Disney Gift Card Deals

[Marionnette]

OK I have $317 in Ebay GCs, $800 in Target GCs received today from GCM and $900 more in Target GCs that say "out for delivery" with UPS from GCM. I need to get all of them in on this ebucks deal just in case there aren't any other good promos (or I don't get them). I already churned $475 of the GCs through Target this afternoon. Would another batch of $375 this evening and 2 batches (spaced out) of about $425 each tomorrow be too much? This would really be my last big push for this ebucks promo period, and the last time I will probably use Target for churning until I convert all of our cards to Disney in early May.

$1700 spent on GCs at Target in less than 24 hours? That would exceed my comfort level.

 

[pillow]

I want to take my kids to Alaska on DCL so badly but it definitely seemed out of reach (single mom). Maybe with churning it will be possible in 2018. This year we're going to rough it in the Eastern Caribbean

We went last summer and LOVED LOVED LOVED it! We enjoyed our pre-cruise independent travel almost as much as the cruise (plus it cost a lot less). Think about getting your flights for free using miles from credit card sign-up bonuses. You can get free pre and post hotels that way as well. Every time I think about that trip, I smile. I have a trip report floating around out there somewhere if you want to read up. Go for it!!!

 

[Ava]

Wow, I was offline this weekend and it seems like I missed a lot! Sad to miss out on the $20 off $100 eBay coupons! I am also currently waiting for Target e-cards to show up (had to consolidate) so I can buy eBay GC's so I can try to get in on the 4X eBucks offer that expires tomorrow. This hobby is not for the impatient, that's for sure!

 

[AmyAnne]

First let me say that I appreciate this well written explanation as I too have been wondering how this all works.

Second let me say that I'll just skip a meal of dining out or something to make up for the $25-$30 I could have gotten/saved by doing all this. Wow. That is an amazing feat for those of you who do it.

Honestly, I wonder if its more the mental aspect of "I did this and saved money", which gives a gratifying feeling, than it is about actually saving the $.

I have no doubt that Lain (and others who have written similar how-to posts) had the best of intentions, but the response just confirms my belief that such posts are as likely to be overwhelming as informative. It *is* a lot to figure out, and I believe that the only way newcomers will be able to use this method is if they invest the time and effort to dig through the posts about the process.

Answering specific questions is of course helpful, but trying to explain the whole process is, IMHO, just not going to be helpful.

 

[linzjane88]

Before anymore of you spazz out, the example given was for $100. That example led to $25-$30 in savings for that initial $100. Yes, I am aware that a trip costs more than $100 and would therefore result in more than $25-$30 in savings, but I was using the example given because common sense tells us that it would be $25-$30 per $100. The more money one puts into it, the more savings will be had but therein lies the issue for many folks......most people don't have large sums of money to tie up into doing this so the average person isn't going to save thousands on a trip by doing it. Or perhaps they won't have the time before their trip.

And whats with all of you going on the defense? I didn't knock your efforts at all. In fact, I praised you for doing it. Like seriously people, lighten up.

The average person doesn't have that money available? I beg to differ. If you're on this thread chances are that you are planning a Disney vacation at some point and you likely do have money at aside for your vacation. If nobody had vacation dollars to spend we wouldn't be here. Not everyone has the entire amount at once but we put in what money we have as we acrue it. I can almost guarentee most of us aren't working with $100,either ,except for those just starting out and getting the feel of things.

But your essentially saying saving $25-$35 per $100 isn't worth your time. Maybe it's not. But don't come into this thread acting like we are wasting or time chasing pennies. Saving 25-35% or more on our trips is a pretty decent savings. Your second post indicated you didn't intend to insult anyone but your message did come off as inflammatory so that's why your getting these 'defensive' responses.

 

[StuckInKS]

First let me say that I appreciate this well written explanation as I too have been wondering how this all works.

Second let me say that I'll just skip a meal of dining out or something to make up for the $25-$30 I could have gotten/saved by doing all this. Wow. That is an amazing feat for those of you who do it.

Honestly, I wonder if its more the mental aspect of "I did this and saved money", which gives a gratifying feeling, than it is about actually saving the $.

