Does anyone EVER redeem reward points for merchandise?
 

Every once in awhile with my Discover or UR points I will browse through the redeem for "stuff" categories and never once have I seen anything that was remotely worth it. Meaning I could redeem for a gift card and buy the item and it would cost much less or I could simply buy it and earn points and still come out way ahead.

Just wondering if anyone ever does this and/or if companies ever put things on sale that makes it worth it?

I've used airline miles for magazines when I haven't been anywhere close to earning a flight and had no interest in flying on the airline on a regular basis.

I probably will soon if the AMEX 50k points card is still available at my next churn in March. My wife reluctantly lets me use her credit so we can play the game twice as fast, but she misses getting the cash back, even at 1%. So that 50k will get me a $500 Home Depot gc, her a much-needed new dishwasher, and keep the peace.

I redeemed 500 US miles for a magazine subscription. Part of the grand slam promo.

Airline miles for Economist subscriptions are a good deal.

Bought pair of cheap earphones because my 2k thank you points were about to expire.

I regularly use miles for an Economist subscription -- better value than redeeming for flights.

Only when there is a danger of expiring miles....usually small balances on airline I may not use often. Magazines are the best bets.

All other merchandize is overpriced.

Anecdotaly from friends and co workers, I think it's a lot more common among the general public than FT ers.

I've redeemed for mags before, Economist in particular.

i redeemed for amex gc,when i didnt know much
i think redeemed 70k spg to delta to amex gc

nov 2011. the Ultimate Rewards/Best Buy deal. got two blu players, microwave oven, and 19" tv.

what's this grand slam promo a part of?

and what points are best for economist subscription?

Indeed.

Won't I get my FlyerTalk membership revoked if I do (Economist aside, of course)? I thought I read that in the TOCs somewhere ;)

I've done the exact same thing for the exact same reason.

Of course magazines are a common use for orphan miles.

When I first had a bunch of sign-up bonus UR points,
I bought both a Blu-Ray player and a 31-in Vizio LCD TV.

There were some very reduced point requirements,
like 20% of the "regular" points level.

Maybe they were mistakes, I don't know. This was
a few years ago, and I haven't seen similar promo level since.

edit: Yes, I believe it was exactly the promo mentioned in Post #11.

Many people (not me) get miles and points just to get giftcards to buy things. 1 cent per mile.

Magazines are often free or nearly so on several sites- (the big catch is beware the automatic recurring fee). Orphan miles is a good way to avoid recurring billing.

There really needs to be a simple way to donate orphan miles to charity.

Even with these "promos" the redemptions are so terrible. These "rewards" programs are really getting away with murder. AmEx lets you get an iPad, I think the redemption value was .55cpm LOL

I just googled around a bit and found this: http://www.redcross.org/support/dona.../airline-miles

Delta isn't the easiest process, but the other ones seem pretty simple. It does however say: Lame.

Before I knew about the miles game I bought the g/f an iPad Mini using MR points because I didn't want to spend cash.

Afterwards I crunched out what they were worth had I used them properly :mad:

Won't make that mistake again!

Well... in the case of the BluRay player I mentioned,
it cost something like $10-15 worth of miles, IIRC using 2cpm.
I have never seen such an offer again.

I've used airline miles for magazines before coming here :)

I think I purchased a magazine subscription or two with low balance/expiring points on an airline I almost never fly.

I have had co-workers who trumpet the great TV/Driver/etc that they purchased for a bazillion points. I smile and congratulate them as I quietly cringe inside.

About 10-12 years ago, when I was first getting serious about the miles/points game, I was staying every week at a Fairfield Inn. One of the regulars I met there had been doing it for years. His company put him up there every week, and he got all the points. I opined that he must have several million points racked up, and he said he didn't really know - he didn't pay much attention to that stuff.

Curious, I questioned him further. He told me:

1. He had once got an award room for a couple of nights in Miami to visit his sister, and

2. He had gotten a nice color TV with the points.

Other than that, he had never used them. He also had pretty much never gone anywhere. It just didn't interest him.

So I smiled and walked away.

Does anyone EVER redeem reward points for merchandise?
 

I've used points for gift cards for the wife. They keep her happy and offset me constantly asking her to use a different credit card.

Once you have enough points in a program you might look at the cost to generate the points rather than the alternative uses. If I am earning points for a small fraction of a cent each it might make sense to redeem for gift cards at 1 point per cent.

Citi Thank You, bought me a Canon 60 camera at Best Buys, $1300.00.

Went bad 90 days later at Hilton Head, and Best Buys gave me a new one...

Thank you Citi, and Best Buys..

There's a camera that I really want that is just not in the cards financially right now. The best I can find is about .9 cents per point in the various malls in which I have points, which is, obviously, a no go. But it's frustrating.

