Most deal hunters shop through online shopping mall websites. The one I use is called Big Crumbs.
Weird Name.What is it?
Obviously, I feel it’s the best online shopping mall.
But what’s an online shopping mall?
It’s a website where members sign in and click through to go to the popular stores they want to buy items from – including common websites like Flowers.com, Nordstrom, Ebay, Expedia, Walmart, Drugstore.com, and all the big ones.
Why would I waste time going through Big Crumbs instead of going straight to, say, Walmart.com?
Because, by clicking through Big Crumbs, you get paid cash back on a percentage of the amount you spend. For example, Drugstore.com pays 8%, Flowers.com pays 9.6%, and Barnes & Noble pays 4.8%. These cash back rebates might not seem like much, but they add up quickly.
How does this work with the mileage game?
Of course it always comes back to miles. One store on Big Crumbs is the American Express Gift Card store which pays you 1.6% cash back. Visa Gift Cards are available too, but I’ll focus on the Amex store for this lesson. Here’s how it works. Use one of your mileage credit cards to buy Amex gift cards, earning miles on every dollar you spend. There are two Amex Gift Card stores, one for personal and one for business gift cards. The personal store has an limit of $3,000 per gift card and the business store has a limit of $5,000 per gift card ($75,000 per order).
One very important note – make sure you buy a really small amount the first time you try this on a credit card. Every once in a while, a credit card will count this as a cash advance (which obviously won’t earn you any miles). Once you’ve done a trial run and you see that it counts as a regular purchase, you can go full steam ahead and rack up some big miles. Remember, you’re also getting 1.6% back on these Amex gift card purchases. You do pay $8.95 for shipping, but you’re getting $48 back if you buy $3000 in gift cards. You’re actually getting paid to earn miles!
Can it get any better?
It can. You can find ways to double dip with Big Crumbs. Lets say you buy $3000 in Amex gift cards. You pay $8.95 in shipping, and receive $48 back. Then lets say you take the $3000 in gift cards and spend them to book travel on Expedia through Big Crumbs. You get back up to 6.4% on travel purchases, so you’ve just earned yourself another $192 back. A double dip. Not bad, huh?
Click here to sign up for Big Crumbs.
