BI-LO: 20.00 off next order wyb 100.00 in gift cards

[sczombie]

got this bilo website
i am going to get gas cards i think


Don't delay. This fantastic offer is for a limited time only.

Purchase gift cards at your BI-LO store with your BONUSCARD® (http://my.bi-lo.com/wps/wcm/connect/Content%20Library/bi-lo/mainnava/the+bonuscard/the+bonuscard), and you can't go wrong with this promotion, just in time for back to school shopping:



Buy $50 or more worth of gift cards on display, (excluding BI-LO Gift Cards) and get $8.00 off coupon on your next shopping order OR


Buy $100 or more worth of gift cards on display (excluding BI-LO Gift Cards) and get $20.00 off coupon on your next shopping order.
BI-LO offers a wide variety of gift cards for any gift occasssion. For a list of gift cards, visit our Gift Card Mall (http://my.bi-lo.com/wps/wcm/connect/Content%20Library/bi-lo/mainnava/our+store/in-store+services/gift+card+mall/gift+card+mall) section.

[LivingOnLove]

Thanks and repped!

[HintofBlue]

The offer runs through August 18th and the OYNO's must be redeemed by Sept. 1st.

There are reasons that I couldn't help but think of ummmm when I read this offer on the Bi-Lo site.

[uummm]

Wish I had to buy something. The only thing I needed for school was book bags from LL Bean ( I am so sick of having to buy each kid a new bag half way through the year) and they don't sell those at BiLo or anywhere else. I had a rebate for $20 wyb a $50 GC so I checked around....
I might check into the gas cards but once again, all I saw was Shell and our Shell's gas is $.10 more a gallon...I never even saw the BP for that deal-not that I have a BP anywhere close either. Money is so tight this month for extra stuff....even the kelloggs deal I am can't do as many times as I want.

[mxmom99]

i have never bought GCs at BL before. they have way more selection that i thought they would! so my question is.....do these cards come in pre determined amounts or can you make them for the amount you want???

[SyLph211]

I am going to buy a gas card and then a visa type card. I can use the visa card for groceries or anything else I might need this weekend.

[uummm]

i have never bought GCs at BL before. they have way more selection that i thought they would! so my question is.....do these cards come in pre determined amounts or can you make them for the amount you want???

Preset amounts...usually $25, $50 and $100


hhuumm spend $5-$6 to save $20...hhuummm

[mxmom99]

thanks uummm. i was hoping for some $10 ones to use as gifts....

[TincyJean]

I am going to buy a gas card and then a visa type card. I can use the visa card for groceries or anything else I might need this weekend.

Just a heads up here. The Visa cards usually have an activation fee tacked on to your total, so this will take some money out of the savings you'll be getting.

[madkinson]

Okay - so the $20 OYNO has to be used by Sept.1st....does anyone know if you can use the $20 OYNO to buy more gift cards and roll them like that?:shrug7:

[maryccc]

I bought a 100 dollar american express. I think they charged 5.95. I got my 20 dollar coupon and used it to buy 4 suave lotions, 4 suave shampoos, 10 poptarts and a couple tomatoes. I had to pay .67 so I tried using my gift card but it wouldn't take it. They said try tommorow it may take 24 hours. I went to food lion and bought a few groceries and it went through fine. I plan on just using it for gas and groceries that I would have spent anyway. I wonder if you can use it for cigarettes?

[maryccc]

i forgot my catalina for my poptarts dumb me. When I went back in I asked her if I got one and she looked in the trash and said do you mean this. I said yes thats it. She just threw away 10 bucks.

[SyLph211]

Just a heads up here. The Visa cards usually have an activation fee tacked on to your total, so this will take some money out of the savings you'll be getting.

Yes thanks for telling me this. I looked up the gift cards Bi-Lo sold and even the AME charges you a fee. I dont want to pay a cashier fee and then turn around and pay a 3.00-4.00 activation fee on top of that. Not much of a savings once those are added into the mix. OH well, was a nice idea :sad:

[absaim]

for the $20 off OYNO coupon, do you have to use $20 all at once?

