MyPoints recently announced that thru Dec 31 if you spend over $100 they’ll give you more than their standard 2 points per dollar (how much more depends on your combined purchases total during the period). To get their maximum payout of 5 points per dollar (about 3.5%) you have to spend $1,000 or more through MyPoints. This pretty much stinks compared to several recent promotions where they just doubled ALL shopping rewards to 4 pts per $.
But in the interest of “comparing rewards,” I started running some numbers and guess what? For 51% of their merchants — that’s 110 different merchants — you can earn more at Ebates EVERY DAY (with no purchase minimums) than you can by spending $1,000 at MP and getting 5 points per dollar!
As for how MP stacks up with their regular 2pts/$…? Hahahaha. Don’t even go there. The only offers that compare at all are the ones that pay a flat rate bonus per purchase, rather than per dollar.
So the moral of the story is, if you don’t have an Ebates account, GET ONE NOW. They pay out quarterly by check, which is sent automatically when your account exceeds $5. They even give you $1 when you sign up.
Here is a list of merchants that pay you more to shop at Ebates than at MyPoints even if they paid you 5 points per dollar.
Here is a list of merchants where you MAY make more shopping at MyPoints, depending on your combined purchase total from now thru Dec. 31.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The only problem is that you slighly underestimated mypoint values. 3.57% equates to a $10 cert for 1,400 pts. However, if you are going to spend $1000 to get 5 pts/$ or a total of over 5000 pts, you would be more likely to redeem for a higher value certificate. Here you get some better numbers:
Examples:
$25 Bloomingdales for 3000pts = 4.17%
$20 Applebees for 2500pts = 4.00%
$25 Applebees for 3000 pts = 4.17%
$25 Barnes and Noble for 2750 pts = 4.55%
$50 Macy’s for 5250 pts = 4.76%
There are many other examples.
Now I’m not saying that Ebates isn’t worth it, I’m a member but you need to keep it mind what you what want to redeem for to get the best buy.
Very good point, Tony! I had totally not taken that into consideration.
With that in mind, I reran the numbers and only counted offers in which ebates pays over 5% (since 5% isn’t attainable even with MyPoints’ 5 points per dollar). You would still do better with Ebates for 86 of MyPoints’ merchants, or 40%…even by spending over $1,000 and getting 5 points per dollar.