I’ve purchased quite a high value recently from different people on here. I need some more and have looked into getting them myself but it’s all 5% or less.
I’ve been getting them for 10% discount. I’m low key worried these have been stolen or obtained fraudulently and I’ve participated in their scheme unknowingly
10-15 is normal
Usually they buy them for 5% off using their credit cards that have large reward programmes.
Are they happy to sell at a loss for the credit card points?
Logical answer is no so I'd say some gift cards would have to have been obtained fraudulently. Those people doing it will of course not admit to it in this forum.
Having sold you some gift cards I can assure you they were legitimately obtained.
If I had to guess I'd say the biggest source of gift cards was from people trying to monetize the various reward schemes..
I paid attention on that post before, just quickly looked but seems still not clear the result?
What are some of the various reward schemes?
It would probably be some sort of combination of store loyalty programs (e.g. Flybuys, Everyday Rewards) and credit card perks.
For example, let’s imagine I am a credit card churner, I want to open a Westpac Altitude credit card with 70,000 bonus Velocity points as a sign-up incentive, and I am already a Westpac customer.
The catch is that I need to spend $4,000 on eligible transactions in 90 days, so easy options (e.g. paying off ATO debts, paying bills at the post office) are out of the question.
Although I could just use this new Westpac credit card as my only payment method and hope to the $4,000 goal within the 90 days through everyday spending at supermarkets, service stations, etc, a faster way to hit this goal would be to purchase heaps of Ultimate gift cards through Woolworths and then sell them on later at a discount. Each time I purchase an Ultimate gift card through Woolworths in that deal, I pay the full face value at the time of purchase, so I only actually have to purchase 8x $500 Ultimate gift cards to hit the $4,000 goal and therefore receive the bonus points. The Woolworths deal gives me 20x Everyday Rewards points for $1 spent, so the $4,000 spent on Ultimate gift cards would see me receive $400 worth of Everyday Rewards points.
If I sell you the 8x $500 Ultimate gift cards at a 10% discount, it means I will get $3,600 back from amount of money I spent on the Ultimate gift cards at Woolworths in the first place.
In the end:
I would have spent $4,000 of my own money on Ultimate gift cards, $0 on the first year annual fee (because the example assumes I am already a Westpac customer), a $50 annual fee Westpac charges for earning Velocity points, as well as the time and energy spent purchasing the Ultimate gift cards from Woolworths and then finding someone to sell them to.
However, I would have received $3,600 from you, $400 worth of Everyday Rewards points (which I could redeem on future shops or convert into 40,000 Qantas points), 70,000 bonus Velocity points from hitting the $4,000 goal, as well as 2,000 base Velocity points.
Alternatively, it could be me using Coles Mastercard gift cards I purchased at a discount and then using them to purchase Ultimate gift cards to then sell onto you.
For example, let’s imagine I have 4x $250 Coles Mastercard gift cards I purchased at a discount through a recent deal I want to sell in order to convert back into cash (and to avoid them being hacked). I could use those gift cards to purchase 2x $500 Ultimate gift cards from the current Woolworths deal, then sell those Ultimate gift cards to you at a 10% discount.
I would have spent $925.20 of my own money on Coles Mastercard gift cards, as well as the time and energy spent purchasing the Coles Mastercard gift cards from Coles and Ultimate gift cards from Woolworths and then finding someone to sell them to.
However, I would have received $900 from you, $100 worth of Everyday Rewards points (which I could redeem on future shops or convert into Qantas points), 925 Flybuys points from the original purchase of the Coles Mastercard gift cards, as well as any credit card rewards points I may have earned from the original purchase of the Coles Mastercard gift card.
Thank you for your very detailed reply. This is what I thought but I what I don’t understand is, what are people doing with $400 worth of WW everyday dollars. Spending at WW is the obvious answer but usually bad value of money compared to other options. Could definitely convert to Qantas but then you’re preparing for flights you may have not even purchased to begin with
@Thranrond: That's why many of your wanted posts have not been marked as FOUND or it took a long time to be fulfilled.
$400 worth of WW everyday dollars.
Big W stacked with various offers and sales represents decent value.
Redeemed nearly 1k flybuys dollars on the pirelli deal last year..also decent value.
@randomusername2017: It is still not as good as cash. You need to factor in some people miscalculating the pts value (20x being 20%), buyer's remorse, etc.
