Investor · Reston, VA · Member since 2011 · 683 posts · 191 votes
I have been purchasing discount gift cards for HD and Lowes and the savings have been substantial. You can get a Lowes card at a 10% discount and HD at 7%. If you combine this with the mover's package the savings can be up to 20%. I pay for these cards with my 2% cash-back credit card. I've had a very good experience with the vendor that I buy cards from. They come electronically for added convenience. I also use these cards for many purchases at various retailers, restaurants, etc.
I thought I'd throw this out there and apologize if this has already been discussed!
Specialist · Toronto, Ontario · Member since 2016 · 564 posts · 425 votes
10y
Where do you get these cards?
I had bought some HD cards from a guy at one point with discounts up to 25%.
I then found out he was getting these cards by getting people to steal small, valuable items from HD and then returning them for store credit. I stopped buying them when I found out.
There was also a guy selling gas station gift cards for 10% discounts. I believe he was stealing credit cards and buying gift cards with them, then selling the gift cards with cash.
If there's a legitimate way to get the cards at a discount, great, but I wasn't willing to take the risk of buying from criminals.
Specialist · Toronto, Ontario · Member since 2016 · 564 posts · 425 votes
10y
Where do you get these cards?
I had bought some HD cards from a guy at one point with discounts up to 25%.
I then found out he was getting these cards by getting people to steal small, valuable items from HD and then returning them for store credit. I stopped buying them when I found out.
There was also a guy selling gas station gift cards for 10% discounts. I believe he was stealing credit cards and buying gift cards with them, then selling the gift cards with cash.
If there's a legitimate way to get the cards at a discount, great, but I wasn't willing to take the risk of buying from criminals.
Investor · Reston, VA · Member since 2011 · 683 posts · 191 votes
10y
Hi Luc! I buy mine from Cardpool.com. I've only had one issue and they refunded in 24hrs. I buy cards for other retailers and restaurants (for my favorite clothing retailer they are a 25% discount!). A penny saved is a penny earned!
Real Estate Investor · Memphis, TN · Member since 2014 · 156 posts · 101 votes
10y
Thanks, @Cheryl C. We are always looking to save some money! Since you buy them on your credit card, you will have buyer's protection. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Luc! I buy mine from Cardpool.com. I've only had one issue and they refunded in 24hrs. I buy cards for other retailers and restaurants (for my favorite clothing retailer they are a 25% discount!). A penny saved is a penny earned!
Hi Cheryl,
I am thinking about trying to buy some HD cards from carpool. I am needing to buy about 10k worth of cards and it came up to be $9300 for 10k worth of gift cards. It said I would buy 93 cards that total 10k. Would I be receiving 93 gift cards or one card in the lump sum of $10,000.00 ?
Investor · Reston, VA · Member since 2011 · 683 posts · 191 votes
10y
I assume that you put in the "bulk purchase" option. I haven't ended up with that huge amount of cards. My experience has been that the cards I have purchased have been in the $300-$500 dollar range. It would be a pain to have 93!!! If it's worth it to you to stand there while HD enters so many different numbers - then it wouldn't be an issue. I don't/wouldn't do it myself but my assistant can do it. Just print them out and take them with you to the store or use them online, entering a series of gift card #'s. I've done it online and in-store.
It's possible that there is a current "run" (BPer's?) on them and waiting a few days might yield different results. Sometimes cards I want are unavailable and I have to check back. It can be worth the wait.
I don't know what to tell you Nick, except to check back or go thru that nightmare. How many days you been on cardpool? You can put in an alert for cards but I think that only applies to situations where no cards are available (I've been there with Morton's and others). You can check other re-sellers. I don't know why the higher dollar cards have suddenly dried up. Put it I your pocket for future use? Try Lowes? I might take the highest dollar amounts available that would not result in an absurd number of cards and just get a total on purchase of 3-5%, or so, off. It's better than nothing. I pay my assistant $20/hr so she can stand there as long as necessary.
Also, discounts change based on supply/demand - something to be aware of.
Always good to be alert. I can only go on my experience with the vendor I use. I read the reviews and some were not good. I've purchased about 30 times (often up to 3 or 4 separate cards) with only one problem which was resolved quickly. I would definitely charge it back if it came to it.
Maybe you have a vendor that you can alert us to? No one wants to be ripped off or deal with a charge-back.
Rental Property Investor · Gambrills, MD · Member since 2014 · 372 posts · 88 votes
10y
I recommend giftcardgranny, which searches across multiple sites. I often end up getting the cards through Raise.com, which is one of the sellers that appears on giftcardgranny. I have had an issue with some of them being purchased with stolen cards, but I always check them right away. If you use them within, I think, 100 days, they will either work or if they don't work, Raise will refund you your purchase price.
Thanks! I'll add that vendor to my list. I agree with you and use mine right away. I'm sure they are verified when purchased (listed) by the vendor and waiting just opens the opportunity for fraud. What I do, generally, is go online and fill my shopping cart. I then go to cardpool and purchase the cards necessary and go back and complete my purchase using the cards. I don't allow any gap. If the card is bad you know prior to the retail purchase going through and can contact your card vendor within 30 minutes. I doubt I (would almost certainly never) would wait the 90 or so days to use a card.
On another discount area, I discovered that I (you too) can get "builder" prices through online sites such as Builder.com, lightingDirect, Faucets.com, Fastfloors, etc.. The savings are substantial on these sites (from 10-18% percent off their regular online pricing). You can also get 23% off Wayfair - I used this site for some vanities, mirrors and furniture for my pers. residence. You need to sign-up for the Builder Program but I just told them about my properties, remodels, flips and was "in". Many here most likely already take advantage of discounts through various sources - but I'm a "little person" and was only clued-in a few years ago.
