raccah

I did that and it says that the points are applied already to my account! OK! I know clicked on the link that would get me to the point where I could report missing points and THANK GOODNESS the purchases are finally there with the points pending!

Thanks guys!

raccah

I thought I would add a few thoughts here after working this plan a bit:

1) Shop Kicks only allows rewards twice a week and in theory once a day - but i failed to test that because of the next point.
2) You can spend Best Buy GC to buy VGC, 100% allowed by Best Buy corporate,a nd in the stores I have tested. However, if you want ShopKick points - you must spend money, not Best Buy GC alone.
3) One time I bought 400 in VGC and paid for the fees and got the Shopkick points for the 200 bux. However, if I paid everything with my Best Buy GC, I got NO Shop Kick points - SO BE CAREFUL there!
4) best Buy points absolutely track and are rewarded but man are they SLOOOW!! I just received my first Best Buy GC for something I bought on 11/5. Do not freak out when you do not see your points. Login to your My Best Buy account (you will see no rewards). Then click on the "my rewards" link. This will take you to a page showing no rewards then click on "View Points History" and you should see at the bottom your new purchase, if you do not then you failed to give the cashier your number associated with the account and to fix this click on "report missing points" link and fill out the form.

cfisher6

While BB might allow registers to purchase VGCs with BB GCs, I have been told no each time. This part of the deal is still a YMMV operation that should be tested on a small denomination GC.

jonnyd13

Have seen the same results. Some say can't buy other gift cards with a BB gc.

Do reward zone certs act like normal BB gcs? I know it's a non-intelligent question, but I can't seem to find an answer.

raccah

I am going there soon, I will reply with my experience, which seems to be unique, which almost never happens to me

mithrin

Reward zone certs are definitely NOT like BB gcs.
--pre-tax total must be >= cert value or cert will not be used. Getting a $49.99 item with a $50 cert is a no go. You have to add another item to break $50 pre-tax.
--certs cannot be used for VGC. Transaction denied at register. Certs can be used for Playstation Network cards though.
--No sales tax on cert amount. Basically processes as a $ off purchase, not a form of payment. I got a receiver for $19.99 more than my certs and only paid sales tax on the $19.99.

Once you hit premium on the BB reward account, you can choose to bank points, instead of having certs automatically generated every $5-20. Much more convenient to wait until you have something to buy than worry about the expiration dates. Also, BB can now look up your certs for you--no need to print them out. Now I just go, pick out what I want to buy, calculate the price and then go on my phone and request the certs. They are available by the time I hit the checkout line.

xoxx

Did everyone else bestbuy pull all visa gift cards off the shelf?
Mine did

godsquare

Ditto. They pulled out before the black friday event and never returned.

nmp0

I was making good money for a month doing this as a cashout for amex gift cards but then there were not cards over $25 to be had online. I tried buying discounted e-cards and then turning them into physical cards on the best buy website but they wouldn't process my order.

I ended up using my e-cards for tablets on black friday and will hopefully be able to buy discounted physical cards online after Christmas.

mithrin

My local stores still have plenty of Visa GCs stocked. They moved them closer to the checkout, but they are still there.

One of them was just about out of them a couple months back, the number of color choices was shrinking--but then they got a new shipment in and had 50+ of each kind.

HikerT

Definitely not 100%. Was working fine for me until one day I ran into a new clerk that said they were specifically told no in training. Manager overheard conversation, made a few calls, and confirmed there was a recent memo that specifically said no Visa GCs with BB GCs. I objected, saying the memo was probably referring to buying with reward points. She said no, the memo specifically said no Visa GCs with BB GCs. Since then I have avoided the clerk and the manager, but definitely a YMMV thing, not 100%.

cbender49

Best Buy in PA told me last month that they haven't had any GC shipments in nearly a year. The manager thought maybe the one that were there somewhat recently were just the end of the inventory slowly drying up. I haven't been back to check since.

cuebert

I may try getting a VGC at my local BBY using the $25 off $250 Amex Sync offer.

mithrin

You'll want to get 2 x $200 to max out rewards on 2 activation fees or 1 x $200 + $50 Amazon/BB/Itunes GC to hit $250 without paying the second VGC activation fee.

HikerT

BB GC is the most valuable of those 3. BB GCs actually sell for more than Amazon GCS in the secondary market, no doubt because of the YMMV loophole buy Visa GCs.