Disney Gift Card Deals

[Mr. lncredible]

Please folks, if a cashier shuts you down at a store -- do *not* complain to the manager! All this will do is ensure that manager brings this up at his morning meeting so every employee knows. What we're doing is certainly borderline not allowed and talking to managers creates awareness. Yes you shoved this one thru by insisting on the legaleez but if you had not, and had just accepted no from the cashier, all the other cashiers might have still allowed it. You shoot yourself in the foot by pressing your "right" to do this. You ruin it for others too. If someone says no to buying -- accept that politely, go away and come back later or go to a different store. Do not raise awareness by escalating. All GC-GC purchases are not intended use and they slip by only by lax enforcement at this point.

ETA: We should absolutely not be suggesting that people attempt to get GC-GC purchases forced thru by escalating to a manager. That is the worst possible action and shows lack of understanding the 1500 pages that have gone into these methods.

While that is your opinion and you are entitled to it, it is not your hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars that are tied up in these gift cards. Everyone should go into these purchases knowing the risk of running into these situations or even the possibility of it getting shut down permanently through corporate. However, no one else gets to dictate how far up the ladder you want to escalate your complaint within a company.

 

[MrInfinity]

While that is your opinion and you are entitled to it, it is not your hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars that are tied up in these gift cards. Everyone should go into these purchases knowing the risk of running into these situations or even the possibility of it getting shut down permanently through corporate. However, no one else gets to dictate how far up the ladder you want to escalate your complaint within a company.

If you want to keep these methods lucrative then learn from the information that has been shared here... understand the risks involved and how to deal with them by means that will not result in the methods getting closed down. A little research, or perhaps the PP coming out here and asking "hey the cashier wouldn't let me what should I do - tell the manager?" We can advise. As the PP did will simply result in hurting his (and all of our) potential to do this again in the future. What you're describing is akin to going into a chess match and blurting out moves. Yes, right to free speech. But disrespecting what's going on and the efforts involved.
We've been thru this for 5 years now. Never escalate to a manager anywhere. There is always a better way.

 

[pillow]

Fun pre-Thanksgiving random fact . . . I just realized that Total Wine is coding as a grocery store on my Amex Blue Preferred card!

 

[MrInfinity]

...Trying to edit, created a new post. Need delete post enabled!

 

[DisneyWife2015]

I really, really appreciate everyone's contributions to this thread, but I wish there was a way to easily see the best current deals on Disney gift cards without going through several pages of posts. Would y'all mind critiquing my strategy? I need to purchase ~$2500 of Disney gift cards -$1000 by early December, then $1500 more before March.

I think my best deal for gift cards currently is to purchase variable load cards in store at Best Buy with American Express $25 off $250 promo (I have this on 4 cards), with possible 1% back via ebates, and while earning Best Buy rewards points.

I think my best deal in January will be through BJ's or Sam's Club - 4% off, plus 10% back from new DiscoverIt card, plus possible shopping portal rebate.

Do you have any ideas that could make this better?

If you have the DiscoverIt card as a new member right now then you should consider Target. Usually Target runs a 10% off their gift cards deal around Black Friday or the first of December. I plan to use my DiscoverIt card to purchase the Target gc. That means a $300 gc will be $270 + an additional $27 back from Discover making it only $243 (19% savings). If we're able to go through Ebates, it will be an even better deal.

You can then use the Target gc to purchase Disney gift cards in store. ($300 was the max they allowed last year which is why I used that amount.)

I also thought I'd mention that you can use the Discover rewards for Bed Bath and Beyond gc at a discount. $40 for a $50 gc (20% savings) and they sell Disney gc. There's mixed feedback about whether or not BBB will allow you to use a gc to purchase a gc so I'd suggest starting with the $25 gc in case they give you a hard time. My local BBB allowed it. The system DOES allow it but sometimes the manager won't.

