors. Recently Bongo Dingleberry placed the order whilst in town, and I paid with my 5% off giftcard.

  • After buying a car from a Used car dealer or private owner, my father would ring up an insurance company to ask for a 2 week "cover note" which would provide the new car with comprehensive cover whilst driving it home.

    Involves getting a telephone quote, request the insurer to mail you the policy for consideration, in the meanwhile ask for a temporary cover note. At discretion of the telephone operator the answer could be Yes/No and they might ask how long you need a cover note for.

    • +2

      That's very typical.

  • +27

    When at home watching TV with the missus I'll put something on only because I know it has raunchy scenes. When the show or movie is over she's normally in the mood.

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