Don't get caught by this latest ATM scam

[Fraufruit]

All fees, etc. are baked into the prices. Everywhere.

People use loads of coupons in the U.S. We all pay for that.



I said it so it must be true.

[Escafusa]

I know some restaurants in my hood where they allow cards only from €20 upwards.

Never come across that either, sounds rather silly, surely the fees are just a percentage of the transaction?

All fees, etc. are baked into the prices.

Exactly, it's just the cost of doing business, already factored into prices.

[bethannbitt]

I know some restaurants in my hood where they allow cards only from €20 upwards. This has to do with fees for the owner. Apparently, this is not an issue in e.g. Sweden or the Netherlands where cash is becoming obsolete. Or the owners have no problem paying all the fees necessary.

That’s here as well. Many of the small businesses stick with cash only and attempt to keep prices stable or set a minimum for cards.

[murphaph]

All fees, etc. are baked into the prices. Everywhere.

People use loads of coupons in the U.S. We all pay for that.

I generally won't buy groceries unless I have an xfach PayBack points coupon for REWE or Penny. Once you get into the habit it feels like you are overpaying if you don't use coupons.

[Fraufruit]

How do you redeem your Payback points?

I collect them with my Payback card but have never seen anything on offer that I want. I do have the app on my phone but don't understand completely how it all works. I also don't schlepp my phone when I go out to the corner for shopping to fiddle with it while I'm trying to check out and pack my groceries.

Please enlighten me. Are your groceries cheaper or do you just accrue points?

[Escafusa]

I generally won't buy groceries unless I have an xfach PayBack points coupon for REWE or Penny. Once you get into the habit it feels like you are overpaying if you don't use coupons.

There speaks someone who knows how to shop! That's exactly how I feel when shopping.

Please enlighten me. Are your groceries cheaper or do you just accrue points?

I redeem mine at the checkout at DM, the points are worth money. 500 points = €5. There are often items or coupons that get multiple points, so you can accrue points very quickly. I have money off my shopping in DM basically every other time I shop there. It's a really good system as they often offer you the multiple points on things you have previously bought.
I collect them as well at Penny, but I don't redeem them there as I think you have to activate them at that machine thing near the entrance in advance (and I believe it's still like that at Rewe too, I don't know as I am no longer near one) whereas in DM you do it directly at the checkout before paying. It's not complicated.

[Fraufruit]

There is a machine at my Rewe entrance and my German does not understand it. Nor does he understand the phone app.

That's why I'm asking.

There is no DM close to us. There is a Müller on the corner for those sorts of things.

I get multiple emails from Payback every day. One said I would get a free set of stainless kitchen tongs. Went to the app and it said only if I buy something I don't need with my points. (I don't need kitchen tongs either but thought they were free)

We should probably start a new thread.

[Escafusa]

I don't have the app, I activate the DM and Penny multiple points coupons on the website.

I don't think you don't need your phone, just your card, but you might need your PIN number.
If you have it, get one of the workers off the shop floor to help you activate a money-off coupon at that machine in Rewe.
If you've been collecting for a while and have never redeemed, you may have accrued quite a lot of points. I think in Rewe you need a minimum of 200 points to activate a €2 coupon off. Once the coupon is activated at the machine the amount will automatically be deducted from your bill before you pay the final amount due.

[LeonG]

I don't use points cards. Not comfy with my grocery list being in somebody's database.

[Fraufruit]

I don't use points cards. Not comfy with my grocery list being in somebody's database.

I'm pretty sure that's what happens when you shop with any card anywhere instead of cash. I say that because I get targeted ads on the internet for things I've recently purchased with cards whether online or in shops. Not when I use cash.

[Escafusa]

I don't use points cards. Not comfy with my grocery list being in somebody's database.

Life's too short to worry about that sort of thing. Some shops know what I buy because I have a points card and they collect that information. So what? I know I'd rather have the targeted discounts. Anyone not using cards is paying too much for their shopping as far as I am concerned. I'm happy to pay less for the things I would be buying there anyway!

I'm pretty sure that's what happens when you shop with any card anywhere instead of cash.

Exactly. And it's only for marketing purposes. So who cares?!

[murphaph]

I wait until there's a promotion and convert all my payback points to miles and more air miles at a rate of 1:1.25. Judicious use of the points as air miles can multiply their nominal 1¢ value to 5¢ or even more if you are a bit lucky. Just going into Rewe or DM and collecting the base points is almost pointless though, pardon the pun. One should only really bother if one is going to use xFach coupons. Example: I bought 92€ worth of goods in REWE on Saturday. I received not the base 46 points but through using 3 coupons I received 416 points. This is not how I make the bulk of my points though. A couple of weeks ago Rewe ran a 16fach payback on Wunschgutscheine. I bought €1,100 worth at the register. The register refused any more than that in a single transaction. The cashier nearly fell off her chair when she saw the 9200+ payback points earned pop up on the screen. I quickly converted all the vouchers to mostly Amazon credit for my wife and I as well as some Aral vouchers. I never leave it as Wunschgutscheine as I don't trust the company not to go bust.

