What award would provide the best value for $25 or $50 in e-rewards?

I was thinking 3000 HiltonH points for $50 e-rewards bucks!

Any suggestions?

2500 AA miles by a wide margin

But the AA award requires a flight on AA.

You can buy 3,000 Hilton points from Hilton for $37.50. At that rate, you're better off getting the 12 (2 x 6) Blockbuster DVD rentals. That's worth $48.

Now think about how much clicking you did to get that free movie rental. IMO, eRewards aren't worth the time and effort.

Actually, the AA miles are the best deal as 2500 miles would cost between $82.50 (for 3000) and $55 (for 2000 miles) as there is no 2500 purchase shown on aa.com, $68.75 average would be 2500.

e-rewards actually requires very little effort, once they start to send the $5 to $8 surveys, which I have had 7 of in the last 2 months. If they would post a little quicker!!! Still waiting for the $10 for the 14 day trial of ancestry.com from October.

It always makes me smile to see the value people place on rewards and the rest. I don't possibly see how you can place a value on something you were given for free. It's not like it cost $50 to get the rewards, so comparing that to what you would have to pay for miles purchased from an airline doesn't make any sense.

It depends on what you want the reward for. I don't fly American, so getting AA miles is about the same as letting the rewards expire. I'm certainly not going to redeem for a few thousand miles, then say, Gee, if I fly another 22,500 miles I'll get a free trip.

I have never rented at blockbuster, so the $152 I've accumulated so far this year is also fairly worthless to me there. Never rent for five days in a row, so Hertz doesn't make any sense.

You have to base it on what you will actually use, not the dollar value if you purchased these items from the vendor.

I fully believe e-rewards are worth it, it takes very little time or effort to rack up bucks. I wish they were still offering the array of choices that they were for redemption last year, but I'm sure I'll be able to bring my balance back to around zero in another month or so.

I really kind of like e-rewards. It doesn't take much time to rack up the dollars, and it gives me some insight into who's marketing what.

Unfortunately, there's not much to spend the e-rewards on. I keep hoping in vain for that killer $100 reward, but I haven't seen anything yet that really excites me.

PS. I have amassed over $150. If the rewards options don't change, I expect to spend my e-rewards on AA miles and lift tickets (assuming they come back in stock).

The Omaha Steaks deal is a joke. They offer the same "special offer" free on other websites at no charge. Don't get fooled into that one. =)

I will donate $15 for a domain... thinking about sabretools.com where we could host all the tools, maybe with an HTML interface etc. anyone want to help me with the webdesign?

thanks

I honestly tried to use e-rewards $ on the IBM used laptop deal, but it made absolutely no sense. It looked like a coupon that was being offered to everyone who went to the IBM site.

I use the first $25 on Blockbuster every year, and the remainder on Hilton, since you can only pick one award from each vendor per year.

How the heck do you guys get these surveys or other opportunities to rack up e-rewards? I occasionally get a $1 survey. About once every 3 months. I've had an account open for a long time with them, and maybe have ten bucks. AA miles are particularly valuable to me right now (I'm closing in on 1MM Lifetime), so I'd play ball if they'd let me in the game...

I agree ... who possibly gets all these $5 and $8 surveys? I'm happy for you! But I'm lucky to get a $1 once in a blue moon. Still, I should rack up $50 in eRewards by the end of the year and cash it in for 3,000 HHonors points. Those are 3,000 points I wouldn't have otherwise. It's not a fair comparison to say you'd be getting this points/miles if you spent the same in cash. This isn't real money. It's just partnership/sponsorship deal. The only reward that fits, is the reward that you'll actually use. I signed up for eRewards to get HHonors points. I don't fly AA much. I use Netflix instead of Blockbuster. I don't ski. Got all the luggage I need.

I always just go with the reward that fits what I'm going to be doing in the future -- what do you need, what will help you get there?

Got a $10 survey last nite. I think it was for Song.

I'm not sure why, but I think it has to do with a profile they are looking for. I am self employed, using a great deal of tech and communication products with a 16 year old son. My son has had 2 $5-$8 surveys alone in the past 2 weeks, on my e-mail. Consistency in responses may play a part.

I also agree that putting a value on something "free" is something to smile about. I guess the way to look at it is maximizing the gift opportunity-value.

Another thing to consider: airlines sell their miles at astronomical rates, so don't use those to "value" your miles. $82.50 for 3000 miles? Unless you have 117,000 miles in your account and want a 120K award on a flight that is taking off in 3 hours, you probably aren't going to do this. It's certainly fair to estimate your time spent on e-Rewards vs. the reward obtained, but be at least somewhat realistic on the value of your miles. (Hey! Aren't we overdue for another How Much Are My Miles Worth thread? )