There's part of me that wishes I could find someone at one of the airlines to have a conversation something like this, "Look, I'd do this right now for 1.5 cents per mile. Let me explain to you how badly I'm going to rake you over the coals if, instead of burning the miles, I use them for seats in premium cabins that are going to cost you much much more."

Last year after playing the churning game for a couple of years, a friend from work redeemed about 500K miles/points from United, Delta, AMEX, and Chase UR to setup his family room with a home entertainer center that included a 60" TV, a blu ray player, a home theater sound system and a Nintendo WII. His family loves the setup and he has had no regrets over it. Still brags about it on occassions.

Exactly, you have to keep the better half appeased.

With the recent devaluation of Hilton points....I maybe using the time buy a few things.

I was thinking about it. Since most of my stays are reimbursed I generally end up with a decent amount of points. I was looking at the MR Reward Mall and thinking about using my points for one of the new iPad's. It's a horrible waste of points compared to what I could get with the hotel's, but I am not sure when I will be able to use all of my points.

Does anyone EVER redeem reward points for merchandise?
 

Got the Southwest card for 50K, then we decided to have a baby, and that slowed our travel/budget down. Cashed out 50K for $500 Best Buy towards an iPad. So the Southwest card only netted around $400 value, but without it, we wouldn't have an iPad. I'd still do it again.

Several years ago I redeemed some HHonors points for a pair of Bose QC3 Headphones. I knew it was not the best value for the points. But those headphones were pretty pricy at the time and I had/have more points with them then I could burn for leisure travel anytime soon.

I know someone who cashed out their MR points for 4 iPads for the family. I chringed a little bit thinking of the wasted value...

Wall Street Journal subscriptions are almost ALWAYS cheaper with miles than by paying cash for them. Alas, they don't seem to include digital subscriptions, which is how many of us (including me) increasingly prefer to read the paper.

It is a shame that there are no merchandise deals with miles/points. You might think this would be a way for a manufacturer to get rid of excess inventory without having to lower the retail price. It would also generate interest in the credit card program, too. Alas, it doesn't seem to happen.

It also seems to always be a better idea to buy gift cards than merchandise with cc points. Like if you're accumulating Thank You points from Citi, your best redemption is airfare because your points are worth 33% more. But if you don't need more air travel, getting gift cards to buy your own merchandise always seems to result in a better deal.

only during mistake prices - in november there was a samsung tablet for 16,000 instead of 76,000 points.

Right after my kids were born my travel came to a screeching halt and my wife was all over me to fund their college savings accounts before making any "fun" purchases. I used a bunch of UA points to buy a Harman Kardon surround sound system. I'm guessing it was around 50k miles... I actually don't regret doing it as I have gotten hours of use and happiness from the system that I probably wouldn't otherwise have.

I wouldn't make that choice today now that my kids are older and we are traveling again. But I also have no regret for the choice I made 6 years ago.

Back in 2008 after the market collapse, I was really tight for money and my TV went out. It was late November, and Marriott Rewards had a black Friday sale going on. My company was laying off almost half the workforce, and I needed to keep the cash in savings. If I felt comfortable spending the money, I would have just bought the TV. But that wasn't really an option at that point. I ended up spending around 200k MR points.

The good news is that the HDTV is still working and mounted over my fireplace! In hindsight, I was not laid off and if I could change my decision I would. But at the time I made the best decision I could with the information I had available.

I'm not one to hoard points, but I do have one regret. About six years ago, before I'd even heard of FlyerTalk, I blew a bunch of Membership Rewards on a Tumi messenger bag. Really sturdy bag, but still.

In 2011 I used about 14,000 SkyMiles to get a Bodum coffee grinder, and put about 70,000 more toward gift cards, before the redemption price of those skyrocketed. A friend used his SkyMiles on a vacuum cleaner and a mixer.

I've used miles for Economist subscriptions before.

At one point I think I also used something like 400 Midwest Miles for a year's worth of Wired.

My biggest problem isn't so much the stated value the airlines/hotels put to their miles in the catalog. I know it's not going to be high...the target audience is clearly someone with millions of points/miles who doesn't have any use for another night in a hotel or on a plane. For them, it's a nice addition to the program. My biggest problem is that by the time the catalog arrives at my door, it's all old merchandise. That "new" set of Callaway golf clubs that the airline/hotel claims retails for $899 is now available everywhere for $500. The $1999 plasma TV is now sitting at Costco for $1200. Etc...

If there was a way to redeem miles for even the 1 cent range, with the prices for the merch actually plugged in to what's currently taking place on Amazon, at Costco, or at other online retailers, then I'd think it's more of a fair game.

No, Flyertalkers don't like getting 1cpm, but if I had millions of miles I might consider it every now and then.