Thursday, August 09, 2007

Shopping Reward Programs

I've been doing various reward programs for some time. So I thought I'd share some of what I've learned in the process. The first thing is, shop around. Depending on what you want to get OUT of the reward program, there are many options. Here are my top two picks and a couple others.

MyPoints.com - great general program. Earn points by shopping through their links, redeem for gift certificates. You cannot earn cash with this one. It's all done through gift cards or certificates. I've actually done well here. Watch the point levels. You can also earn points for referrals. I've gotten cards for teachers, gifts, and myself. I've also taken family out to eat with restaurant gift cards when on vacation. Good money saver. Referrals here have to be done by email invitation. If you're interested, let me know and I'll be happy to drop you one. Offers for this can also earn both referrer and the new sign-up extra points (varies).

Sunshine Rewards - good for the Disney lover. You can cash out with this one for either cash or Disney dollars or various gift cards/certificates. I love this one since we go to Disney at least once a year. It's a great way for me to earn the money for the extras as well as for food. Sunshine Rewards also has an option to earn points by signing up for various programs, surveys, samples and more. Be careful, though. I've had a lot of spam show up in my folders with stuff I've signed up for. Also - you cannot always quick-cancel. You have to remain signed up for some offers for a certain period (check the FAQ and the small print). If you don't, you won't be credited.
Note: if you use this link to sign up, you'll get $2.50 as a sign-up bonus, instead of the normal $2.00 thanks to a contest that is being run right now.

PriorityClub.com - more for airline miles and hotel stays. They have some good selections. I haven't had as much of a chance to do a lot of earning here. It's click-thru only, no referral.

Points.com - works well with PriorityClub.com. You can shop at various links, earn sky miles and more. You can also transfer points to PriorityClub for the hotels. Works with quite a few Airline Reward programs (Delta, Alaska Air, and more) as well as Starbucks. It allows point sharing with friends and family. No referral points.

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