This year for Black Friday and CyberMonday sales, 5% cash-back seems to be considered minimum. 10% cash-back from purchase is possible with combination of gift card purchase discount, cash-back websites and promotion codes.
Case study: purchasing $100 item(s) from Macys.com
Gift card purchase may not be eligible for cash-back from these portals.
A. My top 3 preferred cash-back websites.
1. Chase Ultimate Rewards Shopping Mall
- Requirement: Chase Freedom/Sapphire/Ink Credit Cards to access UR Mall online after signing into Chase.com
- Advantages: flexibility. Bonus or cash-back points from purchases can be redeemed as cash or transferred to frequent flyer programs such as Hyatt Hotel or United MileagePlus free of charge.
- Cash Rebate %: it seems to vary by month, if not bi-weekly.
- Misc: cash back in terms of UR points which can be combined with UR points earned from credit card expenses.
5% Cash rebate: $100 x 5 UR points = 500 UR points or $5 cash
Or
10% Cash rebate (Chase Freedom): $100 x (5+5) UR points = 1000 UR points or $10 cash
2. Ebates.com - Online Rebates and Coupons
- Requirements: Visit merchant website via Ebates.com
- Advantages: sometimes, "Daily Double" exceeds 5%. (I expect Macys.com cash rebate exceed 5% around BlackFriday or CyberMonday again). Ebates covers certain categories of Amazon.com
- Cash Rebate %: varies per week. Pay attention to "Daily Double"; 3% becomes 6%
- Referral Bonus:
- a new Ebates customer starts with one free $10 gift card
- Earns commission from each successful friend referral. Current promotion is $50 for two friends referral.
- Misc: receive cash back via check or paypal
3% Cash-Rebate: $100 x 3% (current Macys cash back) = $3
Or
8% Cash-Rebate: $100 x (3+5%) = $8
3. Upromise.com - Saving Cash for College
- Requirements: visit merchant sites via Upromise portal
- Advantages: Its list of partners are comprehensive with most cash rebates about 5%
- Cash Rebate %: it seems % does not vary. I will check again during Black Friday and CyberMonday this year.
- Cons: When contributions post as pending: 10-45 business days after delivery of purchase. See Contribution Time Table
- Misc:
- Additional 5% rebate from Upromise MasterCard from Barclay Bank.
- Upromise offers $25 cash back offer on its website for new card applicant. I received a $75 cash back application link. Note that Barclay Bank has a reputation of approving only those who have excellent FICO score and not applied to many credit cards. (I may not meet the latter requirement, just have 4 new cards two weeks ago)
5% Cash rebate: $100 x 5% (via Upromise.com portal) = $5
Or
10% Cash rebate: $100 x 5% + $100 x 5% (Upromise.com MasterCard) = $10
Or
10% + $75 Cash rebate: For new Upromise Mastercard owner who purchases Macys merchandise via Upromise.com portal = $10 + one-time $75
B. Promotion or Discount codes from Retailmenot.com
Typically, before I place my final online order in any merchant, I would spend about 5 minutes to look for best promo codes. For the case study above, I would enter in Google Search,
"Macys promo code 2013"
Then, select the search result that points to Retailmenot.com. Why don't I just go to Retailmenot.com and search for Macys promo codes? It seems that the search engine used by Retailmenot.com is not as accurate as searching from Google Search.
Try those promo codes that show high successful rates. This week, we kicked start our pre-Black Friday shopping with a purchase from Macys.com.
This 5-minutes trick successfully drew a "wow" and smile from Isa. The promo code "GIFT" have been advertised by Macys, but not the promo code "SHOP" which expired yesterday.
The difference of two promo codes is additional savings of $16 or 10%. As Macys would have taken into account of the 15% discount from "GIFT", I prefer not consider that as real savings.
If the purchase was $100 at Macys.com, then
15% Cash rebate/discount: $100 x 5% (via UR portal) + $100 x 10% (promo code) = $15
C. American Express Card Special Offer - available to certain AMEX cards only
This time, American Express is aggressive in the holiday shopping offering also. As I shared in my previous post, American Express has some incredible special offers. Look at your American Express online account if you have American Express Blue Cash back or American Express Hilton HHonors cards.
D. Purchase gift cards with Chase Ink Card in Staples Store - another 5% if shopped from Upromise or Ultimate Reward Mall?
I purchased Macys gift card from Staples Store. Staples does not sell Macys or Amazon gift cards online. Chase Ink Card offers 5% Cash-rebate on any items purchased in Staple online or in-store. No 500 UR points have shown up in my UR account yet.
The Winner is:
Macys, Sears, Kohls: to earn 10% cash back, use Chase Freedom card to shop online via Ultimate Reward Mall or Upromise and apply promo codes from Retailmenot.com
Amazon: to earn 5% cash back, use Chase Freedom card to shop online
Have you got your wish list for Black Friday and CyberMonday shopping? It is the best time of the year to shop.
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