This update relates to the current Sears promotion that I’ve written about recently. If you’re not familiar with the promotion, please read these prior posts:
-
Sears 12X to 16X through the United MileagePlus Shopping portal!!!!
- Maximizing the 2 day Sears/MileagePlus 16X promotion
- Finally, a new portal mega deal! My thoughts on today’s 37X opportunity
October 8th and 9th
In one of my earlier posts, I incorrectly stated that the dates for the promo were October 9th and 10th (I have since fixed that post). I’m sorry for the confusion. The promo actually ends today, Wednesday October 9th.
Gift card order verification
With most gift card orders, Sears calls to verify your identity before releasing the purchase. Unfortunately, they are seriously backed up right now (I wonder why?), so you may not get a call anytime soon. To expedite the process, call Sears first. Have your order number(s) handy and call this number:
1-888-396-5299
Be prepared to answer a number of questions to prove your identity. If you order today, but are not verified until tomorrow, I don’t know whether you’ll get the 12X or 16X bonus. To be safe, make sure your order is verified today.
Only 15 gift cards per order
In my previous posts I mentioned the idea of buying e-gift cards $50 at a time in order to maximize Plink point earnings. Not only is this a pain in the butt to do, but it could prove to be a real problem if you need to place a very large order. Sears.com will accept no more than 15 gift cards at a time.
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Ordered 30 separate orders each for a $50 GC ($1500 total) on 10/9. Still waiting on:
Discover: $75 (5% CB on online purchases)
Plink: $90 (6% on each $50 purchase)
MileagePlus shopping: 24,000 miles
Nothing is showing on any of the 3…I’ll get nervous if I still don’t see anything in another week.
Ordered 1 physical GC, 1 eGC and 10 Print GCs and do not have points for any of them.
I want to confirm that I have gotten most of my points.
The only missing is the big order (spent all the gift cards + little on credit card).
Maybe it will come in these few days. we still got fraud call this AM, so maybe it will show soon.
I’m waiting until after we get married (2 weeks) before breaking the news 🙂 Perhaps she’ll take it better on a flight in F on Etihad on our honeymoon. I’ve been doing this a long time (thanks to FM) and have probably pumped over 30k through Sears over the past couple years. If you can reach Sear’s platinum level there are some really great perks you can stack on top of the miles. I generally sell through eBay and if you open a store ($15 a month), you can get their fee down to 6% selling tablets and laptops. I aim for sub 18% loss (eBay/paypal fees, tax, shipping, + price differential) and recoup a big chunk of that through Sears points which I redeem for merchandise that I resell. If the stars are aligned I make out with a net loss of under 10%, but it’s a ton of work and very high risk. Not for the faint if heart.
I haven’t gotten any of my 10 of the Print GCs yet. On chat with Sears now and they’re saying it looks like th payment didn’t process. If I call Chase and clear things up with them is there any chance I’ll get the Uunited points if they re-process the payments tomorrow?
@Erik – so have you told your spouse yet? LOL…
Good for you on the buy and re-sell route. Have you done it before? I’m assuming you’re doing Amazon FBA? Did you do the e-gift cards or?
I’m going the buy and resell route. I didn’t double dip this time so I’m only hoping for 160k and hopefully I can catch another 5-12x when I go back for purchases to resell. I have Platinum through Sears rewards program so should get another 10% back to help offset my losses. If the miles post and I lose 10-15% net I’ll be a pretty happy guy.
@Erik – that’s brave of you but I love it! I’m only in for a measly $500 so far – lol!
Curious to know if you’re buying physical GC’s and plan to purchase big stuff for your house? Or are you planning on reselling? 370K miles here you come!
It’s gonna fun to watch this one play out with the gift cards! I have screen shots showing the “Gift Cards are Eligible” if anyone needs it down the road… Another lesson I learned this time around was to call Chase before placing the order so it doesn’t get denied due to a fraud alert on their end. Just tell them you’re making a large purchase and they’ll ask the amount, merchant and city (similar to authorizing if you’re taking a trip overseas). I’m in for over 10k this round (physical gc’s), curious if anyone went bigger? Also would love to know if you folks tell your spouses/SO’s prior to pulling the trigger on these crazy deals or if you wait for a happy ending before having the “talk”?
Yep RNP, my Chase Freedom purchases of physical gift cards also say Kmart.com 7840. I purchased two with the Freedom before realizing that they probably wouldn’t count for the 5x department stores, so then I switched to using my Discover card for 5% cb online shopping.
Sears.com order show pending on Chase Freedoom as Kmart.com 7840? Anyone got this pending?
@RNP: My Print and eGC say SEARS.COM 9300, and my physical GC from Sears.com says KMART.COM 7840. I tried both to experiment, but bought the majority through Print GCs even though I haven’t received any yet.
I ordered 10 $500 Print GCs yesterday at 6pm, and I called at 7pm. It’s now almost 12 hours later and I haven’t received any emails.
AA Portal is now matching the 12x at Sears today and tomorrow (10/10 – 10/11)
I just got this from chat just now. So it looks like they’re pretty backlogged.
Sophia: Ken, I have checked and I am truly sorry that the order was held by our accounts team for verification process. However, the order was processed today and you will receive the gift card today by the end of the day.
Sophia: Please be assured that you will receive the gift card today.
Yep, if you missed out on shopping, go for AA now! Woohoo!
Aa shopping portal now has 12x at Sears through Saturday.
@Trevor
Considering my past experience with United, they will do whatever they want and they don’t seem to care. I might be wrong though.
My bad it is 500, Not 450.