Aug 21, 2019, 12:38 pm
Last edit by: Klemhuzzah
Signing up to buy $1000 visa/mc gift cards
You can buy the $1000 cards on Simon's volume site. Their regular site only sells $500 cards.
If you're new, or haven't bought anything in a year, you need to register at https://www.simon.com/volume/register-consumer
As part of the registration process, you will have to go to a brick and mortar mall and buy at least $3000 in cards in person, as well as filling out some paperwork while there. After that, you can do everything online.
As of Nov 2020, Simon Mall Gift cards will only work for $99/swipe for money services at Walmart and many grocery chains.
$1000 gift cards are available indefinitely.
2020 Promotions
Ongoing: FREEGROUND - Free Ground Shipping on any order size. Limited to 5 orders per customer. Expires December 31, 2020 (subject to change).
5/15-6/17: MDHOL20 - 20% off Visa Giftcard Purchase Fees + Free Ground Shipping on orders of 9 more cards
5/15/5/31: MAYGROUND - Free UPS Ground shipping on orders of 7 or more cards
5/15-6/31: MAY20VG10 - 10% off purchase fees on Visa Giftcards
6/29-7/20: JUL4HOL20 - 20% off Visa Giftcard Purchase Fees + Free Ground Shipping on orders of 5 or more cards. If you select a shipping other than Ground - the code will still take 20% off the purchase fees. Limited to 10 orders per customer.
8/11-8/31: AUG20PR - 15% off ALL fees (excl. shipping fees) on orders of 5 or more cards. Limited to 10 orders per customer (Originally expired on 8/23; on 8/24 promo was extended through 8/31)
10/12-10/14: FSOCT20 - 30% off all purchase fees on Visas and Mastercards.
10/26-10/31 - FS20SCARY - 35% off all purchase fees
11/1-11/30 - HOL20MC25 - 25% off all purchase fees on MasterCard / HOL20VG25 - 25% off all purchase fees on Visa / HOL20AG50 50% off all purchase fees on American Express
11/6-11/8 - FS20THANKS - 35% off all purchase fees
11/16-11/18 - FS20SAVINGS - 35% off all purchase fees
You can buy the $1000 cards on Simon's volume site. Their regular site only sells $500 cards.
If you're new, or haven't bought anything in a year, you need to register at https://www.simon.com/volume/register-consumer
As part of the registration process, you will have to go to a brick and mortar mall and buy at least $3000 in cards in person, as well as filling out some paperwork while there. After that, you can do everything online.
As of Nov 2020, Simon Mall Gift cards will only work for $99/swipe for money services at Walmart and many grocery chains.
$1000 gift cards are available indefinitely.
2020 Promotions
Ongoing: FREEGROUND - Free Ground Shipping on any order size. Limited to 5 orders per customer. Expires December 31, 2020 (subject to change).
5/15-6/17: MDHOL20 - 20% off Visa Giftcard Purchase Fees + Free Ground Shipping on orders of 9 more cards
5/15/5/31: MAYGROUND - Free UPS Ground shipping on orders of 7 or more cards
5/15-6/31: MAY20VG10 - 10% off purchase fees on Visa Giftcards
6/29-7/20: JUL4HOL20 - 20% off Visa Giftcard Purchase Fees + Free Ground Shipping on orders of 5 or more cards. If you select a shipping other than Ground - the code will still take 20% off the purchase fees. Limited to 10 orders per customer.
8/11-8/31: AUG20PR - 15% off ALL fees (excl. shipping fees) on orders of 5 or more cards. Limited to 10 orders per customer (Originally expired on 8/23; on 8/24 promo was extended through 8/31)
10/12-10/14: FSOCT20 - 30% off all purchase fees on Visas and Mastercards.
10/26-10/31 - FS20SCARY - 35% off all purchase fees
11/1-11/30 - HOL20MC25 - 25% off all purchase fees on MasterCard / HOL20VG25 - 25% off all purchase fees on Visa / HOL20AG50 50% off all purchase fees on American Express
11/6-11/8 - FS20THANKS - 35% off all purchase fees
11/16-11/18 - FS20SAVINGS - 35% off all purchase fees
Simon Mall Gift Cards (2019-2023)
Aug 25, 2019, 8:24 am
#376
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 16
Made a trip over to Simon Mall yesterday to pick up a handful and after discussion with the very nice lady behind the desk, I learned a few things.
1) She said she expects this to become permanent. (Nothing new I know, but first time I heard it from a rep)
2) As silly as it sounds, and unsubstantiated too, she said there was a rumor about setting up some sort of money order service. Sounds interesting but I feel like something like that would shut down this whole operation real quick.
3) She mentioned that her location is perfectly fine preparing your 10k/25k gift cards ahead of time if you call in, making the process a whole lot quicker when you're ready to pay.
