My week in manufactured spending: 2,068 points and $374.19 cash back

July 30, 2019

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I think this may be the first manufactured spending week where almost all of my rewards consisted of cash back. Normally I’m using cash back rewards to cover manufactured spending fees. But this week I was trying to maximize Simon Mall’s $1,000 Visa gift card promotion.

Since the fees are higher than my usual MS options, earning cash back makes the most sense. In total, I earned 2,068 Ultimate Rewards points and $375.19 cash back after factoring in liquidation fees (which I always seem to forget about in these posts).

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Last week I wrote about the $0 fee promotion on Mastercard gift cards at Staples. It turns out this promotion wasn’t even valid at my local Staples. But in an effort to max out that 5x bonus on my Ink Plus, I stopped by twice to pick up two $200 gift cards.

Staples Mastercard gift cards $0 fee — Earn $5 per day buying Mastercard gift cards at Staples

The cost was $6.95 each and I earned about 1034 Ultimate Rewards points each time. Thanks to $5 cash back from Dosh, my out of pocket came to just $1.95 each time. Yes, that does work out cheaper than buying $1,000 Simon Mall Visa gift cards.

If you don’t have a Dosh account yet, sign up with my referral link (ARIANAA10), link a credit card and earn $5. You can keep earning 3% cash back capped at $5 per day buying Visa or Mastercard gift cards at Staples. It’s a great way to offset manufactured spending fees.

Points earned: 2,068 Ultimate Rewards points

Fees: $13.90

Dosh cash back: $10

Total cost: $3.90

Cash Back

I set a $100,000 goal for myself in terms of buying $1,000 Visa gift cards from Simon Mall. With the promotion ending on August 4, I’m on track to meet that goal. Last week along, I knocked out

$34,000 worth of spending. That being said, I can only account for $33,592.94 of it. The remaining ~$400 was probably charged to the Chase Freedom Unlimited or Korean SkyPass Card, but it’s late and I’m too tired to check which account I charged it to.

I do know $7,100 went towards my Fidelity Rewards Visa card, earning me $142 based on 2% cash back. Another $26,492.94 was charged to my Discover It Miles Card. That generated $397.39 worth of cash back.

Between the two cards, I earned a combined $539.39 cash back and paid $134.40 in fees. That brings my profit to $404.99. I’ll probably spend $30.80 on money order fees, bringing my total profit to $374.19.

Cash Back earned: $539.39

Fees: $134.40

Total profit: $375.19

$1,000 Simon Mall Visa Gift Cards

I love these $1,000 Visa gift cards from Simon Mall and hope they keep offering them beyond the promotional period. They’re super easy to liquidate and I’m out of the store in a matter of minutes.

While they’re not the cheapest way to manufacture spend, they are the fastest. With American Express taking steps to restrict manufactured spending and rumors that Citi is headed in that direction, I’m exploring alternatives. Cash back cards like the Fidelity Rewards Visa are good alternatives. I like the flexibility of cash and the fact that Fidelity and Discover (for the time being) are MS-friendly.

Earn cash back rewards has its challenges. For starters, GiftCardMall doesn’t accept Discover Cards. Giftcardss.com is an option, but the fees are higher. While I can use the Fidelity Rewards Visa at GiftCardMall, I really don’t like waiting almost two weeks for the cards to arrive. It greatly limits the amount of gift card churning I can do.

If Simon Mall decides to extend this promotion, I’ll definitely keep buying the $1,000 Visa gift cards using my cash back cards.

How was your manufactured spending week?

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28 responses to “My week in manufactured spending: 2,068 points and $374.19 cash back”

thefrugaltourist

July 30, 2019

HI Arianna
For some reason, Staples no longer appears in Dosh anymore. Do you happen to know the reason?

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1. Burton
  
  July 30, 2019
  
  Dosh drops places regularly. They used to have Sam’s Club which was amazing for my normal spend plus it covered the fees on $250 GC but they dropped it in March or so.
  
  Reply
  1. Burton
    
    July 30, 2019
    
    I only see restaurants and clothing store in mine now. Struggling to get to the cash out point and have only earned a few dollars since they dropped Sam’s as I didnt have a convenient staples.
    
    Reply
2. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  Probably dead. 🙁
  
  Reply
T.

July 30, 2019

When you liquidate 4x $1000 for 4 MOs and 4 swipes, do you need to provide your SS # in addition to your DL, since it’s over $3000? Or does DL requirement replaces SS requirement on over $3000 purchases of MOs?

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1. Ric
  
  July 30, 2019
  
  Social + DL
  
  Reply
2. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  I hand them my ID and type in my SSN.
  
  Reply
Bob

July 30, 2019

I did SimonMall for the first time – small purchase but WMT was allowing me to purchase MOs. Luckily a grocery store did so will go back this weekend for more of the $1000. I had a couple from Staples, got the Dosh slowly but they are taking 24 hours to give the $5 bucks and they stopped on Saturday. Yesterday I tried to buy MO from the grocery store and one card didn’t work, the attendant said they do not allow so would not allow to me liquidate my other cards. So that was frustrating,

Reply
1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  It can be a hit/miss. Keep trying!
  
