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Update: A reader has brought to my attention that despite the terms not specifying exclusions, the headline may refer to a specific list of “top deal products”. It is possible that there are unstated exclusions after all. YMMV as it is not clear. (H/T: Reader Anna)
As if on cue after this morning’s post about money and miles you may be missing, shopping portal Retailmenot is today offering 15% cash back on Best Buy purchases up to a max of $70 cashback on a $467 purchase. That is the best rate I think I’ve ever seen at Best Buy and it stacks with a current Amex Offer for Best Buy that’s good for either $30 back on $300 or 3,000 Membership Rewards points back on $300 (see your offer for details). Combined, that’s a return of better than $100 non $467. That’s terrific and should work on everything but gift cards.
The Deal
- Shopping portal Retailmenot is offering 15% cash back on Best Buy purchases today (likely today only, 11/12/19) up to a max of $70 back (which would be earned with a $467 purchase)
- Direct link to this promotion
Key Terms
- Cash back is earned on the qualifying purchase total after any discounts and before any fees, taxes, or shipping and handling are applied.
- Purchases of gift cards are excluded.
- Rewards earnings up to $70.00. This cash back reward will not exceed $70.00.
- Turn off all ad-blocking software.
- Go directly to bestbuy.com from RetailMeNot to complete your purchase.
- Provide your email address so we know where to send updates.
- Once approved, the cash back reward will be available to be redeemed from your RetailMeNot wallet 44 days from purchase date.
Quick Thoughts
This is about as good a return as one can get at Best Buy and should make for some great deals on rarely-discounted products — whether Apple products, cameras, or other price-restricted items. Don’t forget to also scour open box deals as you can sometimes scoop up a great discount on those which would only get better with these offers. I don’t see anything excluding those deals or anything other than gift cards. I doubt this will last beyond today and wouldn’t even be surprised if it ends before the end of the day as this rate is unheard of for Best Buy. The best rate on CashbackMonitor in the past 15 months was 7% for a single day — the usual rate is about 2% or 1 mile per dollar. It’s worth a look sooner rather than later if you have Best Buy purchases in mind.
Hot tip:
If you don’t have the Amex Offer or are buying something you expect to go on sale for more than $30 off the current price, use one of the IHG credit cards to purchase. Those cards still have credit card price protection, which could come in really handy with some of this stuff.
H/T: Doctor of Credit
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Good news: I just now received confirmation from RetailMeNot that my large purchase (a new iPhone) tracked. I don’t believe it was a “top deal” product.
Does anyone have experience with typical BB portal tracking times (for any portal)?
I have a TV being delivered Friday from the UPromise $100 back on $1250 offer, and an ambiguous-maybe-Top-Deal from RetailMeNot that I placed yesterday. Neither is being tracked yet.
Nick–
How does the RetailMeNot verification system work for purchases? Looking to purchase an iPad for ~$700, and trying to get creative. Would like to utilize the Amex $300/3000MR offer, as well as maximize the Freedom Q4 Chase Pay bonus. Trying to understand if the RMN system will recognize the total purchase or just from one card. Anyone have any experience with this payment splitting strategy?
i.e. Spend $300 on Amex (triggering 3,000MR offer); Spend $400 on CF (triggering 2,000 UR), and triggering $70 cash back from RMN
Does Best Buy now allow split payment online? I wasn’t aware that they offered that. If they do, no idea how it would affect portal earnings (theoretically it shouldn’t). Dell is the only site that immediately comes to mind that allows easy split payment online and I don’t believe it affects portal earnings.
That said, see the update in the post — the payout at Retailmenot may only apply to “Top Deals” products. Make sure the iPad is in that list to be sure it qualifies.
I don’t believe they do online, but was looking to do this in-store, as you can split there. The iPad is listed under the Top Deals section, but I was also wondering if that would work in-store as well. High-risk, high-reward situation here I feel…
Yeah, no idea. Sorry!
How are you going to get the portal bonus if you purchase in store?
You can go the store and buy a $300 BB GC to get the Amex bonus (online is no good because it’s Cashstar). Then use that w/Freedom for online checkout thru portal. Some portals say purchases with GCs aren’t eligible or “may” not be eligible, I’d look at the fine terms but even if it says this, it might still work, if you’re determined to use the Amex rather than playing it safe.
You could also place 2 separate orders, one without the Amex, see how it all plays out, and return one. I guess you could use & lose the Amex Offer if you did a return on that order (not sure how that works), but it sounds like this might be your only use for it anyway.
Edit: For your question about split payment more generally, I don’t think the portal decides how much the purchase was. I think the portal provides the cookie and the retailer reports the purchase amount back to the portal at some point. It’s up to the retailer to decide if the purchase qualifies and what amount. Usually it’s pre-taxes etc. This is my understanding anyway.
According to DoC, someone said you could generate a barcode to earn cash back in-store. I only see that option at 2% back now and it also has a specific title that might mean it is even more restricted than the “top deals” here.
Thx Nick. I actually downloaded the app out of curiosity and I am looking at a screen that says “15% Cash Back on Top Deal Products” and “Scan this code at the cashier” above a QR code.
So except for the ongoing problem with exactly what counts as a Top Deal, to me this seems like you should be able to get the 15% cash back in store!
Nick, are you sure the IHG cards still have price protection that include Black Friday deals?
Sure that they still include it? Yes. Sure that they will include Black Friday deals? No. Most sales in the coming weeks ought to work, but whether or not they’ll match a Black Friday ad specifically I’m not positive. I have successfully price matched BF ads in the past with other issuers, but Chase may no longer allow that.
I’ve never successfully gotten a dime back from retailmenot, has anyone?
I got $15 back on $30 at Staples in January. Until yesterday that was my only purchase through RetailMeNot.
Thanks for the data point. I bit the bullet and tried this purchasing a dyson air wrap. Received an email that the purchase tracked (today). Says the reward will be available on 12/30/19. Guess there’s a first time for everything!
I am still salty that a big purchase I did through retailmenot online didn’t properly track. I have been using portals a long time so I know what I am doing. BUT, the ones I used last year were an in store scan in the app , those were awesome. I had a 20% back in Academy Sports that worked beautifully.
I am happy to know about their in-store option for the future so good to know it works, thx.
For the online one that didn’t track, were you able to file a claim and get the cashback eventually?
Thanks for the data point. I’ve used many a portal and racked up over $20k in portal cashback in the last 7 years (more if you include discover from the double it) so I would say I have some experience too.
This purchase appears to have tracked, for what it’s worth I split the payment Paying with gift card And Best Buy credit card (already used the amex) and the full amount has tracked. Let’s see if they payout – 12/30/2019
“That is the best rate I think I’ve ever seen at Best Buy…” Obviously you missed the 30% cashback at Samsung Pay last year.
Oh, right! Forgot all about that as it was only open to those with a Samsung phone (obviously that’s a large number of people, but it didn’t stick in my mind since I don’t have a Samsung phone).
Hi Nick – Do you recommend using the Amex offer for $30 cash back and one year extended warranty or using the Citi Costco card with 2 year extended warranty?
Sorry for the slow response on this. My answer would have been: how often do you file warranty claims? Personally, I’ve never filed one. While I’d rather have warranty coverage than not have it, I’d only take that over $30 back if I had a reasonable concern that I’d file a claim and that it would be easy enough to file a claim as to make it worthwhile.