There was a 10fach payback on gift cards in Penny last week. Bought 500€ of IKEA vouchers at the till and another 500€ online. Easy 5000 payback points and I have some large IKEA purchases coming up anyway. Since I last converted my points to miles in December I've racked up another 40k PayBack points.

[Krieg]

When you buy all those gift cards one day the cashier will think you are a victim of that scam that the Finanzamt/IRS is calling you and if you do not pay a fine right now you will go to jail, the fine can be paid in Steam/Amazon/Whatever gift cards

[Escafusa]

A couple of weeks ago Rewe ran a 16fach payback on Wunschgutscheine. I bought €1,100 worth at the register. The register refused any more than that in a single transaction. The cashier nearly fell off her chair when she saw the 9200+ payback points earned pop up on the screen. I quickly converted all the vouchers to mostly Amazon credit for my wife and I as well as some Aral vouchers. I never leave it as Wunschgutscheine as I don't trust the company not to go bust.

This is also how I am making a lot of points at Penny, both in store and online and using the Payback Amex card to pay for them bumps the points total up further. Also converting immediately to Amazon vouchers. They are basically giving away free money - why pay more?!

If Wunschgutschein really were to go bust before you convert, you could always initiate a chargeback for the online ones since you would have prepaid for something which would not have been delivered. It might be trickier for the ones bought in the store.

[murphaph]

Yeah a chargeback might be successful but the ones you buy in store are activated at the point of purchase so Rewe delivered the goods. If Wunschgutschein goes bust 5 minutes later Rewe still provided the goods so I'm not sure how successful a chargeback would be. Online I'd say your chances are better but I take no chances and convert at the max rate (300€ per day to avoid ending up in the money laundering investigation which takes like a month-ask me how I know lol) until it's all in "real" vouchers or Amazon credit or whatever.

It is free money. Buy topping up our Amazon accounts with €1100 credit when there's a 16fach promotion on I get bare minimum of €92 cash from Rewe, but in Air miles the value should be more like €500, depending on what flights they are used to pay for. On money I would have spent with Amazon anyway. I also get the 550 air miles direct from the Lufthansa credit card I buy the vouchers with.

I'm afraid it's mostly going to end when REWE leaves payback at the end of the year. I doubt Edeka will run the same promotions. Best we'll get is the 10fach on the payback voucher store directly but these aren't that common.

[murphaph]

One more thing: The coupons you activate in the PayBack app are generally personalised, which means they are tailored to get you to shop somewhere you don't already shop. That means the juicy 10Fach points on the whole shop at Penny & REWE tend to be rare, because they know you already shop there frequently. However, on mydealz.de there are new coupon codes being continually uploaded. You can scan the codes and save them in digital form on your phone, then just scan them at the reader where you scan your payback card. They work very reliably. I generally have a 10Fach auf alles coupon on me when doing a shop, plus whatever xFach auf y category ones are available.

[Escafusa]

One more thing

And another. Penny are giving away more free money both in-store and online this coming week for savvy shoppers.

[murphaph]

I'll be heading there in the morning Need a few more IKEA vouchers. For anyone thinking of doing this, you need to activate the voucher in the app BEFORE going to the store (or bring the paper coupon and make absolutely sure it was scanned) and you need to put all the vouchers through in a single payment, scanning your PayBack card first of course. The register will probably max out around €700 or less. If you are thinking of buying vouchers online as well as in store, you MUST buy the in store ones first, then the online ones (you can keep ordering online up to the daily limit until the weekly limit is reached).

[murphaph]

By the way, there's a scam anyone buying Wunschgutschein (and presumably any other ones that work like this) gift vouchers in stores should be aware of. Here's how it works (simplified example):
Thief enters store and steals two identical gift cards A and B. He takes them home. At the moment they are both useless as they have not been activated at the register. He then proceeds to take the barcode from card A and he carefully inserts it into card B. Card B is then returned to the store but the barcode is that of card A. He hangs the manupilated cards back up on the display where the next unsuspecting customer picks up card B, with card A's barcode on the back and pays for it, in doing so activating the code for card A, which the thief can now use while the customer is left wondering why his code does not work when he enters it into the web portal.

Moral of the story: Carefully examine any such gift cards you buy in store before paying for them. If they look in any way tampered with, report it to store staff. Don't buy them. I suspect the chances of tampering increases dramatically around the 16Fach PayBack points promotions as many more cards are probably sold in this short space of time.

[Escafusa]

The register will probably max out around €700 or less.

I did €500 once and it went through fine. Online (Penny website) it said the maximum was €205 (strange amount, and don't recall if that was daily or weekly) - but then I was in the guest checkout. I assume the limit is higher if you create an account, but I couldn't be bothered. I don't know why they have these limits, surely the idea is to sell more and make money, silly really.