Steps to Achieve Maximum Discount on a Laptop

CyberHippy on 16/05/2023 - 13:01
Last edited 16/05/2023 - 13:19 by 1 other user

Hi Everyone,

Let's say I want to purchase a new laptop from The Good Guys. So far the steps I've got to achieve the maximum discount would be as below-

  1. Sign up for a credit card that has a cashback sign up bonus with a minimum spend requirement (you are buying gift card's so you can do that and then F the credit card off)
  2. Use said credit card to purchase Coles Vanilla VISA Gift Cards (or similar) @ 10% off when that comes around
  3. Use VISA Gift Cards to purchase discounted Ultimate Gift Cards or similar that includes TGG as an eligible retailer
  4. Use GC's on TGG's Commercial platform to achieve an even greater discount
  5. Plan it so that you can claim the GST back via the Tourist Refund Scheme before going overseas

Could also use Cashrewards or Shopback instead of shopping on the commercial platform (can't do both)

Any further steps you can think of? Please share!

Computing Computer Laptop

Comments

  • 87percent on 16/05/2023 - 13:06

    you can't use GC's on Commercial site - unless they've changed it recently

    • CyberHippy on 16/05/2023 - 13:12

      According to this you can.

      Although not sure how many they'd accept in one transaction..

    • websterp on 16/05/2023 - 15:54

      Not correct. I've done this myself and purchased items
      worth almost $1000 using GCs.

  • Transient on 16/05/2023 - 13:17

    +Shopback?

    • CyberHippy on 16/05/2023 - 13:18

      Could also use Cashrewards or Shopback instead of shopping on the commercial platform (can't do both)

  • highwind on 16/05/2023 - 13:26

    If you might use it for work purposes, some employers have salary packaging that lets you buy laptops with your pre-tax salary. They usually don't allow paying with gift card though.

  • ifyareckon on 16/05/2023 - 13:29
    +11

    Step 7 - realise this all took way to long, the laptop you wanting has been replaced by a newer model and the price increased 20%.

    • pharkurnell on 16/05/2023 - 13:34

      applause

    • MS Paint on 16/05/2023 - 13:36

      What was step 6? I'm confused.

      • Nugs on 16/05/2023 - 13:38
        +6

        ask ozbargain, it's an unwritten rule (literally)
        .

      • 87percent on 16/05/2023 - 13:38
        +1

        Step 6 is profit

  • Mokr on 16/05/2023 - 13:35
    +1

    Make sure you aren't first buying the item at RRP.

    Look at historical price drops, to get a good percentage.

    Reminds me I'm sad i dont have price protection from 28 degrees anymore.

    • CyberHippy on 16/05/2023 - 13:36
      +1

      Dude me too. I mean I never had it to begin with, but… I can't believe it was ever something they offered. Seems too good to be true

  • djkelly69 on 16/05/2023 - 15:00
    +1

    Or just not buy from TGG and get more of a discount elsewhere.

  • kusama on 16/05/2023 - 15:53

    See if work offers salary packaging

  • solidussnake on 16/05/2023 - 16:00

    Why not just get TCN 15 % off GCs when on sale and buy when JB has a 15% off laptops sale probably one coming up for EOFY..

  • WookieMonster on 16/05/2023 - 16:12
    +3

    Here are my thoughts:

    2. Use said credit card to purchase Coles Vanilla VISA Gift Cards (or similar) @ 10% off when that comes around

    Good luck finding stock of gift cards! I am not sure what stock has been like for recent Coles Mastercard gift card / Vanilla Visa gift card deals in VIC, but my recent experiences in my region indicate that it really depends on:

    • Whether your local stores bothered to order more stock of gift cards in the first place.

    • Whether your local stores actually received the additional stock (because they receive extra stock for Vanilla Visa gift cards and Coles Mastercard gift cards via courier).

    • Whether your local stores actually put the stock out for sale.

    • How eager other people in the area are for discounted gift cards.

