Triple-dip gift card strategy to pay for Disney trip?

Marionnette · Jun 1, 2015

IndyRnRfan said:
This is a very interesting way of saving money but it seems like a lot of work. Would booking through Orbitz at 10-20% off not save you just as much if not more money?

Orbitz only discounts the room. Not tickets. Not dining. The Disney GCs purchased at a discount can be used for all of those plus souvenirs, tours, spa treatments charged back to the room, bike or watercraft rentals, etc.

IndyRnRfan · Jun 1, 2015

mom2AidanAndEli said:
Can you get free dining through Orbitz??? I do the Target gift card thing on top of free dining and save a huge amount!

Yes, it's a little work. Say it takes me an hour or two to do the whole process, beginning to end. If I save $250, I'd say it's worth it!

No, you can't get free dining. I didn't know the op was getting free dining. If I was staying at a value and getting free dining and still be able to save $250, I'd do it too. We haven't been able to get free dining for a while so we upgraded to the moderate resorts and take the room only discounts which saves us more money than the dining option does.

yeahdisney · Jun 1, 2015

I think my disney visa sent me a letter I no longer get rewards for buying gift cards. I would call chase and ask.

mom2AidanAndEli · Jun 1, 2015

IndyRnRfan said:
No, you can't get free dining. I didn't know the op was getting free dining. If I was staying at a value and getting free dining and still be able to save $250, I'd do it too. We haven't been able to get free dining for a while so we upgraded to the moderate resorts and take the room only discounts which saves us more money than the dining option does.

I don't know if OP has free dining or not, but I do! Booked it as a bounce back last year. And now I'm paying my balance using this method and saving about $250. You still could do it with your room discount and save even more---totally worth it!

JohnDaleswife · Jun 2, 2015

yeahdisney said:
I think my disney visa sent me a letter I no longer get rewards for buying gift cards. I would call chase and ask.

Do what? Are you sure?

nat8199 · Jun 2, 2015

I did the triple dip strategy very successfully. I also count the hundreds of dollars extra I got in Disney $ than I paid in real world dollars as earning.

IndyRnRfan · Jun 2, 2015

JohnDaleswife said:
Do what? Are you sure?

Found this on Disney Visa web page. So according to Chase you do not earn reward money when purchasing any gift cards of any kind, even Disney gift cards.

So, does the savings come from buying Disney gift cards from a discount online site? I'm not sure where the savings is coming in from since you can't earn reward dollars purchasing gift cards.

Earn Reward Dollars
Subject to credit approval. You will earn one percent (1%) in reward dollars for every one dollar in Qualifying Purchases. ("Qualifying Purchases" do not include balance transfers, cash advances, cash-like charges such as travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, and gift or stored value cards, any checks that are used to access your account, overdraft advances, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.) Additional Program Terms and Conditions apply and will be provided to you with your Disney Rewards Visa Card once you become a cardmember.

Marionnette · Jun 2, 2015

IndyRnRfan said:
Found this on Disney Visa web page. So according to Chase you do not earn reward money when purchasing any gift cards of any kind, even Disney gift cards.

So, does the savings come from buying Disney gift cards from a discount online site? I'm not sure where the savings is coming in from since you can't earn reward dollars purchasing gift cards.

Purchase a Target GC from a source where you either get a reduction on the price (i.e. Raise, Cardpool, Cardcash, GiftCardZen) or from a place where you get something of value back on your purchase (i.e. $X on your next purchase from the retailer, gas points, etc.) Savings will vary with the purchase method used.
Use an online shopping portal (i.e. shopathome, mypoints, ebates, etc) to get additional cash back for your online purchase.
Use a rewards CC that awards anywhere from 1%-5% back for your purchase.
Purchase your Disney GCs at Target .com using your as the default method of payment but switch to paying with a Target GC during the checkout process to save another 5% savings.
Add the Disney GCs into your DVA. Get a $20 Disney GC for every $1000 spent on qualifying purchases when you use the DVA to make your payment.

Earn Reward Dollars

Click to expand...

Subject to credit approval. You will earn one percent (1%) in reward dollars for every one dollar in Qualifying Purchases. ("Qualifying Purchases" do not include balance transfers, cash advances, cash-like charges such as travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, and gift or stored value cards, any checks that are used to access your account, overdraft advances, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.) Additional Program Terms and Conditions apply and will be provided to you with your Disney Rewards Visa Card once you become a cardmember.

