[Shell] EXPIRED: Save 10% on purchases until December 30th with linked Mastercard

X24Secret wrote: ↑ Isn’t that why there is a covered PIN? I suppose they could tamper with that cover too but a close inspection prior to purchase should thwart that.

Well, the only gift cards I bought so far were Shell gift cards, and they don't have a covered PIN. Part of the card number is covered, but fraudsters can just read the card number from swiping the mag stripe on their own mag stripe reader (at home) then place the cards back on the racks.

tofubb wrote: ↑ Anyone knows where can I find staples gc in Vancouver?

Shell doesn’t sell staples gc.

How do prepaid credit cards work with retailers with PIN pads? Are the cards swipe-only?

DaVibe wrote: ↑ How do prepaid credit cards work with retailers with PIN pads? Are the cards swipe-only?

Yes, they are swipe only. You'd typically swipe and sign for the transaction.

So Im trying to see whats the obsession with getting giftcards for 10% off...I tried getting one for Freedom mobile since thats what I have, friggin was charged a $6.5 activation fee, i returned that crap right back. Got some Amazon giftcards instead since I was going to buy something off amazon this week. All the prepaid visa, mastercards have an activation fee so dont know how those are worth it at the end? Because lets say you do get them, not you loose the chance to get points, airmiles or whatever your own card provides so at the end of the day youre left with very minimal benefit. Thats how I see it. I was going to do the $30 off $150 promo at canadian tire but cannot get the gift cards since that wont count towards that. I have the traingle card so if I use gift cards, i loose earning canadian tire money. Sure I dont earn 10% but thats what Im saying, youre ahead just a couple of dollars at the end of the day. Shell really made some serious $$$ from this promo lol. Everyone heres talking about oh they might shutdown the promo since everyones abusing it, they want people to keep getting the cards cause it only drives up their revenue

PS. took a pic of all the giftcards, anything worthwhile?

Several thousand dollars into this and still no cash back. Hopeful that PC MasterCard will come through sooner than later. Maybe I’m getting the shaft for spending too much in each transaction? Who knows?

Fingers crossed .

pardesi_bhai wrote: ↑ So Im trying to see whats the obsession with getting giftcards for 10% off...I tried getting one for Freedom mobile since thats what I have, friggin was charged a $6.5 activation fee, i returned that crap right back. Got some Amazon giftcards instead since I was going to buy something off amazon this week. All the prepaid visa, mastercards have an activation fee so dont know how those are worth it at the end? Because lets say you do get them, not you loose the chance to get points, airmiles or whatever your own card provides so at the end of the day youre left with very minimal benefit. Thats how I see it. I was going to do the $30 off $150 promo at canadian tire but cannot get the gift cards since that wont count towards that. I have the traingle card so if I use gift cards, i loose earning canadian tire money. Sure I dont earn 10% but thats what Im saying, youre ahead just a couple of dollars at the end of the day. Shell really made some serious $$$ from this promo lol. Everyone heres talking about oh they might shutdown the promo since everyones abusing it, they want people to keep getting the cards cause it only drives up their revenue [...]

Oh, man, you are going against the wisdom of the crowd in this thread, and that is a very foolish thing to do. But hey, you do what you think is best for you; definitely you should personally boycott this promotion that is so hard for you to understand, and let the others enjoy the "illusory" 10% savings .
At least get your facts right: there is no activation fee on gift cards; what you bought from Shell was not a Freedom Mobile gift card, but a "top up voucher", to which there is always HST applied (13% TAX on a $50 top up voucher is $6.50).

pardesi_bhai wrote: ↑ So Im trying to see whats the obsession with getting giftcards for 10% off...I tried getting one for Freedom mobile since thats what I have, friggin was charged a $6.5 activation fee, i returned that crap right back. Got some Amazon giftcards instead since I was going to buy something off amazon this week. All the prepaid visa, mastercards have an activation fee so dont know how those are worth it at the end? Because lets say you do get them, not you loose the chance to get points, airmiles or whatever your own card provides so at the end of the day youre left with very minimal benefit. Thats how I see it. I was going to do the $30 off $150 promo at canadian tire but cannot get the gift cards since that wont count towards that. I have the traingle card so if I use gift cards, i loose earning canadian tire money. Sure I dont earn 10% but thats what Im saying, youre ahead just a couple of dollars at the end of the day. Shell really made some serious $$$ from this promo lol. Everyone heres talking about oh they might shutdown the promo since everyones abusing it, they want people to keep getting the cards cause it only drives up their revenue

PS. took a pic of all the giftcards, anything worthwhile?

