New to Manufactured Spending? Start here (2019-2024)
 

The 2019 version of this thread is created for those newer to Manufactured Spending how have more basic questions. Please note this is a flame-free resource web so please ask your questions without worrying about being flamed.

tcook052
on behalf of the MS forum moderators

Ive been lurking here for a few weeks but ive been a long time poster on r/churning. I want to start to MSing but I have a few questions

1. Is the best place to buy VGC to hit MSR at giftcards.com through ebates so that I get 1% back for each $500 card so effectively the fee is 1.95 (6.95 minus $5 back from ebates)
2. Is the best place to buy VGC to gain Chase UR at office depot? I can buy $200 VGC with my CIP to gain 5x points if they have them in stock but not the variable ones?

3. I am going to attempt to cash out these gift cards at WM by buying a MO but if that doesn't work I am going to use Serve and BB as a backup. I Know that the monthly limit is $5K each and I would love to MS 10K a month. But I read some comments that if you max it out then you will probably get shut down. Is there a "safe" amount that I can use serve and BB each month without the worry of being shutdown

Welcome to FT! I would not recommend jumping right to 10K a month if you're just starting out. Just buy one 500 card, liquidate it into a MO and deposit it into your secondary bank (not your main bank). If all goes well, you can repeat or SLOWLY ramp up. MS is a marathon, not a sprint. If you're in NY you can buy a 500 at Simon or a supermarket. GC.com will hit you with a shipping fee that will make the cost the same as the two above, but you'll have to wait a week to receive it.

Hello-
Welcome to the world of manufacturing, there's multiple cashback portals one of them being Ebates but you can check and use Yazing, befrugal, simplebest coupons etc
you can check cashbackmonitor to see what cashback portals are paying on cashback.

One other site to purchase cards is giftcardmall but with them be careful start slow order 1 card every week for a while do not ramp up too fast or they will shut you down.

Walmart sell moneygram money orders but there's other store that sell western union money orders.

Good Luck

#2 OD and Staples are good places to earn UR IF you have the right card. What do you mean by CIP? if it's ChaseInkPlus(this is no longer available for sign up), then you'll earn 5 pts/$ spent but if it's ChaseInkPreferred, you won't get 5% and I suggest you review the terms of the CC.

#3 NO one can give you guarantees on how to avoid a shutdown; IF, for whatever reasons your account trips the alarm, eyeballs will start scrutinizing and that'll possibly lead to shutdown. You can read that many max out the monthly loads with no adverse action and it's up to you to follow based on your risk tolerance. Check the web for shutdown reports so you'll have an idea of trigger factors.

Good Luck!

I'm going to start MSing for the first time and have read a lot on it already, but have a couple questions.

1. Is Serve/Blue Bird recommended over Money orders?
2. What is better, Serve or BB?

Hey all, does anyone have any experience with MS using Kiva? I've been reading up on it but am unsure of the optimal loan lengths to chose, geographical areas, etc, to minimize default rates.

I don't mind my money being tied up for ~6 mo-1 year especially if it's going to a good cause + points are racking up in the process.

Like many of the others above me, I'm looking to start MS. I want to start light with $500, especially since there are no WM, DT/FD, etc immediately nearby, so liquidating to Serve could be tricky.

I've seen VGCs at pharmacies that have a fixed amount and ones that have a variable amount ($20-$500). Do these differ in difficulty of liquidation? I've only seen the One Vanilla variety in my area.

Also, when buying gift cards, is it essentially $500 cards or bust?

Thanks.

I haven't used it myself, but others do. There's even a thread about Kiva. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manu...ure-spend.html
Good luck!

For fixed amount cards vs. variables, there is no difference in difficulty of liquidation other than larger amounts are more efficient.
Sub-$500 cards are used when the overall profit margin is acceptable. Very much depends on the person doing the MS and their tolerance for the extra work and fees.

1. Totally just depends on which works better for your own situation. Some people do both.
2. BB only loads at WM, Serve at several chains. A few other minor differences. Again, some use both.

Good decision to start off light and make sure it works for you.
Fixed or variable make no difference usually. However, there are times when I want to convert an Amex gc (non-debit card) to a Visa gc (debit card), so I'll buy a variable for $494.05 and with the $5.95 fee it comes out to exactly $500, the value of the Amex gc. This way I can avoid doing a split transaction which seems to cause problems for me when buying a visa with an amex.
$500 cards are better, but Staples and Office Depot often when specials which make their $200 worthwhile. It all depends on the details and what price you put on your time.
Good luck!

Is it possible to set up a merchant services account with someone other than square for the sole purpose of draining gebits?

Based on my research payline or dharma charge $10/month and would probably cost ~1.1% (.2% + .08, plus interchange which should be .8% + .15, as best as I can tell?). I would gladly be willing to pay this premium to not have to deal with money orders, at least for the foreseeable future. But I also have not seen anyone discussing this as an option, so I wonder if there is some flaw in my reasoning or knowledge.

FWIW I've started MSing in the past few months to the tune of about 30k, and plan to go for ~75k this year, possibly as much as 150k. I'm not sure if my sole kroger can bear the weight of all these $200 MCGCs.

When the herd is ignoring obvious greener pastures, there is likely some predator the newcomer hasn't noticed yet.

The experts are probably tired of explaining this since it comes up so often, so I'll just give you this non-expert's take-away:
1) The MSA providers will shut you down, probably sooner than later and 2) how badly do you want to explain all that business income to the IRS?

Well I figured as such, but after trying to find anything on the topic, I wouldn't say it comes up that often. I am curious what mechanism the MSA provider would have to flag you, given that you would be spreading the spending over a wide variety of card numbers. Also why they would even care, given that you are paying the fees...

And the latter point did occur to me, but since what we are doing is not criminal and I figured maybe at least in principal you keep good records and just invite the IRS in for tea.