The Offer
- Buy a one-year Costco Gold Star Membership for $60, and you’ll get the following:
- A membership card for the Primary Cardholder and one additional Household Card for anyone living at the same address, over the age of 16
- A $45 Digital Costco Shop Card (valid at Costco locations and Costco.com)
- $40 off an order of $250 or more (before tax and shipping) on Costco.com
- Expires October 31, 2023
- Promo Code to receive a $100 Digital Costco Shop Card with the purchase of a vacation package of $2,500 or more with Costco Travel
- Valid for travel through 4/30/24, book by 10/31/23
The Fine Print
- Valid only for new members and those whose memberships (Primary and Household) expired prior to March 31, 2023. Not valid for the renewal of an existing Costco membership.
- All sales final.
- To purchase this package, you must be 18 years of age or over, and agree to Costco’s Membership Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
- Incentives include a $45 Digital Costco Shop Card, $40 off an order of $250 or more (before tax and shipping) on Costco.com, and receive a Digital Costco Shop Card with vacation packages purchased with Costco Travel.
- Incentives will be emailed separately to the Primary Member’s email address on file.
- After purchase you’ll receive an email from Costco confirming your membership details. To pick up your membership card, stop by the membership counter at any Costco location and bring a copy of that email with your photo ID.
Our Verdict
Excellent deal. The $45 gift card alone offsets most of the purchase, and a lot of people will get value from the $40 online discount as well. This might be the best deal we’ve seen on Costco membership. You can also try to get a couple of dollars back from the portal on the Groupon purchase.
Hat tip to lilurbanachiever
Signed up 8/9 and received membership email very quickly. No coupons yet though.
Received $45 eGC and $40 today in separate emails
Did you go in store to activate the membership yet, or were the emails with the gift cards sent without needing to perform that step?
Membership auto activates after purchase and coupon/GC comes automatically if you’re eligible (check spam folder for next few days) — no need to rush to warehouse to get physical card (you can take your time for that)
I would get physical card in person so your info is verified before trying to place online order — there are a few people complaining about their online orders being auto cancelled with their new membership so they lost their coupon (system thinks fraudulent orders)
Signed up on 8/1 using Discover via Apple Pay (5% cash back) — membership exp 8/31/2024
Just got my $40 cpn and $45 eGC in separate emails — few mins apart
Just got the 40 off 250 and travel coupons via email, both are of little use for me. The sender was listed as Mail_test_B2C whatever that means. But no $45 GC yet.
Got an email with the GC about 2-3 hours later (that one came from Costco). I am a happy camper.
can the $40 off $250 voucher be used on a shop card purchase made online?
No, it can’t be used for shop cards.
I just purchased and received confirmation emails from Groupon and then Costco.
Current membership (got it last year through similar offer for P2) is getting expired this month. So good deal for me.
How long till you got confirmation emails? I bought mine an hour ago and haven’t seen any emails yet (not in junk either). I took a screenshot of my confirmation number though.
I just purchased and got the confirmation emails within minutes. Still waiting on the shopcard.
I did this deal last year with Groupon but I don’t think there was a travel credit. I used P1 as the primary and added P2 as a household user on the card when I picked up mine at the service desk. The membership just expired 7/31/23.
I just did the deal again but in reverse; I made P2 the primary using same address, different phone number and different email address. I got an instant email from Groupon confirming the purchase, and 5 minutes later I got an email from Costco confirming the membership with instructions to bring this email with photo ID to Costco to receive my card. I will get P2 to add me as a household member when we go.
We have always gotten Membership cards that look like credit cards with member number on the backside. The last few times I have been to Costco they were checking cards at checkout and asking people to go to the service desk on the way out and have your card updated with a photo on it. I never did it so our cards do not have photos. I think they are trying to crack down on people sharing membership cards with family and friends.
Mine will expire this month. I am thinking about jumping on it right now, albeit it is essentially 11 months of membership for me in this case. By “made P2 the primary using the same address, different phone number and different email address”, do you mean P2 used a new number and email rather than the one P2 had on file when being a household user?
Thanks in advance.
They only take the details for the primary member, so they don’t have phone # or email of the person with the second card (household user). I think that should answer your question.
Gonna give it a try tonight. Much appreciated, Ostrich Rider.
Thanks for the valuable share. My membership will expire Aug 31st, but I am still inclined to jump on it although it means essentially 11 months for me. Could you please elaborate by ” I made P2 the primary using the same address, different phone number, and different email address”, do you mean P2 used a new set of profiles compared to the one used last year as the household holder? If yes, I will gladly follow your steps and pull the trigger. Thanks in advance.
I’ve been getting new Sam’s membership deals for the last few years even though they’re for new customers. All I do is use a different email address. Is that not possible with Costco?
Is it difficult to convert the digital gift card into a physical gift card so I can use it at the gas pumps? I’m asking because some merchants won’t let you do it or do I have to “buy” a physical gift card in the store in order to do this?
very easy i’ve done it plenty of times. just tell the cashier you want a physical card and you pay for it with the digital card.
Just buy toilet paper, dish detergent, and paper towels. The whole amount will be gone.
what do you even do with $40 nowadays?
Just pulled the trigger using $35 Groupon Bucks. Paid $25 OOP. Instantly got my new ID number via email. After spending the promo credits, I’ll probably cancel and get a $60 refund from the CSR in-store,
Since the membership is activated immediately without need to go into warehouse, and promos are to be sent by email. Does this mean we can sign up as many times as we can using different email addresses?
My understanding is that, despite your membership being activated immediately after purchase, any costco cash or coupons aren’t sent until AFTER you are issued your physical costco card in the warehouse. To be issued your costco card, you have to show up to the customer service desk with ID in hand.
This also means for anyone who wants to delay activating the new membership until a later date, they are out of luck.
Highly doubtful this is going to be able to be gamed.
you misread.
So happy for Costco to have another excellent loyal customer joined their family.
I didn’t even think about using Goupon Bucks, let alone looking to see if there was an option somewhere to buy a discounted gift cards from a place like Raise, Fluz, etc.
Is anyone else’s order still showing “processing” from groupon? it’s been ~9 hrs since i purchased it. haven’t gotten any email from costco about the membership purchase.
Alot of SD comments reporting the same