12-03-2013, 12:39 AM
Oh I see.
So...
Buy $1000 of stuff on Amazon
Get $30 in points (3% back)
You need an item that costs $30.
Option a) Take $30 cash back and then buy the item at Amazon on your card so you get 90 cents back. You turned your $30 reward into a $30.90 reward.
Option b) Use the $30 credit and spend it directly at Amazon, effectively giving up that potential 90 cents.
So basically you could re-claim 3% of your 3% if you took the cash option and then bought something on Amazon and used the cash to pay back the card.
You would actually do worse if you took the $30 and spent it at Best Buy, because then you'd only get back 1% of your 3%... ($30.30...)
In summary, I think the extra trouble of getting cash back would outweigh the gain.
So...
Buy $1000 of stuff on Amazon
Get $30 in points (3% back)
You need an item that costs $30.
Option a) Take $30 cash back and then buy the item at Amazon on your card so you get 90 cents back. You turned your $30 reward into a $30.90 reward.
Option b) Use the $30 credit and spend it directly at Amazon, effectively giving up that potential 90 cents.
So basically you could re-claim 3% of your 3% if you took the cash option and then bought something on Amazon and used the cash to pay back the card.
You would actually do worse if you took the $30 and spent it at Best Buy, because then you'd only get back 1% of your 3%... ($30.30...)
In summary, I think the extra trouble of getting cash back would outweigh the gain.