Ebay is a great way to find interesting and unique items. But best of all, Ebay is great for purchasing items at a discount. This discounted price even applies to the purchase of a wide variety of gift cards. It’s awesome that you can buy a $500 Starbucks gift card for $400 on Ebay!
I would be crazy to buy a $500 Starbucks gift card, but hey, its already 20% off 🙂 Here’s how you can double dip this deal:
1. Go to your local grocery store to buy Ebay gift cards with a credit card that gives category bonuses at the grocery store. For example, the American Express Blue Cash preferred gives 6% cash back at grocery stores. The Chase Freedom Visa gives 5x points during specific quarters. I have normally been able to get Ebay gift cards at Kroger. In addition, you would earn fuel points for buying the gift cards as well. Prior to the Hilton devaluation, I was using the Hilton Amex to get 6 Hilton points per dollar spent at the grocery store.
2. Purchase your item through the US Ebay website. Ebay has a loyalty program called Ebay bucks which gives you 2% off your purchase. However, these Ebay bucks can only be used on Ebay for future purchases. This program is only available to US members through the US Ebay site. So, you would get 2% cash back on your purchase. Use the Ebay giftcards you purchased from the grocery store to checkout.
3. An alternative to earning the 2% Ebay bucks is going through the Aeroplan Estore to earn Aeroplan miles from the Ebay Canada website. Until recently, you could get the 2% Ebay bucks and Aeroplan miles when you went through their Canadian site. However, Ebay ended the ability to earn Ebay bucks through the Canadian website on March 31st, 2013. You normally earn 1 Aeroplan mile for 1 Canadian dollar spent on Ebay Canada. So, unless you value 1 Aeroplan miles more than 2 cents (which I don’t), it’s better to earn Ebay bucks through the US website. However, every now and then, the Aeroplan Estore has better promotions than 1 miler per dollar, in which case, the math may work out better to earn Aeroplan miles.
Here’s a summary of potential discounts if you bought a $500 Starbucks gift card on Ebay:
- $500 gift card for $400 = 20% off
- If using Amex Blue Preferred Card to buy $400 in Ebay gift cards at 6% cash back = $24.00 back
- If going through the Ebay US website to get 2% cash back ($400 * 2%) = $8.00 back
- If going through the Ebay Canada website to get Aeroplan miles = 400 Aeroplan miles
Cautions and Notes:
1) Buying gift cards through Ebay is a risk. I’ve taken this risk many times, and haven’t had any problems. However, you could end up with a gift card with less funds than promised. Always buy from a reputable seller, someone with greater than 99% positive feedback. Imagine receiving the $500 Starbucks gift card only to find out its balance is zero – no coffee for you! So, buy gift cards on Ebay at your own risk.
2) The highest denomination Ebay gift card I have seen is $100. So, if you paid, $480 for a Starbucks gift card on Ebay, you would need to enter 5 different gift cards to pay for it. So, it takes some time.
3) If you decide going the route of earning Aeroplan miles, keep in mind to clear all cookies on your computer. There is a risk of Aeroplan points not posting appropriately.
4) Clearly, you are not going to get such a steep discount on all gift cards. However, there are some pretty good deals to be had. So, do your research and see what you can find.