Last week was probably the best week I’ve had in years. Both in terms of manufactured spending and professionally. I made the decision to quit a freelance gig I’ve had for seven years. It was just creating a lot of frustration and as soon as I quit, other opportunities came flooding in that I’m really excited about.
That positivity lead to a surge of productivity and I managed to knock out a bunch of blog posts and meet my manufactured spending goals last week. Below is a summary of how I earned 60,530 points and miles for $213.23 out of pocket.
Update: Reader Joseph shared that a lot of readers haven’t earned points with Amex cards at Simon Mall since about mid-April. I’ll provide an update on this month’s points posting next week, when my points are supposed to post.
American AAdvantage Miles
I placed three Visa gift card orders via GiftCardMall and purchased another $4,500 at Simon Mall. This cost me $89.10 in fees, minus $45 cash back from Rakuten (formerly eBates). My out-of-pocket cost came to $44.10, which is higher than if I’d gone the GCM route but still not bad.
Buying gift cards at Simon Mall isn’t ideal because of the substantially higher fees, but I do it from time to time when I need a lot of gift cards fast.
GiftCardMall orders take at least a week to arrive, which isn’t ideal when you’re trying to pay off credit cards before the statement closing and payment due dates.
Points earned: 9,088 AAdvantage miles
Fees: $53.55 + $35.55 = $89.10
Rakuten cash back: $45
Total cost: $44.10
American Express Membership Rewards
I was trying to take advantage of my brother and sister’s willingness to go on a Walmart run with me this weekend. So I had him purchase $16,000 worth of Simon Mall Visa gift cards so we had enough cards for all three of us to max out the Walmart money order purchase limit.
Of that large purchase, I had him charge $4,500 on his Amex Everyday Preferred card. I wasn’t excited about the $35.55 in gift card fees we had to pay, but I was able to off-set it with some cash back purchases (more on that later).
Points earned: 4535 Membership Rewards points
Total cost: $35.55
Cashback Cards
I use cashback cards like the Fidelity Rewards and Discover It Miles card mostly to off-set manufactured spending fees. While I didn’t put quite as much spend on these cards as I would have liked, it still helped.
I used the Fidelity Rewards Visa to purchase $3,000 worth of GiftCardMall Visa gift cards at 2% cash back. Plus another $2,000 in Simon Mall Visas.
Lastly, I used the Discover It Miles card for $2,000 worth of Simon Mall Visa gift cards. It only earns 1.5% cash back at this point, but it’s something. In total, my cash back haul after fees came to $93.87
Cash back earned: $131.27
Fees: $35.70 + $31.60 = $67.40
Rakuten cash back: $30
Total profit: $93.87
Citi ThankYou Points
I’m finding great uses for my Citi ThankYou points lately, so I’m always happy to put a few GiftCardMall purchases on these cards. I placed three orders last week for $1500 each. This generated 4,553 points, $53.55 in fees and $45 cash back via Rakuten.
Between this and the category bonuses I’ve been earning from my Citi Prestige card, I’m happy with my overall Citi ThankYou points haul this month.
Points earned: 4,553 Citi ThankYou points
Fees: $53.55
Rakuten cash back: $45
Total cost: $8.55
Chase Ultimate Rewards
I made more of an effort this past week to boost my Ultimate Rewards balance. During the Staples fee-free Visa promotion all I managed to buy was $1,000 worth of gift cards with my Chase Ink Plus card, earning me 5,000 points.
It was disappointing because my local store wouldn’t accept credit cards and the one a few exits out of town was completely wiped out.
In addition, I ordered $3,000 worth of Visa gift cards through GiftCardMall using the Chase Freedom Unlimited. That’s one of the best credit cards for manufactured spending, since it earns 1.5 points everywhere.
I also put about $14,608 worth of Simon Mall Visas on the Chase Sapphire Preferred. That brings my total to 24,161 Ultimate Rewards points earned at a cost of $116.30. While I’m happy with this haul, I’m going to make more of an effort to generate most spend via GiftCardMall to keep costs down.
Points earned: 24,161
Fees: $146.30
Rakuten cash back: $30
Total cost: $116.30
Korean SkyPass Miles
My goal this year is to get my Korean SkyPass balance up to at least 80,000 miles. I’m about 60,000 miles short of that goal, so I realize I need to ramp it up. Last week, I managed three $1500 GiftCardMall orders for a total of 4553 SkyPass miles.
Fees: $53.55
Rakuten cash back: $45
Total cost: $8.55
Marriott Bonvoy
My dad’s Marriott Bonvoy card got targeted for the 3x bonus point promotion, which I haven’t maximized much. But I do use the card as a back-up when other cards get maxed out and I want to keep to a regular churning schedule.
I put just $3,000 worth of GiftCardMall orders on the card, along with $4,500 worth of Visa gift cards at Simon Mall. Of the $71.25 gift card fees, I recouped $30 through Rakuten, bringing my out of pocket for 13,640 points to $41.25.
