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: Venmo

For those moments Ven Mo people owe you money than they should:

Say you need to pay your friend back for that Netsky concert ticket that she got you. How are you going to do it? Pay in cash? You don't have the exact amount so that's not going to fly¹. Check? What is this, the 9th century? Unfortunately these days, it seems like there's a tradeoff between being able to conveniently send your friends money and to do it without having to pay steep fees.

Enter Venmo. A popular web and mobile app (iPhone and Android) that allows you to send money to your friends. Since the selling point is pretty short (unlike in my SmartyPig post), let's get our pros and cons on.

Pros:

• Low fee structure. Don't just take it from me. See for yourself. For those of you allergic to link clicking, it's free if you pay using a Venmo balance, debit card or bank transfer and 3% if you pay with a credit card. So far these are the lowest fees I've found for companies that offer a similar service.
• Social network connectivity. Tired of texting your friends to get their account names for random apps² which they've inevitably forgotten immediately after signing up. Well you don't have to deal with that ruckus when you're using Venmo. Connect your account to Facebook or Twitter to quickly find your friends.
• Signing/Referral bonus. Sign up using this link and get $1 when you create a Venmo account.
• "Trusted friend" capability. Do your friends always forget to pay you back for things³? Have them join Venmo and make you a trusted friend. Then you can charge them for expenses instead of waiting for them to pay you.
• Bank grade security. More here.
• Easy to use mobile app. Always forget to pay people back for things. With Venmo's mobile apps you can do it on the spot.

Check out this smooth mobile interface.

That's quite the pro list. Even better, the cons are pretty minor.

Cons:

• Their slogan isn't Ven-Mo Money Mo Problems.
• Balance are not FDIC insured⁴. Your Venmo balance is not FDIC insured. If you're concerned about this, just cash out your any balance you may have to your checking account as soon as possible.
• Uncertainty over whether low rates are here to stay. Mind you, this is purely speculative because I don't work for Venmo and they haven't released information of this nature, but I believe it's possible their rates may increase in the future. Why? By offering some of their services for free they're operating at a loss. You may say that Venmo is trying to become profitable through their business partnerships. Here's an informative Quora post on whether Venmo will be viable in the long term⁵. For now though, know that you're getting the best rates out there.

Conclusion:
Whether you're frequently in debt to your friends or the other way around, Venmo is a great tool to transfer money conveniently. Use online, or on your phone to get some of the best rates available. Don't forget, sign up here to get a $1 bonus!

And yes, you guessed it, this sparkling review results in Venmo earning a green thumb of their own.

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1. Unless you're one of those people who just suggests the amount of money you have on you at that very moment even though you owe your friend more. Don't be that person.
2. I make it easy on my friends by always snagging "DoglvrXOXOXO".
3. If they do, download Venmo to make your life easier instead of say, flushing them down a toilet. Warning: Link has profanity.
4. Covered in user agreement.
5. Also speculative.