Gift cards trick: Earn 5 times the points almost everywhere to get more free travel - Flytrippers (2024)

Earning travel rewards allows you to travel more for less. Earning 5 times the points makes it go way faster. That’s possible thanks to multiplier earn rates on the “grocery” category. But you can also do it at over 100 retailers with the simple trick of buying gift cards at the grocery store.

Of course, welcome bonuses worth hundreds of dollars are how you’ll earn the most travel rewards.

But ALL travelers should have at least 1 of the cards that earns 5 times the points on lots of spending, for the times you’re not unlocking welcome bonuses (you should still try to use all your spending to unlock bonuses if you want to earn a lot faster).

Here are the explanations for the gift card trick and the list of retailers where you can easily get 5 times the points.

Basics of the gift card trick

The first step is to have at least one of the cards that earn 5 times the points at grocery stores:

• American Express Cobalt Card
  • 5 pts/$ — ≈ 7.5% in lucrative points
  • 5 pts/$ — 5% in cash back or simple points
• Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
  • 6 pts/$ — 6% in simple points (Sobeys-affiliated stores)
  • 5 pts/$ — 5% in simple points (other grocery stores)
• MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard
  • 5 pts/$ — 5% in simple points
  • 5 pts/$ — ≈ 7.5% in lucrative points (coming in 2024)
• BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard
  • 5% in cash back
• BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Card
  • 5 pts/$ — 3.33% in simple points

More details on which ones are the best for you and the current welcome bonuses below.

The gift card trick is really very simple:

• Those credit cards earn 5 times the points at grocery stores
• Grocery stores sell gift cards for plenty of other retailers (without fees)
• So you can get 5 times the points at lots of other places for free

Here’s how to take advantage of the gift card trick, step by step:

• You get one of the right cards listed below (that earn 5x the points)
• You buy a gift card at the grocery store with your credit card
• You get 5x the points
• You then use the gift card at the 100+ retailers listed below
• So you get 5x the points indirectly even if it’s not a grocery store

Pretty simple, right?

It really pays to know the pro tricks in the world of travel rewards.

Before I give you details and examples, I want to mention a few other things that I’ll explain below.

The 5 pts/$ earn rate that you get thanks to the gift card trick:

• Can mean a very different value (≈ 7.5% to 3.3% for example)
  • Depending on the rewards program, as they aren’t all equal
• Applies to a limited amount of spending ($30,000 per year for example)
  • There’s a workaround to circumvent that, for most travelers
• Might not be worth it every time (for electronics purchases for example)
  • By using the tip, you lose your free insurance coverage
• Can be abused (by overly eager travel rewards enthusiasts)
  • So there’s a simple tip to follow

And finally, you can also use the trick:

• By buying gift cards in certain convenience/general merchandise stores
  • They’re sometimes coded as grocery stores
  • It depends on your card’s network (Visa, Mastercard, American Express)
• By buying prepaid credit cards to use anywhere instead
  • They’re sold in the same displays as gift cards
  • It has a major difference though

Best cards to take advantage of the gift card trick

Here are the best cards for the gift card trickand their current welcome bonuses (welcome bonuses are the most important thing if you want to earn $25,000+ in free travel, as I have).

