(Update 11/6/22: They’ve now added Amazon with the same 5% discount as Walmart. ht GCG)
Discover cashback can be redeemed as cashback at 1:1 or can be redeemed toward various gift card brands at a discount of 5% or more. They’ve now added Walmart e-gift cards as an additional gift card option with a 5% discount.
A $200 Walmart e-gift card will cost $190 in Discover cashback. A $5 Walmart e-gift card will cost $4.75. Same for any other denomination in between. Discount is valid on any e-gift card from $5 to $200.
There are lots of other brands available as well with 5% discount , such as Best Buy, and others with higher discounts, such as 10% on Home Depot and Lowe’s. This new Walmart discount is a welcome addition of another top brand as a way to squeeze out a bit more from your Discover cashback. See How to Maximize Discover Cash Back Redemptions for more discussion on this.
Hat tip to GC Galore
Given that you can have 5% off on Amazon and walmart and rotating categories, where you can buy even gift cards, aren’t these redemptions redundant and not as useful?
The alternative is to cash out to bank.
You would get 5% cash back when you buy the first Amazon gift card using your Discover card with Amazon as the rotating category and then you would get another 5% off on the 5% you earned on the first gift when you redeem the points for the second gift card. It’s equivalent to 5.25% cash back on the first gift card (5%+5%*5%).
It would take time for the points to post from the first Amazon gift card purchase. Are we sure the 5% on AMazon gift cards from Discover Rewards is here to stay?
JM
It’s unlikely to continue indefinitely but that’s just my opinion. I don’t think the double gift card purchase is worth it.
Yeah, I wait to cash out until the gift cards I want are at least 15% (and usually they’ll hit 20%). Won’t see that on Walmart or Amazon.
You can redeem the points for the discounted GCs and use them in another quarter when this rotating category isn’t present. But yes, for this quarter, it’s best to take advantage of the rotating categories.
The point of the 5% gift card bonus, is it literally gives you a bonus 5% cash back if you redeem it in that category. You also get 2x cash back for the first year of card membership. This means, you can get 15% cash back if redeemed through their gift cards, furthermore, it isn’t just Amazon/Walmart, the post literally says any gift card on Discover’s selection.
They didn’t have Walmart as a redemption option at all before, did they?