There are often opportunities where one can buy merchandise through a shopping portal to earn a lot of points and then resell the merchandise on Ebay or Amazon. Although you may not make a profit, this could be a way to acquire miles or points for cheap.
A good example of this was the 36 British Avios per dollar spent at Nordstrom back in 2012. I know a lot of people ordered thousands of dollars of stuff through Nordstrom, acquired thousands of Avios, and resold the stuff they bought. I didn’t participate in that but wish that I did.
Recently, I thought I saw another opportunity to do the same through the Ultimate Rewards mall. Enter Proactiv – a treatment for acne. I saw that through the ultimate rewards mall, I could get 30X UR points per dollar spend for purchasing skin care treatment on Proactiv. Since that time, it has changed to 25x per dollar.
Also, at the time, the terms and conditions also stated that “any purchases through the skin care club” would not be eligible. It looks like that has changed as well.
I did my calculations and figured out that if I could buy some stuff and then resell the stuff on Ebay, I could acquire ultimate rewards points for under 0.5 cents per point, a great deal! By the way, the resale value of this stuff on Ebay is very close to the purchase price.
I went through the portal and bought $360 dollars worth or stuff. At 30x, I was expecting 10,800 UR points. I wanted to make sure that the points would post before I sold the stuff on Ebay. Since it can take a few weeks for the points to post, I waited and I waited, and the points did not post. I finally decided to send a message to Chase customer service. Here’s how the conversation went:
Me: I am writing regarding a transaction through the Ultimate rewards shopping mall on my Freedom card. I made a purchase on 1/28/2014 on Proactiv for $359.55 through the Ultimate Rewards site. At the time, the bonus was 30 points per dollar spent. I still have not received Ultimate rewards points for that transaction. I have had good experience with points posting in the past. I would appreciate if you could please help with the posting of the appropriate points (10,800). Thank you for your time and help.
Chase: Our records show that you visited Proactiv through the Ultimate Rewards Mall on 01/24/2014.
Please provide a copy of the merchant?s receipt for this transaction:
By fax at 1-888-643-9628, or by replying to this email, with the information attached.Once we receive the information, we’ll review the issue and provide additional information to you in 24-48 hours.
I provided them what they asked for and then received the following email:
Chase: Upon review, we sincerely regret to inform you that your transaction has not not qualified to earn the bonus reward point as the transaction was made with the Proactive Clear Skin Club. Please note that as per the terms of the purchase, any purchases that are a part of the Clear skin Club are not eligible to earn the Ultimate Rewards Mall bonus and these disclosures are mentioned in the Ultimate Rewards website online.
I was a bit upset because there was nothing on Proactiv to say which products were part of this “skin club.” I responded to Chase as below:
In response, I would like to say that the promotional offer through ultimate rewards is highly deceptive as there is nothing on the Proactiv.com site that says which products are or are not part of the “Clear Skin Club.” If you look at their site, you cannot purchase ANYTHING that is not part of the “Clear Skin Club.” It’s Proactiv.com. EVERYTHING they sell is for clear skin. Please point me to a product on their website that will give me ultimate rewards points. Again, I find the terms highly misleading.
Their final response:
I understand you are inquiring about Ultimate Rewards Bonus points for your Proactiv purchase for $359.55 that posted to your account on 1/29/2014. I regret that the Proactiv website is not maintained by Chase, therefore I am unable to answer any questions related to what products are listed on their website. Therefore, you will need to contact Proactiv directly for any additional information regarding the “Clear Skin Club”.
I understand your purchase was part of the “Clear Skin Club” which is excluded from earning Ultimate Rewards Mall bonus points based on the Merchant disclaimer copied below. Please understand information pertaining to eligibility is provided by the Merchant and not Chase. Therefore, if you disagree with the Merchant disclaimer, we can only suggest you contact the Merchant directly to determine what items do qualify for the stated bonus points.
Proactiv disclaimer: Not eligible on purchases made with coupon or discount codes that are not found on this site. Not eligible on Endless Youth Vitamins 30-day Free intro, Free VitaClear Anti-Acne Supplements, Daily Plus Vitamins – Free Intro Supply, Wellness Vitamins Introduction, VitaClear vitamins 30-day, Endless Youth 30 day supply. Valid on skin care products only. Eligible only on the initial product shipment. Not eligible on items purchased as part of the Clear Skin Club.
In reviewing your receipt, I can see your purchase was part of the Clear Skin Club and is not eligible to earn Ultimate Rewards Mall bonus points. I regret any inconvenience this may cause.
So, final verdict, no ultimate rewards points. Now, I was stuck with $360 worth of product from Proactiv which I would have to sell for a loss on Ebay. However, I went back and saw that Proactiv had a 60 day return policy on their products. Luckily, it hadn’t been 60 days so I ended up returning the product to Proactiv and paid $20 to ship all the stuff back.
Moral of the story: If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is! Be careful trying to buy and resell.
End result: Zero ultimate rewards points, $20 loss to ship all the product back. Ah, the stuff I do for points 🙂