 

[DisneyWife2015]

And to get back on topic, do the rest of you remember the iBotta Days 20% back offer for Target .com? Well, I had ordered a $100 Disney GC (physical, not electronic) and I used my Target card for the 5% discount. I never got a confirmation from iBotta and I figured that it was a nice try but wasn't going to credit. Imagine my confusion and surprise when I got a notification on Friday that I had $19.00 pending from Target .com! It won't be in my account for another 80 days but it was still "happy dance"-worthy. So, that GC was obtained with a 24% discount.

I'm so jealous! I was too nervous to try it. Ibotta doesn't seem to like me. I often have problems with them crediting even when I checked the barcode of the product beforehand. They are great about finally crediting me but I have to jump through hoops. Hopefully they'll run it again and I can try to snag it that time.

 

[DisneyWife2015]

If you want to keep these methods lucrative then learn from the information that has been shared here... understand the risks involved and how to deal with them by means that will not result in the methods getting closed down. A little research, or perhaps the PP coming out here and asking "hey the cashier wouldn't let me what should I do - tell the manager?" We can advise. As the PP did will simply result in hurting his (and all of our) potential to do this again in the future. What you're describing is akin to going into a chess match and blurting out moves. Yes, right to free speech. But disrespecting what's going on and the efforts involved.
We've been thru this for 5 years now. Never escalate to a manager anywhere. There is always a better way.

Serious question pertaining to your conversation:

I don't understand why a store wouldn't allow it? How does it possibly hurt them? They already have my money when I bought the gc. Why do they care what I buy with it?

I always ask the cashier to please try and if the system (ie corporate) does not allow it then I don't push it. But I do think people should kindly write to corporate and ask why they wouldn't allow it. It makes no sense to me.

 

[MommyinHonduras]

I know my friend owns a restaurant. It is a franchise. When he sells gift cards he get the money for the sale, when someone redeems them at his place, he gets NOTHING. It is considered by corporate to be an advertising expense, but really it is a loss of the cost of the food he loses. I am not sure how every store is set up but I am guessing it is not as simple as they already have my money because the one getting the original purchase money and the one who is capturing the use of the gift card can be different. I wanted to buy a discounted gift card that I could find at 20% off for his place but learned then I am actually costing him money so choose not to in this case.

 

[MrInfinity]

How does it hurt them? Well if we're doing it because we're making money, then some other players in the game are by default losing money. I wouldn't bother with any of this if it wasn't actually profitable. Not as extreme as the old days, but it's still making money at their expense. It's different if you buy a TV which has some margin. The goal is you buy a TV at 10% and some accessories at 60% markup and it's a valuable sale. But with a gift card they're losing money.

 

[disneedee]

Please folks, if a cashier shuts you down at a store -- do *not* complain to the manager! All this will do is ensure that manager brings this up at his morning meeting so every employee knows. What we're doing is certainly borderline not allowed and talking to managers creates awareness. Yes you shoved this one thru by insisting on the legaleez but if you had not, and had just accepted no from the cashier, all the other cashiers might have still allowed it. You shoot yourself in the foot by pressing your "right" to do this. You ruin it for others too. If someone says no to buying -- accept that politely, go away and come back later or go to a different store. Do not raise awareness by escalating. All GC-GC purchases are not intended use and they slip by only by lax enforcement at this point.

ETA: We should absolutely not be suggesting that people attempt to get GC-GC purchases forced thru by escalating to a manager. That is the worst possible action and shows lack of understanding the 1500 pages that have gone into these methods. This is why we don't make steps for people to follow but instead want folks to read a lot so as to understand the context and what amateur mistakes gets money-making opportunities closed.

getting the manager for this issue has worked for me at best buy and at bed, bath, and beyond. so got to disagree with you. if i thought it was more of a glitch in the system to allow it then i would not call a manager but having made purchases at both of these it was worth getting another person involved to correct the cashiers error.

 

[gottalovepluto]

FYI:
The manager at the Best Buy gave me grief today about using Best Buy gift cards to buy Disney gift cards. I stated they have done it in the past and that the Cashstar Best Buy
offer didn't state any exclusions about using them to buy Disney gift cards so she allowed me to proceed forward but told me she wouldn't honor it again.

