Nov 3, 2009 10:28 pm US/Central
Retailers Offer Free Gift Cards With Purchase
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Major retailers are promoting free gift cards with purchase in ads and online.
CBS
It's not a rosy picture for retailers this Christmas. They're doing everything they can to lure you into their stores. Deep discounts are being coupled with free gift cards. The message for savvy shoppers: grab your gift cards at several major retailers, as well as other more uncommon places. CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports.
Jason Simon needs new razors. The Target shopper is buying Fusion Power razors for one reason: the free gift card.
"Getting $5 for the gift card, maybe I can use it as a stocking stuffer of something," said Jason Simon. "That's pretty enticing."
We were enticed by the free gift card offer for lotion that week. We purchased Dove lotion and got a gift card for $5. Then we got another $5 card for buying Vaseline lotion.
Major retailers are promoting gift cards in ads and online.
"It's just a great way to entice our guests to come back in our store and shop with us again," said Thomas Sears, manager of the Toys "R" Us in North Riverside.
"It can help you in your planning, knowing that you're gonna get some money back," said shopper Marrianne Cooke.
The week we shopped, Toys "R" Us featured baby formula and electronics. We bought a $39 video game and pocketed a $10 gift card. We collected another gift card worth $1.90 when we traded in old video games.
Best Buy will also trade video games and electronics for gift cards. Stan Andrie was looking to exchange a $600 laptop. In return, he could get an unbelievable gift card.
"So the value they're giving me online is $235," said Andrie. "That's a very good deal."
We were also looking for a deal, so we had the clerk check out the trade-in value of our CBS cell phone. It was only worth $10.
"It is an older model," said a Best Buy clerk.
We also discovered you can often snag $25 gas cards if you visit open houses or test drive cars.
Donating blood to the Red Cross was the most creative offer we found. Give a pint and get a gift card for a free pie at Bakers Square. Average value: about $12.
In the end, we collected six gift cards that totaled $43.90, but it only took a couple of days. At that rate, in a year's time we could collect hundreds of dollars in free gift cards.
And remember, if you trade in something more expensive, like an old laptop, you could get even more money.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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