Disney Gift Card Deals

[havaneselover]

.... A-a-and back to the topic.... who likes the odds of an ebucks promo popping up this week? It's been a dry spell for me since beginning of May! I got the last 6 hour one, but neglected to check back here obsessively and missed it! (6 hours? what is that all about?)

It seems like it's about time for a two-day one.

 

[PerfessorZ]

To people who are new to this thread (not just those that posted questions recently, but lurkers and visitors just clicking on the last page first):

There is no "one page" that explains everything. Past techniques for getting deals have been varied, complex, work only for certain people, and/or have a limited life span. What worked for me today, may be too complicated for you, too difficult to bother with, logistically impossible, not worth the time and effort, or just plain things have changed since yesterday and that deal or technique is now dead. There are even things that can go wrong that you never anticipated and you can be out hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars. You can be banned from purchasing at certain stores. Under extreme situations, you can even have the FBI show up at your house asking all sorts of questions. (This last one is rare, but has happened to at least one citizen employing some techniques to the maximum.) I have run into hurdles with all these hiccups, and even some not listed.

Consequently, the regular posters here always recommend you read back a ways before jumping in with both feet or even asking "What's everything I need to know in one post?" We've had some regulars here attempt to keep a synopsis up to date of what's working and what's not, but again, things have been so fluid here it takes near daily updates, and frankly who has the time, and probably more importantly, what's the upside to spoon-feeding the internet your method if they're just going to abuse it to the point where it gets shut down?

So the regulars here keep each other up-to-date with what's still working, what's sort of working, and what's officially borked. Then others will find a way that saves 1% here or 2% here, or somebody's running a sale on X. And again, virtually all good news is short-term - a grocery store promo, an ebay GC sale,
an extra 3% in rebates from a shopping portal.

So my advice is hang in there, don't rush into anything until you understand what you're getting into, feel free to ask questions (although searching the thread to see if the question has already been asked a few times is a nice courtesy), and proceed with caution. The golden days of saving huge amounts on Disney Gift Cards may be over, but there are still ways to save $ on your next vacation.

 

[CMNJ]

It seems like it's about time for a two-day one.

I agree. Seems like it is overdue lol. Honestly though not sure if/what I would buy. I am not a fan of PPDG after my (and everyone else's) trouble with them and I don't shop at GS so leery of trying that churning route. Of course if SVM wants to have some discounted gift cards for gas (or other places I would regularly spend) with free shipping at the same time as an ebucks promo I might have to buy some.....I already have spent $150 of the $200 Sunoco I bought the last time they were on sale.

 

[CMNJ]

To people who are new to this thread (not just those that posted questions recently, but lurkers and visitors just clicking on the last page first):

There is no "one page" that explains everything. Past techniques for getting deals have been varied, complex, work only for certain people, and/or have a limited life span. What worked for me today, may be too complicated for you, too difficult to bother with, logistically impossible, not worth the time and effort, or just plain things have changed since yesterday and that deal or technique is now dead. There are even things that can go wrong that you never anticipated and you can be out hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars. You can be banned from purchasing at certain stores. Under extreme situations, you can even have the FBI show up at your house asking all sorts of questions. (This last one is rare, but has happened to at least one citizen employing some techniques to the maximum.) I have run into hurdles with all these hiccups, and even some not listed.

Consequently, the regular posters here always recommend you read back a ways before jumping in with both feet or even asking "What's everything I need to know in one post?" We've had some regulars here attempt to keep a synopsis up to date of what's working and what's not, but again, things have been so fluid here it takes near daily updates, and frankly who has the time, and probably more importantly, what's the upside to spoon-feeding the internet your method if they're just going to abuse it to the point where it gets shut down?

So the regulars here keep each other up-to-date with what's still working, what's sort of working, and what's officially borked. Then others will find a way that saves 1% here or 2% here, or somebody's running a sale on X. And again, virtually all good news is short-term - a grocery store promo, an ebay GC sale,
an extra 3% in rebates from a shopping portal.

So my advice is hang in there, don't rush into anything until you understand what you're getting into, feel free to ask questions (although searching the thread to see if the question has already been asked a few times is a nice courtesy), and proceed with caution. The golden days of saving huge amounts on Disney Gift Cards may be over, but there are still ways to save $ on your next vacation.

You've peaked my curiosity-is there a link to that story? Or do you have more details?

 

[havaneselover]

I agree. Seems like it is overdue lol. Honestly though not sure if/what I would buy. I am not a fan of PPDG after my (and everyone else's) trouble with them and I don't shop at GS so leery of trying that churning route. Of course is SVM wants to have some discounted gift cards for gas (or other places I would regularly spend) with free shipping at the same time as an ebucks promo I might have to buy some.....I already have spent $150 of the $200 Sunoco I bought the last time they were on sale.

Yeah, my recent purchases were from SVM for a discounted Exxon gift card and discounted Sears gift cards. Moving forward with Disney I'm just buying Target at Kroger and using those for Disney. BB/GS are too YMMV and time consuming for me.

 

[hsmamato2]

I don't have a ton of gc left, but I do have some nice items I am looking at lol - also I have always looked to other "non official" gc routes also..... I know it can be risky , but I research carefully,and take the jump if I feel it's worth it..... so far so good, but as everyone here knows, it's.... risky.(sometimes) I think out of all of this I'm bummed about the ebucks. I was so stupid for years, I was an ebay seller and buyer,and never once thought about ebucks,till 6 months ago. (call the waahmbulance,I know lol) and now those are much more rare than they were..... but like PerfesserZ said, there are still ways overall.....(I bought some dis gc's at the grocery last month using my freedom 5x quarterly bonus, got 20 free gal of gas yesterday, that's 46.00 less than I would have spent otherwise, it goes into my spreadsheet as $ saved!)

