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It used to be the case that lucrative portal offers were common. In fact, I used to post every month about the latest and greatest deals available through the Ultimate Rewards Mall. And, every couple of months, a fantastic offer would appear. Sometimes the offers were so good that it made sense to shop even if you didn’t really need anything from the store offering points.
Then, all of the great offers stopped appearing. I stopped writing my monthly update because there was nothing interesting to say. The last great offer was in September 2012. Since then there has been mostly silence.
In August, I saw some signs of hope. After a long drought with nothing better than 6X in any portal, Sears’ began offering 9X through various portal promotions this past summer. 9X was pretty good! I was encouraged and, on August 1, I wrote “Are portal mega-deals on their way back?” Here is an excerpt:
Are the Sears 9X offers an anomaly or are they a sign of things to come? Maybe I’m just a wishful thinker (and there’s no doubt, I am), but it feels to me as if something is in the wind. Mega deals are coming. I can feel it.
Can you feel it? Are shopping portal mega-deals on their way?
Two months later, it is here. If you have the right credit cards, this one is almost as good as it gets. It’s not quite at the level of being worth buying stuff you don’t need just for the points, but it’s close. And, it’s a bit risky…
I first published the details via my QuickDeals site:
Sears 12X to 16X through the United MileagePlus Shopping portal!!!!
Then, I followed up with details via my blog:
If you have both the United MileagePlus Explorer card and a Chase Freedom card, it is possible to turn this promotion into a 37 mile per dollar offer! You do have to act fast, though. The deal ends today (October 9th).
Here’s how to get 37 miles per dollar (please see yesterday’s post for complete details, other options, and Q&A):
- Go through the MileagePlus shopping portal to Sears and buy e-gift cards. You should earn 16 points per dollar from this transaction.
- Pay for the gift cards with your Chase Freedom card to earn 5 points per dollar thanks to this quarter’s 5X department store bonus.
- When the e-gift cards arrive, go through the portal again to use the gift cards to buy merchandise. Earn 16 points per dollar.
If you were to max out the Freedom’s 5X bonus with $1500 in spend, you could earn 48,000 United miles and 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points! That’s a phenomenal haul for $1500 spend! Of course, $1500 is just an example. You shouldn’t spend that much unless you have the money to cover it and you either need the stuff or have a plan for reselling it.
The biggest risk is that e-gift card purchases won’t earn points. In the past year or so, it has been the case that e-gift cards from Sears have not earned points, whereas physical gift cards have earned points. Recently, though, there has been a change in the terms of the Sears’ portal offers. They now say “Gift Cards eligible as of 10/4/13” (hat tip, Mommy Points). So, e-gift cards should earn points, but it will be at least a few days before we know for sure, and the deal will be over by then.
My personal plan is to to take the chance that e-gift cards will work. I’ll probably buy $1,500 worth of e-gift cards altogether in order to max out my Freedom card’s 4th quarter bonus. I’ll buy many of the e-gift cards $50 at a time in order to maximize Plink point earnings (see “Plinking Sears“), but there is a limit to how much I can stand the repetitive process of checking out over and over again. I bought $500 worth that way yesterday and may do the same today. That should result in $60 worth of Plink points in addition to the points and miles earned. I’ll also buy physical gift cards to hedge my bets. I haven’t yet decided exactly how much I’ll spend.
In addition to buying gift cards, I’ll use existing gift cards I own and the e-gift cards as they arrive to buy stuff that I need. And, holidays are just around the corner so I might as well get a start on buying gifts while I’m at it. I’ll also spend some time today searching for good values in case there is anything worth buying and reselling. If I find some great options, I’ll go for it. Otherwise, I’ll take my gift cards to Sears to find the secret gift card rack…
Are you going to take advantage of this promotion? If so, what are your plans? Please comment below. For questions about how this works, what will work, and what won’t, please read yesterday’s post and comment there. Thanks!
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[…] for three. And, there were some great shopping portal deals too. My favorite was when Sears offered 16 miles per dollar through the United MileagePlus portal, and they temporarily allowed gift card purchases to count, and the Chase Freedom card offered 5X […]
Thanks FrequentMiler! Finally was able to offload my HIGC yesterday and hoping to get ~90k UA miles off my W/D purchase!
I finally bought the Bose SoundDock I wanted and used my freedom card. I saw 16 miles on the MIleageShopping website ( I have the United card ). Will I get 16x miles or 12x plus 5x freedom?
In addition I wanted to use the Plink website you mentioned but it wants my Chase account and password. I do not feel comfortable giving them that. How do you get around this?
TIA
@DFWJoel
It is indeed gone. Not a good sign lol.
It looks like the terms have already changed when going to Sears.com through the MileagePlus Portal. The “Gift Cards eligible as of 10/4/13” portion is now gone when I just checked a few minutes ago even though I saw it there this morning. That didn’t take long.
Since I don’t have a Chase Freedom card. Can i purchase the Visa GC’s at Staples and use those to purchase Sears GC’s through the UR portal? 5x at Staples + 16x for UR portal (and I have United Visa) = 21x.
@chris
Thanks Chris. That makes sense. I just didn’t want to miss out on UA miles.
I purchased $1k worth of GCs this morning and had to go through verification. They arrived in my email as soon as I went through the process. Now I will go through UA MP portal to make my purchases.
Another thought came to mind for Chase inkPlus/inkBold cardholders: Can’t we just buy physical Sears GCs at office supply stores for 5x points per dollar (which has no $1,500 limit) and use them when making purchases on the UA MP portal?
Also, I called the Chase Freedom customer service line and the rep confirmed that my Sears.com GC purchase did indeed qualify for the 5x points bonus. This solves my earlier concern that it wouldn’t qualify. From this point on, I shouldn’t have a problem getting another 16x points through the UA MP portal using the GCs, right? Thanks!
@flyerM:
$50 is optimal number to get plank bonus…
I personally, bought random amount…$50 – $75
Security Department has to talk to you for these e-gift card orders. You can call them at 888-396-5299 proactively to minimize the wait.
@FM thanks for answering my earlier question. Do you know if sears marketplace / seller store items will count as qualifying purchases? There are a lot of different merchants that are all selling through the sears site.
laflyguy. I am only a grasshopper in this points hobby….so I bought four $500 GCs. And I mistakenly said 7 questions, it was only 6.
1.What is the state that I received my social security number from?
2. What county do I currently live in?
3. What year was I born?
Next 3 were multiple choice (they read answers and I picked one):
4. What professional license do I hold?
5. On my driver’s license, what does my height say?
6. Which of the following street addresses have I ever lived on?
Lively: Did you buy the $2000 of physical GCs in $500 increments or did you do the $50 at a time?
I’d like to know the 7 questions. At least they aren’t playing ’21 questions’ ..7 is a lot though!
FM, I just got off the phone with Sears security dept. I bought $2K in Sears physical GCs. They asked me 7 questions. I wrote them down. If you want me to post them here, let me know.
I read through today’s and yesterday’s posts including comments and can’t seem to find out…
..Why is everyone trying to buy individual GC for $50 each, I found the GC that can be emailed to you where you can specify any amount up to $500. Want to buy more than $500, just buy multiple email GC.
Did I do something wrong by not purchasing the $50 individual GC?
Thanks FM!