Disney Gift Card Deals

[Marionnette]

Since I have so many steps already, adding a few for eBay won't bother me, but not if I am going to pay extra for cards. So what am I overlooking?

Buy the GCs from Gift Card Mall (an ebay vendor). They will charge for shipping, but they are an authorize gift card seller and they only charge for the face value of the card (and sometimes run a special where shipping is free and the GC is sold for less than face value).

 

[davper]

I finally found a post that explains how to include eBay in card churning toward saving money on Disney GCs.

But then I went to eBay, and did not find any decent deals on target gift cards - in fact, people were bidding over the cards value! I found a card on Buy It Now for almost the full value of the card, and they were charging $25 for shipping!

So now I have 2 questions
1) do you shop on ebay for the eBucks mostly, and wait for promotions?
2) how do you know that the cards you get will be active and for the amount they say? How do you screen the sellers?

Right now my steps are:
Go to Topcashback dot com
Link to Raise dot com or Cardpool
Buy Target electronic gift cards
Go to Ebates
Link to Target.com
Buy Disney gift cards AND ONE EXTRA ITEM - A different one every time
Use Disney gift cards for Disney Vacation Account.

Since I have so many steps already, adding a few for eBay won't bother me, but not if I am going to pay extra for cards. So what am I overlooking?

WE are purchasing gift cards at face value from GiftCardMall. They are an authorized reseller on Ebay.

 

[MinMou]

Hi guys! I see some of you are using a Disney Vacation Account... I wasn't planning on opening one before I got into the churning. Now that I anticipate having lots of Disney GC's do you guys recommend opening one? Or do you just fly down there with your gift cards in hand and pay at the front desk? Are there any downsides to using a DVA?

I used a DVA so I could use discounted Disney gift cards to pay for our trip. If you are staying at a DIsney resort, buying a Disney package, or taking a DIsney cruise, you have to pay at least 30 days prior to arrival. You could call the Disney 800 number, give them your reservation number, and try to get them to apply your gift cards over the phone, but that is time consuming, and with a DVA, you get an extra $20 gift card for every $1000 you use.

The downside is that DVA is that you are not earning any money on your savings that don't add up to $1000, so if you start saving for your vacation a year or more in advance, you could lose interest that could have accrued in a bank, and DIsney would be earning money on your money. But most banks don't pay that much in interest right now.

 

[BootsieCollins]

Seriously OT for this thread.

You cannot use the DVA at check in. Disney resorts do not take your DVA account number for purchases/payments once you are on the property. You will need to pay for your stay prior to arrival if you want to use the DVA. Also, you need to be aware that the DVA must be OPEN for 120 days before any payments made will applied to the "$1k spend per $20 earned" GC bonus.

Since it was related to the churning of gift cards and when I'd have to pay for the room/tickets, I thought it was on topic but I now know. I left some info out of my first post. Sorry to waste everyone's time. I'm aware that I have to pay for the room through the DVA prior to arriving at Disney and that it has to be open 120 days before earning the $20 g/c for $1k spent towards the room/tickets.

 

[davper]

I used a DVA so I could use discounted Disney gift cards to pay for our trip. If you are staying at a DIsney resort, buying a Disney package, or taking a DIsney cruise, you have to pay at least 30 days prior to arrival. You could call the Disney 800 number, give them your reservation number, and try to get them to apply your gift cards over the phone, but that is time consuming, and with a DVA, you get an extra $20 gift card for every $1000 you use.

The downside is that DVA is that you are not earning any money on your savings that don't add up to $1000, so if you start saving for your vacation a year or more in advance, you could lose interest that could have accrued in a bank, and DIsney would be earning money on your money. But most banks don't pay that much in interest right now.

But if you are using GCs anyway, you still are not earning interest and Disney is.

 

[havaneselover]

I used a DVA so I could use discounted Disney gift cards to pay for our trip. If you are staying at a DIsney resort, buying a Disney package, or taking a DIsney cruise, you have to pay at least 30 days prior to arrival. You could call the Disney 800 number, give them your reservation number, and try to get them to apply your gift cards over the phone, but that is time consuming, and with a DVA, you get an extra $20 gift card for every $1000 you use.

The downside is that DVA is that you are not earning any money on your savings that don't add up to $1000, so if you start saving for your vacation a year or more in advance, you could lose interest that could have accrued in a bank, and DIsney would be earning money on your money. But most banks don't pay that much in interest right now.

Disney Cruise is more like 90 days depending on itinerary.

 

[JKalai]

1) do you shop on ebay for the eBucks mostly, and wait for promotions?
2) how do you know that the cards you get will be active and for the amount they say? How do you screen the sellers?

I've been waiting on the ebucks promotions since that is the best chance of the most profit you'll be getting from churning. I hold onto the cards as I wouldn't want to miss out by having my funds in the mail waiting to be sent to me.

