Both Living Social and Groupon are offering a good deal on Sam’s Club membership that can be stacked with a shopping portal bonus for a great discount.
The Deal
- One-year membership plus $10 gift card for $30 (link to Groupon; link to Living Social)
- One-year membership plus $20 gift card plus Instant Savings coupons for $45 (same links as above)
Stack it
- Go to Cashbackmonitor.com and compare portal rates to determine your best options with Living Social and Groupon
Quick Thoughts
In my opinion, the two best deals are through the United shopping portal for Living Social or through the Chase shopping portal for Groupon if you have the Freedom card.
Using the United portal and purchasing through Living Social, you can earn 10 miles per dollar on your purchase. If you only value United miles at 1 cent each, that’s about $3 / $4.50 in value depending on which membership you buy. Combined with the value of the gift card, that makes membership pretty cheap through either deal. I don’t usually redeem miles for less than 1.5c-2c each, so I’d be very happy to take 10x on the miles here.
On the other hand, Chase Freedom cardholders can get up to 8x Ultimate Rewards points by purchasing from Groupon through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. Those who also hold a Chase Sapphire Reserve can count on getting at least 1.5cpp out of those points, making it worth about 12 cents per dollar towards travel — though you can certainly do better with transfer partners. That’s potentially an even better deal.
Either way, I find a Sam’s Club membership especially useful around the holidays. While I don’t actually live near a club, I find that there is a holiday deal almost every year that is good enough to resell and it draws me into buying a membership — and it usually happens right after these special fall deals on memberships end. Last year it was a deal on iPads, then one on TV’s and a deal on Segway miniPros. At a net cost of about $20 or less depending on how you value the portal rewards and which membership you choose, I think this membership could easily pay for itself in savings on one good deal throughout the year. If there is a repeat of last year’s awesome Sam’s Club Amex Offer, you’ll be ahead on membership for years to come.
H/T: Doctor of Credit
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Are you certain this is eligible for the 8% cash back? From the portal:
Not eligible on purchases through Groupon Freebies, Groupon Coupons, Groupon Invitation Only Deals, Donations deals and Student discount offers. Other restrictions may apply. Not eligible on orders placed through Groupon mobile app. Offer eligible on Getaways at time of travel. Not eligible on Beats By Dre, Apple iPad and Bassboomz Portable Speaker purchases. Not eligible on FANDANGO, Starbucks, ***Sam’s Club*** or HP promotions.
If my SO is currently listed as a complimentary member on my Sam’s account, would she be able to get this ‘new members’ only offer ?