When I started writing again several months ago I was fascinated with the concept of adding an app to my cell phone, linking my credit card once and getting paid every time I used that card at a participating merchant. I’m “old school.” This was a new concept to me and I’ve learned quite a bit in the experiment.
I recommended an app call Dosh, another called PEI and a third call Drop. I’d never worked with any but tried to match up retailers I would use with each app. The results in my location were pretty stunning.
I used Dosh at Kroger and Sam’s Club to buy Visa gift cards for cashback and to meet minimum spending requirements. Between Katy and I got a little over $800 combined. That is in addition to the 3% cashback we get on our Navy Federal Credit card at the grocery store and 2 Membership Rewards points on our Amex blue business card and 2.625% cashback on BofA travel rewards.card.
We are still waiting for our first $25 redemptions on PEI and DROP. Obviously, we have not done any gift card purchases with Walgreens and CVS, which are on their platforms in our area because Dosh was so much better.
Bad news
Well, as of August 29th, Kroger dropped its daily maximum to $5 from $10, which has been my “go-to” with two cards. Sam’s Club still offers a max of $15 per day, but their gift cards are $250 max at $4.88 per card, and Dosh earnings are 4% at Sam’s. And it’s a 20-minute drive instead of 5 minutes to my local Kroger.
So, with the lower rates at Dosh, it’s decision time again. Do we now start going to CVS and Walgreens to buy gift cards at 2% or 2.625% with our credit card rewards and a lousy 1% PEI payback? I can’t remember if Sam’s Club was a possible in-store partner with Drop.
For my five power offers, I picked Dunkin donuts, Walgreens, Whole Foods, Target and 7-11. I could have made better picks and can’t figure out how to change the ones I did, IF I can?
So every market is different. How are you doing? What’s the best app for you in your area? Who is your primary retailer?
If you haven’t checked these out yet, here are my three referral links..Give one or all three a try and let us know what’s working for you. Remember these are “one and done.” Once you link the card to the app, just pay with that card at the retailer. It’s that simple.
P.S. Dosh has added $25 for hotel bookings as well
UPDATE: Kroger is no longer a partner in our area and Pei has dropped their earning rate . Lots of changes. I wonder if they know we’re using them ?
PEI is max $1/wk for CVS/Walgreens and my Dosh only offers restaurants. I got incredible value from it when it offered Sam’s Club as I organically spend thousands there annually. Drop does not allow you to change except for special circumstances and they do not link to US Bank so that isn’t overly useful to me either as Cash+ is my fast food card. They also only let me pick 2 power offers.
The other negative to these apps is I don’t really want to add all my cards to all the apps so there is some additional complexity in making sure I use the right card.
Despite Sam’s (where we shop a LOT) and Staples both being about 1 mile from our home, nether one ever shows up on Dosh. The only stores that do show up are ones I have no need to shop at. Dosh to me is useless. I may give the others a try.
No sane person would ever allow these two-bit scammy apps to mine your personal financial spending just to get a few bucks. Of course, when you’re getting referral commissions, somehow this is never mentioned.
Of course the referral is clearly labeled????
“Sane” people routinely give away far more personal information for much much less than the $1200+ I’ve made using Dosh at Sam’s Club. I’m happy to give some referrals to those that put in the effort to publish this information to us. Thank you Rick and Ariana!
I believe these change quarterly, as these vendors are signing up, and pay something back to the apps to be in the platform, and for a portion of sales, much like Cardlytics. Some of these fall into great categories for MS. Staples was on dosh during slow months the for office supplies. Percentages were higher for drug stores during that same vacation time. In NYC, I did much better with Pei, as 7-11 is the only “gas station” to Max out my CF, and now as added for Q4, Macy’s is on Dosh at 4%. Also more detail and transportation deals on Pei. Since reading about and using these in June, I’ve cashed out $125 on Dosh, and $200 on Pei. I have a few regular places I can stack these two, and when I can’t, the boost option on Pei is nice for an extra 1% over two days.
Glad to help Steven. We gotta look out for each other. So much out there