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)
Oct 28, 2020, 12:59 pm
#1531
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 595
I had two different cards fail multiple times at Kroger this morning. Checked balance online and it didn't work. Call in for balance did work and showed the full amount remaining. Seems like it might be a network issue.
Oct 28, 2020, 1:41 pm
#1532
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 276
A lot of chatter about Kroger not working. Walmart is still working, but a lot of code 05 error, and you have to swipe multiple times. I think Simon knows what's going on, and that's why they been giving us these discount codes to drive up sales before the sh** really hits the fan.
Oct 28, 2020, 3:32 pm
#1533
Join Date: Oct 2014
Programs: All of them
Posts: 1,664
I had one card today fail persistently on 4+ attempts. This is from an in-mall batch I got yesterday. Others went through ok or at most from 2nd swipe. Definitely need to start carrying backups these days.
Oct 28, 2020, 6:35 pm
#1534
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: AAdvantage Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 132
everything worked fine on Sunday
1) 2 SMGC failed in 3 repeated swipes in local grocery albertsons where nothing ever failed before. The cards run fine with pin to buy groceries in regular checkout pinpad.
2) bought 2 metabank at the albertsons and they failed too. POS system update?
Also SMGC balance website not working intermittent
2) bought 2 metabank at the albertsons and they failed too. POS system update?
Also SMGC balance website not working intermittent
One coincidence is when the SMGC cards fail, sometimes the online balance website errors out too and only have to call to check balance. some special network issues? random ? who knows. Just keep backup guys.
Oct 28, 2020, 6:46 pm
#1535
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 1,066
Simon orders delivered today unable to activate. Apparently there are a number of us with this issue. Hopefully dont have to reissue or refund.
Oct 28, 2020, 7:00 pm
#1536
Join Date: Jul 2020
Posts: 5
Went and bought a $1k Simon VGC today...BAU at a Walmart that I'm batting a thousand at
Oct 28, 2020, 11:35 pm
#1537
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 317
I don't know why there are so many posts implying that the problem is tied to a specific card used and that having a backup card is helpful. It's not. If a card doesn't process on a swipe, it is no more or less likely to process on a second try than any other card you own. The failure to process is random and has nothing to do with the Simon card used. (There can be defective cards in a batch, of course, but this 05 problem is not that.)
Oct 29, 2020, 6:24 am
#1538
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 595
I was able to use one of the cards that failed at Kroger to load BB/Serve @ WM instead. These were the last two cards I had from a recent SM order of 15 cards. The other 13 went through no problem (some at Kroger, some at WM).
Oct 29, 2020, 8:45 am
#1539
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Programs: AA EP; WN CP;UA SILVER; MARRIOTT TITANIUM; HH DIAMOND; IHG PLAT; RADISSON PLAT; HYATT GLOBAL
Posts: 1,938
I don't know why there are so many posts implying that the problem is tied to a specific card used and that having a backup card is helpful. It's not. If a card doesn't process on a swipe, it is no more or less likely to process on a second try than any other card you own. The failure to process is random and has nothing to do with the Simon card used. (There can be defective cards in a batch, of course, but this 05 problem is not that.)
Oct 30, 2020, 7:39 pm
#1540
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: 4,550
I will offer, and claim it definitively (since I have liquidated at least 100 cards, maybe more, since this started):
1) No problem with GC's from Staples
2) All Simon cards will eventually work. Going through the process slowly helps. Wait a few seconds before swiping. Wait a few more seconds before refusing cash back. Wait 15 seconds or more before entering PIN. It's random, so usually I go at "normal" speed for the first try, but then slow down if the card is rejected.
Remember that there is a max of 8 attempted swipes per transaction, after which the transaction will fail. So if you are doing a transaction requiring multiple cards, be cautious. For example, some of my transactions are 2x1000 Simons and 2x200 Staples. If the first Simon fails, I will do the next ones much more slowly because I can't "afford" four fails. If you were doing a transaction with 4x1000 Simon's, you'd want to be even more certain that you don't get multiple rejects.
1) No problem with GC's from Staples
2) All Simon cards will eventually work. Going through the process slowly helps. Wait a few seconds before swiping. Wait a few more seconds before refusing cash back. Wait 15 seconds or more before entering PIN. It's random, so usually I go at "normal" speed for the first try, but then slow down if the card is rejected.
Remember that there is a max of 8 attempted swipes per transaction, after which the transaction will fail. So if you are doing a transaction requiring multiple cards, be cautious. For example, some of my transactions are 2x1000 Simons and 2x200 Staples. If the first Simon fails, I will do the next ones much more slowly because I can't "afford" four fails. If you were doing a transaction with 4x1000 Simon's, you'd want to be even more certain that you don't get multiple rejects.
Oct 31, 2020, 11:47 am
#1541
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Dallas
Programs: AA, Southwest
Posts: 175
I'm not sure these cards work at Kroger anymore. Had 2 separate cards fail at 2 different Krogers at least 3 bad swipes at each. Anyone successful at Kroger with these lately?
Oct 31, 2020, 8:54 pm
#1542
Join Date: Oct 2020
Posts: 1
Kroger has always been my go to place for liquidation because there are a bunch around me and it has always been so easy. I'll be bummed if they're no longer an option.
Oct 31, 2020, 9:10 pm
#1543
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: none
Posts: 106
Sad to say, i went 3 different Kroger on 3 different days last 7 days, tried 5 Simon 1k cards i bought 3 weeks at my mall, none working with error either not authorized or call card issuer something, checked online, all have full balance so far. I went Walmart one time and swapped 3 different card on same transaction, all error code 5 which no one understands what is it. I will stay away from simon card for a while, at least until i get rid of my 5 cards somehow.
Oct 31, 2020, 9:13 pm
#1544
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 129
I haven't had an issue with the errors lately. For the past week or so they've been working at Walmart, Kroger, and other locations without error codes. This included Kroger on the 30th of October.
I was having error issues earlier and I find it strange that they've gone away when other people seem to be having them more frequently.
I was having error issues earlier and I find it strange that they've gone away when other people seem to be having them more frequently.
Nov 1, 2020, 1:13 am
#1545
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: AAdvantage Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 132
I haven't had an issue with the errors lately. For the past week or so they've been working at Walmart, Kroger, and other locations without error codes. This included Kroger on the 30th of October.
I was having error issues earlier and I find it strange that they've gone away when other people seem to be having them more frequently.
I was having error issues earlier and I find it strange that they've gone away when other people seem to be having them more frequently.