[maryccc]

I didn't have to call to activate my american xpress. I just had to pay 5.95 so I made 14.05. I think you have to use that 20 in one shopping trip.

[absaim]

I didn't have to call to activate my american xpress. I just had to pay 5.95 so I made 14.05. I think you have to use that 20 in one shopping trip.

Thanks for the quick reply!

[maryccc]

you are welcome.

[uummm]

for the $20 off OYNO coupon, do you have to use $20 all at once?

It is a off your next order coupon, so yes you would need to use it all at once.

[abacus2]

Thank you!!

BP stations are convenient everywhere we go and DH drives 30 minutes one-way to work so this rocks!!

[HintofBlue]

Today was one of those Learning Experience days. Wound up shutting down a register while the cashier, the CS lady, and I had our learning experience.

I'll share what I learned and maybe it will help some others.

The Cats state that they are for $20 off your next order of at least $20. They also state that only one may be used per transaction, per day. I hadn't noticed that, and found out after the fact.

I read the statements on a lot of cards while I was there. The only ones that I saw which charge activation fees are Visa and AMEX. Those activation fees are paid when you purchase the cards. So, a $100 Visa card will cost you $109.95. There is no additional store fee to purchase gift cards. In other words, a $100 card will cost you $100 OOP, and you will receive the $20 OYNO.

The Visa card is also the only card that I saw which requires an additional step of logging in and registering the card before use. The registration form asks personal information because it's meant to be used by a single person. You aren't charged again at that point because the fee was paid when you purchased the card.

Visa cards also have expiration dates and start to take off a monthly charge from the remaining balance after the 6th month following purchase.

Most cards have predetermined values, but Visa doesn't. That amount is determined by the customer and loaded when purchased.

Read the backs of the cards on the rack. Some, like Best Buy, have no expiration and no fees. Others start to bleed the account after defined periods. Legally, all GC's have to list any fees where you are able to read them before purchase.

The Ebay card has its own restrictions. It can only be used after linking to a Paypal acct., of course.

The Bi-Lo customer card must be scanned in order to have the CAT print. If the card is not scanned, no CAT will be produced.

Only one CAT will be issued per transaction because the offer is for $20 OYNO for purchasing $100 or more in GC's. If you want to purchase more than $100 in GC's, break it down into multiple transactions.

As for gas cards, it would be a savings as long as gas price remains over 50 cents/gal, if the station on the card charged 10 cents/gal over other local stations. I invested in a small stack of them last month at a different store. Gas prices in my area are around $2.35 right now. I figure that each gallon is costing us ~$1.88 by using those cards.

I did purchase a pile of cards today because we have some major purchases to make this weekend. I feel that the card deal was well worth the effort. We searched out the best prices available on what we will be buying, and then bought the appropriate GC's to pay for them.

[uummm]

Ok, I have done this with the AE card...

I read the catalina that prints. There is nothing saying you can not use it on gift cards on the front or the back. So what I did was I used my $20 OYNO Q to buy a $20 BILo gift card, this way I do not have to spend $20 in one transaction.

[TincyJean]

Ok, I have done this with the AE card...

I read the catalina that prints. There is nothing saying you can not use it on gift cards on the front or the back. So what I did was I used my $20 OYNO Q to buy a $20 BILo gift card, this way I do not have to spend $20 in one transaction.

Wow! This is great! I'm going to give it a try. I want to buy a new laptop from BestBuy this weekend since SC is having their back to school tax-free weekend. If I can get $700 worth of BestBuy gift cards in separate transactions, and then turn those seven $20 OYNO catalinas into Bi-Lo gift cards, that would be fantastic!

Hope that this isn't a YMMV situation depending on your store.

Thanks for the great idea!

[uummm]

I actually asked first, and I said this "Can I buy a gift card with this? A BiLo Gift card? It doesn't say on it that I can't."
She looked at it for a second and said "Sure I don't see why not." ANd I went and picked one out (I liked the cookies one). The register didn't have any issues either. I did all this at Customer service too.

