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?
There has been considerable interest lately in a new portal called iConsumer due to it having significantly better cash back rates than most rivals for many merchants. For example, for Visa gift cards purchased from GiftCards.com, iConsumer is offering 1.6% cash back (which makes the gift cards nearly fee-free):
And, they’re offering 8% cash back for ebay (limited to $20 per month):
And, 32% cash back at 1800Flowers:
All of the above rates are far better than most competitors. Then, there’s this… iConsumer shows a banner stating that all rebates are doubled through January 30th:
Some have interpreted this to mean that you’ll get double the rates shown in the portal: 16% from ebay, 3.2% from GiftCards.com, and 64% from 1800Flowers.
I didn’t believe that was possible, so I reached out to iConsumer customer support to ask whether the rates will be doubled or whether the displayed rates have already been doubled. They answered with this wordy response:
Hi Greg,
The double rebate is already shown.
So, there you have it. Unless customer support is mistaken, the rates shown have already been doubled. This means that we can expect ebay to drop to 4%, GiftCards.com to drop to .8%, and 1800Flowers to drop to 16% when this promotion ends as of Sunday, January 31. Ebay at 4% would still be worth talking about, but the other two would be in line with many other portals.
Shares of Stock too
It’s worth mentioning that iConsumer gives out shares of stock in addition to cash back. It’s not yet known whether the stock will actually be worth anything, though. So, if using the portal, I recommend picking it for its cash back rates rather than the possible extra value of the stock shares. Then, if those shares turn out to actually have value, that’ll be a nice bonus!
Cautions
iConsumer is a new portal, so It’s too early to know how reliable it will be. For me, so far, purchases have tracked appropriately (within 24 hours each time), but as with most cash back portals, it can take months for cash back to become payable. Also, unlike some portals, iConsumer requires earning $25 or more before they’ll send a check.
If you haven’t yet signed up for iConsumer, and you still want to despite the cautions, here’s my referral link (thanks!):
Name / Link | Offer | Frequent Miler Notes: |
---|---|---|
iConsumer | Earn free shares shares of iConsumer stock (promotion details vary over time) | With this portal you earn both cash back and shares in the iConsumer business. Requires $25 payable before they'll pay out the cash back. |
[…] 32% cash back for 1800Flowers. Many of those great rates were due to a Double Cash Back promotion (which I wrote about here) that ended January […]
Hi sorry for question about different topic.
I could not load my go bank or bluebird with visa
Gift card(pin enabled) at walmart last week in San Diego.
Does anyone know of any problems at walmart now?
Also can someone tell me if MC gift cards ( pin enabled)
Can be loaded to either go bank or bluebird.
My cards are active and I have not been shut down by
Either. THANK YOU FOR ANY INFO.
It should work. With MC gift cards you have to watch the swipe terminal and quickly click on “change payment type” after swiping. Then select debit.
[…] from Top Cashback or 8% from the new iConsumer portal ($20 […]
below is iconsumer reply on tweeter: (wonder what else or other retailers they exclude the 2x CB although they have advertised it; feel iffy at best)
iConsumer Corp. @iConsumerShop 4m4 minutes ago
Unfortunately the double cash-back does not apply to http://giftcards.com at this time.
Ebay CB capped at $20 limit per month per account (presumably across all merchants), added to T&C on Saturday. Get creative.
so previous purchases at giftcards.com effective today is only good for .8% CB, not 1.6%… assuming that the CB would be paid? or previous purchases before today or earlier would be paid only .8% as well?
Purchases before the promotion were at 1.6%, so iConsumer may have reducing the standard rate to .8%.
The amount you get back should be whatever was displayed on the screen at the time you clicked through. It has been 1.6% at least for the past week or so, if not longer, so you can expect to get 1.6% from those previous purchases, and from any purchases made through 1/30/2016 (as long as you click through from the portal)