Bummer! Best Buy's can be hit or miss but they usually work fine. A couple managers have shut it down at their individual stores so serious bummer you've got one of those now. I'm glad you pushed through the system and got the manager to put it through for you!

 

[Flamingeaux]

Has Target announced their discounted gift card deal yet?

 

[DisneyWife2015]

I know my friend owns a restaurant. It is a franchise. When he sells gift cards he get the money for the sale, when someone redeems them at his place, he gets NOTHING. It is considered by corporate to be an advertising expense, but really it is a loss of the cost of the food he loses. I am not sure how every store is set up but I am guessing it is not as simple as they already have my money because the one getting the original purchase money and the one who is capturing the use of the gift card can be different. I wanted to buy a discounted gift card that I could find at 20% off for his place but learned then I am actually costing him money so choose not to in this case.

Mathematically that's exactly how it should work. I give the restaurant $20 (for nothing because I haven't purchased any food yet) and they give me a gc (which is basically a receipt of my $20) for me to spend another time. When I come in and use my gc it's basically saying "hey, I've already given you $20 and now I actually want something for it". So now they get nothing and I get my food item. It equals out. No one loses money.

How does it hurt them? Well if we're doing it because we're making money, then some other players in the game are by default losing money. I wouldn't bother with any of this if it wasn't actually profitable. Not as extreme as the old days, but it's still making money at their expense. It's different if you buy a TV which has some margin. The goal is you buy a TV at 10% and some accessories at 60% markup and it's a valuable sale. But with a gift card they're losing money.

I disagree that they're losing money. It's a benefit to them because it's advertising. Advertising is budgeted into their expenses each year. Places will often run specials for % off gc (like the upcoming Target deal) to get you in their store. They know that statistically people buy more than the gc amount. So they're willing to take a hit on the gc amount to get you in the store. It's just good advertising. They're expecting you to come back and buy more. I'm a RedCard holder because they offer me 5% off all purchases. I don't feel bad for it and I'm certainly going to say something if they don't take my 5% off at checkout. It was part of the agreement when I got the card. I feel the same way about gc. I expect them to honor their gc and give me my item of choice in the same way they would if I handed them cash. With that said, I completely understand that there are some stores who very specifically say they will not allow gc > gc purchases and I'll respect that policy but I will most likely still email corporate and express my disagreement. I'm also not going to shop there. BUT if a store does allow gc > gc purchases and just that employee or manager is trying to stop me, then yes, I'm going to say something at the store.

 

[DisneyWife2015]

Has Target announced their discounted gift card deal yet?

Not yet....but I keep looking for it. Last year it was released on Dec 1.

 

[MrInfinity]

getting the manager for this issue has worked for me at best buy and at bed, bath, and beyond. so got to disagree with you. if i thought it was more of a glitch in the system to allow it then i would not call a manager but having made purchases at both of these it was worth getting another person involved to correct the cashiers error.

This is shortsighted. If it works for you to make $45 great. But I'm not looking to make $45, I'm looking to make $4500 over several years. If securing the $45 now has the unintended effect of closing the loopholes a year sooner, that could be costing you thousands for your near-term "success".

I disagree that they're losing money.

They're losing money. Say you start with $1000 you want to pay toward your Disney vacation. By being resourceful you craft that $1000 into $1500. You now pay an actual $1500 toward your bill. You made $500. Someone lost $500. This is not a loss leader like you describe. The loss leader you describe is when someone advertises a TV at say 5% under cost. On the hopes that they can upsell you a better TV or at least sell you some accessories at 60% margin and end up being profitable on a majority of cases. Gift cards in this case are not a loss leader. We go in and specifically buy just that one gift card, at a profitable exchange, and come out of it with more cash than we started with. This is why almost all stores exclude GC-GC purchases, and if people continue to raise awareness where this still exists in a doable state, will lead to it being closed off everywhere.