[justamom2six]

I actually asked first, and I said this "Can I buy a gift card with this? A BiLo Gift card? It doesn't say on it that I can't."
She looked at it for a second and said "Sure I don't see why not." ANd I went and picked one out (I liked the cookies one). The register didn't have any issues either. I did all this at Customer service too.

This is a great idea! Especially since my CAT had an expiration date of 8/20/09!!!

[HintofBlue]

Wow! This is great! I'm going to give it a try. I want to buy a new laptop from BestBuy this weekend since SC is having their back to school tax-free weekend. If I can get $700 worth of BestBuy gift cards in separate transactions, and then turn those seven $20 OYNO catalinas into Bi-Lo gift cards, that would be fantastic!

Hope that this isn't a YMMV situation depending on your store.

Thanks for the great idea!

The CAT does state that only one may be used per transaction. What you CAN legitimately do is purchase one card and use the CAT that it generates toward the next card. That way you would pay $80 OOP for each transaction 2 through 7 and have only one $20 CAT left at the end with which to purchase a Bi-Lo GC.

I wound up purchasing several hundred worth of B&N cards to pay for one of the college students' books that way. We checked online first, but all of the books are new this year, and there were no savings to be found.

It pained me to purchase the AE cards for another student's books, because it's only a 14% savings.

Also added a few hundred to our gas card stash because we've been saving 37 cents/gal over the next lowest possible price here, and threw in a few cards for Home Depot and Best Buy to have on hand when needed.

Until yesterday, my most expensive trip to a grocer was 17 years ago when Von's in CA had a killer special on $99 round trip airline tickets to anywhere, and I bought enough for dh and I and our 6 kids at the time to go to somewhere I'd always wanted to go.

[madkinson]

Ok, I have done this with the AE card...

I read the catalina that prints. There is nothing saying you can not use it on gift cards on the front or the back. So what I did was I used my $20 OYNO Q to buy a $20 BILo gift card, this way I do not have to spend $20 in one transaction.

:thanks7:Thank you for posting. This is just the type of scenario I was thinking about. I don't usually spend $20 at once in Bi-Lo so this works great! Thanks again.

[maryccc]

I have done this 3 times and have gotten 45.00 in free groceries. I had to pay 5.95 each time for the american express but I still got free groceries. I used 1 to buy an external hard drive and it didn't work good so I took it back and they ended up giving me cash so I used that cash to get another card .

[justamom2six]

Okay, this is what I did today:

Purchased $200 in Kohl's GC, got $40 in CATS
Went to Kohl's for a great :biggrin:sale they are having, 40% to 80% off
also, it is tax free day in SC (so, on $200 I saved $12)
and, I had a 20% off your order coupon from Kohl's!
Used my Kohl's charge card for additional savings!!

Got $240 (would have been approx. $260 with tax) worth of merchandise at Kohl's for $200, put it on my charge (for the additional savings) and then PAID OFF my charge with the $200 in Gift Cards! Yeah

We were going to go there for back to school clothes anyway!

HTH someone!

[absaim]

Bi-Lo actually charged tax on the phone card I bought! I wasn't expecting that...

[megatans]

I bought the $100 Visa debit card (there was a 5.95 fee added to $100 purchase price). Still ahead by $14.05. Using the visa debit for normal purchases that I would be making anyway.

Good idea on purchasing $20 bilo card with cat. I rarely ever spend $20 at one time at bilo and this will allow me to make my small purchases and not have to worry about cat expiring.

[sheysaves]

what about the verizon GC,can these be used to pay your monthly bill?

[ptdbell]

The verizon cards can be used to pay your bill (according to the website) BUT Bi-Lo does charge you tax on these. I tried to purchase them today and $100 in GC's turned into 108.00 AND they ended up giving me my money back b/c NONE of the GC's would activate after they were rang up. I waisted 30 minutes up at CS desk while they tested several Verizon cards. I finally just gave up and got my money back. It sucked that I would be double taxed too since I was going to use them to pay my verizon bill.

