Friday, June 23, 2017

Easily earn cashback (in form of gift cards) on everyday purchases via Drop app

A great way to earn some extra cashback (in addition to credit card rewards) on everyday purchases you're likely making anyway. Read on for more details ...


UPDATE:  Here is a post from my friend Shawn that might be worth reading before you sign up. Not saying you shouldn't, but good to be aware of the potential downsides.

Hopefully you're already using the best possible rewards credit cards for your everyday purchases (a topic for another day), to maximize the cashback that goes into your wallet. But recently a new app called "Drop" surfaced that gives you another way to put even more cash back into your hands, at least while shopping a quite a few popular merchants ... including: Safeway, Walmart, Target*, Amazon, Walgreens, Trader Joe's and quite a few more (see posts below for the full list).



I'm not going to re-hash all the details of the app and program, since two other great blogs (and I'm sure others) have already covered it in great detail. Here are the links:

Miles to Memories: A New App Promises Auto-Rebates at Walmart, Amazon, Target, Walgreens & Much More!

Doctor of Credit: Drop App: Earn Rebates at Top Merchants by Linking your Credit Card (2% Amazon, 1.5% Uber, 1% Walmart/Target & Many More)

I want to highlight a few details, some of which were covered in the posts (above) ...

1) If you learned about this from me, please consider using my referral code (gsuez). Then refer your friends and make a whopping $1 each!! hahaha

2) I feel like it's worth noting that there are often better ways to pay at many retailers than using credit cards (which is what you have to use to benefit from this program). Most notably, using discounted gift cards (which you can find at GiftCardWiki - but beware there are risks with buying and using gift cards from third-party resellers, most notably holding and not using the gift cards beyond the guarantee period from the reseller). However, for merchants like Safeway, Walmart, Target, Amazon, Walgreens, it's difficult to find gift cards at much of a discount - so it's arguably not worth it (or impossible) to bother with gift cards. And transactions at other places (like Uber, McDonalds and Chipotle) might typically be too small to want to bother with buying gift cards. KEY POINT: so that's why this app is great at these types of retailers ... using discounted gift cards isn't really a great option (usually), so if you're paying with a credit card, you might as well earn these additional Drop app rewards.

*3) You may have noticed the * I put next to Target (above). Following up on point #2 (above), if you shop at Target (or Target.com) with any frequency, there is a better way to save than using discounted gift cards OR using your normal rewards credit card (plus the Drop app). While you can occasionally find Target gift card selling for more than a 5% discount, the best sure-fire and simple way to save regularly at Target is via their REDcard - either the credit card or debit card variety (both free to sign up for).

4) Ultimately, the point of #2 and #3 (above) is to say ... when you sign up for Drop, choose your 5 merchants carefully. At least as of now, it appears that you cannot change them, after you choose your initial 5 merchants you are forced to select when you sign up. I chose Safeway, Walmart, Amazon, Trader Joe's and McDonalds (I'm a sucker for the deals via their app!). As you can gather from the previous points, I think the 5 that make the most sense are merchants where you shop/buy frequently (obviously!) and where there isn't a better economic form of payment than your usual rewards credit card(s).

5) I found it a bit difficult to find the "Drop" app in the Apple app store, due to similarly named apps. I suggest searching for "Drop Loyalty" to find the app.

While downloading and setting up the app (especially linking it to your credit card accounts) requires a bit of work on the front end, this is really an easy way to make some extra cashback with very little effort. Enjoy!


Quick update:
6) It appears to me that it probably only makes sense to have one Drop account per household (at least in situations where spouses share accounts and have authorized user cards on each other's credit card accounts). While it might be great to refer your spouse to earn $1 (!!!), the app apparently only allows a credit card account (or bank log-in) to be applied/attached to one Drop account. And since the app isn't actually used to facilitate transactions with the merchants (it's just used to set up your Drop account), spouses might as well just apply/attach all of their credit card log-ins to a single Drop account.




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