Jan 3, 2015, 3:13 am
Last edit by: CWAL
Welcome to Manufactured Spending. If you are new here, please spend some time reading before posting. Most likely your questions have already been answered multiple times. Consider deals that you share. These threads are searchable by Google. A volatile deal may be worth holding close to the vest.
Hints
1) On FT, topics are heavily consolidated. Sometimes the title of the thread and first few posts may not properly reflect the broad range of discussion inside the thread. Be sure to visit any thread relating to the product or service you want to learn more about because you might be surprised by how in depth the discussion really is. High "View Count" and "Replies" are good indicators of active "master threads" on a specific topic.
2) Use Google to search FT. It works a lot better than the built-in search.
Important Rules
1) MSing is very YMMV. It varies by store, manager, and right down to the cashier working at the moment. That being said, always be nice and courteous in the face of rejection. The biggest secret for success is to lay low so you can try again.
2) DO NOT spend more than you can afford. START WITH SMALL AMOUNTS TO TEST THE WATER! As an example.. don't start with a $5000 purchase of VGCs if you can't afford to float that much! Instead, buy one and try it, and scale up once you are comfortable with a new method. It's easy to lose track, or get robbed, when you are handling so much money. Getting a refund is NOT always possible.
3) DO NOT ask employees, cashiers, customer service representatives, etc... about how to MS, or about things you read on this forum. The information you read here are very specific, unknown, legal uses of products or services. Most employees, cashiers, and even managers do not know about them. At best you'll get bad information. At worst you'll create a lot of unnecessary misunderstanding.
4) It bears repeating that there are no guarantees. you could easily buy $10,000 in gift cards or some other instrument, only to discover that your method for liquidating them vanishes the very next day. MS is not "normal" financial activity ("normal" being defined by the banks), and thus is often perceived as "suspicious" even if it is legal.
5) never underestimate the risk of criminal activity. gift cards can easily be stolen, loaded onto a compromised account, loaded in a debit card skimmer, or even fraudulent (e.g., an already used card put back on the rack).
If you have a question that does not seem to fit anywhere, or you have not found an appropriate place for it, post it here.
- A helpful note from seat17D about some of the inherent risks of MS
Hints
1) On FT, topics are heavily consolidated. Sometimes the title of the thread and first few posts may not properly reflect the broad range of discussion inside the thread. Be sure to visit any thread relating to the product or service you want to learn more about because you might be surprised by how in depth the discussion really is. High "View Count" and "Replies" are good indicators of active "master threads" on a specific topic.
2) Use Google to search FT. It works a lot better than the built-in search.
Important Rules
1) MSing is very YMMV. It varies by store, manager, and right down to the cashier working at the moment. That being said, always be nice and courteous in the face of rejection. The biggest secret for success is to lay low so you can try again.
2) DO NOT spend more than you can afford. START WITH SMALL AMOUNTS TO TEST THE WATER! As an example.. don't start with a $5000 purchase of VGCs if you can't afford to float that much! Instead, buy one and try it, and scale up once you are comfortable with a new method. It's easy to lose track, or get robbed, when you are handling so much money. Getting a refund is NOT always possible.
3) DO NOT ask employees, cashiers, customer service representatives, etc... about how to MS, or about things you read on this forum. The information you read here are very specific, unknown, legal uses of products or services. Most employees, cashiers, and even managers do not know about them. At best you'll get bad information. At worst you'll create a lot of unnecessary misunderstanding.
4) It bears repeating that there are no guarantees. you could easily buy $10,000 in gift cards or some other instrument, only to discover that your method for liquidating them vanishes the very next day. MS is not "normal" financial activity ("normal" being defined by the banks), and thus is often perceived as "suspicious" even if it is legal.
5) never underestimate the risk of criminal activity. gift cards can easily be stolen, loaded onto a compromised account, loaded in a debit card skimmer, or even fraudulent (e.g., an already used card put back on the rack).
If you have a question that does not seem to fit anywhere, or you have not found an appropriate place for it, post it here.
