Tip: Taking Advantage of Gift Card Bonuses During the Holidays

To incentivize buying gift cards in larger quantities and amounts, many retailers will offer bonuses to the buyer. For example, I recently bought $200 in gift cards for personal use and gifts that I got $35 in bonuses from. This post is about some best practices I take advantage of that you can use to get the most out of these deals.

1) Buy Gift Cards You'd Use Yourself

I'm not saying you should always buy gift cards that you'd use yourself, but I think it's a strategy that can give you options throughout the gifting season. I generally try not to buy gift cards as presents because I think they're a little impersonal. If I see that a retailer that both me and the potential gift receiver both like which offers an attractive bonus, I'll spring for it. In the event I can't find a better gift for them by the holidays I'll give them the gift card. Either way, I've given a gift to somebody I like and gotten a little bonus for myself.

2) Read the Fine Print

Of the two retailers I got bonuses from this year ($5 for $50 gift cards at DSW and $20 store credit for $100 at Banana Republic), both can be used for only a limited period of time. When you're shopping around for gift cards, be sure to read the fine print for the bonuses. If you're unsure of anything, ask somebody at the store. It's not uncommon for the bonuses to be available only for a limited period of time, on select products or for large purchases. If the restrictions are more trouble than they're worth, I'll usually pass on the offer.

3) Keep Track of Your Cards

This may sound obvious, but if you take advantage of multiple offers you may forget which ones are available when, which can cost you quite a bit in your bonuses down the line. To make sure that I'm away of when each bonus expires, I add them to my to-do list app (Wunderlist, which I would highly recommend) with a short description of when they're valid. Since I check my to-do list fairly frequently, I rarely miss out on using my bonuses. I also don't buy more cards that I can't carry on my person at all times. Going all the way to the store and forgetting your bonus gift cards is one of the worst feelings ever¹.

4) If the Gift Card is for Personal Use, Make Sure You'll Use It Naturally

I spent a decent amount of time trying to word the above, but struggled. When I say "naturally", I mean you'll use the gift card bonus to purchase something you would have purchased at some point anyways. Otherwise you're going to end up buying gift cards for yourself and others that will either go unused, or will be used to buy things you didn't want in the first place. I think a reasonable test to do is ask yourself if you think you or the gift recipient would use the store credit within a calendar year. If not, maybe get a small amount on the gift card or forego it altogether. According to this article, 6% of gift cards were unused (not sure if they mean physical cards, or balances). Don't be part of the 6%!

Have you found any great bonus deals this year? Share them in the comments! Extra CuttingEdgePersonalFinance karma² goes to those who share ones that avoid the pitfalls above (e.g. no redemption limit, usable on a wide variety of products and no minimum purchase required).

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1. Way worse than say, having your heart broken or taking a beloved pet to the vet (sarcasm intended). Remember, it may be gifting season but it's gratitude season above all! A missed bonus is, in the grand scheme of things, inconsequential.
2. Karma has no dollar value.

Review: Getting Rewards through Web Searches (Bing Rewards)

If you're anything like me, you search for things on the web a lot. It's almost always the first place I go for information. When I found out that I could earn rewards by changing my web searching behavior slightly, I signed up immediately.

Bing Rewards, the search engine that rewards you for your web searches has a pretty simple format. After signing up through Facebook or a Microsoft Account, you start earning rewards for all regular web searches that you do on Bing when you're logged in. You can earn up to 15 credits per day with one credit per 2 unique searches, which prevents users from searching the same thing over and over just to get points. You can also earn extra points through Bing's themed searches, for example, a recent one is about A Christmas Carol. If you use Bing enough, you can move up in status which gives extra benefits like additional credits and discounts on rewards.

So what's Bing got to offer in the rewards department? The current complete list can be found here, but some notable ones are sweepstakes entries, gift cards (e.g. GameStop, Sephora, Starbucks, Amazon etc.) and various donation credits. The rate at which you can earn credits is pretty fast. Assuming you earn the minimum 15 credits through web searches every day, you can have enough for a $5 Tango Card (credit redeemable for various gift cards, 520 credits) in 35 days. Keep in mind, 15 credits a day is a minimum, as Bing usually has additional credit earning opportunities through themed searches. This can come out to around $5 in gift card credit a month! If you haven't already signed up, here's the obligatory pro con list, with a tips section that has information on how to get the most from the program.

Pros:

• Rate at Which you Earn Rewards: $5 a month in gift card credit is pretty great for doing what most people already do, a bunch of web searches every day online.
• Reward Options: Again, the full list can be found here. I generally get Tango cards, which I'll explain in more detail in the tips section below but I've found there's usually something for everybody. Some of the rewards can be redeemed online, which is great if you don't like waiting for the mail like me.

Cons:

• Sharing Search Information: By signing up for the service, you allow Bing to give information on your searches to Facebook to provide you with more targeted ads. Personally I don't mind receiving better tailored ads on my Facebook page, however, I would be pretty upset if their database were to get hacked and my web search information to be in somebody else's hands or made public.
• Can Only Open Accounts with Facebook or Microsoft Accounts: I list this as a con, but the rewards system would not work well without this. Without Facebook or Microsoft integration, Bing would not be able to offer such great rewards because they make money off of using your search data to create more targeted ads.

I'd keep in mind that in my opinion, the cons aren't actually cons. Without being able to share your search information with other sites to better target ads, Bing wouldn't be able to offer as generous rewards.

Tips:

• Tango Cards are Flexible and Offer a a Great Redemption Rate: Tango cards can currently be redeemed for fewer credits than other gift cards, but offer some flexibility in how you redeem them. The full list can be found here but includes Amazon.com, Gap, Home Depot, Groupon and more!
• Make Bing your Homepage/Default Search: By making Bing my homepage and default search option, I never have to remember to go to Bing.com and then do my searches, I can just type into the search bar and earn credits quickly and easily.
• Stay Logged Into Your Accounts: As long as you're logged into your Facebook or Microsoft accounts you'll be able to earn credits. I would recommend staying logged in if you're on your personal computer so you don't accidentally miss out on getting credits for searches.
• Be Patient: Although there are some rewards that can be redeemed almost immediately, many of them will take some time to earn. Hang in there and remember that good things come to those who wait!

If getting rewards for web searches seems like your cup of tea¹, be sure to sign up here. My experience has been very positive so far. I've gotten around $50 worth of credits from regular web searches, themed searches, referring friends and because I'm such an active user, providing independent feedback and filling out a survey. Have you used Bing Rewards? Got any helpful advice or criticism? Please share in the comments!

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1. This is a rhetorical question. Who doesn't like getting rewards for web searches?