Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
Through the Ultimate Rewards Mall, you can currently get 15 points per dollar when shopping there. By itself, that’s pretty good! However, it’s worth noting that gift card purchases count too.
Double Dip for 30X
Two readers independently contacted me around the same time with information about their Shoebuy experiences. Both reported success in this double dip. That is, you can go through the Ultimate Rewards Mall once to buy a gift certificate for yourself, and then go through a second time to use the certificate. This results in 30X bonus points! By using a Sapphire Preferred account, you also earn the usual 1 point per dollar for all transactions and the 7% annual dividend. Altogether that brings this deal to 33.17 points per dollar. Given the Fair Trading Price of Ultimate Rewards points at 1.31 cents each, this amounts to a 43% rebate! If you need to buy shoes anyway, this could be a great option (assuming prices are reasonable).
Caution: It’s not all good
It’s worth reading Shoebuy’s gift certificate policies before buying. In particular, note this one:
Shoebuy.com discounts (including Promotional Codes) cannot be used when purchasing or redeeming Gift Certificates on the Shoebuy.com website.
It’s common for stores not to allow promo codes or coupons when buying gift certificates, but it is very unusual not to allow them when redeeming certificates! And, they really mean it. One reader tried to use a $10 off coupon in conjunction with his gift certificate, but it didn’t work. He called and spoke to a supervisor to see if they could apply the gift certificate and the coupon. Nope. Could they refund the gift certificate? Nope. In the end, I think he got more value from the double dip than he would have gotten from the coupon, so it wasn’t a total loss, but it probably wasn’t worth his time and aggravation.
Reader experiences
Have you bought anything from Shoebuy? If so, what did you think about their products and services? How do they stack up against a popular merchant like Zappos?
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It’s in fact very complex in this active life to listen news on Television, therefore I just use internet for that purpose, and take the hottest news.
[…] Ink & Sapphire 10X)Freedom cardholders can once again get 30X by double-dipping! See “Shoebuy double dip 30X. Is it worth it?” for […]
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Whew! Thanks for clearing that up. I didn’t notice the chase card verbage until AFTER I had used my reloadable Amex from Office Depot for the certificate. So I really thought I was out all 30. Maybe not! Keeping my fingers crossed!
I’m a little confused by this. When clicking into shoebuy through the UR Mall, it states you must use your chase card in order to get the extra points. So, it seems like going back in and using the gift certificate would not generate the 2nd 15 points. Am I missing something?
Karla: Chase likes for people to think that they have to use a Chase card, but it’s not true. See details here: https://frequentmiler.com/2012/02/15/ultimate-question/
So far the double dip has worked for me. I needed a new pair of trail runners, so now I am looking at 3,500 points for a pair of shoes! Thanks.
In for a pair of shoes. Valuing Chase MR at 1.67 cents each the 30% equates to a 50% rebate in my book. As ever thanks for the heads up
I have dealt with Shoebuy in the past and not had any problems getting 10x AA miles via Cartera mall. That said I read Max M and Scott’s problems with concern. I would take some solace that Chase “covers” problems with UR Mall though. (That said I don’t care if Barry Diller thinks web content should not be free – I mean why not? These are businesses not charities after all)
One thing to note is they don’t just sell shoes. I used them to buy ski clothing at a really great price vs the usual suspects
Unlike Tara and James, I have to disagree about Shoebuy– AVOID SHOEBUY LIKE THE PLAGUE!
I had a similar experience like Scott, but worse. It took over 11 months of dealing with Cartera Commerece [at the time called Vesdia], which was a ordeal of unresponded claims/countless emails with no reply, to finally be told directly from AAdvantage– not Cartera– that ShoeBuy had denied awarding miles. Thus, another case of the merchant, ShoeBuy denying miles– like Scott’s experience.
My second reason for avoiding them is that they’re owned by IAC— InterActive Corporation. IAC founder Barry Diller believes that all web content should have a charge to users. Thus using his mentality, FlyerTalk, BoardingArea, MilePoint, and countless others shouldn’t be free, but a paid subscriber service. To, me that’s reason alone to avoid Shoebuy. Do a web search to see what other websites that IAC owns, and also avoid those.
[…] those who are lucky enough to have a Chase Sapphire credit card, FrequentMiler has a helpful post on how you can earn 30 Ultimate Reward Points per $ spent at […]
Darnit, found the shoes/size I needed last night, bought & waited for gift cert to be emailed. Took 12 hours and now the size is sold out. You must have alot of readers taking advantage of this offer!
Anyone know how often they restock?
I know, I was
Looking for kayano’s
No Adidas, Asics or Nike. 🙁
Oh — forgot to mention. The shoes I was after were actually less expensive at shoebuy before any discount codes than they were anywhere else online by about 10$. All in all, even if I get “just” 15X I’ll be very happy.
Well I was in the market for shoes anyways so I figured it couldn’t hurt to try! I usually buy through Nordstrom as they frequently do the 10X or higher promos through UR mall and stock my size 14 New Balances haha. However a shot at 33X was hard to pass up. I’ll let you know if it goes through!