Honestly, you pretty much hit the nail on the head.

It's a great promotion, but the people who are hoarding away love a deal. 10% can be pretty significant, but I think for a lot of people there are only so many gift cards you can buy. I don't think the prepaid credit cards are worth the trouble. Just buy a few hundred dollars of gift cards and call it a day.

pardesi_bhai wrote: ↑ ...I was going to do the $30 off $150 promo at canadian tire but cannot get the gift cards since that wont count towards that. I have the traingle card so if I use gift cards, i loose earning canadian tire money. ...

Gift card redemption is considered the same as cash at CT stores, so you could use CT GCs to make up the $150... Triangle rewards (i.e. CT Money) are paid out as if you paid cash.

Even if you have a CT Elite Mastercard, you would be losing out on earning 4% at the CT store, but instead saving 10% up front (plus whatever rewards your payment Mastercard nets you).

If you feel it's not worth it, don't participate, but there is a lot of value to this for many of us.

Can u use Cdn. Tire gcs to pay for other gcs at crappy tires? Tia

mikka2017 wrote: ↑ Can u use Cdn. Tire gcs to pay for other gcs at crappy tires? Tia

No, their system won't allow it.

BLeagues wrote: ↑ Anyone in/near Halifax know of a Shell that is corporate owned?

Sobey's Needs convenience runs the Shell stations in the HRM and the receipt and charge to my MC show Needs, not Shell.

I just checked my purchase at the new Shell in Dartmouth Crossing, and sure enough, it posted as "SOBEYS EXPRESS #462". The Shell in Elmsdale posts as "SHELL CO2935".

FYI mc get stack card has apple pay now..not sure about 10% rebate to get stack..no screen shot confirmation yet

pardesi_bhai wrote: ↑So Im trying to see whats the obsession with getting giftcards for 10% off...I tried getting one for Freedom mobile since thats what I have, friggin was charged a $6.5 activation fee, i returned that crap right back. Got some Amazon giftcards instead since I was going to buy something off amazon this week. All the prepaid visa, mastercards have an activation fee so dont know how those are worth it at the end? Because lets say you do get them, not you loose the chance to get points, airmiles or whatever your own card provides so at the end of the day youre left with very minimal benefit. Thats how I see it. I was going to do the $30 off $150 promo at canadian tire but cannot get the gift cards since that wont count towards that. I have the traingle card so if I use gift cards, i loose earning canadian tire money. Sure I dont earn 10% but thats what Im saying, youre ahead just a couple of dollars at the end of the day. Shell really made some serious $$$ from this promo lol. Everyone heres talking about oh they might shutdown the promo since everyones abusing it, they want people to keep getting the cards cause it only drives up their revenue

PS. took a pic of all the giftcards, anything worthwhile?

One sentence ur asking about the obsession then ur saying minimal benefit , then dropping abuse of a promo lol. Lots of people don’t get it savers save and on a grand scale or stacked with other promos it ends being alot . For the average joe you’re thinking inside the box when buying gift cards to cactus club and Canadian tire and wondering how much you’ll spend in the next couple months or when you grimace at the thought of activation fees. RFD has capitalistic sharks, whom have tons of cash lying around and are ecstatic to save 5% in a year. If you have to publicly ask, just buy a couple cards and worry about what party ur going to on Halloween .

jellytime wrote: ↑
Honestly, you pretty much hit the nail on the head.

It's a great promotion, but the people who are hoarding away love a deal. 10% can be pretty significant, but I think for a lot of people there are only so many gift cards you can buy. I don't think the prepaid credit cards are worth the trouble. Just buy a few hundred dollars of gift cards and call it a day.

Great advice for anyone who’s preplexed about the craze.

pardesi_bhai wrote: ↑ So Im trying to see whats the obsession with getting giftcards for 10% off...I tried getting one for Freedom mobile since thats what I have, friggin was charged a $6.5 activation fee, i returned that crap right back. Got some Amazon giftcards instead since I was going to buy something off amazon this week. All the prepaid visa, mastercards have an activation fee so dont know how those are worth it at the end? Because lets say you do get them, not you loose the chance to get points, airmiles or whatever your own card provides so at the end of the day youre left with very minimal benefit. Thats how I see it. I was going to do the $30 off $150 promo at canadian tire but cannot get the gift cards since that wont count towards that. I have the traingle card so if I use gift cards, i loose earning canadian tire money. Sure I dont earn 10% but thats what Im saying, youre ahead just a couple of dollars at the end of the day. Shell really made some serious $$$ from this promo lol. Everyone heres talking about oh they might shutdown the promo since everyones abusing it, they want people to keep getting the cards cause it only drives up their revenue

PS. took a pic of all the giftcards, anything worthwhile?