- A helpful note from seat17D about some of the inherent risks of MS
New to Manufactured Spending? Start Here (2015)
Jan 11, 2015, 9:41 am
#46
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 215
@Atxbobcat: Since you are new and trying to meet a spend, I would look into following:
1. Serve
2. Prepay utilities such as gas, electric, phone, cable, etc. - assuming they will allow it and you can manage the float.
3. A low-key approach for AFT is to load $800 on each card towards the end of the month.
Then take out $400 in January and $400 in February. There will be no Amex fee since it's your first load of the month. The only fee will be $3 load and the atm fee. Depending on where you live, there are free ATMs, and Costco has a low-fee atm. I believe it's $1.25.
1. Serve
2. Prepay utilities such as gas, electric, phone, cable, etc. - assuming they will allow it and you can manage the float.
3. A low-key approach for AFT is to load $800 on each card towards the end of the month.
Then take out $400 in January and $400 in February. There will be no Amex fee since it's your first load of the month. The only fee will be $3 load and the atm fee. Depending on where you live, there are free ATMs, and Costco has a low-fee atm. I believe it's $1.25.
Jan 11, 2015, 11:17 am
#47
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 169
@Atxbobcat: Since you are new and trying to meet a spend, I would look into following:
1. Serve
2. Prepay utilities such as gas, electric, phone, cable, etc. - assuming they will allow it and you can manage the float.
3. A low-key approach for AFT is to load $800 on each card towards the end of the month.
Then take out $400 in January and $400 in February. There will be no Amex fee since it's your first load of the month. The only fee will be $3 load and the atm fee. Depending on where you live, there are free ATMs, and Costco has a low-fee atm. I believe it's $1.25.
1. Serve
2. Prepay utilities such as gas, electric, phone, cable, etc. - assuming they will allow it and you can manage the float.
3. A low-key approach for AFT is to load $800 on each card towards the end of the month.
Then take out $400 in January and $400 in February. There will be no Amex fee since it's your first load of the month. The only fee will be $3 load and the atm fee. Depending on where you live, there are free ATMs, and Costco has a low-fee atm. I believe it's $1.25.
Jan 11, 2015, 5:46 pm
#48
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 66
I have used B/P extensively to pay for almost all my bills except those I can pay on Evolve and earn 1% from DiscoverIT. You can also do regular spend for small amount like drinks, fastfood, etc; with a lot of activity going on in your account, it would be "relatively" safe to w/d via ATM up to $750/day using MoneyPass ATM for no fee or also w/d to your linked bank account. It is NOT advisable to do bank nor ATM w/d frequently because once your account is scrutinized by humans and account shows you've just been loading and depositing to your bank account and/or w/d via ATM, you'll likely get suspended, if not outright shutdown. I suggest you read Serve's Cardholder Members Agreement for more details and be informed which activities might put you at risk for shutdown.
Jan 11, 2015, 8:58 pm
#49
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 6
Yes it's me again. Sorry to be such a bother. I just continue to muck this up.
So my wife's phone (Samsung Galaxy S3) is Softcard capable but does not have the sim. Went to an AT&T Store today and they were out of stock of the enhanced Sim I needed, so I will try another AT&T store tomorrow. That's fine.
But my phone is softcard enabled and the AT&T rep when I bought the new phone would not let me leave the store without setting up Softcard (at that point ISIS). So he skipped through the option to sign up with Serve. Now when I go into the app and select add a Serve account it sends me to the external site.
I have looked and looked and I can't figure out what to do to sign up my account for Serve with Softcard. I tried to uninstall the app but it won't let me do that.
Do I call someone and have them reset my account? or am I just SOL on my account and just need to set up my wife with softcard and mine without softcard and deal with the smaller load on one account?
Thanks again for your continued support. Sorry to keep coming up with more and more questions.
So my wife's phone (Samsung Galaxy S3) is Softcard capable but does not have the sim. Went to an AT&T Store today and they were out of stock of the enhanced Sim I needed, so I will try another AT&T store tomorrow. That's fine.
