Offset method
 

Not pretending this is some new revelation or anything, but was wondering how many out there MS with the "offset method".
When I play Roulette, I make A Small Even-Money Bet to cover my potential loss, on the numbers I Play inside.

I just started this with MS. I recently was approved for United Club Card (1.5 miles per $). Long story short, basically, based on my location and travel needs, I need as many United miles as possible.

So, now, whenever I go to WM, I buy 8 VGC's. I buy 4 with United Club, then I buy 4 with Spark (ergo, the offset). So, I earn $5 on Each VGC purchased with Spark ($20), to offset The $20 I spend on my 4 VGC's bought on United Club.
Sooooooo, on 4, $500 VGC's purchased with United Club, I earn 3000 miles (basically free because cost was offset with Spark purchases). If I do this 3 Times per Week, Thats 9k miles Weekly, approx 450k miles Annually, pretty much free. Even when I discontinue United Club (after First Free Year), even if I do the same with United Explorer (1 mile per $), Thats 2k miles Daily, 6k Weekly, and potentially 300k miles, basically, at net zero cost.

I have MS'd on United before. I have MS'd on Spark. But never together like this. It seems like virtually limitless free miles because of this "offset" (Im sure you're tired of that word now, LOL).
And this estimate of mine is based on 1 store, 3 Times Weekly (because thats about what I do now). If I were to do this more often, I dont see why I (or anyone else) would ever not be able to fly at will, first class, anywhere I want, for virtually free. I will scale this Big Time.

Im sure many others do this, just curious as to methods, math, particulars.....
Have A Great Memorial Day, friends!

What is spark? The capital one card?

Yes sir. A Clean, Simple 2% CB on all purchases. Thus, on Each $500 VGC, earn About $5 Profit ($10 CB - $5 VGC Fee). Previously, I had been just buying 8, VGC's with Spark, and earning $40 per trip, Profit. Now, I thought, why not use Spark to offset Fees for buying VGC's that earn miles. At this point, what I want is United miles, for myself and my wife to visit family out east, as often as I want, and now it seems like they can basically be obtained, at will, scott free. Could potentially never have to buy a ticket again. :)
This combined with churn Bonuses. :) :) :)

and how are you going to unload the 8 VGC without any additional cost?

LOL, I buy 4 MO's (Cost=$2.80). I Said "virtually free", not free, LOL.@:-) I get 3k miles for less than $3 Bucks, net.

You have to consider your time buying and liquidating said gcs. @ 1% profit, its better to get a part time job.

.....

I have A Full-Time job LOL. Im in the area where a WM is located 3 Times Weekly. I can do this in 15 Minutes. And If Im earning 3k miles per Day, at virtually no cost, Im earning waaaaaaaay more than 1% Profit. :) My profit Margin is pretty close to infinite. I was quite good at calculus, however, this was Many Years Ago, so my memory might fail me a bit, LOL :) :) ! But I DO Know that earning virtually free miles is EXTREMELY Profitable. The whole name of the game is (wait for it)....OFFSET.

I'd use the Citi Double Cash card in place of the Spark card if you have it. Citi bank doesn't seem to look for MSing nearly as diligently as Capital One from my experience. My Spark card was getting frozen for "suspected fraud activity" way too often even with light MS activity last year. I've hit my Double Cash card very heavy the last 8-10 months and never heard a peep from Citibank.

I did this with 2% cards and airline/hotel cards so I could increase my float for WF and cycle faster.

1% profit is fine, what's more important is your hourly returns. If you can indeed make those nearly free 3k miles in 15 minutes, then I'd agree that it's probably worth your time. For other people, it could take them upwards of 2-3 hours - probably not worth their time.

For me, as apparently for you, such activities have generally been worth my time.

