Points to merchandise?
 

I wasn't sure where to post this, so moderators please help.

I am in the market for an Omega Seamaster watch (discounted price ~$1,200 from a gray market dealer; probably ~$2,000 from a legit dealer). I accumulate but rarely spend points/miles and accordingly am considering "spending" some points/miles for part or all of the purchase price of this watch, if I can figure out how to do so and if I can get a decent conversion rate for the points/miles.

I have a couple hundred thousand each of UA miles and HHonors points, and a more modest number (~70,000) Diners points.

One way I could have done this if I had the yen for this item last year was by using HHonors points for an Ashford.com gift certificate and using that for part of the cost (Ashford sells gray market Omega). This option appears to be gone.

Does anyone have any suggestion on how I can accomplish this? I do NOT want any suggestions that I sell the points/miles on ebay.

Thank you.

I guess I'm talking to myself.

The only way I've figured out to do this specific transaction so far (and I'm not sure it will work) is as follows:

a) Exchange Diners points for Amazon gift certificates (5,000 points for $25)
b) Use Amazon gift certificates online to purchase Marshall Fields gift certificates (this is the part that should work, but until I try it, I'm not sure)
c) Use Fields GCs at the State Street store to purchase the watch (they are an authorized dealer). I could open a Fields charge account to get either 10% or 15% off the purchase, depending on the current promotion.

This yields a DC points value of about half a cent, and would take 350,000 DC points (or about 315,000 if I get the 10% discount). About the same value for points as a 36" Sony WEGA TV.

Any other suggestions?

One legal outlet would be to turn your DC points into Southwest tickets and sell those on eBay. They cost 25,000 DC points each and yield $325 or so on eBay.

What is a "gray market" dealer? Ashford.com isn't selling fake or stolen watches, are they? (My only experience with Ashford.com is that I had 200 shares in their IPO. I held them for about 15 minutes.)

Another suggestion - if you are planning on running a bunch of miles/points through DC - would be to simply ask their personalized rewards department how much the watch would cost in terms of DC points. They only handle 100,000-point items and up, so this would certainly qualify. Basically, they see what they could buy it for, and then quote you a number in DC points. Only word of caution is that the redemption rate is poor compared to the other things you can get with DC points (namely, British Airways miles). But hey...it's a personalized reward!

Gray market dealers are, AAIK, wholesale type of shops who are not official delaers of the watches (or whatever merchandise) but just buy a shipment, and sell them to the end user. I have no experience with Ashford.com, but shops like Costco do the same. The watches are new, legal, etc. only with warranty you might have a problem, depending.

I didn't know it was OK to sell WN FF tix. If so, that's the solution. Is it in fact OK per WN's T&C?

A "gray market" dealer is one that procures authentic product from an authorized dealer then remarkets the product. It is my understanding that gray markets exist in part because of inventory requirements imposed upon authorized dealers by product manufacturers. If an authorized dealer is required to stock, say, $250,000 of a reasonably slow selling item (such as a moderately expensive watch) they may liquidate some portion of that inventory to a gray market dealer, who then sells the goods to consumers. This is one way for the authorized dealer to manage inventory while preserving the dealership.

Manufacturers complain about gray marketing, but it's window dressing. A routine audit of the authorized dealer's books would uncover gray marketing (and depress demand for the manufacturer's goods).

Mike

[edited for clarity]

[This message has been edited by Mikey likes it (edited 06-09-2003).]

Re: Southwest tickets. I believe that the T's & C's read just like everyone else's, but in practice Southwest doesn't attempt to oppose the practice like Delta, AA, and a few others do. I have never bought, sold, or even seen what a Southwest award ticket looks like, but I believe that it is a generic paper ticket that does not carry your name or FF number. Take a look at eBay: there are always dozens of auctions going on for the tickets. They look pretty straightforward, unlike the "blank envelope" shenanigans one sees with those selling FF miles.

Based on the above description, why would anyone NOT use a gray market dealer? I get the same warranty when I buy gear at Costco as I do when I buy it at a department store...or do I? (As I sit in a room that has a Costco air conditioner and a Costco boombox, drinking a beer that came out of a Costco minifridge...fortunately all in working order! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif )

PS. No manufacturer's warranty on gray market goods. Sometimes you get a store warranty where the specific gray market dealer will fix the item for some period of time.