Over the past month or so, 7-Eleven stores started carrying Vanilla Reload cards. This allows you to load up to $500 on the card for $3.95 which you can then load on to your American Express Bluebird. With your American Express Bluebird card you can pay bills, rent, friends, etc. To learn more about Vanilla Reloads and American Express Bluebird, read this prior post.
While purchasing Vanilla Reloads at 7-Eleven sounds like a great option, many of them are not accepting credit cards as a form of payment and it’s a cash only deal. However, for those of you that are able to find a store that will accept credit cards, you can maximize your earnings with Plink.com.
Plink.com allows you to earn points on in-store purchases at participating merchants. Luckily, 7-Eleven is a participating merchant! So for a $25+ purchase you’ll earn 250 points valuef at $2.50. You can redeem your points in 500 point increments so for every two separate Vanilla Reload transactions you can cash out for a $5 gift card. That means your fees of $7.90 (cards cost $3.95 each) is really being reduced to $2.90! So if you purchase 10 cards a month for the $5,000 load maximum, you’ll pay $39.50 but get $25 back in gift cards!
Also, until Sunday July 21, 2013 all new members to Plink.com will get 1,000 bonus points (worth $10) if you spend $25+ at a 7-Eleven store. You must sign up for Plink.com using this bonus link.
How this works:
- Sign up for Plink here for the $10 7-Eleven promotion (make sure when signing up it states the $10 promotion – if you simply go through Plink.com and register you will not be registered for the promotion!)
- Link your credit card to your Plink account – I know many do not trust this concept so the choice is yours
- Add the merchant you’ll be shopping at to your Plink Wallet account (in this case add 7-Eleven)
- Shop IN STORE at 7-Eleven by end of day Sunday July 21 and spend $10 or more in a single transaction on your registered credit card (Vanilla Reload purchases count!)
In my experience the points have taken about a week to post, and they all did post – no follow up was needed! At this point you can cash out those points for gift cards at the following stores: iTunes, Tango card (which can then be redeemed at many merchants such as: Target, Home Depot, Pottery Barn and REI, etc.), Amazon.com, Walmart, Kohl’s, Barnes & Nobles, Overstock.com, and Zappos. I personally have cashed out thus far at Amazon.com and it has been an extremely easy process. The certificate took about a day to be emailed to my account (so keep that time table in mind when redeeming).
Let me know if you have any questions! This is a great way to reduce the cost of your Vanilla Reload fees!!!
Note: The Plink link listed is a special referral link. Make sure when registering the promotion is marketed on the sign up page. Personal referral links and just going to Plink.com will not register you in the specific promotion.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Have you had luck using a credit card at 7-11 in the NYC area?
@erik – just struck out at two
So excited to add another location where I can stock up on my favorite flavor.
I’ve tried about 5 now in NYC and struck out at all of them. One of the cashiers told me someone stole a credit card and bought a VR and now they are only allowing cash purchases…
A friend of mine got 2 at a 7-11 in NYC though. I have not yet had the chance to ask him where at…
@Points Surfer – Kathy from Will Run for Miles has had luck at a few included the Village. http://first2board.com/willrunformiles/
as I mentioned a few days ago, I have had success charging VRs at more than one 7-11s in NYC. http://first2board.com/willrunformiles/2013/07/13/big-news-buy-vanilla-reloads-at-7-11-earn-5x-points/
I even tried doing it with a gas purchase and cashier tried and did not know how to scan the card. i wanted to laugh at he clerk. got the other dude who told me cash or debt only… ugh.. only if the cashier knew what he was doing, then the manager yelled at him for even trying to ring it up. lol
I attached two Credit cards – does that work, or did the second one overwrite the first one?
you share your bank login details ?
Can we register more than one card at a time on Plink?
@hoko – Only one card per account.
Not sure about handing over my bank login info for some gift cards rebate. Thanks for the info though.
Is it wise to spend a few thousand dollars at 7-11 over a relatively short period of time? What’s the likelihood of getting flagged? I could probably sell that I have health problems and spend thousands in medication at CVS, but what’s the angle on 7-11? It’s a convenience store.
@ Michael – you were famished for their delicious day-old hot dogs?… which precipitated the need to spend thousands in medication from CVS… There, full circle 🙂
@Michael: you can say “I have a birthday coming, I need to buy a lot of gift cards so I can give each card to each of my friend who attend my birthday.”
Good to include to blurb that many do not trust the “linking” your credit card.. but you really should mention why, so people don’t waste time just to find out you have to give login info.
@dealswelike Hmm, so do you think we’d be able to create multiple accounts?
@HoKo – yes but you can’t sync the same card. Also, you can’t sync a card from the same bank to two separate accounts. For example one account can be an Amex card, another chase, another capital one, etc.
Yesterday I had no problems purchasing. Today the incomm charges are beig approved by credit card company but then reversed by either incomm or stores. Transaction goes through but only for additional items…not the main event. Anyone else having this problem?
[…] While I don’t chase Vanilla reloads, for those who do pay special attention to another post by Frequent Miler that details his success finding a few elsewhere. And, if you don’t have those retail locations nearby, doesn’t everyone have a 7-11? […]
Michael: I had the same thing happen, and another Twitter user experienced the same. Chase credit card approved, then the cash register auto-refunded all the VRs.
Here’s what’s strange: that other user said she used an Amex and the VR went through! So either this new hold is specific to Chase, or specific to MasterCard and Visa. Also: it seems to only affects VRs. I ended up buying Vanilla variable-load Gift Cards with no issue.
I suspect plenty more reversed VR buyers will surface in the coming few days. This took effect either 2 or 3 days ago.
[…] transaction and not only did I earn 2x on my pretty blue card, but I earned points through Plink. Deals We Like has a great post that explains how it […]