topic Re: Best way to get cashback in Credit Cards

Best way to get cashback

Bmn5940 — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 20:17:09 GMT

Hey everyone,

So school is coming up and I am in need of a new laptop due to the intensity at which my program is getting this fall. I am looking to take advantage of a sale Best Buy is running currently which is $2,099 (no tax because Delaware is great) for a new MacBook (normally $2500 for the model I want) and with my new discover card I realized I could almost max out my 5% category if I checkout using PayPal and then they will match the 5% at the end of the year. Also I'm selling my old computer for $800 leaving my total cost of $1200 then discover PayPal will give me 5% cashback that puts me at 1,140 and then the additional 5% at end of year put me at $1,080 total for a computer that normally without credit card perks would be $2400.

I'm still debating if this is the smartest deal/decision and am holding off until closer to the end of August (expecting big paycheck from work on the 23rd) But I keep checking the Best Buy site praying this offer doesn't go away. What do you guys think I should do to maximize my cashback given the cards in my signature. Also my next Amex and chase sapphire statement will have my sign up bonuses added so I'm absolutely hype to see a huge bump in UR and MR point

Re: Best way to get cashback

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 20:25:24 GMT

If you are buying online, go through one of the portals to best buy and you will get an extra 1% or so:

https://www.cashbackmonitor.com/cashback-store/best-buy/

ETA: Looks like laptops are excluded in some. Rakuten is interesting though, 3% on everything in the weekly ad. Is your deal in here?

https://www.rakuten.com/ad-scans/bestbuy.com/weekly

Re: Best way to get cashback

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 20:28:31 GMT

I highly doubt that you’re going to do better than $150 back from Disco on top of the back to school student deal. My Best Buy student actually gets $100 off until August 3rd which drops it to $1999. I got the email about it.

Re: Best way to get cashback

Bmn5940 — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 20:56:12 GMT

@Saeren I got the same email that's what sparked my interest! I actually did a few upgrades so my model would cost $2,099 with the student offer (wanted the intel core i9 processor instead of i7). But still I was figuring between the $100 student offer, and discovers $150 and $800 for selling my old MacBook that's almost 1k in savings. While I don't necessarily NEED a new MacBook as I have access to on campus labs 24/7 if need be, and a computer I built is also at my apartment in case my Mac can't handle the programs I'm running. I'm just thinking in the next year or two when I want to upgrade my Mac, a deal like this isn't going to happen again especially since my current Mac will depreciate more in resell value. BUT discovers next category is Walmart target and amazon so I know I can for sure still get that $150 out of them for that category but I doubt I'll come anywhere near the $1500 cap for the PayPal and restaurant category as I cook a lot while in school to save money. Very on the fence about dropping the $1200 if I don't absolutely need to but knowing these savings won't align like this is pushing me haha

Re: Best way to get cashback

SBR249 — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 21:24:16 GMT

Nothing much to add, but shoutout to Delaware! Yay!

Re: Best way to get cashback

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 21:36:38 GMT

40% saved is 60% spent. I never buy laptop before my current one dies.

Now if you insist, 10% back (of up to 1500) is probably the best deal you can get from a credit card. You can also get some best buy gift card from cardpool for ~5% cash back. Call best buy first, I don't know how they deal with split transactions involving e gift cards.

Re: Best way to get cashback

Bmn5940 — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 21:44:17 GMT

I never thought about the gift card idea. Thanks everyone for the suggestions I'm going to wait until September when classes start and see how intense the programs I'll be running are. If it starts to go downhill I have until end of September to still jump on cashback deal or worst option is I forfeit the $100 student offer and use target or amazon to buy the Mac with discovers new October category

Re: Best way to get cashback

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 23:24:52 GMT

I’m also looking at the same Best Buy deal. You might want to check out the Apple student deal. The Best Buy deal is a little better but the Apple student deal runs until the end of September.

Waiting is a good idea. As someone who switched to Macs in 2006 and never looked back I think people always overestimate how powerful a computer they need. Wait an see if you really need to upgrade. Here is link to the Apple student deal.

https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/back-to-school

The prices already reflect the $100 off and you could easily sell the headphones for $150 (I know they say $300 buy no one is buying them at that price). Good luck.

Re: Best way to get cashback

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 23:26:34 GMT

Buy a soda and give the cashier a $20

Re: Best way to get cashback

digitek — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 00:00:39 GMT

@Bmn5940 wrote:
I never thought about the gift card idea. Thanks everyone for the suggestions I'm going to wait until September when classes start and see how intense the programs I'll be running are. If it starts to go downhill I have until end of September to still jump on cashback deal or worst option is I forfeit the $100 student offer and use target or amazon to buy the Mac with discovers new October category

This is a good idea. I agree with the poster above that unless you are running some computationally/graphically intensive stuff your current Mac will likely be fine (especially if you can still sell it USED for $800). It also sounds like you have a rig at home that could run almost anything anyway.

Goodluck with classes and good decision to hold your money for a bit!

Re: Best way to get cashback

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 00:09:38 GMT

The i9 in such a small chassis is a horrendously awful idea. I would stick with the i7 but depending on what your doing, the i5 is plenty. It’s rarely worth a CPU upgrade if you have a desktop you can use for the heavy lifting.

Re: Best way to get cashback

Bmn5940 — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 00:43:42 GMT

I'm a computer engineer so many of the programs I run are CPU and Memory heavy. My rig at home can run anything but is windows. I live a split life between needing Mac for Linux programming and Xcode and windows for Hardware programming with Xilinx. Anyway besides all this, I'm not overestimating what I need, my current Mac was $2,800 when I bought it back in 2015 and has done well but is slowly starting to die after 4 years. While it still does what I need it to(for now) its not as fast as I'd appreciate. Probably going to go with the gift card idea just for the fact that 10% is definitely the biggest kickback I'll get regardless of whether I buy a Mac now or later. Thanks everyone