I've been doing this for less than a month (first purchase was 2/18) and if I turned all of my GCs and rewards into Disney GCs today I will have $800 more in Disney funds than I have paid OOP. I still have $200 in ebucks that I can earn for this quarter, so I will surpass $1,000 before I'm done. That will buy a lot of Mickey bars

 

[linzjane88]

I have no doubt that Lain (and others who have written similar how-to posts) had the best of intentions, but the response just confirms my belief that such posts are as likely to be overwhelming as informative. It *is* a lot to figure out, and I believe that the only way newcomers will be able to use this method is if they invest the time and effort to dig through the posts about the process.

Answering specific questions is of course helpful, but trying to explain the whole process is, IMHO, just not going to be helpful.

Agreed. It takes some time to just soak it all in. If people get overwhelmed by the amount of time needed to research what they are are doing than this method of saving isn't for them.

 

[havaneselover]

We went last summer and LOVED LOVED LOVED it! We enjoyed our pre-cruise independent travel almost as much as the cruise (plus it cost a lot less). Think about getting your flights for free using miles from credit card sign-up bonuses. You can get free pre and post hotels that way as well. Every time I think about that trip, I smile. I have a trip report floating around out there somewhere if you want to read up. Go for it!!!

I remember you mentioning you had a trip report for your Alaska cruise. I'll need to find it and read it for inspiration. And great ideas on the flights and hotels. The plane ticket cost is definitely intimidating (we never fly anywhere).

 

[StuckInKS]

......most people don't have large sums of money to tie up into doing this so the average person isn't going to save thousands on a trip by doing it.

If they are planning a trip, wouldn't they already have trip funds set aside to use on this? That's what I did. I took the money that was going to be spent on Disney anyway and multiplied it so that we can get more bang for our buck. I'm guessing someone who only has a few hundred to put into this isn't going on a Disney trip anytime soon, which will give them more time to churn

 

[StuckInKS]

$1700 spent on GCs at Target in less than 24 hours? That would exceed my comfort level.

It would actually be $850 per 24 hours for 2 days in a row. Not sure if that makes it any better lol.

 

[Vernie822]

You can TOTALLY do it if you're doing Aulani and DLR! I'm sure your OOP cost would be less than $3,000 if you put forth the effort. I know you can



As with Vernie, you can do it, too! Set a goal and put your mind to it And heck, the Caribbean sounds nice too - any Disney Cruise sounds wonderful to me!

Thanks! We used DVC points for Aulani so that helped minimize cost, but since we have the Southwest Visa we have been earning lots of points on there too - hopefully points could get us to the west coast!

I know the tone has been pretty defensive, but I think a lot of us here just want to help others save a lot of money -- not just $25-30. A Disney vacation costs everyone something so why not plan ahead and take advantage of ways to stretch those dollars? Sure, a lot of people might not have $500 or $1000 to tie up in gift card churning, but if they're setting money aside for a Disney vacation anyway, why not put that money to use in the meantime?

I agree. I apologize if I came off that way. I did the same, I was saving for my trip anyways with the intention of buying Disney gift cards, so I figured why not. Yes the average person may not have $1000 to fork over right that second, but I put $$ towards our trip each paycheck so that's how I got started.

If they are planning a trip, wouldn't they already have trip funds set aside to use on this? That's what I did. I took the money that was going to be spent on Disney anyway and multiplied it so that we can get more bang for our buck. I'm guessing someone who only has a few hundred to put into this isn't going on a Disney trip anytime soon, which will give them more time to churn

Exactly what we did! I started with $200 and added more as I got paid, money I was putting aside for our trip anyways.

 

[Marionnette]

It would actually be $850 per 24 hours for 2 days in a row. Not sure if that makes it any better lol.

When I read "I already churned $475 of the GCs through Target this afternoon. Would another batch of $375 this evening and 2 batches (spaced out) of about $425 each tomorrow be too much?", I started the clock with this afternoon and ended it at the same hour tomorrow. That would be 24 hours.

But regardless of when the clock starts, sending that much money through Target to purchase GCs in multiple transactions in a short, 2-day period would be beyond my comfort level. But it's really not about my tolerance for risk. It's more about whether you're okay with it.