If you search "(retailer) gift card" in the ebay search bar, you'll see a white box at the top that'll say "Authorized Gift Card Seller/Featured Event." If you click on that, it'll bring up all the reputable sellers for that specific retailer on eBay. Giftcardmall and PayPal Digital Gifts are two trusted sellers.

 

[PrincessNelly]

For those that churn through gamestop. Are you purchasing the physical gift cards or electronic gift cards?

Do the stores accept the electronic gift cards for physical ebay gift cards?

 

[Marionnette]

But if you are using GCs anyway, you still are not earning interest and Disney is.

I consider Disney GCs to be the place where Target GCs go to die and the DVA is its graveyard. Once locked into a Disney GC, you can't churn those funds any further. The DVA can't give you the return that churning does.

• For example, a recent churn through for a $100 Target GC started with purchasing a $100 eBay GC on Target for $95, and it also yielded $2 in ebates. So far, a net savings of $7.
• The $100 eBay GC was used to purchase a $100 Target GC during a coupon promotion for $82.99 and it yielded 80¢ from ebates and $1.66 in eBucks. Total saved on this transaction was $20.47
• That makes the total saved from a single cycle of $100 = $27.47. And that doesn't include the additional $5 savings that would be realized when that $100 Target GC finally gets used to purchase a $100 Disney GC. I'll take that over $20 GC from the DVA for tying up $1000 of my money for 4 months because I can now take that $100 Target GC and repeat the process again and again instead of buying a Disney GC.

 

[havaneselover]

I used a DVA so I could use discounted Disney gift cards to pay for our trip. If you are staying at a DIsney resort, buying a Disney package, or taking a DIsney cruise, you have to pay at least 30 days prior to arrival. You could call the Disney 800 number, give them your reservation number, and try to get them to apply your gift cards over the phone, but that is time consuming, and with a DVA, you get an extra $20 gift card for every $1000 you use.

The downside is that DVA is that you are not earning any money on your savings that don't add up to $1000, so if you start saving for your vacation a year or more in advance, you could lose interest that could have accrued in a bank, and DIsney would be earning money on your money. But most banks don't pay that much in interest right now.

Interest rates are painfully low for savers and interest is taxed. Losing interest really isn't a big deal in the current environment.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

I consider Disney GCs to be the place where Target GCs go to die and the DVA is its graveyard. Once locked into a Disney GC, you can't churn those funds any further. The DVA can't give you the return that churning does.

• For example, a recent churn through for a $100 Target GC started with purchasing a $100 eBay GC on Target for $95, and it also yielded $2 in ebates. So far, a net savings of $7.
• The $100 eBay GC was used to purchase a $100 Target GC during a coupon promotion for $82.99 and it yielded 80¢ from ebates and $1.66 in eBucks. Total saved on this transaction was $20.47
• That makes the total saved from a single cycle of $100 = $27.47. And that doesn't include the additional $5 savings that would be realized when that $100 Target GC finally gets used to purchase a $100 Disney GC. I'll take that over $20 GC from the DVA for tying up my money for 4 months because I can now take that $100 Target GC and repeat the process again and again instead of buying a Disney GC.

But isn't it ideal to do both? Churn until payment is due and add to your DVA and pay off your trip?

 

[Jing]

I consider Disney GCs to be the place where Target GCs go to die and the DVA is its graveyard. Once locked into a Disney GC, you can't churn those funds any further. The DVA can't give you the return that churning does.

• For example, a recent churn through for a $100 Target GC started with purchasing a $100 eBay GC on Target for $95, and it also yielded $2 in ebates. So far, a net savings of $7.
• The $100 eBay GC was used to purchase a $100 Target GC during a coupon promotion for $82.99 and it yielded 80¢ from ebates and $1.66 in eBucks. Total saved on this transaction was $20.47
• That makes the total saved from a single cycle of $100 = $27.47. And that doesn't include the additional $5 savings that would be realized when that $100 Target GC finally gets used to purchase a $100 Disney GC. I'll take that over $20 GC from the DVA for tying up $1000 of my money for 4 months because I can now take that $100 Target GC and repeat the process again and again instead of buying a Disney GC.

I do all that churning and still use DVA. My money is only tied up for about 1 month before the trip when the balance is due, so it would have been tied up anyway. You only have to have the account open for 4 months - the money does not need to be in it for 4 months.

 

[BootsieCollins]

Because I am incredibly dense sometimes, can't we churn our g/c's back and forth (ebay-Target, GS if you wish, etc) and then purchase the Disney g/c's from Target when it's close to trip time and put that in the DVA and call to have them apply it to our vacation? Maybe I'm missing something....I'm having a really hard time keeping my eyes open due to these dumb allergies.