    The Vanilla Visa gift card deal earlier this year was awful, as I struggled to find stock of $250s across multiple stores, but I found it much easier during the Coles Mastercard gift card deal a couple of weeks ago to purchase $250s. I even managed to find $250s on the last day of the last Coles Mastercard gift card deal, which is highly unusual for me…

    Also, Vanilla Visa gift cards may not be ideal, because they lack a PIN, which means if you are asked to verify an in-person transaction, you must go through signature verification… and not all merchants will let you use signature verification as a verification method in-person.

    3. Use VISA Gift Cards to purchase discounted Ultimate Gift Cards or similar that includes TGG as an eligable retailer

    That will depend on whether the merchant will let you use prepaid gift cards as a payment method.

    • In-person at Coles, Kmart, Target, etc, if you are spending over ~$36, you have to provide a signature. Additionally, at Coles, the self checkouts will not let you use more than one debit/credit/prepaid card to pay for any gift cards. If you want to do split payments, you must go to a standard checkout, and cross your fingers the staff member operating the checkout knows how to do split payments and will let you do that. Also, keep in mind that Coles’ official policy is to not let any customers use Coles Mastercard gift cards or Vanilla Visa gift cards as a payment method for any gift cards at Coles, so you may run into a staff member who actually decides to enforce this rule.

    • In-person at Woolworths, BIG W, etc, you should be fine using signature verification, and you should be able to use multiple prepaid gift cards as a payment method… as long as staff do not stop you.

    • Online: it really depends on whether the merchant will let you use a card with basically no security features (e.g. 3-D Secure) as a payment method. I don’t think Giftz.com.au (for example) will accept Coles Mastercard gift cards or Vanilla Visa gift cards as a payment method, plus InComm (the gift card owner for both these gift cards) may not even let you make a purchase on Giftz.com.au.

    4. Use GC's on TGG's Commercial platform to achieve an even greater discount

    You cannot redeem any TGG gift cards on TGG Commercial’s online store, and last time I checked, you can only redeem 1x Ultimate (Visa) gift card on TGG Commercial’s online store. That means if you end up with a bunch of $100 Ultimate Home gift cards (as an example), you will not be able to use all of them to pay for that new laptop.

    If you want to get around those redemption limitations and still purchase at TGG Commercial pricing, you may be able to have the sales order sent to a physical TGG store and then complete the purchase there, because physical TGG stores will let you use a pile of Ultimate gift cards as a payment method. (Someone once used 54 in one transaction.) Have a look at this comment for more guidance on paying for a TGG Commercial order at a physical TGG store.

    Could also use Cashrewards or Shopback instead of shopping on the commercial platform (can't do both)

    The issue is that any cashback calculations will exclude the amount paid for with gift cards. For example, if you spend $1499 on TGG online and use 1x $500 TGG gift card + $999 charged to a credit card, the cashback amount will only be calculated on the $999 charged to a credit card.

    The issue is that TGG does not define what a “gift card” is. My hunch is that they only consider TGG gift cards as “gift cards”, but what is honestly stopping them from doing something sophisticated and sneaky and say that an Ultimate gift card and a Coles Mastercard gift card and a Vanilla Visa gift card are all gift cards…

    • CyberHippy on 17/05/2023 - 10:42
      +1

      Great info. Thank you!

  • bobbified on 16/05/2023 - 19:27
    +1

    With all that, how much are you likely going to save?

    If just one step falls over (for example if one GC doesn't allow the purchase of another GC), you're potentially stuck with GCs (like other people have been here in the past!)

  • ihfree on 16/05/2023 - 22:06

    Stacking - sales, price beat, salary sacrifice, gift cards. Also striking a balance between effort and what your time is worth.

    In the past, I've used:

    • Sale + gift cards for a laptop
    • sale + salary sacrifice + cashback for a phone

    There was one user who used 50 or so Apple gift cards for a laptop from officeworks.

  • JIMB0 on 17/05/2023 - 07:01
    +1

    It depends on what your time is worth and what else you could be doing with it. Keeping track of multiple gift cards can be a distraction from other areas where your time may be better spent (ie. Work).

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