 

[wendow]

When I hit "proceed to checkout" I'm getting an error saying "Something went wrong. Please try to check out again." The lady I was on the phone with gave me the item number to type in and I did it while on the phone and it was for the Target gift card, but I didn't write it down, and when I just went back to my cart to see what it was, my cart is empty. Sorry!

Thanks anyway. Your error is different and may actually be an ebay error, rather than PP. It's hard to know though and I have spent HOURS on the phone with them both and they continuously blame each other.

 

[wendow]

Second let me say that I'll just skip a meal of dining out or something to make up for the $25-$30 I could have gotten/saved by doing all this. Wow. That is an amazing feat for those of you who do it.

Once my next ebucks and current amount of cashback pays out, I will have saved right at $3300...bit more than a meal out...! It is work though; however, I am very willing to do the work.

 

[Vernie822]

Once my next ebucks and current amount of cashback pays out, I will have saved right at $3300...bit more than a meal out...! It is work though; however, I am very willing to do the work.

That's amazing! Great job. It feels like I've saved quite a bit so far but I have a feeling getting the $230 in Ebates and $150 in EBay bucks I have coming will feel even better, haha. $3300 is just amazing.

 

[Vernie822]

Also, this is way more fun than extreme couponing. I used to coupon quite a bit and while free toilet paper for a year was nice (running out was just the absolute worst lol) "free" Disney money is even better.

 

[StuckInKS]

When I read "I already churned $475 of the GCs through Target this afternoon. Would another batch of $375 this evening and 2 batches (spaced out) of about $425 each tomorrow be too much?", I started the clock with this afternoon and ended it at the same hour tomorrow. That would be 24 hours.

But regardless of when the clock starts, sending that much money through Target to purchase GCs in multiple transactions in a short, 2-day period would be beyond my comfort level. But it's really not about my tolerance for risk. It's more about whether you're okay with it.

Gotcha I was calculating from midnight to midnight each day lol. I know someone posted the "safe" amount per order, but what is considered safe for placing a second order after a large order?

 

[linzjane88]

Also, this is way more fun than extreme couponing. I used to coupon quite a bit and while free toilet paper for a year was nice (running out was just the absolute worst lol) "free" Disney money is even better.

I did the extreme couponing too. I've toyed with the idea of getting back into it if I did I would just do bathroom/ household items. I got a little crazy with all the free and super cheap junk food. It's kind of something you have to either be in our out of. Can't quite commit to getting back in. Ha ha.

 

[Cydney]

Before anymore of you spazz out, the example given was for $100. That example led to $25-$30 in savings for that initial $100. Yes, I am aware that a trip costs more than $100 and would therefore result in more than $25-$30 in savings, but I was using the example given because common sense tells us that it would be $25-$30 per $100. The more money one puts into it, the more savings will be had but therein lies the issue for many folks......most people don't have large sums of money to tie up into doing this so the average person isn't going to save thousands on a trip by doing it. Or perhaps they won't have the time before their trip.

And whats with all of you going on the defense? I didn't knock your efforts at all. In fact, I praised you for doing it. Like seriously people, lighten up.

I don't have a ton of money out of pocket to put into this, however I use other rewards programs to get free gift cards and then do the process from there. I just got back from a trip to disneyland that we paid for tickets, food, parking, hotel, gas and a few souvenirs entirely with earned giftcards and money from this process. I paid ZERO out of pocket and I started the process for that trip in August. It was AMAZING to not feel guilty at all for anything we bought on the trip; it made it so much more enjoyable. It does take a lot of time and you have to decide if it is worth it to you. For me it is completely worth it!

 

[Cydney]

I did the extreme couponing too. I've toyed with the idea of getting back into it if I did I would just do bathroom/ household items. I got a little crazy with all the free and super cheap junk food. It's kind of something you have to either be in our out of. Can't quite commit to getting back in. Ha ha.

I do it for the target deals on laundry, shampoo etc. But I use the gift cards and rebates for buying disney gift cards. I look at it as paying the regular price and getting free trip money for purchasing things I was already going to buy. (P&G has a rebate right now that when you spend $50 you get a $15 visa card, combine that with target gift card deals you can get at least $30 to churn!)