For the past few months I wrote about the IHG Postcard Promotion where you could earn a minimum of 47,000 IHG points for approx $50. I know many readers fully took advantage of this promotion and earned a ton of points! While the IHG promotion has ended, I wanted to tell you about a new offer where instead of earning points towards free travel, you’ll earn gift cards to use at Victoria’s Secret. While not even close to travel related, I figured you might as well keep the carpal tunnel going.
Victoria’s Secret Postcard Deal
With this promotion you’ll receive one gift card worth anywhere between $10 and $500 with every mail-in entry. The major caveat and difference from the IHG promotion is that you are only allowed one mail-in entry per day – you cannot just send in all your postcards at once. They will go by postmark date. This can definitely be a pain in the a$$, but could definitely be worth it. All secret rewards cards will have either $10, $20, $50, $100, or $500!
For most people, this promotion runs February 25 through March 28. If you have an Angel credit card or are a Pink Nation person, the entry period already started. This means you have a total of 28 days to enter. At a minimum of $10 gift card per entry that equals at least $280. In the past, I actually won one gift card worth $100! You can read the full terms here.
Filling Out and Sending In Entry Form:
- On the 4 x 6 piece of paper, handwrite the following information:
- Full Name
- Mailing Address
- Email Address
- Date and Year of Birth
- For the envelope it must be handwritten. Do not use labels or put it through your printer. The mailing address is:
- Victoria’s Secret Secret Reward Promotion, P.O. Box 139024, Dallas, TX 75313
- In the entry envelope, you must also include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with sufficient return postage AND a return address. Make sure the self-addressed envelope includes your first and last name, street address, city, state and zip code. If you are in Vermont, you can omit the return postage for the included self-addressed envelope.
- Every envelope can only contain one 4 x 6 entry card. This means you must write out and send in 28 separate envelopes.
- While you can write them all now, DO NOT mail them in until February 25 and make sure you only put one envelope in the mail box a day (prior to the mail being picked up). Remember, no postmarks on Sunday so do not put one in the mailbox on Sundays!
- Once your entry is received, you will receive one Secret Reward Card via postal mail in approximately fifteen business days.
- You are also limited to ONE PER HOUSEHOLD. So unfortunately you cannot take advantage of this promotion for multiple people within the same household. See if you can use a neighbors address!
What to Purchase
- Purchase at least 28 4×6 notecards. Note that this is a different size then the ones required for the IHG promotion. You can also cut paper to make your cost a little less, but that is quite tedious in my opinion. They are very strict on notecard size, so make sure to purchase 4×6 notecards, nothing bigger or smaller. I personally purchased these ones on Amazon – while this is way more then I need, I plan on doing this for a few different family members.
- Purchase at least 56 envelopes. I’ve read a few reports that they need to be #10 envelopes, but I cannot find anything in the terms about that. I purchased these ones on Amazon for $6.99. The reason that you need 56 envelopes is that you need to include a self addressed stamped envelope in every mail-in entry.
- Purchase 56 stamps. This will cost you $27.44. Again, each entry needs two stamps – one to mail the envelope and one to put on the self addressed stamped envelope inside the entry envelope. Using a Chase Ink card at an office supply store will get you 5x points on this purchase!
Redeeming Your Secret Rewards Card
While your Secret Rewards Card act similar to a gift card, there are some differences. First off, they are not valid for redemption until March 29, 2016. You can check your winnings either in-store or online. You can then redeem the gift cards between April 1-31. Technically you are only allowed to use one gift card per transaction, but some store managers bend the rules a little bit and allow multiple gift cards to be used as long as there is one per item purchased. This is where you need to be strategic with your purchase and doesn’t allow you to always fully maximize your purchase.
Overall
This will take slightly more effort then the IHG promotion as you must HANDWRITE everything! Additionally, it is double the work as you must include a self-addressed stamped envelope. With that being said, each entry will cost you approximately $1 and you are guaranteed a minimum of $10 to use at Victoria’s Secret. This means for about $28 you can walk away with at least $280 worth of clothing/merchandise.
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Are you able to use these “gift cards” online or only in store?
@mo – both
since we have to put a return envelope with a stamp, i’m guessing folding in half will be ok right? i don’t think it will fit in the envelope we have to send without folding it.
@thomas – folding in half is not an issue
Thanks for the info!
What should be the return address in self addressed stamped envelope… Is it same address as the to address of the outer cover?
I have counted the days numerous times (excluding Sundays, of course) and I keep coming up with 28 days to send in envelopes….just wondering how you got 29 envelopes? Can’t figure out where 29 is coming from
Are you sure the outside envelope needs to be handwritten? Reading the rules again, it looks to me as if only the entry form and the SASA need to be handwritten… I have them all sealed and stamped and ready to go that way, so would definitely like your thoughts.
It’s 27 days not 29. Exclude holidays (ie Good Friday).
@allen – there are no holidays during this timeframe. It doesn’t run through good Friday although there is Mail on this date.
There has been a considerable amount of discussion regarding this contest at Slick Deals. This year the Victoria’s Secret rewards cards are not such a great deal. The cards are not stackable and limited to one per visit. It sounds like stores will be enforcing this more than they have in the past. They also check your ID to make sure the name matches the reward card. So really, if you need one or two cards (or however many times you plan on visiting), great. But more than that, eh. Also the rewards cards must be used by April 27th, 2016, which is pretty short redemption period.
Allen, will you please provide me the link to the discussion on slick deals? Thanks!!!
http://slickdeals.net/f/8423937-victoria-s-secret-secret-rewards-is-coming-back-ends-3-29-check-the-wiki
Is the return address on the SASE really necessary?
