When I upgraded to the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, my plan was to ignore the $15 monthly Instacart credit. I’d never used Instacart before, and in my experience with similar credits, these kinds of credits rarely end up being worth the bother after all of the fees.
However, after trying it out I’m finding it worthwhile. I keep a small list of steady items which I’ll always need, such as tissues, paper towels, water bottles, etc. Heavy drinks are a nice item to have delivered – just keep in mind Instacart will sometimes tack on a heavy-item fee.
Be sure to get your free year of Instacart Plus. That way, orders of $35+ will be fee-free. (Orders below $35 have a $7.99 delivery fee.) You also need to register there in order to activate the $15 credit.
There’s a $2.50 service fee with each order, but there are delivery options which get you a $2 discount, so it ends up being just $.50 in total fees. Then there’s also the tip on top.
In the end, you can order $35 of items and pay just $.50 in total fees, plus the tip. Given the $15 credit from Chase, I’ve been finding it worthwhile to lob in an order at the beginning of each month. You might be able to get a drop back from the portal as well.
I always manually choose the option on each item not to be replaced in case the exact item is not in stock, and so my total charge will often end up being less than $35. And I find it easy to get competitive pricing on Instacart by ordering from Walmart and some other economical retailers.
Another fringe benefit of using the Instacart credit is that it’s been counting for me as a Grocery purchase which can then also be rebated back using the Pay Yourself Back redemption system.
A few updates to the post:
- Readers in the comments mention two other options for savings on fees: 1) use store pickup to avoid fees, 2) some stores have a $10 minimum for free shipping. I found Stop & Shop didn’t have any fees for a $10 order. Readers mention other options in the comments as well. YMMV.
- Be sure to link your Instacart to Delta and get a free 1x or 1.5x miles per dollar spent.
- I’ve now added my two Freedom cards to Instacart (here) which extended my Instacart+ membership by six months. This will also allow me to get a $10 quarterly statement credit on each Freedom card.
- There’s a referral bonus for new members to get a $25 credit when using a referral link. Here’s my link, I’ll get a $10 discount code if you use it to signup, thanks. (Just double check that you’re seeing the $25 offer as the amount can change over time.)
View Comments (142)
Didn't realize the credit up until July. No wonder didn't the credit back in Aug. :(
Does anyone know if you can get a credit in July? I have the Preferred and the site says, “Earn up to $15 per quarter in statement credits on Instacart purchases through July 2024.” So that’s not clear to me if I can get one more credit or my last credit is this quarter.
We still get one for the month of July. I assume its the last one. Used mines for q2 and place 2 orders on July 1 on CSP and Freedom and got credits on cards today.
Now that instacart has restaurant options, will that trigger the credit on the csp?
Since this credit ends in July 2024, do we get one last credit for the month of July?
I find it so lame that the CSR doesn’t earn 3x for online groceries like the CSP does. I rotate through meal delivery services and use Instacart sporadically when I can find discounted IC gift cards to stack with the $15 qtrly credit on CSP.
I thought I saw a data point in the other post but can't find it now, suggesting that adding to an order after placing an order on a GC would cause additional spend to go to credit card (and allow you to cash in promo). I haven't tried that yet, but I did try increasing tip after order and it worked for the promo on one of my cards so far.
For context I generally only use it when I can buy up giftcards at 20% discount, so this allows me to use my GC and get the credit
I don't get this part of the article - "In the end, you can order $35 of items and pay just $.50 in total fees". If you order $35 and get $15 CSR/CSP discount, still have to pay $20+$.50 delivery. Is that not correct?
$20 off of $35+ referral promo as a recipient
Yep, just 50 cents in extra fees
Is the instacart shopping spending on chase card paid through paypal eligible for the 10$ or 15$ credit?
I'm wondering the same, but it sounds like, yes since some people are saying they were able to stack the $20 off $60 paypal offer.
I signed up 1/21 with my Flex card, made a purchase of $17.49 on 1/23, a purchase of $15.70 on 1/27, a purchase of $8.45 on 2/1, all with my Flex card. First two were Sprouts Express orders, one regular order from Sprouts, all were free delivery. I still have not received a $10 statement credit. Am I missing something (besides the statement credit of course, lol)?
Did you get your credit? Or, get any information from Chase? My replies are in another thread below. I’ve been unsuccessful in getting satisfactory response from Chase with their last reply changing to an incorrect activation date of the benefit (seems as a way to close out the message). I’ve not tried another purchase since I’m not confident the credit will post. I had first activated the benefit using CSP and got two quarterly statement credits just fine. I added all my Freedom cards at the end of February (CSP Instacart+ was no longer active). I made a purchase that same day. So, I don’t know if the issue is a same-day as activation glitch or if because the benefit only applies to one card (I’ve not seen that specifically described anywhere). Would really like to hear other datapoints.
For Sapphire Reserve and Preferred, the statement credits were posted at the same time Instacart transactions were moved from pending to posted. Or, at least when I checked, the credits were already there with posted transactions.
However, for Freedom and Freedom Unlimited, the statement credits aren't showing up despite it's been several days since the transactions are posted. (Yes, these cards have been activated for Instacart+, and I checked the activated status on their Card Benefits page.)
Anyone experiencing the same or has the counter dp?
I am experiencing the same: no credit yet from Freedom Flex despite the benefit having been activated. This is making me hesitant to place any other orders using any Freedom card.
I have an open message with Chase (still within the 5 business days for response). I can update here once I hear back. But, also wondering about others‘ experience?
I heard someone who activated Freedom on her Instacart received the credit. I guess the issue here is not because the card is Freedom, but because Freedom was an additionally activated card?
Yeah i called them up. They say that i activated the card after i made the purchase which is BS because i added the card only during activation. So I couldn’t have made the purchase before. Some weird bug between the 2 companies. I would recommend you call them up, escalate to a manager and ask them to assess your transaction again.
Chase said the same to me via secure message reply. Did you get the credit after escalation? I’ve asked for re-review via secure message since I definitely made the purchase after activation (same day, so I wonder if that’s the glitch) and am awaiting reply. If still no credit after that, then I will call.
Update? did you get the credit?