Having written this blog for a little over 2 years, I forget to go to the basics. Doctor Of Credit does a great job on his blog and reminding me in the comments when I forget to add the better offer. Like your first $1000 in sales with a portal like TopCashBack on Cardpool, you can earn back 4%. Instinctively, I figure readers have read enough to make it “common knowledge” so I try not repeating anything.
After the rate increase from Cardpool, the losers from the past are now stores worthwhile to pursue a gift card churn. So, I have been playing around with new vendors to buy gift cards.
I haven’t done this is in so long because I have been churning with select vendors, and forgot a key piece of information for success. The pending transaction.
Pending Transactions:
The dreaded pending transaction that can range from $.01 to $1. It thwarts a successful gift card churn in a one and done motion. I used to keep track of it as found in the page “Useful Information.” I don’t know what it is, complacency? Laziness? Arrogance? Either way, I forgot about it and was experimenting with prepaid cards + gift card churning and got my account locked out. Having my account locked is something new instead of having a declined transaction.
Being A New Customer:
In other news on the gift card churning front, is being a new customer. I was running another experiment and was a new customer. Because of that, the vendor froze the order and had me verify my identity. I still haven’t received the gift card, despite them promising me I’d receive it soon after the verification process. I’m not sure if the order will track completely for the cash back, but I’m not holding my breath. I’d probably have to run another order to verify.
What Can You Do?
For the pending transaction, depending on the credit card you use will impact your success. If you’re doing a new vendor and a prepaid card, ensure you’re not using up to the max of the card. That’ll just mess everything up.
As for being a new customer, I’d suggest buying the smallest denominated gift card possible so you can pass through the first round of their gauntlet. Then do it again if the first purchase didn’t track to ensure you don’t receive anything for a gift card purchase.
If you follow these little nuggets of advice, you should be good to go for a happy gift card churn.