 

[PerfessorZ]

You've peaked my curiosity-is there a link to that story? Or do you have more details?

I don't have the link handy. But I believe it was somebody who runs a Frequent Flyer blog. They were doing lots of manufactured spending using gift cards and the FBI investigated them for money laundering. I don't think charges were brought, but they were harassed a bit.

 

[Hikergirl]

Don't worry guys, there will be a promo coming. I have an expensive phone sitting in my cart waiting for a promo so of course that means one will be coming and I won't get it LOL

 

[CMNJ]

I don't have the link handy. But I believe it was somebody who runs a Frequent Flyer blog. They were doing lots of manufactured spending using gift cards and the FBI investigated them for money laundering. I don't think charges were brought, but they were harassed a bit.

Got it-I suspect most of us here aren't probably doing a high enough volume but interesting to know anyway-thanks for sharing

 

[CMNJ]

Just an update about the chase freedom 5% back. I had purchased eBay Egift cards online from Giant Eagle.com and did receive the 5% back as it did code as a grocery purchase even though it was made online.

 

[somebunny]

I have a question for anyone who does Shopkick. I saw it mentioned on here, registered, verified my phone # and have been having fun getting "kicks." Now I'm ready (have enough kicks) to get a $10 BB card, but EVERY time I try and redeem I get the screen w/verifying my email, but then the next screen says "An error has occurred! Please try again." Would you recommend uninstalling and reinstalling the app? I don't want to lose my 2,816 kicks that I worked so hard for lol. Any help is appreciated!

 

[hsmamato2]

Shopkicks..... the site says to link your credit card for purchases.... is this reliable?

 

[klmrph]

My husband and I were hard core into manufactured spending the past couple of years, we have slowed down now since it's not as easy as it used to be, but while I was at Disney this past April, Homeland Security came to our house and interviewed my husband. He just explained it all and nothing more came of it. They were there about 45 minutes. They were aware of the process. I was sitting in the boneyard at Animal Kingdom when he called. It was us buying lots of money orders that triggered it. We already knew that our local grocery store had filled out paperwork about us.

 

[Marionnette]

Shopkicks..... the site says to link your credit card for purchases.... is this reliable?

You don't have to link a CC to the account unless you want credit for purchases made at the merchant. If you're just collecting kicks from walk-ins and scanning, then you don't need to add one.

 

[hsmamato2]

well I signed up...twice. Urg. My first try I accidentally used the wrong letter in email addy.... and no way to change it! Then it kept saying I didn't have the right password to delete that acct(I was gonna start over) so I gave up and redid my acct using another email addy. anyway it's an interesting idea.....

 

[havaneselover]

My husband and I were hard core into manufactured spending the past couple of years, we have slowed down now since it's not as easy as it used to be, but while I was at Disney this past April, Homeland Security came to our house and interviewed my husband. He just explained it all and nothing more came of it. They were there about 45 minutes. They were aware of the process. I was sitting in the boneyard at Animal Kingdom when he called. It was us buying lots of money orders that triggered it. We already knew that our local grocery store had filled out paperwork about us.

I guess what makes me uneasy about churning (in which I have modestly participated) and MS is it does waste valuable resources (e.g., when Homeland Security has to come to someone's home). It seems like those of us doing these things to save money may be making it harder to find people doing these things to commit crimes.

 

[CMNJ]

Shopkicks..... the site says to link your credit card for purchases.... is this reliable?

I use shop kick but I do not have my cc linked-I don't like giving out my cc to people/companies I don't have to-too many data breaches these days for me to entrust that info to people/companies when not necessary.
I just do the walk in and scans like @Marionnette said. Oh and the barcode you have scanned at Best Buy to get credit for the purchase (don't have to give your credit card to get credit for shopping there)

 

[CMNJ]

My husband and I were hard core into manufactured spending the past couple of years, we have slowed down now since it's not as easy as it used to be, but while I was at Disney this past April, Homeland Security came to our house and interviewed my husband. He just explained it all and nothing more came of it. They were there about 45 minutes. They were aware of the process. I was sitting in the boneyard at Animal Kingdom when he called. It was us buying lots of money orders that triggered it. We already knew that our local grocery store had filled out paperwork about us.

Wow-are stores required to report what they deem as "suspicious activity" so interesting. I supposed with concerns of money laundering they probably do have legal obligations to report unusual spending habits.
Thanks for sharing your story.

 

[MamaBelle4]

I guess what makes me uneasy about churning (in which I have modestly participated) and MS is it does waste valuable resources (e.g., when Homeland Security has to come to someone's home). It seems like those of us doing these things to save money may be making it harder to find people doing these things to commit crimes.

I don't know about that, granted I am very small potatoes, no where near any limits.

I would actually, perhaps naively, argue that this would help Homeland Security and whomever collect data points to establish patterns.

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

My husband and I were hard core into manufactured spending the past couple of years, we have slowed down now since it's not as easy as it used to be, but while I was at Disney this past April, Homeland Security came to our house and interviewed my husband. He just explained it all and nothing more came of it. They were there about 45 minutes. They were aware of the process. I was sitting in the boneyard at Animal Kingdom when he called. It was us buying lots of money orders that triggered it. We already knew that our local grocery store had filled out paperwork about us.

It wasn't so much the purchasing of the money orders, but more of what you were doing with them.