They're referring to cash cards where money is deposited to the card to be used like a debit card. If you breakdown the entire sentence, they are saying you cannot earn points for "cash-like charges such as... gift or stored value cards". Examples of those cards would be the Walmart Blue Bird or Target Redbird cards. People have been using those to churn CC points in what is often referred to as "manufactured spending".

IndyRnRfan · Jun 2, 2015

Marionnette said:
Purchase a Target GC from a source where you either get a reduction on the price (i.e. Raise, Cardpool, Cardcash, GiftCardZen) or from a place where you get something of value back on your purchase (i.e. $X on your next purchase from the retailer, gas points, etc.) Savings will vary with the purchase method used.

Use an online shopping portal (i.e. shopathome, mypoints, ebates, etc) to get additional cash back for your online purchase.

Use a rewards CC that awards anywhere from 1%-5% back for your purchase.

Purchase your Disney GCs at Target .com using your as the default method of payment but switch to paying with a Target GC during the checkout process to save another 5% savings.

Add the Disney GCs into your DVA. Get a $20 Disney GC for every $1000 spent on qualifying purchases when you use the DVA to make your payment.

They're referring to cash cards where money is deposited to the card to be used like a debit card. If you breakdown the entire sentence, they are saying you cannot earn points for "cash-like charges such as... gift or stored value cards". Examples of those cards would be the Walmart Blue Bird or Target Redbird cards. People have been using those to churn CC points in what is often referred to as "manufactured spending".

Oh, ok. Thanks so much. That is good to know since we purchase many of these for gifts for friends and possibly for ourselves now. I would have to run the numbers since we get 2% back when purchases are made at Disney own properties to see if it is would save more money as described above or just buying them at the Disney store. Then checking against the numbers we have when we book through Orbitz. My wife gets a discount on tickets through her work which are cheaper than anywhere else we can buy them so unless we decide to go back to the DDP, uhhhh. So many options and so many ways to save money. Then the kick back from a DVA. I'm starting to get a headache thinking about all the options.

gljvd · Jun 2, 2015

I use swagbucks and perk to get free gift cards to target and then use the red card online with the gift cards for 5% and then the vacation account.

There is a big thread on these forums about it. My gf and I both get about $1 a day on swagbucks and $2 on perktv. Perk is also now offering 1 gift card a month for $22 instead of $25 so we save even more. We get $30 each from swag a month plus $60 each on perk. So we are at $180 a month from doing very little work ( a few minutes a day)

Marionnette · Jun 3, 2015

gljvd said:
I use swagbucks and perk to get free gift cards to target and then use the red card online with the gift cards for 5% and then the vacation account.

There is a big thread on these forums about it. My gf and I both get about $1 a day on swagbucks and $2 on perktv. Perk is also now offering 1 gift card a month for $22 instead of $25 so we save even more. We get $30 each from swag a month plus $60 each on perk. So we are at $180 a month from doing very little work ( a few minutes a day)

I think that you have that a little backwards.

Swagbucks allows you to cash in for one $25 GC for 2200 pts. instead of 2500 pts., once per month. Perk discounts some GCs when you redeem through the Perk Wallet app, but Target isn't one of the merchants they discount.

I'm getting between $30-$40 per month on SB with very little effort. OTOH, I redeemed for over $400 in GCs on Perk in May. It's definitely a much better earner for me now that they've added Live and fixed the Pop Quiz app.

gljvd · Jun 3, 2015

Doh you are correct ! lol Its swag that gives you the one gift card a month for $22 . Since my gf and I both do it on different accoutns we get 2 $22 gift cards a month. We each get another $8 a month before any bonus . So its pretty good every random month or so we will cash out with paypal or something. Once that extra $8 adds up to something good.

The nice thing about perk tv is you can keep adding phones. You can get some decent phones on ebay that wont activate but still work fine through wifi and just load them up with perk and run them. They allow 5 per account. So you could get about $5 a day just running the app.

I have one android phone that I rooted and run beer money on that lets me load up the shortest videos for swag and I just play them. That one phone will hit the goals for the day quite easily. It was a $15 investment on ebay , its made me about $650 now.

