Introduction

Historically speaking the time between the second week of November and Christmas has been the biggest volume for manufactured spend in the year, at least during my career. That’s because:

  • Buying lots of Visa and Mastercard gift cards is temporarily normalized
  • Most stores run first-party holiday gift card promotions
  • Big gift card sellers run third-party holiday gift card promotions
  • Consumer electronics and other hot items for buyer’s groups are well stocked and often on sale
  • Nit-picky cashiers and customer service representatives are too busy to worry much about what you’re doing

If you want to participate in the gift card or buyer’s groups holiday manufactured spend cluster-hug, this weekend is a great time to get signed up with the major players so you have a liquidation channel and deal alert notification flow.

Gift Card Buyers and Resellers

In no particular order, most volume in third party gift cards flows through one of these buyers, all of which are considered generally reputable in the community, and I’ve checked with all of them and they’re ready to on-board for the holidays:

Buyers Groups

The following buyer’s groups are considered generally reputable in the community, and if you sign-up this weekend you should be on-boarded in time for black Friday:

Let me also offer some unsolicited advice: While you’re figuring out how buying groups work, stick with deals from Amazon and skip the other stores which can often require some voodoo to get working properly.

Good luck!

A manufactured spend prepper’s closet.

  1. Hy-Vee Grocery has Meijer style promotion running through November 15 for $10 back on each $150 or more in Mastercard gift cards. It’s Meijer style because a single $500 gift card earns 3x$10 back for a total cost including activation fee of $475.95.

    If you have an easy liquidation path, this is one of those deals that’s good enough that a trip to Hy-Vee territory may even make sense (and let’s face it, who hasn’t wanted to see Ashwaubenon, WI?). If you do it in the next three days, you can also stop at nearby Meijer stores for $10 in Meijer rewards for $150 or more in Visa gift cards. (Thanks to Justin via MEAB slack for pointing me to GC Galore and testing that the total cost was indeed $475.95)

  2. Kroger online is running a promotion for a $10 Kroger gift card and 4x fuel points with the purchase of a $100 Delta Air Lines gift card. As long as you can use the fuel points and the gift card this is somewhere between a 15% and 24% discount depending on your gas tank size. Unfortunately it’s limit one per order so it’s tedious to scale, but you can do it in-between Hy-Vee purchases I guess.
  3. Do this now (if you’re an American Express Hilton cardholder): Register for 1,000 bonus points for each $500 spent (targeted), up to $5,000 in spend.
  4. Barclay’s has added transfer partners for points earned on the Arrival Plus card, but unless you’re locked out of every other bank or have a major JAL award sweet spot, it’s not worth your time because the transfer ratios are frankly awful. Citi, American Express, Chase, and Capital One are all better options.

Some call this spot in Ashwaubenon the (-1)th wonder of the world.

Note: If you’re an email subscriber, you may have missed yesterday’s post because the plugin I’m using and daylight savings time changes don’t go well together. I believe it’s working properly now though.

Today’s items include a strange gem or two:

  1. Two US carriers are running fare sales, and it’s worth checking existing travel to see if you can get a partial refund:

    Alaska to and from ski resort cities, book by Friday
    Southwest on Tuesday and Wednesday flights, book by tomorrow evening

    The Alaska sale gets you free skiing at a few ski resorts too by showing your boarding pass. Of course in a world of refundable fares, someone didn’t think too hard about how gamers gonna game.

  2. Qatar Avios has a transfer bonus from Citi ThankYou Points and several other programs. This one is oddly tiered:

    – 20% bonus for transfers of 29,999 ThankYou Points or less
    – 30% bonus for transfers of 30,000 ThankYou Points or more

    Qatar Avios are great for business class to and from Europe, but for other cases you can transfer them to Iberia, Aer Lingus, or British Airways Avios at avios.com for other sweet spots.

  3. There’s a $100 sign-up bonus for opening a Q.ai brokerage account and funding with $100. Reportedly bonuses will post within a day typically, but take screenshots of the offer during sign-up in case they don’t. (Thanks to DoC)
  4. Office Depot has $15 off of $300 or more in Mastercard gift card purchases through Saturday. Remember, these are Metabanks, and Visa and Mastercard aren’t the same. (Thanks to ChurningTatum)

Another strange gem.

  1. Discover bank has gameable savings account bonus promotion running through this evening. It’s interesting for three reasons:

    – The bonus posts within two or three business days
    – You can deposit and withdraw the same money multiple times but deposits are cumulative for the bonus
    – There’s no time requirement for holding the funds at the bank

    The downside? There’s once-per-lifetime language. The offers are $450 for $35,000 in deposits in 30 days, with code BONUS1022E, or $500 for $50,000 in deposits in 30 days with code BONUS1122D. (Thanks to DoC)

  2. There are multiple holiday shopping portal bonuses through November 21, though because today is election day let’s call them “politician upset over loss” shopping portal bonuses.

