Very interesting! I didn't think discounts applied to gift cards (though I see now from a later post that you did buy something else.) I don't imagine these purchases count as zero financing items.
.....When you say a card that gives you points, are you referring to any cash back or point earning card? I have cards that give you 1-5% back in cash, and others that give you points or dollars that can be reimbursed for cash.....
Sorry that I haven't been clear!
For starters, you're not really getting a "discount" in the true definition of the word. With Ebates or MrRebates, you're getting a "rebate" for your purchase that is paid to you by those websites. So you pay for the full amount upfront, then get it back in a return.
As far as the gift cards being an exclusion to the rebates sites, MrRebates clearly states that GCs are excluded for a rebate consideration. When I made my purchase that included the gift card, I paid $330-ish dollars with one "swipe of the card". It was even one line item on my credit card statement. Of that total, $300 of it was the GC. Despite the fact I had one charge, on my MrRebates account, I see that the apparel is a line item for a rebate, and the GC is a line item for the rebate. That is odd to me, but it is broken out as a line items. So I either got lucky, or their policy changed since I made the purchase in June. Now.....EBATES.com does not state GCs are excluded in their rebate policy with
DisneyStore.com, so there appears to be no risk in not getting the rebate from EBATES. Furthermore, as of today, EBATES has a higher return than MrRebates in the first place. I'm holding out just a bit longer in hopes that EBATES will go back above 5% as it was earlier this month. I've been checking every day!
Let's talk cards. Personally, I paid for my GC at DisneyStore.com with use of a card (not Disney Visa) that gives me a percentage back in cash for any purchase I make anywhere for anything with 0% interest. The first of every month they give me cash for my purchases. I referenced points because some people may use a card that gives them points, but in my case, I used a card that gives me cash back on the original purchase price. That has no relevance to the rebate sites though. So for me, I got more cash back from my credit card company in addition to the rebate site. I can't answer if Disney GCs purchased with a Disney Visa can be 6 months interest-free or not.
Finally, once I got the gift card, I called
DCL and had them apply the GC value to my OBC. I could have held onto the GC until I got on-board, but I feared loosing it, so I mitigated that risk by applying the GC now instead of later. The only thing the DCL CM told me was to keep the GC because if I didn't use all of the funds, the OBC I didn't use from the GC would be reapplied to the GC after the cruise. Yea right! Does he really think I won't be using all of it on Shutters alone????
Still clear as mud???
BTW,
Cynthia, I am planning on moving my clocks the week leading up to departure to have less of a challenge getting over jet-lag. That's for ME!

I have to meet the mark of your 3 year old angel's happy attitude after all! It's going to be tough because I'm a night owl (look...it's 1:45 am now)! My goal is to wake up fully refreshed no later than 3:30 am the day of departure so I'll be tired and ready to sleep on the plane after eating dinner. We'll have to see how those plans work out!
