A guide to Plink rewards

Plink is a rewards program that lets you earn points for shopping at various merchants.  The cool thing about Plink is that it is independent from other rewards you may earn such as store loyalty points, shopping portal points, and credit card rewards.  As a result, Plink provides opportunities to double, triple, quadruple, or even quintuple dip!

For background information about maximizing Plink point earnings, please see the following posts:

• Plinking gift cards
• Plinking Sears
• Gift card alchemy

Redeeming Plink points

Once you’ve earned a bunch of Plink points, it’s simple to redeem them for gift cards.  Here is what my account looks like with a current balance of just over 2000 points:

Most of the above rewards are gift cards with a very simple exchange rate: 1 Plink point = 1 cent gift card value.  For example, the $10 Amazon gift card costs 1000 Plink points.  Two of the rewards deserve more explanation, however.  The Tango Card opens the door to many more potential rewards.  And, the Airline Miles reward requires some explanation…

Tango Card

The Tango card is interesting because it provides a way to get other rewards besides those listed on Plink’s website.  The text next to the card says “Tango Card is the most versatile gift card yet. Select from top-name brands like iTunes®, Target, Home Depot, Starbucks and more. You can also also redeem any unused balance for cash.”

To test the Tango Card, I redeemed 1000 Plink points for a $10 Tango card.  A short time later, I received the Tango card via email:

I activated my card, and explored the redemption options.  The Tango home screen showed the top level options: redeem the Tango card for gift cards, make a charitable donation, or redeem for cash:

I was most interested to see about the cash option so I clicked the “redeem for cash” button to learn more:

The text in the image above says that they “subtract a small administrative fee for the service.”  OK, fair enough.  How much is that fee?  Let’s look closer at the graphic:

OK, so they take 7% off the top, then take an additional 46 cents to cover postage of the check they’ll send.  Then, they’ll wait 30 days before mailing the check.  Ouch!  So, with a $10 Tango card, they’ll take 70 cents (7%) + 46 cents = $1.16.  You’ll receive a check for $8.84.  That means you’ll lose 11.6% of your $10 gift card’s value by redeeming for cash and have to wait 30 days.  No thanks!

So, with cash redemptions out the window, I returned to the home screen and selected “get top retail gift cards.”  Here were the choices:

I think its great to have options like The Home Depot and Target.  I had to look up Rixty to see what the heck that was.  At first, it looked quite promising thanks to their tagline: “Pay online with Cash and Coins.”  I thought that maybe this was a Paypal-like alternative.  Digging a little deeper, though, it looks like it is designed to be a payment option for computer games.  I could imagine that as a nice present for my teenage son, but I wouldn’t get it for myself.

Anyway, I ordered a gift card to see how well the process worked.  As expected, I was able to redeem my $10 Tango card for a $10 merchant gift card.  Approximately 24 hours later, the e-gift card arrived in my email inbox.  Obviously, if you’re in a big hurry, this isn’t a good choice, but if you can afford to wait a day, the Tango card gives you some good options beyond those provided directly by Plink.

Airline Miles

Another Plink redemption that looks interesting is the option to redeem for airline miles. 

For 10,000 Plink points, you get “$10 Airline Miles.”  What does that mean?  Nothing on the Plink website tells you how many airline miles you’ll get.  Through an email exchange with a Plink employee, I got the details:

• 1000 Plink Points = 240 airline miles/loyalty program points
• 2500 Plink Points = 600 airline miles/loyalty points
• 5000 Plink Points = 1200 airline miles/loyalty points
• 10,000 Plink Points = 2400 airline miles/loyalty points

You can redeem for any of the following miles or points: American Airlines Advantage, Frontier Early Returns, US Airways Dividend Miles, and Best Buy Reward Zone.

If you value Plink points at 1 cent each, then this is like paying 4.17 cents per mile.  That is an awful exchange rate.  Don’t do it.

Changes are coming

At the top of the Plink Rewards page is a message that says:

Why can’t I redeem for more than $10?
We’re updating how our rewards system works to give you more savings. Check back soon!

I asked Plink’s Chief Marketing Officer about this.  He said that we can expect larger rewards ($15, $25, and possibly $50) to be unlocked soon.  He also said that new options are coming, probably towards the end of this year.  So, if you don’t need your rewards right away, you might want to wait to see what they have in store.

Sign up for Plink

If you’re not already signed up, you’ll find a sign up link for Plink here: Sign-Up Links.  Sign up bonus offers change regularly.

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