But my phone is softcard enabled and the AT&T rep when I bought the new phone would not let me leave the store without setting up Softcard (at that point ISIS). So he skipped through the option to sign up with Serve. Now when I go into the app and select add a Serve account it sends me to the external site.
I have looked and looked and I can't figure out what to do to sign up my account for Serve with Softcard. I tried to uninstall the app but it won't let me do that.
Do I call someone and have them reset my account? or am I just SOL on my account and just need to set up my wife with softcard and mine without softcard and deal with the smaller load on one account?
Thanks again for your continued support. Sorry to keep coming up with more and more questions.
Jan 12, 2015, 6:28 am
#50
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,207
If I can afford to float the capital for a month, is it simpler to load as much as I can online from the card itself and then go buy the rest in gift cards that I then hold on to until the following month when my $1500 online load ability resets than to deal with a store?
Jan 12, 2015, 2:02 pm
#51
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 58
My friend recently got a Redbird and she's asking what the 5% target points people mentioned were about.
Jan 12, 2015, 2:13 pm
#52
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: LAX
Programs: AA, TY, UR, UA, US, WN, MR, SPG
Posts: 1,453
The Target REDcard (of any kind: Credit, Debit, Prepaid) gives you 5% off at Target when you use it to make purchases at Target. In other words, using the Redbird for its intended purpose, which is not manufactured spend.
Jan 12, 2015, 2:22 pm
#53
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 169
But my phone is softcard enabled and the AT&T rep when I bought the new phone would not let me leave the store without setting up Softcard (at that point ISIS). So he skipped through the option to sign up with Serve. Now when I go into the app and select add a Serve account it sends me to the external site.
Jan 12, 2015, 6:35 pm
#54
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 6
A five minute call to AT&T got the Softcard account deactivated so that I could sign up again like a new user. Signed up and set up Serve no problem.
Yay!
Yay!
Jan 13, 2015, 10:03 am
#55
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 22
To confirm, since it isn't explicitly stated anywhere, if my fiancé has a REDbird and it's registered to her, if we go to Target I will be able to load to it from a CC with my name on it, correct?
Jan 13, 2015, 10:20 am
#56
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: LAX
Programs: AA, TY, UR, UA, US, WN, MR, SPG
Posts: 1,453
That's not guaranteed. Chances are good if you're both there, calm and polite, and give the CSR no reason to question the transaction. If they check ID for the load, they may deny it, but you're probably good to go, especially if you are both there and, I'll emphasize again, are calm and polite. I firmly believe those two qualities are absolutely fundamental to long-term success in MS.
Jan 13, 2015, 10:08 pm
#57
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: New York City + Vail, CO
Programs: American Airlines Executive Platinum, Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite
Posts: 3,224
If you're really concerned about it, you can add her as an authorized user to your card and the issuer will send a card that has her name.
Jan 14, 2015, 5:09 pm
#58
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 18
since Serve allowed limit is $1K for reg Serve or $1.5K for Serve-SC per calendar month, I suggest you try with a small amount and see how it gets processed. If it goes through as purchase/sale, then you can keep using it to load up to limit. With a small test load, the most CA you'll probably pay is $3 up to $5. Then you can come back to report the results to PIF 
Jan 14, 2015, 6:11 pm
#59
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3,688
IMO, both of them carry the same risk in terms of getting shutdown if you do a load and drain strategy; the choice is yours if you want to proceed.
Jan 16, 2015, 8:18 am
#60
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 19
Tips for newbies (since I am one)....
I've had plenty of success with VGCs and Kate. I saw my local gas station sold variable MCGCs up to $500. Bought one and tried to unload via Kate. Entered Pin and got the dreaded 9-digit pin screen (from my reading there is no workaround). Tried a different day at the MoneyCenter and got a "tender not allowed" message. Still reading on if I did something wrong there or not.
I've had plenty of success with VGCs and Kate. I saw my local gas station sold variable MCGCs up to $500. Bought one and tried to unload via Kate. Entered Pin and got the dreaded 9-digit pin screen (from my reading there is no workaround). Tried a different day at the MoneyCenter and got a "tender not allowed" message. Still reading on if I did something wrong there or not.