I do this with Simon mall and save $1 on the fees, especially with Arrival+ which pays out 2.22% (or soon 2.11%), buying 9.5k in under 30min of extra time is a lot easier then getting them at WM. Save the WM VGCs for folks like myself who still have WF 5% promo going :)

Thanks, will apply for Citi 2X Cash!^

Thanks buddy! Yes, buying 8 VGC's in WM, then buying 4 MO's doesnt often take over 15 Minutes, unless theres a line, then maybe it takes 20 Minutes.:D

I agree 100%, sadly no Simon malls in my state, and with Shipping Costs, probably just easier to keep buying at WM.^

your method sounds like a good plan. but you forgot to include the 300 miles RT you posted a while back (travel time+gas) to reach your WM. You might consider doing more transactions while you're in the area with WMs. That amounts to out of state travels for most, but if you enjoy it and it works well for you, go for it!

......

If you want to max ROI, then surely all that matters is what value you place on UA miles.

At $5 vgc fee + $1 MO fee and 1.5x on the UA card, you are buying UA miles at <0.68cpm
(Not counting travel/personal time).

If you just do Spark you are making 1% profit on every transaction. Therefore using the UA card instead of Spark also carries a 1cpm opportunity cost.

With these numbers, if you think you can extract more than 1.68cpm redeeming UA miles, then you should just put everything on the UA card and forget Spark.

why not just use ink+??

I just use a grocery rewards card to earn cash.

I don't do anything with miles as I have small children, and am renovating our house. So I just pay for the renovation with my MS on my best cash back options.

Yes, some of us call it OBC ;)

That 2% is nothing compared with 5% minus a little over 1% in costs :D

It even offsets an annual fee every now and then, when banks don t give it back and you need a specific miles card.

I believe I am doing the "offset" method, also. Too complicated to explain specifics but my comment about the "Trifecta" in another thread does point that direction.

More info on the UA miles, please. Is there a strategy to combine with the current "United Airlines Bonus Miles for Spending Money on Flights"?

Good point, Miami, but I DIDN'T forget about that. I HAVE to be in that town 3 Times per Week (wife has to undergo dialysis...I have to drive her...closest location for dialysis is 150 miles away; long story). So anyway, Im there anyway, so I can either sit in the waiting room for 3 Hours, or I can do this.;) I'd like to do more transactions, but in this particular town, there's only 1 WM. And if I buy 8 VGC's Daily, that means 2 separate MO transactions, of 4 swipes each. I dont want to push much past that. They have been perfectly willing to let me buy 4, $999.30 MO's in 2 transactions, with no problem.

Occasionally, my wife has medical appointments in another town which has 3 WM's, an OD, Staples, CVS, among many other chains. When Im at this town, I certainly scale up.:D

Actually, MO is 70 Cents per 2 VGC's, not $1 for Each (I can buy $999.30 MO, with 2 VGC's).
But be that as it may, the thing is, by using Spark, to offset, there is literally no out of pocket Expense for me to get these miles. Paying nothing is always better than Paying Something. And gas is a non-issue, as I have to be in that town 3 Times Weekly for my wife's medical procedures. If I were to just use United, without the offset, then I would be Paying for the miles. Does that make sense?

I use Ink when Im at a town with OD. There is none in this town that I visit thrice Weekly.

Cool! We all gotta do whats best for us! My family (other than my wife) all live 2000 miles away in NY, so it would be nice for me to buy free tickets all The Time. And the only Airline that flies to my small Airport is United. Literally the only 1.

Good point Carlos. Sadly, no grocery stores that sell VGC's here, and I dont think Walmart codes as grocery for Amex. I dont do business with Amex anyway, but glad it works 4 u!^

Im not familiar with That Bonus. Please explain?

https://promotions.united.com/bb/

goto the above link and put in your mp number ad register, do the same with other family members,
there is a promotion to spend money and fly united from regerstation until some time in November, the deal I got was spend 500 get 10,000 miles, spend 1000 get 25,000 spend 2,500 get 50,000 miles.

I put in my MP no., and it indicated that it was by invitation only, and I wasn't eligible. Oh well, thanks anyway, was worth a shot!

I got a ton of miles anyway, so wasn't planning on spending Any Money on United anyway. :)

You are still paying for the miles...you are just using the Spark profits to do it. Depending on how you value United Miles, either the UA card or Spark produces higher profit per transaction and should be used exclusively. The only advantage to using both would be to avoid spending thresholds which could get you shut down.