San Francisco, CA · Member since 2013 · 7 posts · 0 votes
10y
I would not recommend Raise.com. I have purchased $1000+ worth of Target giftcards from them and the balance was 0 on several cards a week after. Had to call Target, Raise and threatened a police report before Raise refunded me. There is always risk in purchasing discounted gift card. My recommendation is to purchase from a reputable source and USE THEM IMMEDIATELY.
Real Estate Investor · Saint Petersburg, FL · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 951 votes
10y
Seems like this would be an accounting headache unless you're talking about doing limited large purchases at the retailers. I generally have around 1,000 charges per year at home improvement stores and it's much easier to be able to export my credit card data when tax time comes around vs digging through paper receipts associated with 100's of random gift cards. The gift cards also offer you no protection if lost or stolen.
For each individual purchase (even if it consists of many gift cards) there is only one charge to your credit card for the total amount.
Losing them is like losing cash but I use them (almost exclusively) online. They are delivered online - so I don't take them anywhere. Very few of the "cards" are physical.
Augusta, GA · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
10y
I have purchased both Home Depot and Lowes gift cards through Raise.com and Cardpool.com for the past several years.
One big issue though; very recently Lowes suddenly stopped accepting gift cards purchased as vouchers (paper gift cards), claiming these are fake. This was a sudden decision that took place in January of 2016 in all of my local Lowes. I have several thousand dollars out on these paper vouchers which I tended to purchase over the actual cards as I could print these out almost immediately and had no concerns about them being lost in the mail. Raise is supposedly looking into the matter regarding reimbursement but I'm still waiting.
The actual cards are still being accepted without issue. I couple these with 10 percent off coupons.
Investor · Saint Louis, MO · Member since 2015 · 204 posts · 37 votes
10y
Hello all. I don't want to be the spoiler here, but I'm a former Store Manager for both Home Depot and Lowes. I held that position for the past 10 years before becoming a full time investor. There are highly organized crime rings out there that still those cards in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and resell to the public. When you buy those and don't buy them in the store, you are basically taking money from those companies bottom line. Don't get me wrong, it's not like Home Depot and Lowes will go out of business because of it, but I'm just stating the facts. Not that you all are doing anything wrong, but it's a business for those crooks out there.
Real Estate Agent · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
10y
This is really cool, I have never seen this. I am assuming you can combine this with the discounts coupons you get in the mail for 10% off a purchase?
Has anyone found a way to pay a mortgage with a credit card? More specifically a rewards card? If I could get miles or cash back for all the mortgages I pay, I could go on a nice trip every year for free!
Syndicator and Fund Manager · Victor, NY · Member since 2012 · 760 posts · 345 votes
10y
Lesley Resnick you can use plastiq.com to pay mortgages with rewards credit cards but they charge 2.5% as a fee. You'll get the miles / rewards but unless you can also deduct from your taxes the fees then they may be more expensive than the rewards are worth.
Real Estate Agent · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
10y
Agreed,
2.5% would eat up any value in using a rewards card. I have looked a number of strategies and they all come out to the same. You do a lot of converting funds and in the same the fees eat up the net gain.
I also charge everything possible on the cashback cards (except for mort., taxes, etc. where there is a fee). I switched from Miles to CashBack as I find this a better deal for me.
I use the cashback card (2%) when I buy the discount gift cards. I sometimes also combine the mover coupons....and take advantage of sales! For Lowes, using a 10% discount card, the 10% mover coupon (my Home Depot honors Lowes Coupons) and your 2% cashback credit card gets you 22% off.
Contractor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
10y
I would agree that buying from stolen credit card rings is just supporting crime itself, nothing wrong with buying them online, but the fact that if you don't use them after 100 days will have a tendency that they will "spoil", gives me a hint that they come from stolen credit cards. Sorry just voicing out what I think.
When you go to Lowes or HD, and if you are purchasing above $2500, you can tell them "I want a bid room price", and they should be able to get that 15% (as long as you're not buying lumber). If you are buying 125k/year, then the minimum drops to 1000 or 1500, also if you have that volume, you will have 2% rebate on all purchases. If you get their commercial revolving card, you can ask for discount even on low purchases, 5-10% (i usually ask for 10% and they usually give it to me).
To wrap:
Revoling Card - 5-10% on all purchases
Purchase 125k per year or more - 2% rebate on all purchases + 1000(or 1500) minimum for bid room prices
Purchase 2500/transaction or more - qualified for bid room price
Bid room pricing - 10-25% discount on total purchase per transaction
Other sites like build.com (dropship companies) can offer big discounts, they don't hold inventory and all that so it cuts their costs. Build.com also has several dozen websites for specialty trades but they are all in one company. I have 1 representative that I order from all their websites, they always give me a good price, that is, if I don't mind the wait, and sometimes one order will arrive in different dates, like I said they are dropship companies which means that from manufacturer goes direct to you.
Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2010 · 76 posts · 55 votes
10y
The gift card companies sell gift cards from a huge range of retailers at varying discounts. I struggle to believe that they are all stolen. Obviously crime rings are an issue for retailers, but they should be working with the gift card retailers online to manage the theft issue.
I have run through about $50k worth of Home Depot gift cards. I was pairing these with lowes movers coupons, but Home Depot here has stopped accepting the Lowes movers coupons.
I have had a few bad gift cards, but they are all refunded by the company I bought off fairly quickly, and I would say it is only about 1% that are bad. Typically you can get 7%-8% off using the gift cards, and they are really convenient for emailing to contractors for their purchases too.
FYI, you can get a bid at home depot for that discount on a larger order, and then pay with gift cards.