Earlier, we posted a quick deal for 30% back in Sears Shop Your Way points when using their shopping portal. When I saw the deal, the first store that came to mind was Ashford.com as I think it’s possible to get a great deal there by stacking this portal promo with an Amex Offer and a couple of sale watches.
What’s Ashford?
Ashford is a watch retailer. They sell brands from Citizen and Bulova to Rolex and Breitling and Zenith (with many things in between). They even have a pre-owned section now where they sell some of the ever more expensive name brands. I’ve been buying watches from Ashford for years and always been very happy with prices and selection. If you’re looking for more expensive brands, Ashford tends to carry them at much lower prices than jewelry stores — though often this means an in-house warranty rather than a manufacturer’s warranty. Every watch I’ve gotten has been legit and brand new and well-packaged.
Amex Offer
The 30% back stood out to me because that’s much better than the common rates for Ashford. I have used previous Shop Your Way shopping portal promotions to buy watches for good payouts. Additionally, I remembered that there is a current (targeted) Amex Offer for Ashford. I had this offer on all of my Membership Rewards earning cards:
Earning 5,000 points on $250 spend is a great offer. Based on our Reasonable Redemption Values, this offer is worth about $91. That’s a very nice discount.
An Example Deal
Remember that the maximum amount of earnings in the Sears promo is $50 in earned points. That means that any dollars spent beyond a $166.67 aren’t earning portal rewards. To take full advantage of the Amex Offer, you would have to exceed the cap. That means you’d essentially be forgoing portal earning on part of the purchase price. However, I think the return on the first $166.67 justifies this (as long as you don’t spend too far beyond $250 — if you’re buying a $10,000 watch, this wouldn’t be the right method).
The key then is to spend as close to $250 as possible assuming you have the Amex Offer (and as close to $167 as possible if you don’t). I’ll show an example of each.
Before going further, note this: both of these example deals include the use of a coupon code. The Shop Your Way portal terms state that using a coupon code will invalidate your cash back. In my past experience with Ashford, this wasn’t true. That said, I haven’t placed an order with Ashford through the Shop Your Way portal in recent months, so it’s possible that this will not work. I’d still take a chance on this, but YMMV.
Hamilton Watch
Ashford has the following Hamilton watch at a “regular” price of $454.
Whether or not you’re familiar with Hamilton, a Google search will show you that the $454 price is on par with competitors, with the cheapest I saw from a reputable dealer being $419. There is a seller named Price Loco offering the watch for $369 on Amazon. I’m not sure I’d put much faith in that one being authentic — but nonetheless, the Ashford price will beat that by a good margin.
With coupon code AFFKHAKI269, the price of that watch will come down to $269 in your cart:
Two hundred sixty-nine dollars is a great price for that watch and reasonable for a quality automatic watch. But with Shop Your Way Rewards and the Amex offer, the deal is very good. At $269, it will trigger the Amex Offer and earn you 5,269 total Membership Rewards points (~$95.90 in points) and it will max out the Shop Your Way earnings at $50. Even if you only value the Shop Your Way earnings at half of face value, that’s still a very nice return on $269 in spend.
If you’re looking for something closer to $250 on the button, this Certina watch is on sale for $254 with no code required. Certina is a brand that is much more well known in Europe than in the US. Unfortunately, that particular watch is battery-powered rather than automatic, but it’s still a hundred bucks under competitors before the Amex Offer and Sears points.
No Amex Offer? Try this one for $169
If you don’t have the Amex Offer, I still think that Ashford can be a good use of the promo if you’re in the market for a watch priced closer to the cap on rewards. As an example, this Victorinox Swiss Army watch is listed at $219.
That price is already very competitive as compared to other results on Google Shopping:
But with coupon code SDDUAL169, the price will drop to $169 in your cart.
At $169, the price is already about $100 below the competition — and in this case, you’ll earn $50 in Sears Shop Your Way points to go with it. That’s a great deal on this particular watch.
I have a phone. Why do I need a watch?
You don’t need a watch :-). A watch is definitely a fashion accessory these days more than a functional necessity. That said, just as any car will get you from Point A to Point B (and maybe you live in a place where the bus or train can do the trick, too), some people prefer a small car or a large car or a foreign car or a domestic brand or leather seats or a backup cam, etc. If you like watches, Ashford can be a great use of the Shop Your Way promo since portal rates usually aren’t this high. With the Fourth of July coming tomorrow, I imagine we’ll see more deals from Ashford. If you’re a watch person, it wouldn’t hurt to sign up for their mailing list or to set a deal alert at Slickdeals. Also check out Ashford’s Weekly Deals, where you can see deals available without a coupon code required if you prefer to go that route.
Resale opportunity?
With the difference in prices, you may be wondering if there is the opportunity to resell any of these watches. That may be possible with some of these watches, though you’ll need some patience — and if you don’t have an established eBay account, buyers may not believe that you’re selling a legitimate watch. You may also have luck listing locally on Craigslist or apps like LetGo. You won’t be able to sell most watches on Amazon unless you have a store approved for jewelry products.
Bottom Line
This is a solid deal if you’re in the market for a watch. As noted above, it wouldn’t be surprising if Ashford added more deals tomorrow for the Fourth of July.
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