Does anyone use cardpool? Are there other sites I can buy discounted cards at with a bigger margin? I would like to use these to fund some of our materials purchases for rehabs or new construction. 7% isn't a huge discount though. Any comments about how I can get a bigger margin in bulk are appreciated.
Investor · -, IL · Member since 2010 · 409 posts · 616 votes
14y
I use plasticjungle.com to buy discounted gift cards or merchandise cards (5% to 10% off face value). Couple this with a Lowe's 10% off coupon and you can get 15% to 20% off your materials. Most competitors will accept the Lowe's coupon. Also call your local pawn shop as they will sometimes buy gift/merchandise cards.
Looks like Ed beat me to the pawn shop suggestion.
Investor · Statewide, MO · Member since 2011 · 814 posts · 425 votes
14y
Bryan, there's a few options for doing it. I found a site that if you bought 1k worth, they would knock 4% more off. The cards are guaranteed for 60 days usually. We should look into forming some sort of buying group to generate a discount that's bigger... actually @JoshDorkin, this could be a potential win win for BP and the people here.
I can dig and try and find it for you... gimme 30-60 mins and Ill find it
Investor · Round Rock, TX · Member since 2010 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
14y
I'd love to see it. We are buying tens of thousands of dollars' worth of materials each month now so a larger discount would save us a ton of money. We don't source all of our materials from The Home Depot or other big box stores, but we would if we could get bigger discounts in bulk.
Investor · Statewide, MO · Member since 2011 · 814 posts · 425 votes
14y
Never mind. You guys are gonna buy them out.
Just kidding.
I'd start by calling the pawn shops that are local and tell them you need 3-10k per month in gift cards. They usually sell them down the line to a middleman for 75-85% of the value. If you pay in cash and they guarantee the value for 24 hours I'd bet they would be interested in working with you...
Investor · Round Rock, TX · Member since 2010 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
14y
Sounds like a good idea. How do you verify that the original seller won't pull the money off of them after you purchase them from the pawn shop? Would you make the pawn shop folks go with you to the store and buy some tools to store the value?
Investor · -, IL · Member since 2010 · 409 posts · 616 votes
14y
I use plasticjungle.com to buy discounted gift cards or merchandise cards (5% to 10% off face value). Couple this with a Lowe's 10% off coupon and you can get 15% to 20% off your materials. Most competitors will accept the Lowe's coupon. Also call your local pawn shop as they will sometimes buy gift/merchandise cards.
Looks like Ed beat me to the pawn shop suggestion.
Investor · Statewide, MO · Member since 2011 · 814 posts · 425 votes
14y
100 10% off lowes coupons for 49.99. Usually good for 90 days or so. If you buy 200, I think it drops to 94.99. These are the ones on the good card stock that depot always accepts from me.
Should've been more clear. I was responding to:
Where is the best place to get the 10% off coupons?
On the other question of:
Sounds like a good idea. How do you verify that the original seller won't pull the money off of them after you purchase them from the pawn shop? Would you make the pawn shop folks go with you to the store and buy some tools to store the value?
I would try and get the pawn shop to sign an agreement, guaranteeing the gift cards for 2-24 hours. I would then take the cards and go straight to the merchant and pay for an order. If you're pushing a lot of CASH volume through their store, they should love you.
If you needed to protect the gift card's value, you could buy something like a few appliances and put them on will call and then cancel the order and get a new store credit issued. The big thing, as we're slapping around the dead horse, is to cash it out asap to protect your funds.
I'm sure there's a way the pawn shops insulate themselves from this sort of risk, they may even refuse the gift cards without a covered up pin #. However, there still may be a way around that.. Does anyone remember the 1993? topps baseball cards, where you could peek behind the grey (scratchers lottery type) and see which ones were the winners?
Residential Landlord · Kailua-Kona, HI · Member since 2012 · 111 posts · 15 votes
14y
@Ed O have you been able to use the 10% coupon with giftcard with contractor's discount? (x3 discounts) If they do not stack why not get a gift card at a better than 10% discount then combine with contractor's desk percent off?
I second the idea for BP getting their own discounts as several REI clubs do this why not do it? Suggest Home, depot Lowes, and amazon if we can get it(probably not). Though some places let you exchange for gift cards one for another i.e bestbuy let's you buy Amazon card with another giftcard. Lowes does not. Unless you get lucky.
