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UPDATE: The offer cited below is targeted to specific Plink users. If you didn’t receive this offer via email, then you won’t qualify for double points.
Last Saturday I told you why I wasn’t too excited by Plink’s double points at Sears promotion (see “Sears double Plink sounds great, but…“). Now, though, Plink has added double points at Kmart, and that changes everything.
Once you signup for Plink (see my Signup Links page), make sure to add Kmart to your Plink wallet, then you can follow the steps I outlined previously in the post “Plinking Sears“. The idea is to go through an online shopping portal to Sears and buy a $50 Sears’ physical gift card. This will show up on your credit card statement as a Kmart purchase and so Plink will treat it as such. By paying $50 at a time, you can maximize your Plink points per dollar spent. Normally you would get 6% back in Plink points this way, but with this new promotion, you’ll get a staggering 12% back in the form of points redeemable for gift cards.
Best portal?
I’ve recently re-confirmed that buying physical Sears’ gift cards results in points via the AAdvantage eShopping portal, the United MileagePlus portal, and the Ultimate Rewards portal. Unfortunately, none of those portals are currently running good Sears’ promotions. Instead, the best current options I know of are:
- ShopDiscover: 10% cash back
- EBates: 6% cash back
- MrRebates: 6% cash back
Make sure to subscribe to my QuickDeals page to receive alerts when particularly good portal offers appear.
If you have a Discover card, the ShopDiscover portal is clearly the way to go. I’ve even had success in the past going through ShopDiscover and paying with a different credit card. It may be safer, though, to pay with your Discover card.
Add it up
If you go through the ShopDiscover portal and pay with the Discover It card (which offers 1% cash back), you’ll earn 11% cash back from Discover. Then, from Plink, you should earn 12% back in the form of Plink points. Those points could be redeemed for various gift cards including Walmart and Amazon.com. If you value those gift cards the same as cash, then you’ll have earned 23% back when purchasing Sears gift cards! Even if you value those gift cards a bit less than cash, you’ll still get a staggering return.
If you want to see ways to take this deal further (and to ridiculous extremes), please see: Gift card alchemy. For more details about getting Plink rewards when buying gift cards, see: Plinking gift cards.
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FrequentMiler: Yes I got the email today too for 8/15 purchase, however the miles were posted long time back for me (around 8/18). However my 8/17 purchase still haven’t showed up yet. May have to contact them at some point..
SR: Thanks, that’s a great point. I’ll try to remember to mention that on future Plink deals.
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Andrew C: Just today I received an email from the AA portal that I’ve received miles for my 8/15 purchase.
Has anyone seen their miles on the AAdvantage mall portal yet for this? I don’t often use that one, so I’m not familiar with their usual timeline.
I did receive double points but I didn’t receive the email for Kmart.
I regret that I only bought a BP gift card
For time-sensitive (“Now through August 25”) deals like many of Plink’s, we need to remember an online shopping policy many stores use that’s meant to work to our advantage but actually works to our disadvantage in these unique instances…
They might not register the credit card Transaction Date UNTIL THE ITEM SHIPS.
Your first email from the merchant and even your CC website’s Pending Transactions info will seem fine, but by the time it moves to Current Transactions you’ll discover this quirk.
David Z: Then I don’t know. I’d say still be patient with the portal, but contact Plink about those points.
I ordered gift cards on 8/16 and 8/17, both were cleared from Sears on 8/17. AA portal points for the 8/16 transactions showed up in 2 days, however no points were awarded for the 8/17 purchase from AA yet. Also, plink double point bonus were given for the 8/16 transactions, but not for 8/17 transactions (only normal earning showed up). This is weird, anyone else in the same boat?
Peter 2: when you log in to view your credit card transactions, do they look any different from one day to the next?
Hey frequent miler, I placed several orders with my citi AA card on 8/17 and I spoke with sears to make sure the orders are processed on 8/17 and they were. The transactions showed up on my citi account on 8/20. I have yet to receive any points from plink or AA portal. Any tips or ideas as to what’s goin on?
David z: I don’t know why points aren’t showing up yet. I’d say just be patient. It isn’t unusual for portals to take weeks before points show up. With Plink, did you have Kmart in your Plink wallet?
Frequent miler: Kmart was in my wallet. Portal shows no transactions still and no plink points either.
Dave: you should get both the Plink points and the AA portal points. Have you seen either appear yet?
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Gabriel: I have heard from others that they also got double points even though they weren’t targeted. That’s great!
I signed up for Plink long after this email was apparently sent out and I received double points on my Sears gift cards (Kmart purchase). Anyone else had this happen?
I got the email for 2x Plink for K-Mart, so bought 2 $50 Sears gift cards on 8/16 (I think) via the AAdvantage 9x promo for Sears. Unfortunately, Sears placed my orders on hold for verification, and it finally got approved on my credit card (Chase SP) on 8/20, and finalized on 8/22. So far, my Plink account only shows 300 points each gift card purchase… anybody know when I can expect to see the double points?
Also, I placed my order for the gift cards during the window for AA’s 9x promo, but it didn’t get approved until after the 9x window closed. Will I still get 9x points?
Andy: Right. The regular Plink points won’t appear until after the purchase goes from pending to confirmed within your credit card account. And, the double points get tacked on later (I believe).
How long does it take plink to show the purchase? I did a bunch of these over the weekend and I’m guessing its not instantaneous?
For my experience, I have two emails associated with two plink accts. the one that got offer is the one that doesn’t have card linked to it. I keep getting offer like double Kmart, double red robin when I link a credit card to plink on the email that doesn’t have card link to it. So maybe that’s what happen
Dave: Yes, you can use any credit card via the AA portal and still get miles.