Points earned: 13,640
Fees: $71.25
Rakuten cash back: $30
Total cost: $41.25
Final Manufactured Spending Tally: 60,530 points at a cost of $213.23
Overall, I earned 60,530 points and miles at a cost of $160.43, plus $52.80 in money order fees. To give you some perspective, 60,000 miles with many rewards programs is enough for a roundtrip economy class trip to Europe or a one-way business class ticket to Asia. Not bad for $160.43.
I can do better than this though. I can get a couple of extra GoBank cards and incorporate more cash back into my routine. Not to mention credit card category bonuses that I could utilize better than I currently am. I’ll get there.
I’d love to hear from you: How many points and miles did you manage to earn last week and using which methods?
[jetpack_subscription_form title=”Subscribe via email for more points, miles and free travel”]
That’s a decent week. Well done
Thank you!
Did your MR points actually post to your account is are you listing your projection?
My projection. I’ll update this post when I have that
I just got the shut down email from American Express Bluebird, just after two months of use.
You’re the second reader to report this today. It sucks, but that’s become the norm with Bluebird. Hope you can find another MS option that lasts a bit longer!
It is happening to everyone (Doctor Off Credit & Reddit) I just re applied and was approved, so I will keep you posted.
This is great info. Thanks!
Sure thing!
I love your series “My week in MS”! Would also be helpful to know how much of that you liquidated via MOs, how much via GoBank, BP, etc.
Btw, is there any way to offset SimonMall purchases – maybe buy online using Rakuten or BF portal?
I forget to include that sometimes, but I will! Unfortunately Simon purchases can’t really be off-set. Unless they run their $0 fee promos (it’s been a couple of years). That’s why I utilize cash back cards – to cover those fees I can’t recoup via cashback portals.
Ariana, Do you ever figure out the time spent generating these points. I’d be interested to hear how long these 60,000 points took to generate.
Thanks, Ariana! I agree with @T. It would be helpful to know how you allocate your liquidation. I get strange looks from cashiers when I buy just a couple of thousand dollars worth of MO’s. Even had a couple of CSRs come over to see what I was doing a couple of times.
I built relationships with the cashiers at this store and they’re ok with me buying up to $8k per day.
I am interested to know if your Amex Simon Mall purchases generated any points.
We’ll find out in a couple of days!
Dumb question here, but how do you get rid of all those Visa gift cards?? (I have a drawer full of them that seem to be a hassle to get rid of.) Thanks!
Money order purchases.
Managed to get $5,800 worth of VGC’s at Staples with my Chase Ink Cash card which gave me 29,000 UR points. Bought 6 money orders with them from local grocery store that only charges 79¢ per money order for total cost of $4.74.
I’m jealous!
I could have bought $60,000 of money orders for $52.80 in money order fees. How did your total hit so high?
That is exactly what I paid.
I did the math wrong! LOL
Ha! I’ve been known to do that on occasion. Glad it wasn’t me this time. 🙂
You might attract some unwanted attention from the Federales.
Maybe. But at least I have a legit explanation.
I have a couple of questions, Why did you order $4500 in Simon Mall GCs, when you can order $5000? Any issue in particular? I think Sawgbucks offers 1% in Simon mall.
Also, All Simon and Giftcardmall purchases are posted as Gift Cards in my CCs, Did you have any issues with Chase and Amex before? please.
Thank you.
It was part of a larger order that I split between different credit cards. No issues with Chase, but I’m waiting on Amex.
two questions: can you use ebates for GCM? also, how do you use your citi thank you points?
you can use ebates for GCM @ 1% back. best deal is to buy 1500 at a time to negate shipping fees
thankyou point tips
https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/citi-thank-you-points-sweet-spots/
Ebates is now Rakuten and yes you can. Though I’ve decided not to use them over some shady stuff they pulled. I’ll probably transfer the Citi ThankYou points to Lifemiles or JetBlue.
Ariana,
I just got 2 different credit cards with 2 unauthorized charges after I used them in GiftCardmall.com, so I am just cancelling my other 4 credit cards I have used there. It seems a lot of people is getting this issues.
I use to live in the midwest and then Texas where buying money orders was easy! Now, I am in the sf bay area and feel pretty clueless. Do you know where one can buy money orders around here? Thank you
This post might help: https://www.pointchaser.com/manufactured-spending-bay-area-tips/
Could you use PayPal Friend and Family to liquidate your GCs by paying yourself? You could set up a proxy account and send yourself the money without ever leaving the comfort of your own home.
I did something like that with Google Wallet years ago and got shut down. Paypal has been known to shut stuff like this down and hold on to your funds for a long time. I personally wouldn’t go this route.
3% fee to boot
with or without the 3% fee? i’ve done it to meet minimum spends and just eaten the fee but don’t use it to MS
And nobody’s bank is closing them down permanently as Chase did to me in 2013?
That’s always a possibility. I think Chase takes issue with MO payments/deposits as well as credit cycling.