You should do that if what you care about most is ROI. Not all of us do.

Be that as it may, Burrito, I have to look at this from my point of view. I value United miles, because I can visit my family, while getting Free Beer in 1st class. Don't judge, that is my goal. And I want to do it often. And I want to buy tickets for my parents, and family to visit me. My parents have never bought a 1st class ticket in their life. It would be a great experience for them. And I dont want to drive 4k miles round trip as I did Last Year, LOL to visit them.
Your goals may be different. However, I dont enjoy United miles so much, that I am willing to invest my Money into it (if I dont have to). If I use exclusively United Card, without the offset, Im Paying into it. Yes, with my method, Im giving up Spark Profits to do it, but if I just buy 8, $500 VGC's with Spark, I earn $40. If I buy 4, & 4, like I described above, I earn 6k miles, for free. I think 6k miles, without Expense, is worth over $40 Bucks.
But by all means, everyone must do whats best for them. For me, anyway, this scheme costs me next to nothing. If anything, I Pay $2.80, for 4 MO's, but I could easily offset That too, buy simply buying 1 More VGC with Spark.

Thanks Paul. Everyone's goal is different. I'm in a unique situation, where my wife and I live near a small, rural Airport that is only served by United, and our family is in NY. We want to visit them often, so right now, what we want is lots and lots of United Miles. And if I can keep getting them on Someone else's Dime, I dont see a major issue with it.
If Mr. Burrito has other goals, than by all means, he should do what gets him to his goals fastest. There's no right or wrong way, really.@:-)

Getting tons of UA miles is my main MS goal as well, but I go about it differently. I have 2 main MSing avenues:

1. Maximize the 5x category on my Ink, mostly with Staples VGCs (250k miles a year)

2. Use CFU at 1.5x to buy VGCs online through CB portals. This version is almost free though it accumulates miles more slowly than option 1.

You can always supplement this with any number of store bought VGCs but they will be more expensive. In the long run you are better off going exclusively for miles/transferable points if you value them at more than 2 cents.

I, too, use Ink, but I dont get 250k miles Yearly. I buy $200's from OD, but I Cash out enough points to cover VGC Fee's. So for Each Card (1000 points), I take 700 points and convert to Cash, to cover $7 Fee, then send the other 300 points to United. So I make 300 United points per Card. Thus, I can max out at 75k points, for $50 K Spend (since I want to cover All The $7 Fee's). Im pretty close to hitting That Max now.
With your method 2, couldnt I just use United Club Card (which earns 1.5 miles per $)? Also, Im not familiar with that method. Is it pretty simple and straightforward, with this portal thing?

Let us know if you make it a full year based on your number crunching. You just assume Chase won't shut you down but all the banks are pulling the noose tighter.

Yes you can use your UA Club card, but is that AF worth it to you in the long run? If not, you can switch to FU with no AF, and have the flexibility of using your points for other things, if desired.

Portals are pretty straight forward. Search for posts on Yazing, topcashback, etc. You just buy the GCs online and get usually around 1.5% (currently) CB which covers most of the fees.

I have been doing This Type of Volume for Years. Im just realigning which Cards I shift my Volume to. I have NEVER been shut down, and I probably never will. If I am, I'll move on to someone else. I don't beg anyone to take my business. If they dont want it, someone else will.

Of course not. Im just using It for my First Free Year. Will look into FU, but Im over-maxed on Chase Cards now, LOL. Have 3 Bus., 3 Pers., so I can't apply for Any More for a while. Probably not for 24 Months, since I just recently got approved for my Club Card. I'm just going to MS hard on It, till Annual Fee comes around Next May.^
But I will certainly explore those portals. Thanks!

United Mileage Plus
 

I think you mentioned the 25000 mile bonus when you hit $25,000. spend in your OP. You may be doing this, but it would be best for your wife to have a Mileage Plus card also and put $25,000 on each of them. Some responding to your thread have not addressed the bonus in their value calculations and 50,000 for $25,000 spend makes it sweet. Doing it twice even sweeter.