RewardZone gift card policy change

botticus

botticus

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Starting on December 2, 2007, when you purchase a Best BuyTM Gift Card in any Best Buy U.S. retail location or from BestBuy.com, you will earn Reward Zone® program points immediately upon purchase.

Any Gift Card(s) purchased before December 2, 2007 will not earn points if redeemed on or after December 2, 2007.

Reward Zone® program, Reward Zone program MasterCard® and Best Buy For Business Reward Zone program members will earn 1 point for every $1 spent on Gift Card purchases in any Best Buy U.S. retail location or BestBuy.com.
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I'm curious why they made this change as it opens them up to the double-dipping I'm pretty sure the policy was in place to prevent - i.e. I buy $250 in gift cards, get 250 RZ points; turn around and use those $250 in gift cards to buy stuff, earning 250 more RZ points.
 
[quote name='botticus']I'm curious why they made this change as it opens them up to the double-dipping I'm pretty sure the policy was in place to prevent - i.e. I buy $250 in gift cards, get 250 RZ points; turn around and use those $250 in gift cards to buy stuff, earning 250 more RZ points.[/QUOTE]
Probably a lot of people complained that they were buying gift cards as gifts and cant receive points especially when it comes to holiday times.
 
[quote name='botticus']I'm curious why they made this change as it opens them up to the double-dipping I'm pretty sure the policy was in place to prevent - i.e. I buy $250 in gift cards, get 250 RZ points; turn around and use those $250 in gift cards to buy stuff, earning 250 more RZ points.[/quote]

Thats a good point... If you're planning on buying a high dollar item like a HDTV why not do this? Say the TV is $2000. Buy $2000 worth of gift cards, get your rewards zone bucks, buy the TV with the cards, and get your rewards zone again!
 
I was assuming they were also going to stop giving you points when you bought something with the card, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe in fine print somewhere?
 
[quote name='pete5883']I was assuming they were also going to stop giving you points when you bought something with the card, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe in fine print somewhere?[/quote]I'd imagine they'd have to publicize that policy change in the same manner as this one... so nothing so far.
 
Interesting change of policy. And also, right in time for Xmas shopping, though after Black Friday. Interesting timing of the policy change, as well.
 
Well I don't buy gift cards...however just be thankful they aren't increasing the money back requirements..meaning they didn't say you now need to spend 350 dollars to get 5 bucks back :(

It's gonna come. :(
 
Well I think they make so much money on gift cards they just want to sell more and are willing to lose money on the RZ credits. Plus they still get the market research from the RZ so I doubt they lost any money at all on the RZ.
 
I was thinking maybe they did that, because people don't use the gift cards. I'll have to find the article, but I remember reading that Best Buy and other retailers were sitting on war chests full of money from purchased gift cards that never get used. That's my guess, but who knows.
 
Yeah, I was wondering about this too when I got the email. I'm pretty sure I'm going to use this policy change to double my reward points.
 
[quote name='Chitown021']Thats a good point... If you're planning on buying a high dollar item like a HDTV why not do this? Say the TV is $2000. Buy $2000 worth of gift cards, get your rewards zone bucks, buy the TV with the cards, and get your rewards zone again![/quote]

If you did that, then decided that you really didn't want that TV, you'd be stuck with $2000 in BB store credit.
 
[quote name='Ziv']If you did that, then decided that you really didn't want that TV, you'd be stuck with $2000 in BB store credit.[/quote]
That's what I thought too.
 
This would lead me to buy more giftcards. Small(er) ones, like under $250, but rather than putting stuff on my credit card or paying with my debit card, I'd be more inclined to just buy gift cards, then use them later. Like I did with those $5 off $20 coupons- get a couple of those for $10 each, then use it to buy controllers or something.

Also they're going to be worried about "double dipping" like this but really, to get $5 in rewards I have to still buy $125 worth of stuff... and do it via gift cards. It is a bit of a pain in the ass just to "make" $5.
 
Pretty tempting, especially when they come out with their triple reward points coupons. I dont think I would just buy $250 gift cards in order to get $10 back a month later, but you can add custom amounts to gift cards. I guess even when doing normal dvd/game purchasing you can just calculate how much you think your total for the day'd be and buy a GC for that amount.

Shame you cant use RZ certs on gift cards. I just got my $120 from the Spend $30 get $120 coupon, and an extra $10 for complaining about the length of time it took them to post ;-).

December's quite a ways away, so who knows if they come up with any 'preventive measures' for this one.
 
I suppose what they could do is link the GC to your RZ #, and can figure out whether you've earned the $20 already or not.
 
I think you guys are missing something..


Any Gift Card(s) purchased before December 2, 2007 will NOT earn points if redeemed on or AFTER December 2, 2007.


It sounds to me like they're just changing it so that the person who buys the gift card gets the RZ points, not the one who uses the gift card like how it is now. So if you have any gift cards lying around you need to use them up BEFORE December 2nd or you won't get your RZ points. I could be wrong, but that's what I got out of the email.
 
This is kinda cool for the RZ points on purchase of gift cards seeing every Xmas I usually spend around $200+ dollars in giftcards for those various people in the family that are hard to buy for.. easy points..
 
[quote name='Derrick1979']This is kinda cool for the RZ points on purchase of gift cards seeing every Xmas I usually spend around $200+ dollars in giftcards for those various people in the family that are hard to buy for.. easy points..[/quote]

Yeah, but at the same time I always liked getting points off my purchases for the gift cards I received. Either way, it's not really that big of a change. The statement 2 posts up basically shows that they are going to prevent double dipping.
 
[quote name='icedout297']Yeah, but at the same time I always liked getting points off my purchases for the gift cards I received. Either way, it's not really that big of a change. The statement 2 posts up basically shows that they are going to prevent double dipping.[/quote]Nope, the statement two posts up says that gift cards purchased before the date this new policy goes into effect won't double-dip.
 
BB isn't going to make a policy change so that they can give away more RZ coupons or so people can double dip. They're making it so that the buyer, not the user, of the gift card gets the RZ points. Just in time for the holidays so that more people will give BB gift cards as gifts so that THEY can get the points. Once December 2nd hits, you're not going to get RZ points when you buy stuff using a gift card. No matter when you bought it.
 
[quote name='gr8gazo']BB isn't going to make a policy change so that they can give away more RZ coupons or so people can double dip. They're making it so that the buyer, not the user, of the gift card gets the RZ points. Just in time for the holidays so that more people will give BB gift cards as gifts so that THEY can get the points. Once December 2nd hits, you're not going to get RZ points when you buy stuff using a gift card. No matter when you bought it.[/quote]That certainly makes sense from their perspective, but until we see another policy change or the terms and conditions change, that's not how it's going to work.

Really, from their standpoint, it's better to give points on gift card use rather than purchase if they're going to make it one or the other, since more gift cards are bought than used.
 
[quote name='botticus']Really, from their standpoint, it's better to give points on gift card use rather than purchase if they're going to make it one or the other, since more gift cards are bought than used.[/quote]

Yeah, that's true. Maybe they feel that giving the buyer of the card the RZ points will get more people to chose to give BB gift cards over CC or TRU or gift cards from other places. You give away more $5 coupons, but if it motivates enough people to spend more money on gift cards, in the long run, it doesn't matter so much.

We'll see how it works, but I'd be shocked if they opened themselves up to double dipping. Either way, it's more motivation to start using up my old gift cards. Especially now with the whole Summer of Entertainment promo running.
 
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