This conversation has been going on for 5 years and 30,000 posts. Several of the people in here have made tens of thousands of dollars off the likes of Target, Ebay, and others. I think it's just a little out of place to step in to an established discussion and say we've been wrong all along. I welcome you to the group. If you have come to join, and save, and help, and profit with us, great! But do understand we've been thru this before.

 

[kristenrice]

I look at it this way... I have a BB Visa card. I would never use it, except I earn 3% back in BB rewards on my gas and grocery purchases. If I couldn’t redeem those for Disney gift cards, I wouldn’t have the Visa card, which I’m sure they make money off of somehow.

 

[amalone1013]

Has anyone tried out the Chase offers on the Marriott/Slate cards? They're similar to AMEX offers, like $10 back on $50 at Lowes, $10 back on $25 at Whole Foods... curious because I'd like to try them out on some GCs. I'll probably give it a try soon, I've just been really busy and working 12 hours so the last thing I want to do is head to a store

 

[ColoradoDisneyFamily]

How does it hurt them? Well if we're doing it because we're making money, then some other players in the game are by default losing money. I wouldn't bother with any of this if it wasn't actually profitable. Not as extreme as the old days, but it's still making money at their expense. It's different if you buy a TV which has some margin. The goal is you buy a TV at 10% and some accessories at 60% markup and it's a valuable sale. But with a gift card, they're losing money.

All of the hush hush stuff made sense back when we were doing wash and repeat churning. Nowadays there is no churning, just taking advantage of published deals. all of today's bargains come with using credit cards or buying gift cards at a deal. The loss is no longer on the retail establishment. in the past there have been some pretty aggressive stories of posters using their credit card to get a good deal on a gift card just to have a cashier blatantly accuse them of money laundering or theft. Today's deals are not creating any loss to the retail establishments, and the stores that accept gc purchases for Dis gc do so willingly. In the cases that the issue has been elevated up to district managers, the DM's have been very apologetic and corrected the issue in the store. Back in the day, the stores were the losers. that is not the case today. just my 2cent

 

[DisneyWife2015]

This is shortsighted. If it works for you to make $45 great. But I'm not looking to make $45, I'm looking to make $4500 over several years. If securing the $45 now has the unintended effect of closing the loopholes a year sooner, that could be costing you thousands for your near-term "success".

They're losing money. Say you start with $1000 you want to pay toward your Disney vacation. By being resourceful you craft that $1000 into $1500. You now pay an actual $1500 toward your bill. You made $500. Someone lost $500. This is not a loss leader like you describe. The loss leader you describe is when someone advertises a TV at say 5% under cost. On the hopes that they can upsell you a better TV or at least sell you some accessories at 60% margin and end up being profitable on a majority of cases. Gift cards in this case are not a loss leader. We go in and specifically buy just that one gift card, at a profitable exchange, and come out of it with more cash than we started with. This is why almost all stores exclude GC-GC purchases, and if people continue to raise awareness where this still exists in a doable state, will lead to it being closed off everywhere.

This conversation has been going on for 5 years and 30,000 posts. Several of the people in here have made tens of thousands of dollars off the likes of Target, Ebay, and others. I think it's just a little out of place to step in to an established discussion and say we've been wrong all along. I welcome you to the group. If you have come to join, and save, and help, and profit with us, great! But do understand we've been thru this before.

You took my comment out of context. I went on to explain that yes it's a discount and obviously that's losing money but doing a gc > gc purchase is not causing them to lose money. They know they're going to lose money on promos. It's not unethical or dishonest or playing the system. It's smart purchases.

 

[pillow]

Has anyone tried out the Chase offers on the Marriott/Slate cards? They're similar to AMEX offers, like $10 back on $50 at Lowes, $10 back on $25 at Whole Foods... curious because I'd like to try them out on some GCs. I'll probably give it a try soon, I've just been really busy and working 12 hours so the last thing I want to do is head to a store

I loaded some of those offers but haven't used them yet. The terms specifically say not good on gift card purchases. Haven't seen any data points (but haven't looked) to know whether it works on them or not.