  Reply
Ric

July 30, 2019

My week of MS was exciting because the $1,000 GCs from Simon Mall allowed me to do it on a big scale. This week was my first time doing such a high amount and has been challenging but interesting. I did 73K in Simon Mall, 4k in Staples and also did two orders in GiftCardmall.com with my Amex Marriott Bonvoy.
My earnings have been $45 in Dosh plus $159.57 cashback. Also, I was able to earn 12k capital one miles, 3k Amex Marriott points, 26,282 Chase UR, 5k AAdvantage miles, 5k Sears Shop your way and 14k Arrival Plus points.
All these earnings after deducting MOs Fees, GCs fees and gas, I don’t count time anymore because I found a WM close to work that I can go walking and spend 20 mins liquidating 4k, the bank also is down the building, so after a couple of months of trial and error, I have found what is working for me. I am not planning to buy more from Simon Mall promotion, because I am leaving for vacation and I don’t know how I can liquidate GCs in New Orleans, Pensacola and Destin area, so I will appreciate any inputs of what is working for you in these areas.

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1. Kirk
  
  July 30, 2019
  
  Liquidate gift cards at WMT and Publix in the Fl panhandle. I did a 5 swipe money order at a Publix grocery store last week in the panhandle. They asked why 5 swipes and I replied because I want to take the money out of 5 accounts. He said, “ as long as it’s debit…” and proceeded.
  
  Reply
  1. Ric
    
    August 2, 2019
    
    Awesome, I will try. What about WMs?
    
    Reply
    1. Kirk
      
      August 2, 2019
      
      Sorry, when I said WMT I meant WalMart. Yes WMs are no issue in the Fl Panhandle but of course you could find a rouge.
      Publix charges $0.89 but max MO Amt is just $500 thus doubling your liquidation cost.
      
      Reply
2. VJ
  
  August 10, 2019
  
  Are you still able to get points through GiftCardMall from AMEX?
  
  I see they are cracking down and no longer giving points on Simon mall.
  
  Reply
Kai

July 30, 2019

Question for the group from a newbie, so you have a secondary bank account to deposit your MO? Also, does wmt make you fill them out right there! Ie: who they are from/to? Your bank never questions that they are from and to the same person or so you just put to cash?

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1. Kirk
  
  July 30, 2019
  
  I only had one WMT ask to fill the MO out at the store. That was in Virginia. The only time I did one in that state. She said it was the law there? But other than that, you make it out to yourself (or whoever) whenever you want.
  I only had a bank ask me once if I was in the rental business and I replied no. My experience say banks don’t care.
  
  Reply
2. Burton
  
  July 30, 2019
  
  I am low volume (so far average about $1k/mo in one or two deposits) but I just do ATM deposits to a national bank that I’ve had open since I was a child and have never had an issue. It is very convenient as there is an ATM in the building I work in that I walk by every morning.
  
  All of my automated banking is through a different online bank so if they decide shut down my account for MO deposits it wouldn’t really impact me other than needing to walk a block further if I need cash from an ATM.
  
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3. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  Yes. WM doesn’t make you fill it out – you can do that later. My bank hasn’t had an issue with it so far.
  
  Reply
Carol

July 30, 2019

I can’t seem to get DOSH to work for me… I put in my bank account and now it won’t let me put in a credit card unless it’s associated with that bank account. I tried to delete the bank account and start over, but it won’t let me. So, any advice on how I can use a credit card with DOSH would be greatly appreciated!!

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1. Ed. C
  
  July 31, 2019
  
  I decided after reading so many posts about the Dosh app to sign up for it (sorry Arianna, I forgot about your referral code). It must be locale specific, because hardly any of the stores and restaurants featured on their website show up on my app, including Sam’s and Staples which are both less than 1 mile from my home.
  
  Right now, I can’t see myself using it unless at least those 2 show up on my app.
  
  Reply
Ed. C

July 31, 2019

After reading some reviews on the Play Store, I learned that the merchants ARE geographical specific, so just because Sam’s or Staples are being paid out in one place doesn’t mean they are everywhere. Very frustrating that they have this business model. Guess I have to keep checking the app to see if anything changes for my area.

Good news, Arianna. I found the place in the app to add your referral code even after signing up!

Reply
1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  Thank you Ed!
  
  Reply
Greg

July 31, 2019

Question about liquidating GCs at WMT for MOs. If I buy 4 x $1,000 MOs using 4 Simon $1,000 GCs can I pay the MO fee, 4 x $0.88 in cash?

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1. Ron
  
  July 31, 2019
  
  Yes, but don’t do it. Lots of incompetent cashiers. Just do $999.12
  
  Reply
2. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  Yup!
  
  Reply
T.

August 1, 2019

I believe with 4 x $999.12 there are more chances for a cashier to make a mistake (mistype) while entering this amount four times. I always ( almost always) pay MO fee in cash. I also occasionally buy GCs in the amount of $499.88 ( or with this promo $999.88) and ask cashiers for a MO for $499 ( or $999). This way the MO fee is already ‘built’ into the GC, and it’s simpler for cashiers and for me

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1. Ric
  
  August 2, 2019
  
  I always ask for $999.12 MO in those WMs that allow me to swipe four times with GCs; otherwise, I ask $995, because they know when you are using GCS as soon as you ask for $999.12 – $999 MOs. [YMMV] Then I apply the extra $4.12 in Amazon GCs.
  
  Reply
  1. burtonmn
    
    August 25, 2019
    
    Same , especially when buying at the grocery store. I usually pick up a few things while I’m there anyway and then zero out any low balance gift cards at the self checkout which dutifully drains the balance then gives the new amount due.
    
    Reply