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Update 8/15/22: Reader jeph36 pointed out this morning that the code ENDOFSUMMER now shows up on portals. Unfortunately, the American Airlines shopping portal bonus ended last night. For what it’s worth on future promos, I decided to take my chances last night and place the order through AAdvantage eShopping using code ENDOFSUMMER while the portal promo was still in effect and the order successfully tracked. It’s also worth noting that you can now get 3% or 3x back via Rakuten.
GiftCards.com is offering 5% off on virtual Visa Gift Cards with coupon code EOS5, ENDOFSUMMER or SUMMERVISA. That should stack with a Citi Merchant offer for 1.5% cash back and probably either 6% cash back via the Capital One Shopping app (free for anyone to use) or 3x American Airlines miles and the current AA shopping portal bonus to come out nicely ahead of the game. That said, it may be worth waiting a day or two to make sure that the portals eventually list the coupon codes in order to remove any doubt as to whether the code is eligible for portal rewards.
Update: Several readers in the comments note that the Citi Merchant Offer for 1.5% back did not post for them.
The Deal
- GiftCards.com is offering 5% off on virtual Visa Gift Cards (up to $75 off) with the following coupon codes:
- EOS5
- ENDOFSUMMER
- SUMMERVISA
- These deals should stack with 1.5% back via Citi Merchant Offer for those targeted and may also stack with shopping portal rewards.
Key Terms
- Maximum discount is $75 (max purchase is therefore six $250 cards)
- Keep in mind that most portals limit you to earning rewards on up to $2K in purchases per month.
Quick Thoughts
GiftCards.com sells virtual Visa Gift Cards in denominations up to $250 for an activation fee of $5.95. The coupon codes are good for up to $75 off. That will bring the total cost for $1500 in Virtual Visa Gift Cards down to $1460.70.
That puts you almost forty bucks ahead of the game before considering any stacking opportunities.
If you have the Citi Merchant offer for 1.5% back, that should be another $21.91 cash back. You should be able to sync that offer up to your Citi card and then click through the Capital One Shopping app and get 6% “cash” back (keep in mind that cash back rewards earned through Capital One Shopping are only redeemable for gift cards) to get $87.64 back in gift cards. If that all stacks, you’re essentially almost $150 ahead before considering whatever rewards you earn with your credit card.
You could alternatively go through American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping for 3 miles per dollar. There is currently (at the time of writing) a portal bonus good for 2,000 bonus miles when you spend $600. That would increase your total mileage payout to more than 6,400 miles. Keep in mind that only the base miles (3x) will count as Loyalty Points for the purposes of earning elite status, not the 2,000 bonus miles.
There are a couple of additional points to consider:
- Shopping portal terms typically dictate that using a coupon code not found on the portal will invalidate cash back. In the past, when GiftCards.com has run these discount codes, we have seen a code hit the portals a day or two after the sale launches. Sometimes the code is the same and sometimes it is different. I’m not sure whether orders made before the code is added have typically paid out. Personally, despite the great potential deal here, I’ll probably wait a day or two to place an order (which is risking that the deal is dead, so you may prefer to buy now). That said, I heard that ENDOFSUMMER may be the better bet to come out on portals.
- Capital One Shopping is free and open to anyone (no Capital One credit card is required). However, they only offer 6% back in the app, not on the desktop version of the Capital One Shopping app (the desktop version only offers 3%). If you have a Capital One credit card, you can alternatively log in to your Capital One account and on your card account page, there is a link to shopping offers and I see 6% back at GiftCards.com in that offers section on desktop (though I think you will need to pay with a Capital One card if you go that route). It’s easier to just get the app on your phone and use whatever credit card you want.
- GiftCards.com typically only pays out portal rewards on up to $2,000 in purchases per month.
Again, I’ll probably wait a day or two to place an order, but I’ll definitely do this deal if the codes show up on portals. In my case, I may do it for American Airlines miles because I’m just short of a useful level of status, but otherwise I’d probably go with Capital One Shopping for 6% back.
H/T: Miles to Memories
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I doubt anybody is even reading these comments anymore, but for anybody who is, I wondered why the AA points never showed up in my account and turns out AAdvantage Shopping tracked my initial purchase at the full price and I can only guess giftcards.com applied the $100 discount on my $2000 order AFTER the initial processing. So AA Portal is showing a total of $2047 when the actual total was $1947. I’ve appealed and sent in my receipt but am relatively confident they’re going to reject it. Seems pretty shady to me…
I got really lucky with this offer where I took a chance and used “endofsummer” before the code was posted on the portal so that I can also get the 2,000 bonus points before it expires. My first transaction got cancelled by Citi 5 min after I got the confirmation email because the transaction amount was too large and it was my first time using it on giftcards.com so I had to redo it. Before the purchase, I also signed up for the Citi Merchant offer.
Guess what, 3 weeks later, I got points for both translations even though one of the transactions was a cancelled one. The total amount was double the $2,000 monthly limit on giftcars.com. In addition, I got the 2,000 bonus points last week and the Citi Merchant offer also showed up on my statement on 9/26.
Lucky me!
