Best posts made by jbw

Re: [PSA: Ebay Bucks Program ending 4/1](earn 0% for all!!)

I received a 5% eBay bucks offer today, so I feel a little bit better about their decision to essentially scrap the program.

Blackhawk used to be the vendor or Visa and Mastercard gift cards and sales of these cards, which were never eligible for grocery rewards. Now, Fast Card sells Visa Vanilla gift cards and all are eligible for rewards @ 1% face value, so this practically pays for the service fee, which is very nice. I practically have more grocery rewards than I know what to do with ;). I am shopping more at Safeway/Vons as a result. The only problem is that the Vanilla cards cannot be registered online, but they still have the same fraud protection as Blackhawk cards practically speaking.

I received this email today from Amex. It sounds like everyone with this card is eligible, and it seems like a permanent feature. Hard to find 3% for online purchases on a permanent basis. Usually 2% is best. However, I would say that online bill pay is not a purchase. It further states:

There are more ways to earn from the Card you love. You can now access over $250 back every year on services you can use every day, plus earn 3% back on up to $18,000 per year on select purchases. Here’s how:

You will earn a reward of 3% on the first $6,000 of eligible purchases in a calendar year (then 1%) at supermarkets located in the U.S. (superstores, convenience stores, warehouse clubs, and meal-kit delivery services are not considered supermarkets); 3% on the first of $6,000 of U.S. online retail purchases (then 1%), 3% on the first $6,000 of purchases of gasoline at gas stations located in the U.S. (then 1%), (superstores, supermarkets and warehouse clubs that sell gasoline are not considered gas stations); 2% on eligible purchases at select department stores located in the U.S. through 10/31/22.

I appreciate all you are doing for the FW community with the new Phatwallet site! I was wondering if you could eventually emulate the style/format as much as possible from the original FW site like the forums homepage, font style/size, search features, message threading, emojis, and color schemes (I know it’s asking a lot) - that would make it easier for all of us to transition to and navigate the new website, and it will at least feel like we never left home . I’ll miss the archived content from the original site, and it is a shame to see the old site go , but thanks for allowing members to gather again at the new website. Great job!

@mistercheap
Been doing gift cards for years. There was fraud when the gift cards had sequential numbers and the expiration dates were all the same, so they were easily guessed and cloned. CVV numbers were not required for a lot of merchants. I haven’t had fraud since the gift cards were assigned random numbers. Also there are challenges on the websites for guessing the card numbers.

Don’t remind me about souplantation closing. I lost $700. I could have easily used it up in 1/2 year, but they closed too suddenly. I even filed a claim at bankruptcy court, and didn’t receive anything.

The wait at costco is terrible, they won’t honor warranties unless you do regular tire rotations there, they are limited in what other services they do. I get decent enough prices and better service at just tires and they match or discount frequently.

This is a repeat of the black friday deal they had. Just be careful. My meal passes had a expiration date of 12/31/18, so don’t put them away and forget to use them.

limit 1 per customer.

It is a refund in points, so you could only use it to buy other merchandise within 14 days after July 4th. Historically, it doesn’t get that hot in DC on July 4 (?) so it will probably be meaningless this year as well.

is that 2 for $2 or 2 for $5? i was at mcd’s the other day and no app required for 2 for $5 big Macs.

The requirement to port from a postpaid service is going to hurt this promotion for many. Either this must be a relatively new requirement or it is not enforced. And if not a power user of voice or data, easier and less hassle to just use tello or red pocket.

FYI - Spectrum internet cable gives McAfee for free for its subscribers.

@harperr said in Staples.com - $100 Lowe's eGift Card for $90 (alive again):

https://www.staples.com/Lowes-Gift-Card-100-Email-Delivery/product_179825

Looks like there is a limit of 10.

ht: GC Galore

I just ordered 3. It looks like the $10 discount per card stops after 3 cards - at least that was my experience. Combine with chase ink for additional savings.

Most of the things at CVS are marked up almost double that of a dollar tree or 99 cents only store. How are the bucks most efficiently used - prescription copays?