Does anyone know if post office boxes are acceptable for my address?
@Allen….what do you mean they check your ID? I did this for the first time in Oct-Nov 2015. I received 25 $10 AND 2 $20 and I was a HAPPY CAMPER. We didn’t have to provide a SASE and they were sent via email. Since I have a card, I started on 2/12..YIPPEE!!! I can’t’ wait for secret rewards to start rolling in. The last redemption was Dec 1 – Dec 17th I used up all of mine as soon as they started coming in.
@Bryan…yes it is because they will be mailing you the rewards cards vs. sending them via email.
Let us know how it works out this time. The rules explicitly say this time that only one card can be used per visit. Read the official rules closely. Read the Slick Deals thread on this. Maybe you will have a clerk that will allow stacking. But don’t count on it.
Thanks for the comment. Just not sure what return address to use, since they’ll be mailed from VS. Otherwise the return is the same as the destination.
@Bryan…I didn’t put a return address
@Bryan – I used VS address as return address for the self-addressed stamped envelope. Not 100% sure if that is correct, but it make the most sense to me.
Wil a 3×5 card suffice?
@ad120 – unfortunately they have to be 4×6
@ad120 I cut paper into 4×6.
@ad120 – They need to be 4×6 cards.
Very cool… I definitely need to stock up on VS items. $261 of free VS gift cards is definitely worth it to me. High Five!!
your use of ‘free’ is wrong, especially when you’ll be paying the sales tax on your ‘free’ item, if its $10 or more…
@steve – it really depends on where you live. many states do not have sales tax on clothes, especially if under a certain dollar amount. For the states that do have sales tax on clothing, then that is correct, will need to calculate in that percentage.
There is a limit of one Secret Reward Card redemption per person per store visit and online/catalogue purchase transaction.
I’m also confused about the return address–should that be VS or our own?
@emma – I included the VS address as the return address. Not 100% sure this is correct, but it made the most sense to me.
return envelop can be smaller right? i am using 4-1/8 x 9-1/2 Inch to send 4 * 6 post card? but return envelop doesnt this be 4-1/8 x 9-1/2 Inch, right?
@tangerine – based on the T&C i do not see anything that states a envelope size for the return self-addressed envelope. with that being said, I still used a #10 envelope and just folded it in thirds.
You state above:”self-addressed, stamped envelope with sufficient return postage AND a return address.”
What do you mean by “sufficient return postage”? Forever stamp per envelop is good enough?
Thank you 🙂
Has anyone started receiving their Rewards Cards back in the mail yet? I started participating during the Angel Early Access period, and for some reason I have only received 2 cards back in the mail. One last week, and one this week. Did this happen to anyone else?
@frugaldealfinder – i still have not received the rewards cards yet.
Still nothing. At this point it has been 17 business days so I am hoping they will start rolling in this week.
Again–has anyone else received ANY cards back? I’ve sent about a dozen
entries in and haven’t recv’d anything back.
I haven’t gotten anything yet, but I started during the regular promotion period. It would be great if people who have gotten cards could leave a comment!
@Jean H – I have not received anything yet.
Nothing back as of today.
I still haven’t received anything back. Has anyone else?
@Bryan – I haven’t either.
I did the “Click to Chat” option on the VS web site and after asking about WHEN the cards would be sent out I got this reply: We assure all participants that all valid entries are being processes and that Secret Reward Cards are being mailed within approximately 15 business days of receipt as stated in the Official Rules. Consistent with the Official Rules, we are unable to respond to specific inquiries about this portion of the program. When calculating when you should receive cards back, please keep in mind the mailing time for the Administrator to receive your request, the processing time which is approximately 15 business days, plus the mailing time for you to receive cards back. The redemption period runs from 3/29 – 4/27 and cards will continue to be mailed with this window When I told her that is is MORE than 15 days from sending my first entries, she stated: I apologize you have not yet received your card. The program administrator who handles these requests is processing them within the time frame outlined in the Official Rules and we are unable to check on the status of a pending request. I then complained that I don’t believe the entries are being processed as promised in the Official Rules and the reply I got: The only method of contact for the program administrator is the mailing address provided in the Official Rules. My final comment was that I didn’t feel like I still had an answer to my original question, and I got: Thank you for choosing Victoria’s Secret! Have a great day!
@jean – that is very frustrating. I have read that some people started getting them Friday and Saturday so hopefully today will bring some cards in the mail.
I received my first card in the mail on Friday. (None in the mail on Saturday.) You have to go online to check to see what amount you’ve earned. I started sending my entries in on first day it opened for general entries.
I still haven’t received anything, and I started sending my entries on the first day it opened for general entries.
@jenny – that is reassuring. Thanks for sharing!
Just received my first secret reward card yesterday and I sent it in on the first day that you were able to send in.
Received my first one today and i started the first day.
I just wanted to say that the people running the v.s rewards sweepstakes is a place called The Marketing Arm.for those of you who havent received any cards the # and email is available on Google is what a rep from v.s told me.I started mailing my entries out on feb.26th and so far i have received 15 cards back.i received my 1st one on March 26th.
Like others I sent in around a dozen entries (I quit sending them when I wasn’t receiving anything back!)
and I’ve recvd about 4-5 secret reward cards back in the past week. . . . FINALLY SOMETHING!!!!
We got $170 in mail and email codes (one was for $100) and the local VS allowed us to combine coupons. All spent timely before the deadline. Thank you for the heads up!
@Kalboz – great!