S.P.A.M. - 18.24% cashback (or 14.84% + miles) on eBay

Various stackable cash-back offers:
1. BigCrumbs (http://j.mp/cashback4ebay) 3.24% cashback* (36% of sellers fees = 0.36 * 0.09 = 0.0324)
2. Chase AARP 5% Cashback (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other-credit-card-programs/1181010-chase-aarp-rewards-visa-5-cashback-first-6-months.html) (better thread at FW (http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1072125/))
3. Regular 2% eBay Bucks
4. Bonus 8% eBay Bucks until 18 May if you use Win7 + IE9

I knew about all the rest, but #4 I just discovered a day or two ago. Here's the scoop:

Here's a coupon site (http://dealspl.us/ebay-coupons) that details the offer and links to the T&C of the deal, which state that it's a targeted offer:
Earn 10% in eBay Bucks, Plus a $5 eBay Buck Bonus via IE9

Reap extra Rewards

1. Download Internet Explorer 9
2. Pin the eBay website to your taskbar
3. Go to eBay through this pinned short-cut to make purchases*
4. See the extra eBay Bucks hit your account within 7 days

Offer open only to invited eBay Bucks members.
Ends May 18, 2011.

If you're sharp, you'll notice it's targeted. I was deflated when I saw that. However, I resolved to try anyway. After following the instructions to download IE9 from eBay and installed it and rebooted, when I logged into eBay in IE9, it gave me this page (http://signin.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SignInRTMMessage&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fmy.ebay.com%2Fws%2FeBayISAPI.dll%3 FMyEbayBeta%26MyEbay%3D%26CurrentPage%3DMyeBayBidd ing%26ssPageName%3DSTRK%253AME%253ALNLK%253AMEBIDX %26gbh%3D1%26guest%3D1&mK=M_183188_C_73769&mW=750&mH=250&e=1) which invited me explicitly to participate. (I printed to PDF immediately.) I don't know if they "target" everyone as soon as you log in with IE9 or whether I was targeted before and they just hadn't bothered to tell me yet. YMMV.

I don't need to tell you the unlimited potential this has to harvest miles (which you can swap out for the 5% Chase AARP; in that case, you can swap in the 1.6% BigCrumbs cashback for Amex GCs (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/1137641-amex-gift-cards-via-rebate-websites-mint-purchases-currently-does-not-work.html)) by buying semi-liquid assets on eBay. Feel free to post ideas. If you appreciate this post and aren't already a BigCrumbs member, it'd be a nice thank you to sign up through (url removed by moderator).

I weighed the benefit/reward ratio of sharing this only with friends via PM vs. posting openly and opted for the latter because it's a short-term promotion. As always, be careful and think like they think to not raise flags.

* That's for auction-style listings, Buy It Now is much more complicated (http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html#fvf_fixed) and the % fee is based upon purchase price

Seems like quite a project, to me anyway.

But could work assuming everyone actually gives you your cash back due.

I think buying a gift card and selling it immediately seems the most easily doable. With the 14% rebate should cover eBay fees and Paypal fees. You could come out ahead with the miles.

Other than that I do not see how you can convert the goods into cash.

Off the SPAM forum.

Other than that I do not see how you can convert the goods into cash.

I'm assuming you use the accumulated Ebay Bucks to purchase cash ($2 bill auctions for example) and thus 'cash out' via that

But I've neverused ebay bucks so I'm not entirely sure if that's how it works

A BigCrumbs conga already exists.

Spiff, S.P.A.M. moderator