Visa Gift Cards 2% cash back. Today only

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UPDATE: During the day, GiftCardMall changed the upper limit of their gift cards from $1000 to $500.  This can still be a money maker at 2%, but it’s not as good of a deal as it was.

Today only (Monday, April 29 2013), the cash back portal, TopCashback, is offering 2% cash back when buying gift cards after clicking through to GiftCardMall.  TopCashback usually offers 1.5% cash back for GiftCardMall, but the rate is going to dip down to 1% as of Thursday, May 2nd.  So, the expected cash back schedule for buying Visa gift cards at GiftCardMall via TopCashback is:

  • Monday, April 29: 2% cash back
  • Tuesday & Wednesday: 1.5% cash back
  • Thursday and thereafter: 1% cash back

PINs

Now that Visa gift cards can be setup with PINs, they have become more interesting since they can now be loaded to Bluebird (see “Gift card PINs” and “Bluebird swipe reloads via ATM” and “Better than free manufactured spend“).

I’ve tested Visa gift cards from GiftCardMall and I found that, once activated, it is possible to simply use the last 4 digits of the gift card as its PIN (you can also set your own PIN online if you prefer).  Using the last 4 digits as the PIN, I successfully loaded my Bluebird card at Walmart.

Buy with Amex gift card

If you want to buy these gift cards with an Amex gift card, please read this post: How to use Amex gift cards to buy GiftCardMall gift cards and earn a profit.  Many questions you may have are (hopefully) already answered there.

TopCashback Notes

The following information was sent to me by TopCashback.  If you’re interested in their business model and how it affects promotions like these, here you go:

TCb makes money through the Google Ads that are dotted around its pages (and clearly marked as non-cashback earning) and by selling on-site advertising space to merchants. In the latter’s case, the merchant *must* also offer an increased rate of cashback – so members are gaining a little bit extra as well.

Cashback rates are always at least 100% (where allowed) of what TCb’s paid. If a cashback rate increases for a period of time, that’s either because a) the merchant has bought advertising space so has had to increase its cashback rate to be in line with the TCb advertising rules or b) there’s some spare TCb marketing budget that can be put towards offering members a higher rate of cashback with a particular merchant for a small period of time.

If a cashback rate decreases, it’s because c) TCb’s spare marketing budget has been removed from the rate; d) the advertising period for a merchant has finished, so the rate’s dropping back to its standard amount or e) the merchant has said it is lowering what it is prepared to pay TCb as standard. Nonetheless, regardless of which reason, the cashback rate displayed will be 100% of what TCb is paid.

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