Pretty much avoid cards that need activation, so all those vanilla prepaid Credit card is a nope, only suckers buy those. Avoid small transaction fast food giftcards like Starbuck, McDonald, where you are likely not to use it all in one go,

Cards that are relatively safe to buy,
Amazon, itune, Steam, google play, playstation, any cards you can instant load on an online wallet (to avoid scam)
LCBO, take it there immediately after buying to buy some $100+ booze and return it later to get a fresh card

As for the rest like keg, winners, cdn tire, the bay, golf town, buy it on the day you know you will use it


Personally,
I brought $400 of LCBO GC since I know when chinese new year comes around, I'll be buying the new CNY edition Johnnie Walker Blue label $300+, and Im also buying around $70 worth of booze when christmas hit
I got around $300 of amazon GC, since I know my family spend at least $300 a year on amazon for things, loaded that straight into the online wallet

That's about $70 saved on money I know I will be spending already.

Thanks OP.

Got $600 Can Tire, $50 Amazon, $200 Sport Chek.

Might grab a bit more Amazon for general things and Sport Chek as I am looking to get hockey gear.

Brewmeanie wrote: ↑ Pretty much avoid cards that need activation, so all those vanilla prepaid Credit card is a nope, only idiots buy those. Avoid small transaction fast food giftcards like Starbuck, McDonald, where you are likely not to use it all in one go,

Cards that are good to buy,
Amazon, itune, Steam, google play, playstation, any cards you can instant load on an online wallet (to avoid scam)
LCBO, take it there immediately after buying to buy some $100+ booze and return it later to get a fresh card

As for the rest like keg, winners, cdn tire, the bay, golf town, buy it on the day you know you will use it


Personally,
I brought $400 of LCBO GC since I know when chinese new year comes around, I'll be buying the new CNY edition Johnnie Walker Blue label $300+, and Im also buying around $70 worth of booze when christmas hit
I got around $300 of amazon GC, since I know my family spend at least $300 a year on amazon for things, loaded that straight into the online wallet

That's about $70 saved on money I know I will be spending already.

You sure it’s the idiots buying the ones with activation fees? Lol The Joke might be on you. . I might start buying GC’s to spend on booze as that’s what’s the intelligent ppl do.

Created a burner account for any Shell Retail type questions. Can treat this like an AMA, I guess. I'm not going to say where or how, but I do have Shell Retail knowledge and experience. I think I can answer most questions people have in here (or make an educated guess), so fire away.

For starters:
-Retailers were not notified of this deal by Shell, so this all came as a surprise when people just started showing up and buying GCs en masse.
-Anything involving GC sales is treated very suspiciously (logical or not). If you are being treated with suspicion, it is because GCs are a tiny margin + major fraud item (obviously chip and pin saves Retailers from fraud in most cases, but the suspicion is basically built into the culture at this point)
-To this point, there are no official rules or word from Shell on purchase limits and policies and etc. It can be assumed that the official policy from Shell at this moment is: Any sale is fine as long as picture identification matches details on credit card. YMMV at the retail level. There is really no point in arguing with the frontline staff unless you're just looking to vent your frustrations.
-You can be sure that the more you guys e-mail, call, complain to Shell, the more likely they are to establish some clearly defined rules with regards to this deal. This may be good or bad depending on how you're utilizing this deal at this point
-Individual Retailers are currently implementing their own policies as some of you may have noticed. Some are just taking the cards off the shelf, some are saying the system is down, others are just soaking in the sales bonanza. This is largely because of a lack of any initiative or clear communication from the corporate level.
-With regards to some stores claiming the system is down: there is an issue that exists within the system that will charge the customer for a GC or Phone Card and not produce the voucher/activation slip. The customer is charged, the store is billed for the GC, but no card is produced. This forces the store to pay for another card out of pocket to give to the customer and retroactively claim the card missing card from Shell support.
-A lot of stores are being bought out of the more popular cards (Amazon specifically)

Feel free to ask away and I'll share what I can

guys be carefull
I was a victim of fraud with gift card at Petro Canada
I bought 250$ vanilla prepaid and day after it was empty. Someone spent 250$ in best buy
I would not buy too many GC and I could only say IT WAS NOT EASY TO GET MY 250$ BACK
months to wait and tons of papers to fill out
!!! DO NOT DISPOSE YOUR PAPER COVERS FROM GIFT CARD AND SHELL RECEIPTS like vanilla
You will need them if you are scammed.
See my file to start dispute.
Good luck!