The AA shopping portal is showing 3x this week for giftcards.com, so if you can figure out a way to spend these virtual Visas, this is an excellent deal to earn AA elite status. In addition to working towards status, I’m using a 2% credit card, getting a little better than 2% rebate from Giftcards.com, and earning 3 AA miles per dollar. I’d value this at about an 8% rebate — and that’s with valuing the AA status at zero! I have some property taxes due, and my municipality allows me to pay with debit cards online with no fee. This is making these payments less painful! $2K monthly cap. Hopefully, there will also be 3x on the portal in September.
Thanks. This has been ongoing — the AA portal has offered 3x at GiftCards.com (or 4x for a single day in June) since February 26, 2022. You can view the 15-month rate history at CashBackMonitor.com: https://www.cashbackmonitor.com/cashback-store/giftcards.com/best-rate-history/.
The trade here is that Capital One Shopping has been offering 6% back in-app for many people, meaning that you’re essentially paying 2c per AA mile/Loyalty point assuming you can get that 6% rebate (remember that Capital One Shopping is open to anyone, not just cardholders). I think payouts have been slow, but so too have they been slow via AA for me on the GiftCards.com orders.
So, can each code be used only once, or can the same discount code be used again up to the maximum amount of $1500 in Virtual Visa GCs?
Situation: I already bought $1000 in GCs using one code, so if I want to buy an additional $500 of GCs, should I use a different code or doesn’t it matter? Similarly, can I use one of the other discount codes to purchase another $1K GCs?
Thanks for any feedback!
I made multiple purchases up to $2k using the same code.
So I am going to purchase today $2K worth of cards (I had already gotten the AA bonus so not a big deal). I am going to order 2K on ONE transaction using the AAdvantage portal PLUS the Citi 1.5% back. I had to call Citi and ensure that the 1.5% was applied to card as the merchent offer on web site was not sticking. JUST CONFIRMING if others have done above and have see the 5% back + the 1.5% AND the AA miles/loyality points track (would not post quickly for this $$ figure). 5,843 AA miles/loyality points in total..
Citi 1.5% back will not work, trust me, I’ve tried 3 times.
AA portal says ‘Orders over $2,000.00 max per month per customer are not eligible.‘ Is this a calendar month limit, or is it calculated on rolling basis? Would it apply across all portals, or say once I spend $2k via AA portal I can keep buying via United portal and still get the cashback?
Citi Merchant offer NEVER tracks.
I’m curious how everyone uses these virtual cards. I have tried to use them on several sites shopping and they get rejected for some reason. I was told they don’t accept prepaid cards. Is there an easy way to liquidate these or turn them into gift cards I can use on merchants websites without hassle?
Always a problem. I’ve had success using them to pay utility and insurance bills online, and now I’m using them to pay local property taxes. It’s definitely a YMMV situation, though. In general, I hate this virtual gift card product, but it is a lucrative way to earn AA status if you can figure out a way to get rid of the cards with your regular spending..
[…] Update 8/23/22: New code SUMMERVISA (ht FM) […]
Has anyone done this promo thru AA Shopping and had the miles actually post yet. Mine tracked but nothing has posted
Same. Showing under recent store visits for ~10 days.
I am at 8 days and 9 days (2 orders) both showing tracked in store visits but nothing posted yet
Same here…used EOS5 code.
My experience with AAshopping is that some merchants will post to the portal within 12-24 hours (Dell, for example) while others can go three months or more. GC.com can usually be 3 weeks *if* it tracked the purchase properly and longer if it didn’t track the purchase (and in the latter case, you have to send an inquiry to them on day 16 following the purchase).
I’m at day 15 and it still shows tracked but no points posted looks like I’ll have to submit a request
2 slightly devious questions:
1) Any tips on getting my credit card company to refuse the transaction? In the spring I tried with one card (can’t remember which), and my order was cancelled. I tried another card and it worked fine. But both orders tracked and the miles were never clawed back for the first one. Even if they were, I’m fairly certain the loyalty points would not be.
2) Has anyone tried using the Visa gift cards that they just bought from giftcards.com to buy another Visa gift card? i.e. get $2000 worth of orders and miles with only a $250 (or less) outlay?
I’ve tried #2 and it didn’t work, there was a message basically saying I couldn’t purchase the gift card with the type of card I was using. What I have been trying to figure out is would it be possible to buy the virtual Visa GC with physical gift cards or would the same kind of error/message come up on checkout.
already tried to buy these using VGC/MCGC and it not works.
Do you remember what the error message was by any chance?
A
no, sorry
I did this, for the first time, thru the Capital One offers (not the capital one shopping portal) to hopefully get the 6% cashback/statement credit.
The capital one shopping portal desktop/app showed me only 2%.
Does anyone know how long it takes Capital One to post the statement credit? I used my Capital One Venture X Visa.
I’m interested in this as well. It was the approach I was going to take.
I did this through Rakuten (3 Amex pts/$) and used my BBP (2 Amex pts/$)…not a bad deal. I was surprised that I got the full Rakuten credit on the amount prior to taking off the 5% by using the ENDOFSUMMER code…not complaining.
I like to use these GC’s for paying our electric bill since that gets no spend bonus.
I did the ENDOFSUMMER code with AA but it didn’t track. I also had issues getting a Sunbasket order to track with Mypoints, so maybe it’s an issue with my Chrome? I guess I’d better try a different browser next time.
Rakuten is now showing Endofsummer code.