    5,000 United MileagePlus miles for spending $1,200 or more
    4,000 AA miles for spending $1,500 or more
    3,500 Southwest Rapid Rewards for spending $1,000 or more
    2,000 Delta SkyMiles for spending $800 or more
    1,500 Alaska MileagePlan miles for spending $650 or more

    These are somewhat gameable, one of several examples includes purchasing gift cards at GiftCards.com. On that note, Miles shared that the language in the terms and conditions at for GiftCards.com has changed on most portals from “Orders over $2,000 max per month per customer are not eligible” to “Orders over $2,000 are not eligible”. What does that mean? Great question, I’m so glad you asked. I have no idea what it means, but always be probing.

  3. Do this now (if you have an American Express Platinum card): Enroll for Hertz President’s Circle status.
  4. Chase finally increased the referral sign-up bonus on several cards to match the increased sign-up bonuses available on the public applications, so now’s a good time to refer P2 for a new card, or find a new friend and make their day by using their referral. You can generate referral links here. The cards:

    – Ink Cash: 90,000 Ultimate Rewards
    – Ink Unlimited: 90,000 Ultimate Rewards
    – Southwest Plus, Premier, Priority, and Business: 75,000 Rapid Rewards Points

    There’s also an increased sign-up bonus for the United Business card for 150,000 MileagePlus miles after spending $20,000 in three months. If this one is on your radar I’d wait a week or two to see if it also becomes available via referral before committing.

Have a quadruple decker slice of something in honor of politician upset over loss shopping portal bonus day.

BofA’s More Rewards Day Recap

Before we dive in, let’s quickly recap Bank of America’s bonus 2x miles or 2% cash back holiday on Saturday. In my circles there were a few basic types of gamers:

  • Some people went big, going well into six figure spend territory
  • Some tried to go big but were slowed significantly by fraud alerts
  • Some were happy to knock out a bit of holiday shopping and to pre-pay utilities for an extra boost
  • A few that have been shutdown by Bank of America in the past stood outside the window in the rain pretending not to gaze inside, but still watching everything out of out of the corner of their eyes

There were people from multiple categories that were left scrambling after one of their own manufactured spend techniques flaked out. Lessons:

  • Have a goal in place when there’s a significant opportunity, whether it’s six figures or $60, a goal will help focus your time (and it’s ok to have a $60 goal too)
  • Have a backup plan in case something malfunctions
  • Set travel notifications on your cards to reduce fraud alerts and locks
  • In the weeks leading up to a big opportunity, train the fraud alerts away from your cards with some spend

Quick Hits

  1. VanillaGift.com has fee-free Visa gift cards with promo code SHOPEARLY22. The promo is ostensibly ending on November 18, but let’s just say their track record hasn’t been great on that. Fortunately for everyone including reader Jim, these aren’t Metabanks. (Thanks to mikep via MEAB slack)
  2. Meijer has $10 in MPerks rewards when clip the digital coupon and buy $150 or more in Visa gift cards through Saturday. You’ll have to scale this one with multiple MPerks accounts. (Thanks to GC Galore)

Happy Monday!

BankAmeriGuy shows off the shoes paid for with BankAmeriDay spoils.

  1. Staples has fee free $200 Visa gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit eight per transaction. As usual, try and run multiple transactions back-to-back and have a liquidation plan in place since these are Metabank gift cards. (Thanks to GC Galore)
  2. Southwest personal credit cards have a boosted sign-up bonus of 75,000 Rapid Rewards points and a reduced spend requirement of $3,000 in three months. The increased offers run through December 5. It’s a good time to get these if you want a companion pass because you can get two years worth by:

    – Applying for a personal card now (75,000 points after $3,000 in spend)
    – Applying for a business card now (80,000 points after $5,000 in spend)
    – Spending approximately $2,900 before December 31 on the personal card
    – Spending approximately $4,900 before December 31 on the business card
    – And finally, spend $100+ on each card on January 1

    The companion pass will last through the end of 2024. Also, don’t forget to use a friend’s referral link when you apply, they’ll appreciate it and earn 20,000 bonus points too. Seriously though, find someone’s referral link to use.

  3. eToro is a weird crypto brokerage with weird functionality that sometimes helps manufactured spenders, so it’s a good place to have an account in general (remember, the weird is what keeps us in business). Now there’s another good incentive: a $360 new account bonus. To get it:

    – Click through the Gocashback portal in a clean browser for a $120 bonus
    – Sign-up for eToro and deposit $2,000 for another $240 bonus

    You’ll have to deposit by December 31 and keep the money at eToro for 90 days after deposit. You’re not eligible if you already have an eToro account or closed one in the last 30 business days, so there’s barely still time to churn an account for existing customers too. (Thanks to DoC)

  4. Don’t forget that tomorrow is BankAmeriDay. Yes I made that up, and yes, it’s just as stupid as BankAmeriDeals). It’s a great time to manufacture spend because you’ll earn:

    – An extra 2x miles on co-branded cards
    – An extra 2% cash back on other cards

    Coincidentally, AA eShopping has 4,000 bonus miles for spending $1,500 or more and giftcards.com is currently 3x, so I’d run with that on a Bank of America card tomorrow as part of your game. With $1,500 in Visa or Mastercard gift cards you’ll earn 8,607 AA miles and 4,607 AA loyalty points. (Thanks to RabbMD)

BankAmeriGuy, the official mascot of BankAmeriDay.

