Rebates – Yen Kai's Idea Cast

Agoda just scrapped their Reward Points

I have just logged into my Agoda account, and lo and behold, i could not find the link to my Reward Points. Instead, i noticed that i had Gift Card credits. The Gift Cards have been issued on May 30, without any prior notice. One Gift Card expires end of this year, while the other at the end of next year.

I did a quick Google search and found out that some Agoda members have been given the option to switch from the Rewards Points system to the Gift Card system since last year. Now it seems the Rewards Points system has been axed and everyone is forcibly switched to the Gift Card system. Continue reading Agoda just scrapped their Reward Points

Shopback $750 milestone

I have just collected the cashback for my Hokkaido trip hotel stays, and this propels me past $750 in total cashback earned!

If you haven’t been earning cashback for your online purchases, now is a good time to get started. Why wait? –> Sign up link <–

Bye Bye ANZ Optimum, Hello OCBC 365

Well, as expected, the ANZ Optimum World Mastercard is no more with effect from 5 Aug 2017 (you cannot make any further transactions with the Credit Card). Of importance to note is the announcement on rewards redemption, which i quote:

Rewards redemptions: All unused ANZ Rewards Points/Travel$/Optimum$ will be transferredto your existing or new DBS/POSB credit card for redemption. ANZ Rewards Redemptions will cease prior to the transfer date as outlined below:

17 July 2017 – All Rewards redemptions excluding KrisFlyer Miles and Cash Credits

24 July 2017 – KrisFlyer Miles and Cash Credits redemptions

Thankfully i was able to make my very last Optimum$ redemption on 18 July. I am quite sure that DBS will not be as generous as ANZ. I reckon that you may not get the dollar equivalent rewards transferred to the new DBS Credit Card you will be getting.

Another charity program bites the dust. Thank you ANZ, and farewell. Continue reading Bye Bye ANZ Optimum, Hello OCBC 365

Shopback $500 milestone

It’s been almost two years since I have used Shopback and I am happy to announce that I have just crossed the S$500 milestone!

Most of the cashback were accumulated from hotel bookings. Yes, I travel a lot, but most of us do travel every now and then and there’s no reason why anyone should miss out on rebates for hotel bookings. Hotel stays don’t normally come cheap, and the 6% you earn in cashback is very significant.

Earning cashback through Shopback is one of the few things that defy the saying “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is”. All it takes is a few clicks to get back a little of what you paid for online purchases.

If you haven’t signed up, you really should do it now! Free money, people.

The end of ANZ Optimum Credit Card is in sight

Received the mailer as pictured above today. ANZ Retail business taken over by DBS, and that would include the Credit Card business. It can only mean one thing – all ANZ Credit Cards will go.

As the saying goes, all good things come to an end. Also, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. You could say the 5% cashback without minimum spend and practically without cap was a dream. I am quite sure DBS will clamp down on this money losing business.

For those of us holding the ANZ Optimum card, we could probably continue to enjoy the benefits until June or so. Next best Credit Card? Well i guess, for me it will be UOB Visa Signature for overseas and foreign currency spend, and possibly OCBC 365, which gives cashback for a very wide range of spending categories. Once ANZ is no more, i will probably have to get this card.

Taobao is back on Shopback

For two months probably, Taobao went missing on Shopback. Apparently, they were revamping the mechanism for tracking Taobao purchases through Shopback.

Previously, you had to search for the item you wanted to purchase through the search bar in Shopback’s Taobao page. With the new approach that was just introduced, effective 8 Mar 2017, you can shop on Taobao through Shopback as you would any other merchants on Shopback, i.e. just click “Shop Now” and get redirected to the merchant site. Except, you also need to submit your Taobao order ID using a special form on Shopback. Continue reading Taobao is back on Shopback

Shopback ❤ ezbuy

Saw something familiar in the Shopback mailer today – ezbuy! 6% cashback for Prime, buy-for-me and ship-for-me (8% during the current 2 days promotion which you’ll likely miss out on unless you happen to have something in their China warehouses right now, or you’re planning to buy something from Taobao right now).

I don’t know when they will clamp down on the coupon code “65APP15” (case-sensitive), but until then i’ve been enjoying 15% discount off the shipping when i do ship-for-me (which is all i do). If i were to get another 6% cashback, it means overall, i will be getting a 20% discount off the shipping fee.

I suspect this is just for a limited period only, just like for Qoo10. In any case, you’re missing out on a lot of rebates if you haven’t signed up for Shopback, so do it now!

Update 13 July 2016

Promo already over. As suspected, this was just a sprint campaign to reach out to the Shopback customer base.

Save serious money on hotel bookings

I have just received S$166.16 in cashback for the hotel bookings of my recent trip, no kidding! Here’s how i did it.

Earn cashback through Shopback. Simple as that. Hotel booking websites take an average of 15% in commission from the hotel/accommodation provider for every booking done through their websites. Yes, that’s an awful lot of money! They’re willing to give you back 6% of that commission, so you better grab it! You can get this cashback if you do your hotel bookings through cashback websites, like Shopback.

Continue reading Save serious money on hotel bookings

Thank you Bank of China

All things too good to be true must come to an end, and so it did. Bank of China has finally clamped down on their “charity program” that dishes out 5% rebate on all online transactions, including payments to government services. Here is the official announcement.

I will no longer enjoy a 5% rebate for my HDB season parking payment, but the terms and conditions did not specifically mention about payments to Telcos (according to my credit card bill it seems the payment made to Telcos still count towards the 5% rebate), though there is the overarching clause that the benefits can be revoked at any time at their sole discretion.

Also, it is mentioned that the 5% rebate promotion applies from April to June 2016, which means it may be terminated completely after June. Moreover, the 5% rebate is now capped at S$30 (was S$50).

Well, i’ve enjoyed the very generous rebates for more than a year, and i must say Thank you, Bank of China!

Why i still use Ebates

There are 3 categories of spending for which Ebates works for me: eBay, US merchants and car rental. For everything else, there is Shopback.

Ebates rewards up to 5% for purchases on eBay, which is fantastic. In comparison, Shopback offers only 1% cash back for eBay purchases. The email notification pictured above tells me i have earned US$4.05 for a US$135 purchase, which works out to be a 3% cash back.

You may be wondering what is worth buying on eBay. Let me tell you – beauty product samples. Guys, don’t back away and think this does not apply to you. You have no idea how much money you may be saving when your spouse buys the sample instead of the full retail product. Even when you buy the full retail products on eBay, you’ll be saving lots compared to buying from the local store. What i do is to find those eBay sellers who have collected a large quantity of samples, where, often the total quantity is more or less the same as the retail product, but at a fraction of the price. Sometimes, you can find sellers with overstock items at less than wholesale prices (for the lower cost products only of course).

For other US branded goods, it is also great to use Ebates for cash back. There’s no stopping you from grabbing Black Friday deals, or clearance sales that happen every now and then, and earning cash back at the same time when you’re already getting a good deal. Shipping is easy, and relatively cheap (don’t use the shipping service offered on the merchant sites, they’re rip-off!).

Finally, there is car rental, for which i doubt Shopback will ever bother to offer cash back, because the demand is probably too little compared to the demand for car rental in the US. For my upcoming trip to Korea, i have two car rental arrangements with Sixt, and i’m earning cash back for the rentals, so the cash back actually works for worldwide car rentals. As you can imagine, car rentals easily cost hundreds of dollars each time, so the cash back, even at just a few percent, is very significant. Don’t lose out on such savings. Sign up for Ebates and get the cash back.

And as i have said before, for everything else, there is Shopback!

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