Dire Straits "Money for Nothing"

Broadstruck

Well Dire Straits had it right as since March I've gotten money for nothing and coins for free.

I made a non-hobby international purchase back then and wanted a bit more than just PayPal protection by uploading a credit card. I had millions of rewards points on that card and upon making my first follow-up hobby purchase on eBay saw the following payment option menu drop down "Pay with PayPal Balance, Pay with Credit Card, Split your purchase over 4 payments, or Pay with Rewards Points. This usage of rewards points in lieu payment option exclusively applies to eBay purchases only. Well, I've finally exhausted all those rewards points on about a dozen coins, medals, and tokens and figured I'd share to make others aware.

habaraca

How bout some pictures of the FREE stuff

lermish

Very glad you were able to do that and get value out of something you hadn't realized. However, depending on the card and rewards program, that is rarely the best way to get most bang for your buck out of rewards points. You still got something you wanted and maybe there were no other interesting/viable redemption options with your program so certainly all to the good. But for others, cash or cash-redemption like rewards purchases are usually not the best choice.

ifthevamzarockin

"Money for nothin' and your chicks for free"

You were supposed to get a hooker with it.

Glen2022

(Almost) nothing is free. I suspect (BUT DON"T KNOW FOR SURE) the redemption value is less than cashing the points in or using for plane trips.

amwldcoin

@lermish said:
Very glad you were able to do that and get value out of something you hadn't realized. However, depending on the card and rewards program, that is rarely the best way to get most bang for your buck out of rewards points. You still got something you wanted and maybe there were no other interesting/viable redemption options with your program so certainly all to the good. But for others, cash or cash-redemption like rewards purchases are usually not the best choice.

Hmmmm, I take the opposite view. Nothing beats Cash Back IMHO. A savvy shopper can usually beat all the other frills offered with the cash. I have several cards that rotate around giving 5% on various things. This quarter I have 1 giving 5% on Paypal, another 5% on gas, and usually have 1 giving 5% on groceries.

lermish

@amwldcoin said:

@lermish said:
Very glad you were able to do that and get value out of something you hadn't realized. However, depending on the card and rewards program, that is rarely the best way to get most bang for your buck out of rewards points. You still got something you wanted and maybe there were no other interesting/viable redemption options with your program so certainly all to the good. But for others, cash or cash-redemption like rewards purchases are usually not the best choice.

Hmmmm, I take the opposite view. Nothing beats Cash Back IMHO. A savvy shopper can usually beat all the other frills offered with the cash. I have several cards that rotate around giving 5% on various things. This quarter I have 1 giving 5% on Paypal, another 5% on gas, and usually have 1 giving 5% on groceries.

If you have a cash back card, especially at 2% back or with rotating bonus categories sure. But as @glen2022 mentioned, this is about redemption value. OP has a rewards card. Cash redemption of points is _usually _60-70 cents on the dollar whereas award redemption (hotel, airfare, etc) is _usually _100-150 cents on the dollar with some potentially much higher.

Two notable examples because I feel pretty proud, I just booked a ski lodge for president's day weekend 2023...cash rate for the hotel is $1800/night, I used 75,000 points (for three nights) which have a cash redemption value of ~$600. Also, I booked 4 nights in Augusta for The Masters for 72,000 total points. Cash rate would be $6000 + taxes.

Coinosaurus

@lermish said:

Also, I booked 4 nights in Augusta for The Masters for 72,000 total points. Cash rate would be $6000 + taxes.

That's the easy part. Now, how do you get tickets ("badges" in Masters-speak) to the actual event?

lermish

@Coinosaurus said:

@lermish said:

Also, I booked 4 nights in Augusta for The Masters for 72,000 total points. Cash rate would be $6000 + taxes.

That's the easy part. Now, how do you get tickets ("badges" in Masters-speak) to the actual event?

Entered the ticket lottery of course. But a buddy who goes yearly said that the badges are good for several entries per day and so some people will leave after lunch and sell their badges for the afternoon on their way out. Or might just hang out and hope to get lucky. Worst case can always cancel the reservation.

Estil

Actually this is more my other main hobby (retro video games) but I was blown away by how amazing the graphics in that video were for 1985...as home game systems (most notably the original Playstation) that could make graphics anything like that (polygons) were still about ten years away! I mean 1985 was when the original, 8-bit Nintendo was just released!

ricko

Using points or accumulation of credits has been good for me..... I get them at the supermarket as well as on CC's.... Free stuff or discounted purchases.... Works for me. Cheers, RickO