[sheysaves]

I think I will pass then.

[Publix4Pennies]

One store I went to did not allow me to roll the $20 coupon into the next GC purchase. I argued a bit with the manager but she said it had to be a "grocery" trip, even though there are NO exclusions. I figured since I was in a grocery store, it was a grocery trip! Went to a different Bi-Lo down the street and had no problem. Although it wouldn't take my Bi-Lo card after 4 transactions.... weird. Seemed a lot of people had bought up the cingular/verizon, jetblue and some bp cards. Still plenty left of the others though.

[TincyJean]

I was having pretty good luck with the rolling too. Then my husband bought a Best Buy Gift card and used a previous catalina to pay for it. No problem there. But the catalina machine was out of paper so his $20 catalina didn't print. Went to CS and told them. It was a "no go" on this. The coupon states, "Limit one coupon per transaction per day." Even though the registers aren't linking and tracking the transactions to our Bi-Lo card, it seemed reasonable to me that CS wouldn't give the $20 to us in some manner. So no big deal to me.

However, Bi-Lo could make things easier on all of their stores if they made the terms of these deals very clear from the get-go.

[uummm]

Read the back of the catalina.

Bilo locks the card after 4 or 5 transactions. Harris Teeter does the same thing.

[Publix4Pennies]

Read the back of the catalina.

Bilo locks the card after 4 or 5 transactions. Harris Teeter does the same thing.


4 or 5 transactions per day?

The front of the catalina says - Congratulations! Here is your $20 OFF COupon good for your next grocery trip!
*Minimum $20 purchase. Excludes items prohibited by law. No cash value. No cash back. Limit one coupon per transaction per day. See back of coupon for additional terms and conditions.


The back of the catalina says -
Consumer:
For Coupons: Required purchase necessary. No redemption for cash or credit. Cash Value 1/20¢

Ads/Non-Coupons: May have no value. INternet access may be required. Retain Original form for information/verification. Follow directions exactly.
For Sweepstakes: Must be legal US/DC/Puerto Rico resident. Odds depend on number of entries received. See posted rule in-store for details and entry without purchase. Subject to Official Rules.

For Any Offer (As Applicable): Offer valid only as stated. Cannot be combined with the same or any other offer. Expires on date stated. Limit one offer per purchase. Void if altered, duplicated, copied, reproduced, transferred, traded, sold, purchased, auctioned, exchanged or where prohibited, taxed or restricted by law.

Retailer:
Manufacturer pays coupon value plus 8¢ handling if redeemed in compliance with terms of offer. To redeem, check manufacturers coupon redemption policy. Improper use constitutes fraud. Consumer must pay sales tax. Valid only in the USA or Puerto Rico.

[mysticme]

Can you use a $100 visa card to buy another $100 visa card? I am thinking of rolling cards, paying 5.95 each transaction and getting the $20 cat each time. Then using the cat to get a $20 bi-lo gift card. So basically 5.95 for a $20 giftcard. Do you think this will work?

[uummm]

4 or 5 transactions per day?

The front of the catalina says - Congratulations! Here is your $20 OFF COupon good for your next grocery trip!
*Minimum $20 purchase. Excludes items prohibited by law. No cash value. No cash back. Limit one coupon per transaction per day. See back of coupon for additional terms and conditions.


The back of the catalina says -
Consumer:
For Coupons: Required purchase necessary. No redemption for cash or credit. Cash Value 1/20¢

Ads/Non-Coupons: May have no value. INternet access may be required. Retain Original form for information/verification. Follow directions exactly.
For Sweepstakes: Must be legal US/DC/Puerto Rico resident. Odds depend on number of entries received. See posted rule in-store for details and entry without purchase. Subject to Official Rules.

For Any Offer (As Applicable): Offer valid only as stated. Cannot be combined with the same or any other offer. Expires on date stated. Limit one offer per purchase. Void if altered, duplicated, copied, reproduced, transferred, traded, sold, purchased, auctioned, exchanged or where prohibited, taxed or restricted by law.