Staple’s last promo was for MasterCard $200 gcs. They appear to be alternating between visa and MasterCard at beginning of month and mid month, but a 2 week window is very generous. They may run out.

I copied and pasted what I could from a poor pdf copy of the bankruptcy notice below. Good luck getting any money back from them. If they are auctioning their soda machines for pennies on the dollar, I doubt there are that much assets left for unsecured gift card holders like me who are out $100s of dollars. I could have used them up in less than a year, but I didn’t plan on a pandemic ruining the whole thing.

What we don’t get back, could we claim as a (schedule C, D, or E?) loss on our taxes?

I really thought Souplantation jumped the gun without even trying to remain viable. The business could be salvaged with prewrapped servings of their food, or as a partial cafeteria style restaurant until COVID cures were found. Golden Corral, Las Vegas buffets, or even hometown buffet hasn’t completely thrown in the towel yet. I wouldn’t mind paying $1 to $3 more for a person to serve me. I just liked their food offerings.

United States Bankruptcy Court
Southern District of California
Jacob Weinberger U.S. Counhouse 325 West F Street San Diego, CA 92 IO 1-6991
Case No.: 20-02477-LA 7
Garden Fresh Restaurants LLC
dba Souplantation, dba Sweet Tomatoes, dba Souplantation Express, dba Souplantation Field Kitchen
Creditors who do not file a proof of claim on or before this date might not share in any di tribution from the debtor’s e. tate.
A proof of claim form 410 may be obtained at any bankruptcy clerk’s office or the Court’s Web site at
www v . It may be filed by regular mail at the address shown below. .casb.uscourts.i:oTo receive acknowledgment /sites/casb/files/documents/forms/4 of your ofiling, you IO pdfmay either enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope
and a copy of this proof of claim. There is no fee f r filing the proof of claim.

Creditor. who wish to share in any distribution of funds must file a proof of claim with the clerk of the bankruptcy court at the address below on or before: 9/8/20

United States Bankruptcy Court
Southern District of California
Southern District of Calif rnia
Jacob Weinberger U.S. Courthou e
325 West F Street Sin Diego, CA 92 IO 1-699 I

@ctgolfer said in eBay 4th of July Event: Extra 20% off A/C + FS:

PLUS20

This seems to be for specific 4th of July items Ebay is featuring and not all items items in the category listings. I had a lot of things loaded in my cart in the general categories, but no discounts applied. So it is seems like a set up for certain merchants to raise their prices so they can be discounted.

I just read on SD there is a similar promotion at Staples for Visa $200 gift cards limit 5 from 8/2-8/8. My credit cards have been pushed so far from the last time, my credit score is dropping ☺️.

Just saw this in my account. I wasn’t eligible for the last offer. It pays to have waited. FYI - these usually happen mid week and almost never on the weekend.

I bought some discount forever stamps recently online and forgot there is sales tax (10% in CA) that unfortunately shaves the savings margin down vs. buying from the post office or grocery store a lot. If Tanga doesn’t charge sales tax, then great deal.

Not that it matters now, but I bought mine on eBay. They charged me CA state tax, although eBay tends to charge state tax for everything unless you appeal it for items such as food or property, but it’s a pain.

@mistercheap

Try searching for restaurants at
https://neighborhoodnoshrewards.com/
and compare.

@jbw
The only catch is you have to rate the restaurants after you dine there to receive rewards. I usually say good food and service and that’s it. I think rakuten might require reviews also, but unsure.

Although this is not a hot deal, this settlement could affect a lot of the hot deals going forward that benefit from credit card rewards. I think the banks should absorb a lot of these fees and collect it from their exorbitant credit card interest charges. Like if you use a chase freedom card to purchase groceries during their rotating (5%) categories will the store charge you a 3% surcharge for using this card vs a chase freedom unlimited card that charges 1.5% for the same purchase. How would each merchant know which card has which fees at a given time? Banks have to absorb the sign up bonuses, so I would think they could absorb the processing fee differentials as well. We shall see.

Visa, Mastercard reach $30 billion swipe-fee deal with US retailers