1) She said she expects this to become permanent. (Nothing new I know, but first time I heard it from a rep)
2) As silly as it sounds, and unsubstantiated too, she said there was a rumor about setting up some sort of money order service. Sounds interesting but I feel like something like that would shut down this whole operation real quick.
3) She mentioned that her location is perfectly fine preparing your 10k/25k gift cards ahead of time if you call in, making the process a whole lot quicker when you're ready to pay.
Aug 25, 2019, 11:04 am
#377
Moderator: Travel Buzz
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Sunny San Diego
Posts: 3,099
Aug 25, 2019, 7:37 pm
#378
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: PHX
Programs: Whatever you have, I have too.
Posts: 377
Burton Codh, I appreciate your thoughts regarding my situation. Very kind of you. What's clear to both of us is my SM is just far enough away to reasonably tip the scales toward not bothering with it. Or, if I ramp up my purchases enough, the personal gain in the long run might justify the time and effort. Today my husband and I made the drive. We browsed around the mall for a while and had lunch at the food court, but even with spending an afternoon together, which is always nice, I'm not convinced I'll be a regular. It's just a huge time commitment for us. The very nice customer service rep at the desk/kiosk, was very very nice, efficient, and professional. I did have to fill out a form, but I expected that.
Aug 26, 2019, 5:20 am
#379
Join Date: Jun 2001
Posts: 782
Burton Codh, I appreciate your thoughts regarding my situation. Very kind of you. What's clear to both of us is my SM is just far enough away to reasonably tip the scales toward not bothering with it. Or, if I ramp up my purchases enough, the personal gain in the long run might justify the time and effort. Today my husband and I made the drive. We browsed around the mall for a while and had lunch at the food court, but even with spending an afternoon together, which is always nice, I'm not convinced I'll be a regular. It's just a huge time commitment for us. The very nice customer service rep at the desk/kiosk, was very very nice, efficient, and professional. I did have to fill out a form, but I expected that.
Aug 26, 2019, 8:28 am
#380
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: PHX
Programs: Whatever you have, I have too.
Posts: 377
That sounds like a completely sane strategy, gw14! Gotta love the absence of the sales tax perk, too! Yep, both hubby and I purchased gc's, and today we'll liquidate them. Still, upon awakening this morning, the whole exercise, because of the distance and time factor, felt a bit foolish. I'm sure I'll eventually get over that, but for now, it's a hard sell even to myself.
Aug 26, 2019, 11:14 am
#381
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Northwest, United
Posts: 3,257
Just wait until you try to actually use those miles/points for a redemption you want. It'll feel a whole lot more foolish then when you realize that most programs have devalued so much over the past couple years, this only makes sense for the bloggers hyping the credit cards...
Aug 26, 2019, 1:36 pm
#382
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: PHX
Programs: Whatever you have, I have too.
Posts: 377
Just wait until you try to actually use those miles/points for a redemption you want. It'll feel a whole lot more foolish then when you realize that most programs have devalued so much over the past couple years, this only makes sense for the bloggers hyping the credit cards...
Aug 28, 2019, 12:43 am
#384
Join Date: May 2008
Location: PHL (kinda, no airport is really close)
Programs: AA Exp, but not sure for how long. Enterprise Platinum woo-hoo!
Posts: 4,551
When they first went on sale, I called PPO and the CSR didn't know about them, but then the manager called me back and left a message that the CSR just hadn't been told yet.
If they got into the MO business, it would be absolutely nuts. Probably like everyone else, I think that if it's too good to be true, it probably is - that eventually the whole house of cards would collapse.
Aug 29, 2019, 2:42 pm
#385
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 77
I've been out of the MS game for over 2 yrs, but just picked up my first new CC that requires a $3k spend within the first 90 days -- it'll be to get 125k IHG points by using a Chase IHG Rewards Club Premier CC. I am aware of the devaluation of the annual free night, and the redemption amount for many hotels increasing, but this should still get me at least 6 hotel stays at various Holiday Inn Express locations for a single $89 annual fee.
Anyway, purchasing 3 $1k Simon Mall GCs appears to be a quick and straight-forward way to achieve the spend (I'm in metro-PHX and a mall is very close). My question is in regards to the liquidation of the $1k GC's. I've gotten MOs from WM as recent as a few months ago, but they're capped at $700 (if I recall correctly). Can I use the same Simon GC to procure multiple money orders? Not on the same visit, mind you. Or is there a more optimum liquidation method that's arisen?
Anyway, purchasing 3 $1k Simon Mall GCs appears to be a quick and straight-forward way to achieve the spend (I'm in metro-PHX and a mall is very close). My question is in regards to the liquidation of the $1k GC's. I've gotten MOs from WM as recent as a few months ago, but they're capped at $700 (if I recall correctly). Can I use the same Simon GC to procure multiple money orders? Not on the same visit, mind you. Or is there a more optimum liquidation method that's arisen?