Retailer:
Manufacturer pays coupon value plus 8¢ handling if redeemed in compliance with terms of offer. To redeem, check manufacturers coupon redemption policy. Improper use constitutes fraud. Consumer must pay sales tax. Valid only in the USA or Puerto Rico.


Yes 4 or 5 transactions on one card per day. I have had my card turned off after 5 transactions everytime. Usually they are willing to just scan a store card application if I am at the front counter. They had to do this when I bought $2000 worth of best buy gift cards in May, for evey $500 I purchased I got a $25 BiLo GC...but in order to give me the BiLo gc they had to scan my card. It stopped working after the 5th time.
I have had it done other times too, like when I was collecting Breyers ice cream and the limit was 2 per transaction.



If you are using the catalina to acquire another catalina isn't that combining the offers? This is why Wags catalinas do not roll.

[maryccc]

i bought some some sundrop and hamburger and a 100 gift card and used my cat and paid just 96 for all of it.

[TincyJean]

Hi uummm,

Question for you. How do you know that Bi-Lo locks the card after 4 or 5 transactions? Is it personal experience? Just wondering...TIA!

Read the back of the catalina.

Bilo locks the card after 4 or 5 transactions. Harris Teeter does the same thing.

ETA: OOPS! Never mind... I see that you've already answered this.

[mysticme]

I got tired of my card getting blocked after so few transactions so I now have 6 Bi-lo cards :giggle2:

[HintofBlue]

That card locking thing! I think it's probably to protect the store against people who write a string of bad checks or other no-no's. The stores around me are used to mine getting locked when there is a good deal going on. Either CS can keep running over to the register to input the approval code, or you can save time by having the cashier input the phone # attached to your card.

I don't consider using a previously generated CAT toward the purchase of more cards to be combining offers. I interpret it the same way the registers do, that only one OYNO CAT of that type may be used toward each transaction.

I am LOVING this deal! By purchasing the pre-paid cards, we've been able to save in areas I didn't think possible.

[cmccabe]

Thanks!

[twoflowers]

I bought $100 kohls card yesterday, got $20 for next shopping.

This morning I used the $20 for

8 kollogg's BOGO cereals (a lot of coupons on them)
plus 2 milk and some fruit,
+ 1 bottle centrum (for $5 rebate), oop $3 ,

will get $10 cereal kelloggs cash reward and $5 centrum rebate.:hysterical::hysterical:

and,I will use the $100 at kohls on this weekend since I got 30% off coupon in mail.:hysterical::hysterical:

[snooks]

Don't forget...the publix stores that accept competitors coupons....use the catalinas.

[Neciepie]

The card locking thing has nothing to do with bad checks. I've never written a bad check but have had them lock my card after five transactions. The manager can override it to accept it but it's a pain. Soooooo, I have a card and my daughter has a card now. That way we can go over the five with no hassle if we want to.

[mysticme]

I just wanted to say that this was such a great pomotion! I am sad to see it end. Thanks OP for bringing it to my attention!!

[Neciepie]

I'm sad to see it end, too, Mysticme. I could have managed another couple of weeks with the gas cards. What a deal!

[Maggie Soups]

Do you know how often Bi lo runs this promotion?

[secretsaver]

Do you know how often Bi lo runs this promotion?

I honestly don't know when they will run it again, I wish they would as I profited over $5000 from this promo this time around :)

[mysticme]

I honestly don't know when they will run it again, I wish they would as I profited over $5000 from this promo this time around :)

$5000 ?!?!? Did you leave out some decimal points? How did you manage to make 5k? I thought I did good getting $60 in giftcards.

[abacus2]

$5000 ?!?!? Did you leave out some decimal points? How did you manage to make 5k? I thought I did good getting $60 in giftcards.

I was wondering the same thing. You would have to have bought $25,000 in gift cards $100 at a time (250 transactions) to pull this off.