  1. Miles discovered a new variety of Target Redcards, the Target Redcard Reloadable. It’s mildly interesting for the $40 + $40 sign-up bonus, but probably more interesting for shenanigans other reasons in the same vein as the Target Redcard Credit Card.

    So far it appears to be a Serve/BlueBird like product on the Visa network. It also appears that anyone that has a Serve or BlueBird gets denied during application, so ymmv. (Thanks to Miles via MEAB slack)

  2. AA’s partner card-linked program SimplyMiles and Citi Merchant Offers are again conspiring to help you earn loyalty points for getting luke warm food delivered or for a first class car ride to the airport in the back seat of a 2003 Chrysler Sebring. The offers:

    – 465 AA miles on a $25 Uber Eats order, one time (this earns loyalty points)
    – 235 AA miles on a $15 Uber ride, one time (this earns loyalty points)
    – $10 back on a $25 Uber Eats, one to three times
    – $5, $10, or $15 back on a $15 Uber ride, one to three times

    The SimplyMiles offers mention that taxes and fees are excluded, so make sure the base cost meets the threshold in case they actually enforce that.

  3. Do this now: Decide which of these you like better: Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hilton, and then link your Lyft account to the appropriate one:

    Alaska: 2x miles per dollar spent at Lyft through December 31, then 1x
    Delta: 2x miles per dollar spent at Lyft on airport rides, 1x otherwise
    Hilton: 3x points per dollar on most Lyft rides, 2x on shared Lyft rides

    Personally I’d just link to Alaska and be done with it.

  4. Southwest has 30% off of flights booked by today to and from Hawaii for travel from December 1 through March 8 of next year using promo code GOHAWAII. Double check existing bookings, and make sure to pack a meal when you fly unless a bowl of stale pretzels and some off-colored crackers float your boat.
  5. Capital One has announced its November mileage transfer bonuses:

    – 20% bonus to British Airways (use for short haul AA flights or transfer to Qatar Avois for business class redemptions)
    – 20% bonus to Accor hotels (don’t use)

  6. Astra Finance, a popular tool for manufacturing direct deposits, will stop working on December 16. (Thanks to ChurnChurnChurn)

After a car-wash and some duct tape, your Uber Eats driver will deliver your cold Whopper in two hours or less; but most importantly, it’ll be delivered in style.

Introduction

We’ve followed the saga of the quick fall from grace in the Kroger fuel points markets approximately monthly since this summer, and we seem to have reached a steady state for operations:

Kroger is getting very good at shutting down reseller’s fuel accounts quickly.

Practically speaking this means that big end-users (fuel points buyers) are exiting the market and gift card and fuel points buyers are pulling back.

Theories

First, here’s the data that we’ve seen that’ll help draw conclusions:

  • Account locks happen rapidly when loading unrelated fuel points accounts back-to-back
  • Account locks happen in the middle of redemption
  • There was temporary glitch that allowed for massive overdrawing of fuel points accounts that lasted several weeks, and a few end-users took accounts extremely negative
  • We’ve seen multiple reports of continued overdrawn accounts since the glitch, but in small balances unlike what had happened in the past

With that in mind, what caused Kroger’s systems to go from effectively zero policing to massive shutdowns? Only the folks at Kroger HQ in Cincinnati know for sure, but there are a few possibilities:

  • Significant money was taken from Kroger’s balance sheet during the redemption glitch, so putting an end to reselling became a significant business decision and staff was allocated specifically to monitor and lock accounts
  • Kroger may have implemented facial recognition technology as an anti-reseller technique
  • Kroger may be successfully fingerprinting reseller’s electronics devices and shutting down accounts associated with those devices

Reactions

We’ve seen varying reactions from the community to the increased account shutdown activity:

  • Gift card and fuel point resale rates have rocketed above 100%
  • Many end-users can’t logistically work under the current constraints and have exited
  • Some fuel points brokers have instituted same day redemption policies and have indemnified buyers from loss within a certain timeframe
  • Many gift card and fuel points resellers have stopped buying all together

The Future

My crystal ball isn’t any better than average, but I think that as the fuel points resale market dwindles in efficacy, rates for bulk third party gift cards which are normally partially subsidized with fuel points will climb, buyers will continue to pull-back, and potentially new workarounds will emerge; frankly that was an easy prediction though because all of those things have already started to happen.

Special thanks to Eugene, DCB, and several other anonymous brokers for providing background information and consulting for this article. Good luck out there!

The glitch made gas so cheap that end-users could afford to use it to water their cement.