Before heading back home, relatives and friends often ask us to bring something back for them. Apple products are a top choice for many people. In this case study, the blogger explains how to buy an IPAD AIR 32G in the cheapest way possible.
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Goal: Buy an IPAD AIR (regular price $449 + tax)
- Buy from a reliable store
- Get the lowest final out-of-pocket price
Basic strategy:
- Find the lowest available price
- Use discounted gift cards
- Earn credit card cash back
- Earn online shopping portal cash back
- Earn cash back from the merchant’s rewards program
My process:
Search slickdeals.net
- This is a deal forum commonly used by Americans, where people mainly post good deals they find themselves. Sometimes you get a pleasant surprise: at that time, the lowest price anywhere online was at staples.com for just $349 + tax. On top of that, it could also be stacked with its own rewards program.
Search cashbackmonitor.com
This is a great place to compare major shopping portal and cash-back sites. You can choose the portal that best fits your needs. After searching, I found that staples.com was offering 2 mile/$ through the AA shopping portal (https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/). In addition, the portal was offering an extra 1000 mile bonus for purchases over $300, so I decisively chose that portal.
Buy discounted staples.com gift cards
After checking my Discover it account, I found that I still had $100 in cash back that had not been redeemed. When redeeming gift cards through Discover, every $25 gift card only required $20 in cash back, so I went ahead and redeemed $100 in cash back for $125 in gift cards.
Choose the right credit card for payment
Discover it offered 5% cash back on all online purchases in Q4, so I used it to pay the remaining balance.
Everything is ready—time to buy
- Click through to staples.com from the AA shopping portal
- Search for ipad air 32G on staples.com
- Add it to the cart and pay using Discover it plus the redeemed gift cards
- Earn credit card cash back, shopping portal rewards, and Staples rewards
Now let’s calculate the final total:
My cost: $100 Discover cash back + $224 charged to my Discover credit card (349-125) = $324
What I got: a $445 ipad air 32G + $224*5% + 1700 AAmile (349*2+1000) + 349*2% (Staples rewards) = IPAD + $20 cash back + $28 (the value of the AAmile)
Net result: I bought an IPAD AIR 32G for $276Introduction to the Discover credit card, Introduction to shopping portals and cash-back sites