Franzenel · Jun 6, 2015

I just tried this at target.com and I have the red debit card. I couldn't get it to give me the extra 5%. Once I went to check out it wanted my pin for my red debit card to complete transaction. I click on the right to add gift card and the discount never showed. Do I have to put in my pin and there is another screen before the transaction is complete?

Marionnette · Jun 6, 2015

Franzenel said:
I just tried this at target.com and I have the red debit card. I couldn't get it to give me the extra 5%. Once I went to check out it wanted my pin for my red debit card to complete transaction. I click on the right to add gift card and the discount never showed. Do I have to put in my pin and there is another screen before the transaction is complete?

There's currently a glitch in the system that is not allowing the 5% REDCard discount to be applied to ANY online purchase, not just GCs. Sit tight and maybe they will fix it in about a week. This happened about a month ago and that's how long it took for the problem to be fixed.

EvieBug · Jun 6, 2015

Franzenel said:
I just tried this at target.com and I have the red debit card. I couldn't get it to give me the extra 5%. Once I went to check out it wanted my pin for my red debit card to complete transaction. I click on the right to add gift card and the discount never showed. Do I have to put in my pin and there is another screen before the transaction is complete?

I believe the other thread says the 5% is not working right now for even red cards, something is wrong briefly.

teller80 · Jun 6, 2015

MatzoBelle said:
Can you help this newbie figure out a gift card triple-dip strategy for an upcoming trip? Amount in question is $2000. Here's what I'm thinking:

1. Use Visa rewards card (1% cash back) to purchase $2000 in Target gift cards. Have just earned $20.
2. Get a Target Red Card (debit)
3. Once receive Red Card and Target gift cards, and once verify there are no glitches with activation (how?), go to Target.com and use Target gift cards to purchase $2000 in Disney gift cards. May need to divide these among several purchases due to daily limits. Select Red Card as default payment in order to get 5% off, but really pay with the Target gift cards. Have just earned another $100.
4. Set up a Disney Vacation Account. Laboriously enter all the Disney gift cards into the account, observing daily limits. Make sure account is established at least 120 days before trip. Pre-pay for trip from account at least six weeks in advance. Request bonus gift cards ($40) be sent.

This strategy yields $160 total. Am I missing something? Wanted to get the Target gift cards at a discount from raise.com (for a quadruple dip!), but the site stated that gift cards (Target in this case) cannot be used to purchase other gift cards (Disney in this case). Is there some other way to get Target gift cards at a discount and to be assured that they can be used to purchase Disney gift cards?

Thank you VERY much for your guidance.

Does this come out to an 8% discount?

My strategy yields a 18% discount:

American Express offers 6% back at grocery stores (gc are included). $100 worth of gc = $6.00

Giant Eagle often offers a '20 cents a gallon' bonus off fuel when you buy $50 worth of gift cards, so for every $100 in gc you get $.40 fuel perks, $.40 x 30 gal of fuel (we have extra cans) = $12.00.

We did this last year, we bought $2000 in gift cards.

gljvd · Jun 6, 2015

That's good money. Don't think its avalible in the states tho as I never heard of Giant Eagle.

Anyway best I can figure is your best credit card offer + raise (8%) + Redcard(5%) + DSA(2%) . If the stars align I can get a good 15% + off doing it that way. There are also a few 1% offers you can use while doing raise to get more

teller80 · Jun 6, 2015

gljvd said:
That's good money. Don't think its avalible in the states tho as I never heard of Giant Eagle.

Anyway best I can figure is your best credit card offer + raise (8%) + Redcard(5%) + DSA(2%) . If the stars align I can get a good 15% + off doing it that way. There are also a few 1% offers you can use while doing raise to get more

Giant Eagle is a grocery store common in Ohio and PA.

gljvd · Jun 6, 2015

teller80 said:
Giant Eagle is a grocery store common in Ohio and PA.

ah 2 places I have not spent much time in. Been to Ohio for a wedding and I've only been to Philly a couple of times .

I'm an east coast guy (live in jersey) but never heard of it before

IMALOVNDISNEY · Jun 7, 2015

This is why I love these boards. Thanks!

Triple-dip gift card strategy to pay for Disney trip?

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