I agree with you regarding not being involved in the shopping portal racket. Going through plastic jungle seems like a nobrainer though 7% discount on the GC and immediately use it to buy from HD might not be as risky as holding 20k in GCs. Using a 2% rebate might be the best option.

Also as someone else mentioned earlier $1400 in cash savings and 78600 miles by using the portal might make it worth it to be involved in this racket. Only the OP can answer that.

Just spent about $2,000 at Homedepot.com on a new washer/dryer and did it through the Ultimate Rewards Mall on Chase Sapphire. That gets 5 points for every $1, so 10,000 points which I can transfer to Continental, BA, etc. Looked for what I wanted online, then went to the local store and checked it out, then ordered online for the bonus points. All HD.com is 5X points, which is a very good deal.

Here is the "large spend thread" (not related to the gift cards): http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...big-spend.html

Ultimate Rewards mall now excludes HD gift cards
 

Ordered a gift card 10/1 through the UR mall. Have not seen any points post yet. Went back to check and now the Terms & Conditions under the entry page for Home Depot specifically state "Not eligible on the purchase of gift cards. Not eligible on purchases made to buy a gift card using a gift card."

You can get cash back from Big Crumbs or ebates..

for a full list of sites that offer miles or cash back, check evrewards.com or rewardsdb.com. The actual percentages/miles listed are often outdated, but it will at least give you a starting point.

If you have a screenshot the day of purchase, you should be all set.

Miles help maximize earnings at The Home Depot
 

Hi all. I am new to this mileage stuff and was looking for some help. I noticed while looking for discounted home depot gift cards that I could really rack up some airline miles.

I spend about 500.00 per week at Home Depot and was looking for the best way to generate miles or benefits from these purchases. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Matt

Welcome to FT!

Assuming you have a miles earning CC, you could rack up decent miles, if you don't, start here to read about different offerings:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...-programs-599/

The below sites may get referral fees if you apply thru their links:
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/credit-cards
http://www.dailymarkets.com/creditca...g-bonus-miles/
http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-c...-credit-cards/

Generating spend on these CCs can also be found here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...-spending-719/

If you're looking for shopping portals to earn extra miles, start here:
http://www.webflyer.com/deals/mileage_mall/search.php

A few shopping portals have cash/points for purchasing via their online portal. Discover is 5% & Chase UR is 4 points. Lots of options.

Without getting into detail, I'll say there are two ways to leverage your purchases:

1) Finding places that give bonus points for purchasing Home Depot gift cards; and
2) Signing up for credit cards that have a minimum spending requirement, and meeting that requirement with your Home Depot purchases.

The latter has much greater leverage, but requires significantly more work, specifically signing up, managing the cards you use, paying bills to different addresses, and cancelling the cards after the fee-free year is up. You will also take a small hit to your credit score.

Also, getting a variety of cards will necessarily mean having points or miles in various programs. For some people this is an advantage (you can choose awards from different vendors based on availability), for others a disadvantage (some programs are worth less than others, you may not hit "critical mass" for the award(s) you want, and you may have to learn the redemption tricks for different programs).

If you are looking to keep things simple, you can get a Chase Ink card with a 50K signup bonus and make your HD purchases with Home Improvement gift cards purchased at Office Depot or Office max for 5 points per dollar. The Home Improvement gift cards are available up to $500 and have no fees.

Thanks all!
 

Thank you for the input. I feel like I have a place to start now.

Simple buy the gift cards at an office supply store with your ink car for 5X points and then use a portal to buy online or in the store.

I am a contractor and this is what I do. Not only at HD and Lowes, but they also work at True Value, Ace, Sherwin Williams, and almost any lumber yard or Building Supply store that takes Discover Cards. I also keep the Lowes and HD gift cards on hand, because I have had problems using the Home Improvement Cards on their websites, but the store specific cards work every time. Get a couple of ink cards and go nuts!

Lowe's AR account payable with HI cards
 

I chanced upon a forum consisting of landlords and contractors. A couple members have told me that if you have a Lowe's AR account, you can pay it using the HI gift cards.
What I did not confirm is exactly what you can do (or not do) with a Lowe's AR account.