Edited to add: I see the 2 posts before me said basically the same thing so I'm glad my thought process is correct. I was banking on this route for this trip.

 

[davper]

I consider Disney GCs to be the place where Target GCs go to die and the DVA is its graveyard. Once locked into a Disney GC, you can't churn those funds any further. The DVA can't give you the return that churning does.

Agreed, This is the end stage of churning to get an additional 2% when applicable. And I assumed that was what we were talking about.

 

[MinMou]

OK, I'm almost there!
I see that every time you buy a gift card on eBay, they charge you 2.99 shipping. What denomination of GC do you get on eBay, so that the shipping charges don't affect your earnings?

And how often does eBay offer their eBucks promotions?

 

[Lain]

For those that churn through gamestop. Are you purchasing the physical gift cards or electronic gift cards?

Do the stores accept the electronic gift cards for physical ebay gift cards?

Electronic gift cards, which are typically emailed to you within an hour.

Policies vary from store to store, but generally yes; and there are rumors Gamestop will at some point stop accepting GC-to-GC transactions, so buyer beware.

There's been a lot of discussion about Gamestop just yesterday and in posts last week. You should really read them when you have the time to get a feel for people's different experiences, the risks and potential rewards.

 

[Vernie822]

OK, I'm almost there!
I see that every time you buy a gift card on eBay, they charge you 2.99 shipping. What denomination of GC do you get on eBay, so that the shipping charges don't affect your earnings?

And how often does eBay offer their eBucks promotions?

GCM offers $50/100/150 gift cards. They are all $2.99 for the first of any denomination, .99 to ship the second or more in that denomination. So $150 maximizes those savings because you're buying more in gift cards for the same shipping price.

 

[Marionnette]

I do all that churning and still use DVA. My money is only tied up for about 1 month before the trip when the balance is due, so it would have been tied up anyway. You only have to have the account open for 4 months - the money does not need to be in it for 4 months.

Like I said, it's where the Target GCs die and get buried. Until you really need to spend that money on your vacation, it's the last place to put your money. But with the really horrendous customer service and lousy IT that the DVA has, I wouldn't even put my Disney GCs in there for such a small return. If you've read any of the posts regarding problems with the DVA, you would see what I mean. Those who have had to get an issue addressed have had an horrific time getting things fixed.

 

[JKalai]

There's been a lot of discussion about Gamestop just yesterday and in posts last week. You should really read them when you have the time to get a feel for people's different experiences, the risks and potential rewards.

THIS 100%

Gamestop churn is highly YMMV

 

[Lain]

OK, I'm almost there!
I see that every time you buy a gift card on eBay, they charge you 2.99 shipping. What denomination of GC do you get on eBay, so that the shipping charges don't affect your earnings?

And how often does eBay offer their eBucks promotions?

When buying Target cards from Gift Card Mall on eBay, it is most cost efficient to buy the least number of the same denomination cards. GCM sells Target cards in $50/100/150 denominations. For example, for ~$1000, you should buy either 6x150 ($900) or 7x150 ($1050), rather than 10x100 ($1000) or 6x150 + 1x100 ($1000).

The reason is you need to think about minimizing your shipping costs, which eats into your profit. GCM charges $2.99 shipping for the first card of any denomination and $0.99 for each additional card of the same denomination.

So for the above examples, shipping charges would be $7.94 for 6x150, $8.93 for 7x150, $11.90 for 10x100, and $10.93 for 6x150 + 1x100. When spending Target cards, it's also to your benefit to have higher denomination cards because Target limits the number of gift cards per transaction to 4.

ETA: As @kidsfirsttrip pointed out:

If you're making a purchase during a 5x (10%) eBay Bucks promo, any subtotal more than $1000 will result in eBay Bucks exceeding the maximum $100 per transaction. So at $1000 and 10% back, you're fine to get $100 eBay Bucks; but at $1050 and 10% back, you're leaving $5 on the table so it's worth it to just pay the $2.99 shipping for another card in a new order. You'll max out eBay Bucks on a 4x bonus at $1250, and $1,666.66 on a 3x bonus.

@DIS_MERI has been keeping track of when eBay Bucks promos have been offered, which should give you an idea about the frequency, and each promo usually lasts 2 and very rarely 3 days:

I believe I am missing 2 offers from October, 1 from December, and possibly another somewhere, but this is better than nothing
8/27 2x, 9/9 4x, 9/16 5x, 9/22 4x, 9/28 5x,
11/11 4x, 11/16 3x, 11/23 5x, 12/2 4x, 12/7 3x, 12/15 4x, 12/21 3x,
1/20 4x, 2/1 3x, 2/10 2x, 2/16 5x, 2/25 4x, 3/2 3x, 3/8 5x, 3/15 4x, 3/23 4x, 3/29 5x