[uummm]

Now do you see why they might have limits on the cards per day? If this is true, it raises a red flag at that store. And although you may not want to beleive me, they do see how many catalinas are printed from a particular store, and then they go back and check the records. I am not saying this person did anything shady to get these, however when people do things like this it will make them start imposing limits so it won't happen again.

[HintofBlue]

This was my favorite "sale" of any store. I also hope that they run it again, but not TOO soon. I need some time to recuperate from the one that just ended, and need some time to rebuild my cash reserves.

The Back To School timing of this one was perfect for me. Both because we put some cards to immediate use, and because I have been able to send each of the college commuting kiddos out with a gas card and an all purpose card in hand. I feel more secure when they are on the road, and expect fewer surprise requests for gas money and unexpected minor expenses.

The one thing that surprised me was that hordes of people didn't swoop in and clear the kiosk. My local store had sufficient stock throughout the promo.

[uummm]

I think in general "most" people don't think like that. I know that I personally don't know anyone that did this deal. When I went to the store to get my gc (I was only able to do it once because we are on a new strict cash only diet) I did notice there was a lot of GC, however the deal they did before this one with the $50 GC promo with only 5 cards I noticed ALL of those cards were gone when I went.

My neighbors think I am nuts doing what I do as hard core as I do it (stockpile, my coupon box...). Most would never think to do it, they would just say "What do I need gift cards for?" Where we here think "How can I make this work for me?" That is why I don't bother talking to anyone about my deals and pretty much keep it to HCW and my family in my house-others just don't get it and think I have problems. I just keep doing my thing (and we are about to do something very radical!) and let them think what they want and in no time at all we will be the ones with ZERO debt, a 6 month emergency fund and hopefully a paid off mortage and I am pretty sure none of my neighbors can say that.

[HintofBlue]

Uummm, that will be quite the celebration moment when you reach that goal!

I think you're probably right about most people not thinking that way. My own dh did all he could to talk me out of it. His reason - GC's get forgotten and become wasted money. (I think he'd also be embarrassed to do several transactions in a row.)

It was funny, though, because once I purposely accumulated enough cards and used them to pay a major expense, we had a $100 small appliance break down. He went out, priced the replacement, and then went to Bi-Lo to purchase a card to pay for it.

Even though he would never tell me that I did well, his action showed that he "got it".

I've always lived on a cash only basis, except for the mortgage. Purchasing the cards was like taking it a step farther and saving money by, in a way, pre-paying for anticipated routine expenses.

The way I've treated mine is by thinking of them EXACTLY the way I think of cash. It's been working well.

[trishgil]

I was really wanting to do this deal, but we are on that same cash only budget and I just couldn't squeeze it in.. or just felt guilty I am not sure. Maybe if this comes back around I'll join in. Would love to use the $20 to fill the freezer w/ meat! Umm.. Your awesome, who cares what anyone else thinks.. lol.:BigHand:

[secretsaver]

The old saying it takes money to make money :)

[HintofBlue]

Aw, Trishgil, there really wasn't anything to feel guilty about as long as a person followed the rules as they were written.

The cards are basically the same as any other product sold in a store. The company that owns the card kiosk business does not pay face value for them, and the store does not sell them at the cost to the store. It was simply a sale on a product, with the product being gc's.

Also, it was explained to me at more than one store that one should never feel guilty about using store q's. The stores are reimbursed for them, and redemption of figured into the individual store budget. When there is a promotion, it's not just a random choice. It is a planned event where the provider of the product has offered incentives to the store in order to move those products.

I will say that because these are a type of financial instrument, I had some trepidation about purchasing these, since there is always the possibility of being stuck w/a gc for a company that goes bankrupt. So, we only purchased what we will use within a reasonable period of time, and not so much of any that we would be in financial hardship if that were to happen.

I certainly didn't *make* a huge amount from this sale, but did feel good about being able to save some money on a few things where I didn't think we could cut expenses any more than we already had.

I hope you are able to take guilt free advantage if they run a similar promo in the future.