The holiday shopping season is perhaps the best time of year for manufactured spending. If you’re throwing in the towel when it comes to Visa gift card churning because of all the negative changes, there may be other opportunities for you. Below are a few ways the holiday shopping season makes manufactured spending easier:
Merchant gift card churning
Merchant gift card deals are going to be very popular as always. You can easily score 15 – 25% off popular merchant gift cards, then resell them at break-even. This is not ideal, but also not a bad way to generate tons of miles though a bonus category credit card.
In the past, I’ve used Cardpool to score some favorable reselling rates. I don’t like Raise, just because you have to list a card and hope it sells. Cardpool buys them from you, though you often get lower rates.
Be sure to check out GiftCard Granny and Gift Card Wiki for the highest selling rates. You might even come across some great deals on Amex Offers that can help you increase your profit margins.
I was recently targeted for $150 off $700 at Jimmy Choo, so I’m going to investigate and see if I can resell a popular pair of shoes on Poshmark. The great thing about Poshmark is that they authenticate all items over $500 at their HQ, which gives buyers peace of mind and protects sellers. That makes the transaction a little less stressful for everyone.
Retail arbitrage
Retail arbitrage has been around for years and many people doing it are in it for the cash rather than the miles. Trevor from Tagging Miles actually has a Mile High Reselling Club and organizes events where you can learn more about this. Somehow, these events always sell out before I hear about them or they clash with my existing plans.
I’ve dabbled in retail arbitrage here and there. With the holiday shopping season coming up, retail arbitrage is a viable option. Do your research on popular toys, for example, and you can do quite well buying and reselling them while earning miles. It takes work, but so does everything else in this hobby.
Shopping portal deals
Shopping portals are going to be offering higher payouts to get your business. Some of them will even offer bonus points when you meet certain spending thresholds. Head to the “Offers” page of your favorite shopping portal for the latest deals.
To find the highest shopping portal payouts, search for a merchant on Cashback Monitor or Cashback Holic. You’ll get a list of the highest portal payouts, divided up by points, miles, and cash back rewards. If you come across a great retail arbitrage deal on Cyber Monday, this is a great way to maximize it.
Kickfurther
I wrote about my Kickfurther haul a few months ago. While I came away with over 40,000 miles and $821 in profit, one of the co-ops I invested in went bust and I lost $1,023. Luckily, the profits I made from the other Kickfurther co-ops offset this loss. That may not be your experience.
I would tread lightly with Kickfurther and avoid making this your main source of manufactured spending. If you’re short on a spending requirement and are investing in a reputable company, it might be worth it. Especially now, since so many of them are gearing up to buy inventory that is sure to move fast during the holidays.
One bad deal could really set you back financially, so proceed with caution.
Maximizing everyday spending
You’re probably going to spend a lot of money in the coming months, regardless of whether you’re celebrating a holiday or not. Stores are having crazy sales and if you’re like me, this is the time of year when you do most of your shopping for clothes and essentials.
Whatever you’re shopping for, make sure to maximize those credit card category bonuses. I admit I haven’t always been good about this because manufactured spending was such a cakewalk that I didn’t need to think about maximizing my comparatively minuscule daily spending. But I’m switching to a low-spend, high-impact MS strategy and category bonuses are key.
I want to hear from you guys: What are you doing to increase MS during the holidays?
Another couple of options are: Pay your local and property taxes by credit card, as well as state and federal. Yes, they charge 2.5-3%, but I call those bedroom points since I did not leave the house and I will get outsized results. Pay association fees, if you have them. Make a donation to Samaritian’s Purse, or other non profit that is doing good. Review all things auto drafted from your checking and see if the gas, water, electric, insurance companies will let you pay by credit card.
Try to insure as much as you can you pay by credit card and not cash.
This year I bought Staples Visa and MC gift cards when they had a no fee week. I used my 5x points chase card. I then went to my post office annex located in a supermarket (the machines in the regular post office do not work for this) and I bought a couple money orders, took them to my tax assessor and paid the bill. Obviously I left the house by doing this but it just cost me a couple dollars instead of a 2.5% fee.
I didn’t know the post office had machines you can buy money orders from. I need to look into this in my area.
I’d like to hear more about this, also. Didn’t know that was possible.
they dont
Those are good options. I’m working on a post about earning miles via charitable donations. Up next week!
MS’ing during holidays sounds like a great idea, and for those just getting started, the CC companies may not scrutinize outsized spending around the holidays as unusual. Unfortunately for our point balances, the last couple of years we’ve snowbirded in Mexico, and that severely limits our points earning options, MS or otherwise. Any ideas for expat earning options?
That’s a good point. RE MS’ing from abroad, it’s tricky. You can go the online merchant gift card churning route. Some gift card buying sites will let you enter the card number only or sell egift cards. I’d also look for local opportunities. Someone once told me about a casino abroad that let you buy poker chips with a credit card. They took advantage of that to buy (and shortly after cash out) thousands of dollars in chips.
Ariana,
Do you have a list of this sites where it would be possible?
TX
It’s something you have to search for. Look at Sam’s Club or Costo, for example. Or individual merchant sites – they might also run deals on gift cards.