(EXPIRED) Pepper app: Get $125 in Amazon or Walmart gift cards for $100 (double rewards ends 2/15)

Our own Stephen Pepper wrote last night at his site GCGalore.com about the Pepper Rewards app, which has no relation to Stephen apart from being well-named. The Pepper Rewards app is an instant gift card app (you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s his app, but it isn’t) that ordinarily offers 5% back. However, they are advertising 10% back on all gift cards for your first 30 days. Furthermore, there is a referral promotion whereby you can earn an extra $20 back on your first purchase of $100 or more and that might stack with a shopping portal for an additional $15 back. Furthermore, it is theoretically possible that you’ll also be able to trigger a Chase Offer (such as the current 5-15% back offers at Walmart). I signed up and earned $25 back instantly on a $100 gift card purchase, then referred my wife to do the same and got another $20 for referring her — so we’ve thus far earned $70 back on $200+ in gift cards and we expect to receive another $10 back after the first 30 days. This is a hot deal that is unlikely to last — and while the initial 5% back from Pepper posts right away, I’d recommend proceeding with a modicum of caution since the extra 5% for your 10% back in the first 30 days comes at some point later.

The Deal

• The Pepper Rewards app sells instant gift cards and ordinarily offers 5% back, but right now they are advertising 10% back for the first 30 days
• There is simultaneously a referral promotion whereby when you provide a referral code when you sign up (you enter the referral code in the “Promo code” field during the sign up process after downloading the app (click here), you get $20 back on your first purchase of $100 or more. Feel free to use one of our referral codes with our thanks:
  • Stephen: 581887
  • Greg: 582066
  • Nick: 582027
  • Tim: 582099

Key Terms

• 5% back posts immediately in the app with the additional 5% presumably coming at the end of the first 30 days
• $20 “Anywhere Cash” posts immediately after first purchase of $100 or more

Quick Thoughts

This is an awesome deal. The short of it is this:

1. Sign up via a referral code and buy a $100 gift card (including for retailers like Amazon or Walmart)
2. Earn $5 in “Pepper points” (note that 1 point = $0.25, so you’ll earn 20 points plus 6 points for being a new member for a total of $6.50 in points on your first $100 purchase). This can be redeemed during your next gift card purchase.
3. Earn $20 in “Anywhere Cash” within the Pepper app for signing up with a referral code in the promo code box. This can also be redeemed during your next gift card purchase.
4. Expect to earn an additional $5 back in “Pepper points” after your first 30 days (for a total of 10% back on the $100 gift card in Pepper points”)

Don’t forget to enter a referral code in the promo code box to get that extra $20 back.

So you would pay $100 and end up with $30 in rewards to use on your next gift card purchase. Assuming you used the $30 in rewards for another gift card, you’d pay $100 and end up with a total of $130 in gift card money, which is like 23% off — getting 23% off on Walmart or Amazon gift cards is an incredible deal.

And it might get even better…..

There are a couple more layers that may be stackable, but we don’t yet know for sure:

1. Swagbucks is offering 1,500 Swagbucks (worth $15 back) when you sign up for Pepper Rewards app and spend $25 or more. I believe this just requires clicking through from Swagbucks and you can still enter a referral code. I don’t know for sure that this will stack, but I think the worst case scenario is that you’ll get the $20 anywhere cash for the referral code and not get the Swagbucks. Personally, I didn’t click through Swagbucks, but it probably makes sense to give it a shot. This is dead.
2. There is currently a targeted Chase Offer out on some Chase cards that is good for 5-15% back on Walmart. I wouldn’t expect a purchase from the Pepper app to trigger a Walmart offer, but Stephen writes at GCGalore that there is a chance it might since it looks like “Walmart” might appear in the merchant information (it’s too early to know for sure). My wife bought a Walmart gift card with a Chase card offering 10% back up to $10, so that will hopefully be another $10 back.

Is this app legit / will the rewards post / is it going to disappear tomorrow?

The short answer to all of the above questions is that I don’t really know. That said, Stephen dug into the company behind it (Moocho) and according to the Internet, that company received a large amount of venture capital funding last month. We often see apps like this try to make a big splash with the initial venture capital money and I have often written before that you need to strike while the iron is hot. See: Deals too good to be true: Should we shut up about them?

In short, I am confident enough that this will work out. For starters, I bought a $100 Amazon gift card and immediately received the card information and successfully added it to my Amazon account without issue. Then I referred my wife and she bought a $500 Walmart gift card (we grocery shop at Walmart pretty regularly). That gift card was also available instantly and we were able to immediately apply it to our Walmart account.

The $20 in “Anywhere Cash” for making my first $100 purchase (after I signed up through Stephen’s referral) posted right away, as did the $20 in “Anywhere Cash” that I got for referring my wife after she made her purchase. I then proceeded to use the that $40 in Anywhere Cash (the $20 from my sign-up and $20 from referring my wife) and the $5 in rewards that I earned from buying the initial $100 Amazon gift card and I purchased another $45 Amazon gift card, which I have also already applied to my Amazon account.

In other words, for signing up, spending $100, and referring my wife to spend $100, we have earned in total:

1. $5 in rewards on my initial $100 gift card purchase + I expect to earn $5 back in rewards after 30 days
2. $20 back in Anywhere Cash because I signed up through a referral
3. $20 in Anywhere Cash for me because I referred my wife and she spent $100+
4. $20 in Anywhere Cash for my wife because she signed up through my referral and spent $100+
5. $5 in rewards on her $100 gift card purchase (note: she actually bought a $500 gift card, so she earned $25 back instantly, but I’m trying to keep numbers simple) + $5 back in rewards after 30 days

With $200+ in gift card purchases, we have earned $70 back so far and we expect to get another $10 back in 30 days for a total of $80 back on $200+. Getting $280 in Amazon or Walmart gift cards for $200 is actually about 28.5% off of face value, which is a slamming deal for us since we regularly spend at those retailers.

Note that you do have to hit the “+” button to apply “Walmart Cash” or “Amazon cash” (the sort of Pepper Rewards points that you’re earning at 5% now and 5% later — the points next to the coin on your home page) when you’re making a purchase. The “Anytime Cash” seems to be applied automatically.

If there is any part of this deal that gives me pause, it is the fact that 10% back on brands like Walmart and Amazon is clearly not sustainable. There is no mention of a limit on the 10% back for the first 30 days. I think the biggest risk is that they may decide to institute a cap on the 10% back and you therefore may not get that additional 5% back if you go wild on gift card purchases. Personally, I won’t go to town and buy enough in gift cards to last for the entire year, but I’ll probably buy a few hundred bucks worth and roll the dice. I can accept that maybe I won’t get the extra $5 back in 30 days — that would mean that we’ll have paid $200 for $270 in gift cards, which is still almost 26% off face value. I can live with that. If I continue making some more purchases beyond the initial ones, I’ll do so knowing that I’m definitely getting 5% back and hopeful that I’ll see the full 10% back in 30 days (they did just receive a lot of venture funding) with the ability to accept it and move on if the extra 5% doesn’t post.

I did make sure to screen shot my gift card purchases right away. I saw one app reviewer mention their account being shut down and therefore being unable to access their gift card purchases. I don’t anticipate that happening, but I took a screen shot of my gift cards immediately just in case (and I applied them to my store accounts right away since that is easy to do with Amazon and Walmart).

Overall, this seems like a terrific deal.

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