@Neoika: Down to personal preference I guess… generally the earn cost on both is marginal because I'm already spending that amount.
what are people doing with $400 worth of WW everyday dollars.
I actually a Woolworths staff member ask me that one time when I scanned my Everyday Rewards card and they saw my account’s balance lol
I chip away at my Everyday Rewards balance anytime I go to Woolworths and I’m not purchasing any excluded items (e.g. gift cards).
If I find myself shopping at BIG W (e.g. because they have crazy prices on Bonds products), Everyday Rewards Dollars come in handy too.
I also chip away at my Everyday Rewards balance anytime I go to an EG location that actually accepts them as a payment method (which is not the case for EG locations in Tasmania). Fuel is a fast way to redeem heaps of Everyday Rewards Dollars in one go.1
Could definitely convert to Qantas but then you’re preparing for flights you may have not even purchased to begin with
True, but if you are someone who travels a lot and can book ahead of time, rewards seats are a possibility. Alternatively, if you’re like an idiot like me and opt to upgrade to a business class for a domestic flight I would take anyway, Qantas points can be handy.
To be honest, I don’t opt to convert Everyday Rewards points into Qantas points, as I would redeem Everyday Rewards Dollars much faster than I would redeem Qantas points. Additionally, I tend to see Qantas points as icing on the cake.
Before someone says “you should use a chopper”, I know how to use a chopper, but a chopper is not always cheapest. It also assumes I am actually located near a 7-Eleven… ↩
@WookieMonster: only thing need to watch out for is rouge people guessing your Everyday Rewards and taking ya everyday dollar… they are patching that up right?
they are patching that up right?
Probably not. It's easier to blame customers for any fraudulent transactions…
@WookieMonster: I heard somewhere they are "adding security" to it
also another article said they saw CCTV of people redeeming other people's credits and once they verify it, they change the rewards card number and give you back the credits
@Thranrond: We are wanting 90k qantas points to purchase three one way flights from Hawaii to Los Angeles next year with a code share partner. The fast way to get those is to quickly buy up these offers and resell at slight loss. The 90k points for three tickets would cost us $1500 aud to pay in cash for, so makes them valuable.
Flybuys is probably the most common, either redemption via store or direct retail using FB dollars at Kmart/target.
Quite a few credit card programs offer gift cards for points.
As mentioned above it offsets the cost of "manufactured spend" for CC churn.
You didn't reveal the source of your gift cards though so OP still doesn't have an answer.
In the OPs instance gift cards were via flybuys dollars at Target.
As for your other logical inference… care to elaborate on how you believe some forum members are fraudulently obtaining gift cards?
Flybuys dollars work for in-store gift cards?
Hmm interesting
@spackbace: Physical card and PIN works via eftpos at target.
Kmart assisted checkout via app barcode scan ymmv.
Not directly related to your question OP, but out of curiosity, I was just having a read through what @Neoika commented, did you manage to get your $450 back from that @strang guy?
I got the $450 dollars back in the form of gift cards (not $500 as initially agreed at 10% discount). It took a lot of trouble to get that money back though
name and shame them
how did u get it back?
I've personally sold JB hi-fi vouchers at 10% off, as I got them by signing up for Telstra deals, and didn't want/need to buy anything at JB.
I've sold a gift card for cheap. I wanted to buy a phone at Officeworks and thought I had brought a Coles/Myer card. Turned out it was a Myer card only, which was really no use to me. Rather some money back in my pocket than spending $300 on junk I don't need just to use up the card.
It depends on the sort of gift cards you are talking about.
Taking a quick look at your post history indicates you are likely referring to Apple gift cards, The Good Guys gift cards and JB Hi-Fi gift cards, so the most likely explanation for the original source of your gift cards is Ultimate gift card and TCN gift card deals.
There have been a number of deals recently where Ultimate gift cards (and TCN gift cards) have been sold at Coles and Woolworths with 10% of the gift card's balance returned to the purchaser in the form of Flybuys points or Everyday Rewards points.
There have also been 10% off and 15% off Ultimate gift card deals in the last few months, but those are not as common. There is also an upcoming deal at ALDI that may be of interest to you.
There is always a chance the gift cards were fraudulently obtained, but I don't think that is as likely.