Investor · Statewide, MO · Member since 2011 · 814 posts · 425 votes
14y
The pro desk would laugh you out the door if you tried to stack them - I like what you're thinking though. A friend got a pro desk bid and then plucked everything that was discounted less than 10% and then applied the 10% coupon on that merch and they were fine with it.
Residential Landlord · Kailua-Kona, HI · Member since 2012 · 111 posts · 15 votes
14y
So it is inherently better to get a card with over 10% discount from the pawn shop or other seller. And then use the contractor's desk.
I was just wondering why use the 10% coupon if the card had a better discount say 85% retail value. And wanted to check if they stacked because this seemed the only reason I could see you using a 10% coupon. That or it's hard to obtain from pawn shop/ your contact.
Residential Real Estate Broker · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2011 · 114 posts · 38 votes
14y
I've bought from Plastic Jungle, but lately someone has been buying up all the Lowe's cards. I'm afraid the discount is going to drop from 7% since they can't seem to keep them in stock at the price anymore.
Flipper/Rehabber · Louisville, KY · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
14y
I use cardpool and plastic jungle. The issue is supply and difficulty in using.
You are buying other people's spare gift cards so amounts are typically 127.56 and stuff like that. Rare to find $300+ so you are using literally dozens of cards. They just don't have that many available. It can be hard to get more than $1000 a month sometimes.
Investor · Round Rock, TX · Member since 2010 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
14y
I was thinking of taking my laptop to the store and literally buying them and cashing them out at the desk there when we were purchasing materials post 10% discount. Are there any pitfalls with this idea?
Residential Landlord · Kailua-Kona, HI · Member since 2012 · 111 posts · 15 votes
14y
Getting enough cards? Maybe the pawn broker establishing that you will buy x amount for 90-80% discount idea might work better. Then you can get a lot of cards together at once. They buy at 60% -70% or less so they will be happy to make the difference. And that will result in more cards per month. If you're buying small say $1000 or less orders you could. There is the chance it might piss off the people you have relationships with there i.e contractor desk. I would question does this actually reduce risk?
I have gotten codes for these quickly but that was a long time ago. If Eric is right about that try seeing if you can find a pawn broker that will give you a better discount 85%-75%. Wait for them to trickle in or use to chip away at monthly orders.
Flipper/Rehabber · Louisville, KY · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
14y
Don't know why you would take your laptop. Go to the card sites and look to see how they work. But it is not instant.
They sell different ways. Most of the cards, you must wait for physical delivery of the gift card. Some of them they will send you the card code electronically but it takes anywhere from several hours to a few days. They closely monitor each transaction for fraud and often call to approve large purchases. They can take days to complete.
And then some of the electronically sent codes can only be used online and some can be used in stores. It is a good idea, but I think you will find the immense hassle of dozens of cards to become tiring after a while. I have.
Some Home Depot stores are very leery of accepting the electronic gift cards too. There is a way scammers have learned to defraud the stores and they distrust you when you have an electronic code. I often have to wait for every manager in the place to come up and ask me where I got my cards and give me the 3rd degree.
One other hassle that I deal with is with returns. I often have returns at the end of a project or anytime. It is awesome at both HD and Lowes that you can just give them the credit card you purchased the item on and they credit it back without having to scan dozens of old receipts to find the item. When you pay with a gift card though, you need the receipt to return or they give very low prices on a credit. If you are bad at keeping receipts organized or at deciphering their item codes to find an item on a receipt it can be a hassle.
Flipper/Rehabber · Louisville, KY · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
14y
Originally posted by Sam Sagor:
Getting enough cards? Maybe the pawn broker establishing that you will buy x amount for 90-80% discount idea might work better. Then you can get a lot of cards together at once. They buy at 60% -70% or less so they will be happy to make the difference. And that will result in more cards per month. If you're buying small say $1000 or less orders you could. There is the chance it might piss off the people you have relationships with there i.e contractor desk. I would question does this actually reduce risk?
All this pawn broker stuff...I just have a hard time believing pawn brokers do much business in these. It is easy to sell them on Ebay for 95% of value. Not sure why many legit sellers would go to pawn shops. How can a pawn shop even confirm the amount on a Lowes or HD gift card?
Investor · Round Rock, TX · Member since 2010 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
14y
We have a bookkeeper and guy that does all of our purchases Eric so to me it is zero effort less typing out some responses in this thread. I just want to have a general game plan to tell him what to do.