Aug 29, 2019, 7:37 pm
#386
Join Date: Apr 2000
Posts: 494
I've been out of the MS game for over 2 yrs, but just picked up my first new CC that requires a $3k spend within the first 90 days -- it'll be to get 125k IHG points by using a Chase IHG Rewards Club Premier CC. I am aware of the devaluation of the annual free night, and the redemption amount for many hotels increasing, but this should still get me at least 6 hotel stays at various Holiday Inn Express locations for a single $89 annual fee.
Anyway, purchasing 3 $1k Simon Mall GCs appears to be a quick and straight-forward way to achieve the spend (I'm in metro-PHX and a mall is very close). My question is in regards to the liquidation of the $1k GC's. I've gotten MOs from WM as recent as a few months ago, but they're capped at $700 (if I recall correctly). Can I use the same Simon GC to procure multiple money orders? Not on the same visit, mind you. Or is there a more optimum liquidation method that's arisen?
Anyway, purchasing 3 $1k Simon Mall GCs appears to be a quick and straight-forward way to achieve the spend (I'm in metro-PHX and a mall is very close). My question is in regards to the liquidation of the $1k GC's. I've gotten MOs from WM as recent as a few months ago, but they're capped at $700 (if I recall correctly). Can I use the same Simon GC to procure multiple money orders? Not on the same visit, mind you. Or is there a more optimum liquidation method that's arisen?
Aug 29, 2019, 7:41 pm
#387
Join Date: May 2008
Location: PHL (kinda, no airport is really close)
Programs: AA Exp, but not sure for how long. Enterprise Platinum woo-hoo!
Posts: 4,551
I've been out of the MS game for over 2 yrs, but just picked up my first new CC that requires a $3k spend within the first 90 days -- it'll be to get 125k IHG points by using a Chase IHG Rewards Club Premier CC. I am aware of the devaluation of the annual free night, and the redemption amount for many hotels increasing, but this should still get me at least 6 hotel stays at various Holiday Inn Express locations for a single $89 annual fee.
Anyway, purchasing 3 $1k Simon Mall GCs appears to be a quick and straight-forward way to achieve the spend (I'm in metro-PHX and a mall is very close). My question is in regards to the liquidation of the $1k GC's. I've gotten MOs from WM as recent as a few months ago, but they're capped at $700 (if I recall correctly). Can I use the same Simon GC to procure multiple money orders? Not on the same visit, mind you. Or is there a more optimum liquidation method that's arisen?
Anyway, purchasing 3 $1k Simon Mall GCs appears to be a quick and straight-forward way to achieve the spend (I'm in metro-PHX and a mall is very close). My question is in regards to the liquidation of the $1k GC's. I've gotten MOs from WM as recent as a few months ago, but they're capped at $700 (if I recall correctly). Can I use the same Simon GC to procure multiple money orders? Not on the same visit, mind you. Or is there a more optimum liquidation method that's arisen?
I've been buying $996.05 GC's and using 3 of them per day to but MO's, with no adverse effects. Max amount for a WM MO is $1000.
Aug 30, 2019, 8:19 am
#388
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 77
Thanks very much for the info, and good call on the $996.05 vs. $1,000 flat option!
Aug 31, 2019, 7:47 am
#389
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 1,322
Spaghetti against the wall, but: is there a business idea here?
1. X, who lives in Simon-deprived area, adds Y as AU on X's credit card.
2. Y uses AU card to purchase GCs at his local Simon property, and overnights to X for liquidation.
3. X compensates Y for his/her services.
Obviously, X would have to trust Y not to mis-use the AU card.
1. X, who lives in Simon-deprived area, adds Y as AU on X's credit card.
2. Y uses AU card to purchase GCs at his local Simon property, and overnights to X for liquidation.
3. X compensates Y for his/her services.
Obviously, X would have to trust Y not to mis-use the AU card.
Aug 31, 2019, 8:50 am
#390
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 104
Spaghetti against the wall, but: is there a business idea here?
1. X, who lives in Simon-deprived area, adds Y as AU on X's credit card.
2. Y uses AU card to purchase GCs at his local Simon property, and overnights to X for liquidation.
3. X compensates Y for his/her services.
Obviously, X would have to trust Y not to mis-use the AU card.
1. X, who lives in Simon-deprived area, adds Y as AU on X's credit card.
2. Y uses AU card to purchase GCs at his local Simon property, and overnights to X for liquidation.
3. X compensates Y for his/her services.
Obviously, X would have to trust Y not to mis-use the AU card.
Are the points earned worth enough to you once the cost of overnight shipping and compensation for person Y is factored in? And I’d suggest a Priority Mail flat rate envelope for shipping. It’s 2-3 day delivery for $7.35. Overnight is going to be 2-3x that.