(EXPIRED) Stacking deals on new Samsung phones

Both Amazon and Samsung.com have deals going today on new Samsung phones. If you’re looking for an S10, S10+, Note10, or Note10+, you can stack deals at either site to get an even better deal than advertised. For the purposes of this post, I’ll compare the prices of the unlocked Samsung Galaxy S10 with 128GB of memory. Keep in mind that there are pros and cons to unlocked vs carrier-specific — I’m just using one phone for comparison and you can do the same math with any of the models or carriers to see which stack is best for you.

Deal 1: Amazon.com

Amazon is bundling your choice of factory unlocked S10 / S10+ / Note 10 / Note 10+ with a set of AKG N700NC headphones and offering “$500 off”.

Here is our affiliate link to this deal. I don’t believe that any portals will pay out on this one, but if someone knows differently please share in the comments.

Those with Amazon Prime and an Amazon credit card can further get around 20% back (5% on an Amazon purchase plus a bonus 15% back on select items, which includes the phone portion of the bundle).

The headphones seem to sell separately for ~$300-$350 and the pricing starts at $698.99 for the bundle.

One thing that may potentially be interesting here is that users on Slickdeals are reporting their invoice showing separate pricing for the phone and headphones.  The price breakdown varies depending on which phone you buy. As an example, here is the breakdown for an S10 order:

• S10 128gb + headphones bundle
  Phone – $466.01 + tax
  AKG headphones – $232.98 + tax

Some suggest that it is perhaps possible to later return the headphones if you don’t want them to end up with a heavily discounted phone.YMMV. I’m far from confident that it will work, but it might.

It seems that you’ll get 20% back (5% plus a bonus 15%) on just the phone portion of the order if you pay with an Amazon credit card. I’m not positive whether this part is targeted or open to everyone, but I believe it is open to everyone who has both Prime and an Amazon gift card. I believe the headphone portion of the order would still earn 5% back. If you have one of the Amazon credit cards and Prime, that’s as good a deal as you’re likely to see for a while I think. The 20% back on the phone should get you another $90 back, which makes for a great deal if you are either happy with the discounted headphones or are able to return or resell them.

Deal 2: Best Buy

Best Buy also has the Samsung S10 and Note 10 phones on sale today. As you can see above, the unlocked S10 128GB is going for $499.99 (though, as bluecat notes in the comments below, you’ll need to activate the phone on AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint to get this price).

Here is our affiliate link to this deal, though note that you can go through a portal as shown below.

Stack that a bit further by going through shopping portal Retailmenot for 5% cash back or using the Chase Freedom and checking out via PayPal for 5x / 5% back if you have not yet maxed that out this quarter.

If you have the Amex Offer for either 3,000 Membership Rewards points or $30 back when you spend $300, you’d likely choose to go through Retailme not. Stacking 5% back ($25) with at least $30 in value back for a net cost of $445 (plus tax). My Best Buy members should also earn a few bucks in rewards I believe.

Better yet, I believe that the Samsung Pay offer for 20% back that is targeted for some Samsung Pay users should work on this phone at the $100 cap. That would drop the cost down to $400, which is also a solid deal.

Deal 3: Samsung.com

Samsung.com is also offering a deal on the same phones where you get an instant $500 Samsung credit that you can use in the same shopping trip towards other items (other phones, tablets, etc) or on a future shopping trip. This is independent of trading in (you do not need to trade in a phone to get this).

Here’s our affiliate link to this deal, but note that you can stack better as shown below.

This one stacks nicely because Rakuten is offering 15% or 15x back on Samsung.com purchases today. Furthermore, there is a Chase Offer good for 20% back at Samsung.com (up to $94 back).

The math on the Samsung Galaxy S10 128GB phone works out like this:

$899.99
– 135.00 (Rakuten 15% back. Alternatively 13,500 MRs)
$764.99
–   94.00 (Chase Offer, 20% back up to $94)
$670.99 final cost for S10 + $500 in Samsung.com credit

That looks to me like a pretty solid deal. If you value the Samsung credit at even 50% of face value, that’s within a stone’s throw of the deals above (especially if you can not actually return the headphones from the Amazon deal and/or you do not have an Amazon credit card or Prime). If you value the Samsung credit more highly than that, all the better. The same is true of the option to earn Membership Rewards from Rakuten. I think most of us likely value those points at greater than 1c each, so the return here is quite strong.

Personally, this deal is my favorite of the three given the fact that I would value both the Samsung credit and Membership Rewards points more highly than shown above. That said, the S10 128GB is out of stock for T-Mobile (my carrier) and I’m not sure I want the unlocked version or one of the other models. Many people will prefer the Note 10 at similar prices; I’m not ready to give up a headphone jack.

Why I’m passing

I still considered the unlocked version but ultimately decided against it for a number of reasons: first, while my current phone is slowing down, it’s not yet dead. Second, T-Mobile’s 5G is debuting soon and with it will come a slew of new phones in the next year. Third, Google Fi blew us all away with an amazing deal last year that came two days after Cyber Monday. I don’t think it will happen again — but the fact that it did was enough to remind me that great deals don’t only come around one weekend each year.

Bottom line

This is just one set of examples of the solid deals available today. The same example phone here (the Galaxy S10 128GB) has been on sale for T-Mobile at Costco for a few days for $420 and has been so popular as to have been sold out at many stores. The deals available today are as good if not better depending on your valuations and widely available without a Costco membership. You can stack similarly good deals on a wide range of items at all of the above stores with the right combo of credit cards, shopping portals, and Cyber Monday deals. These deals and many more have been added to our Cyber Monday Master list.

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