I'm just loving this SYW card. 10% CB gas, dining, grocery Q1 '23

[xenon3030]

I get lots of deals from Instacart app (like $20 off for a $100 purchase for specific stores) but several of those stores do not have pickup or they have mark-ups. For delivery, if considering the fees and tips, finally, there would be almost no discount.

My Instacart has >1k credit and I prefer to avoid over-loading it further . Not sure how much reliable the app is while I hope that they would have a reliable risk management team in place. So, they do not simply close the accounts of customers, like Synchrony, without prior notice.

[TyrannicalDuncery3]

@Bockrocker I did get the cash back on my Aff* debit payment (around $200 payment so $2 cash back).

[Mixol0g1st]

Nicor worked, ComEd did not work. (Chicagoland utilities)

Nicor transaction date show as the 16th but ComEd shows as the 15th. So maaaaaaaaaybe ComEd works and I messed up by doing it right on the 15th (first day of the offer). I definitely activated it right, a few hours before the spend, and I saw some people on DoC who got the bonus to work with a similar timeline. Still, maybe that was the hangup.

[TyrannicalDuncery3]

Blinds.com worked for me (online spending). Unfortunately, I didn't have the home improvement offer so I'm not sure about that.

[TyrannicalDuncery3]

@Bockrocker I wonder whether the online debit payment just has a limit on the amount of a payment?

Today I tried to schedule a debit payment, but I accidentally did it for the full balance instead of 200 like I meant to. I clicked throught verification screen, noticed the amount, clicked "edit" and then it just took me back to the main screen with no evidence that the payment had been scheduled.

Then I tried one for 200 today, it took me to the confirmation screen. I'll check back in a week to see whether that first payment actually secretly went through! (I don't think so, because there was no confirmation screen and it's not in my list of scheduled payments).

So maybe it was the amount, maybe it's that I clicked edit, or maybe I can't schedule debit payment for the future. Or something else. What do I know?

[ptatohed]

Sweet!  I got my online spend status email today and, for once, it was very helpful.    

Only $33 left to spend. 

With this, I'll try to go through what I spent on that counted as 'online'.  But it sounds like everything I thought might be online because my last quick calcs put me in the $900s spend range.  

You’re on your way!

Earn your Bonus Shop Your Way® Points by making

$32.73

or more in eligible online purchases by 05/14/2024.

[xenon3030]

I received a surprising email saying that "You have spent $0 as of 05/02 and hurry! Offer ends on 05/14" . I called them and they said that this email tracked the online spends only in May. Over the phone, we reviewed all the transactions in April and I should receive the rewards sometime soon.

Over the phone, they also could not identify in a quick way whether a purchase was online or in-store (some banks like BOA can do), except the purchases that included ".com" in the description. Several online purchases via some stores like Walgreens or Target do not include ".com" while they possibly have algo or other internal methods for verifications.

[TyrannicalDuncery3]

Thanks @xenon3030 ! Sorry for the hassle.

I've heard many reports from people that the emails are often wrong. I've also heard a few reports that phone customer service is often wrong. I have never heard of phone customer service identifying the online category correctly.

.com stuff:

• (Definitely) My WM Pay transactions counted as online but they don't have any ".com."
• (Definitely) Same thing when I paid taxes through PayUSATax.
• (Maybe) People also say that this triggers the online offer. I haven't used for the offer, but it also showed up on my statement with no ".com."
• (Maybe) Cardcookie counted for someone. I don't know how it looked on their statement, but Cardcookie has no ".com" on my statement.
• (Weird) I bought something on CardCash and it didn't get a ".com"; )ptatohed bought something from CardCash and it did get a ".com". I don't think we know whether either one counted as online.
• (Weird) "K*.co" worked for bockrocker earlier this year. I used it and it failed for me. It had ".co" in the statement. Not sure whether I did something different/wrong or whether SYW shut it off (or maybe K* changed something).
• You may know this. Some people seem to think that the SMS message for "without the card present" helps to predict what counts. From my experience, I think that this doesn't always work, but it may help.

[ptatohed]

Well, I give up trying to figure out what counted as online and what didn't.  Of all the things I thought/hoped would count, so far I have spent almost $1200.  When I leave the well-known ones (amazon, walmart.com), and start backing out the ones I question (raise.com, paypal?), I can't equal exactly to the dollar or penny what SYW is telling me I spent so far ($1000 - $32.73 = $967.27).  I made a $240 purchase at one of those on-line only appliance stores (for friend, he gave me the cash) but there was no .com on my SYW statement account activity.  So could the raise have counted but the appliance did not?  I give up!

I thought paypal was guaranteed 'online', is that not the case?   The paypals don't have .coms in the description btw.   

Ok, *EDIT*.  I am so dumb.  It hit me that maybe today's SYW e-mailed figure (of $967.27 spent / $32.73 to go) was maybe just not including the last couple/several transactions.  I added up everything I believed/hoped would be 'online' and I got $1186.72 (yes, I over-shot).  Then, I removed a May 1 $159.45 walmart.com (grocery order), and two Apr 30 $30 PayPals (buy $30 Panda gift card, get free Panda bowl), and perfect, $967.27 per the SYW email).  So once at least my Wal-Mart is counted, I'm done and get my $250 in points.  No more needed online spend this period.   

So, this 100% does mean, 'online' spend worked for:

• An online-only appliance store that did not have a ".com" in the description.
• raise.com.  I had made a $119 and a $44 purchase on two separate days and they both counted.  No .com.
• Using PayPal to checkout at Dominoes while ordering pizza online.  No .com
• All 5 amazon orders (obviously).  Does say AMZN.COM for what it's worth.  
• walmart.com (obviously).  Does say WALMART.COM

[TyrannicalDuncery3]

Woohoo @ptatohed !!! Well done. I love the raise datapoint especially.

@xenon3030 : Unfortunately, I tried costco.com with another Incom Sutton Vanilla bin 411810, this time it didn't work. The card is still fine, the charge is pending, but Costco cancelled my order. It might be a balance issue rather than a card type issue; I think it's a card issue but I mention this because something odd happened to me once: I bought a costco gift card online with my credit card, it had a pending hold placed on it, then another hold, then one of the pending holds was released and card was charged, then the other pending charge stayed on there for like a week before going away. So maybe Costco tried to do that double-hold on my card or something. There would not be enough funds on the card for that.