Best credit cards for the gift cards trick
Best American Express Cobalt® Card
Min. income (card): $0No minimum income required.
Min. spend (bonus): $750/month for12months
WELCOMEBONUS ( VALUATION)
≈$744Flytrippers Valuation Welcome bonus: 15,000 pts (≈ $225) Earn on min. spend: 45,000 pts (≈ $675) Card fee: deducted (-$156)
Rewards: ≈ $900
Card fee: $156
Earnrateongroceries: ≈ 7.5% as Aeroplan/Avios pts $2.5k monthly cap
Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card
Min. income (card): $12kMinimum personal income of $12,000
Min. spend (bonus): $7.5kin12mos. (or$1kforlowerbonus)
WELCOMEBONUS ( VALUATION)	ends October 31st
$825Flytrippers Valuation Welcome bonus (after $1k in 3 mos.): 25,000 pts ($250) Welcome bonus (after another $6.5k in 1y): 20,000 pts ($200) Earn on min. spend (1k$): 5,000 pts ($50) Earn on min. spend ($6.5k): 32,500 pts ($325) Card fee: 1st year free (-$0)
Rewards: $825
Card fee: $0 $120
Earnrateongroceries: 6% (Sobeys brands) in simple credit $50k annual cap
MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard®
Min. income (card): $80k or $150kMinimum personal income of $80,000 or minimum household income of $150,000
Min. spend (bonus): $2kin3mos.(seeQCoffer)
WELCOMEBONUS ( VALUATION)
$280Flytrippers Valuation Welcome bonus (after min. spend): 20,000 pts ($200) Welcome bonus (after e-statements): 10,000 pts ($100) Earn on min. spend: 10,000 pts ($100) Card fee: deducted (-$120)
Rewards: $400
Card fee: $120
Earnrateongroceries: 5% as simple points $50k annual cap*
BMO CashBack® World Elite®* Mastercard®*
Min. income (card): $80k or $150kMinimum personal income of $80,000 or minimum household income of $150,000
Min. spend (bonus): $2.3k in3mos.(categories)
WELCOMEBONUS ( VALUATION)	ends November 30th
$230Flytrippers Valuation Welcome bonus (groceries): 10% cash back on $500 ($50) Welcome bonus (gas and EV charging): 10% cash back on $300 ($30) Welcome bonus (bill payments): 10% cash back on $500 ($50) Welcome bonus (other purchases): 10% cash back on $1000 ($100) Card fee: 1st year free (-$0) Also offered but not included in Valuation: 10% cash back on $300 in mass transit ($30)
Rewards: $230
Card fee: $0 $120
Earnrateongroceries: 5% as cash back $500 monthly cap
BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card
Min. income (card): $60k or $100kMinimum personal income of $60,000 or minimum household income of $100,000
Min. spend (bonus): $3kin3mos.
WELCOMEBONUS ( VALUATION)	ends November 30th
$360Flytrippers Valuation Welcome bonus: 30,000 pts ($200) Earn on min. spend: 9,000 pts ($60) Lifestyle credits: two in 1st year ($100) Card fee: first year free (-$0) Additional monthly spend bonus also offered
Rewards: $360
Card fee: $0 $120
Earnrateongroceries: 3.33% in simple credit $50k annual cap
Terms and conditions apply. Flytrippers editorial opinion only. Financial institutions are not responsible for maintaining the content on this site. Please click "See More" to see most up-to-date information.

Best credit cards for the gift cards trick		WELCOMEBONUS ( VALUATION)	Earn rate on groceries
Best	American Express Cobalt® Card Min. income (card): $0No minimum income required. Min. spend (bonus): $750/month for12months	≈$744Flytrippers Valuation Welcome bonus: 15,000 pts (≈ $225) Earn on min. spend: 45,000 pts (≈ $675) Card fee: deducted (-$156) Rewards: ≈ $900 Card fee: $156	≈ 7.5% as Aeroplan/Avios pts $2.5k monthly cap
	Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card Min. income (card): $12kMinimum personal income of $12,000 Min. spend (bonus): $7.5kin12mos. (or$1kforlowerbonus)	$825Flytrippers Valuation Welcome bonus (after $1k in 3 mos.): 25,000 pts ($250) Welcome bonus (after another $6.5k in 1y): 20,000 pts ($200) Earn on min. spend (1k$): 5,000 pts ($50) Earn on min. spend ($6.5k): 32,500 pts ($325) Card fee: 1st year free (-$0) Rewards: $825 Card fee: $0 $120	6% (Sobeys brands) in simple credit $50k annual cap	ends October 31st
	MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard® Min. income (card): $80k or $150kMinimum personal income of $80,000 or minimum household income of $150,000 Min. spend (bonus): $2kin3mos.(seeQCoffer)	$280Flytrippers Valuation Welcome bonus (after min. spend): 20,000 pts ($200) Welcome bonus (after e-statements): 10,000 pts ($100) Earn on min. spend: 10,000 pts ($100) Card fee: deducted (-$120) Rewards: $400 Card fee: $120	5% as simple points $50k annual cap*
	BMO CashBack® World Elite®* Mastercard®* Min. income (card): $80k or $150kMinimum personal income of $80,000 or minimum household income of $150,000 Min. spend (bonus): $2.3k in3mos.(categories)	$230Flytrippers Valuation Welcome bonus (groceries): 10% cash back on $500 ($50) Welcome bonus (gas and EV charging): 10% cash back on $300 ($30) Welcome bonus (bill payments): 10% cash back on $500 ($50) Welcome bonus (other purchases): 10% cash back on $1000 ($100) Card fee: 1st year free (-$0) Also offered but not included in Valuation: 10% cash back on $300 in mass transit ($30) Rewards: $230 Card fee: $0 $120	5% as cash back $500 monthly cap	ends November 30th
	BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card Min. income (card): $60k or $100kMinimum personal income of $60,000 or minimum household income of $100,000 Min. spend (bonus): $3kin3mos.	$360Flytrippers Valuation Welcome bonus: 30,000 pts ($200) Earn on min. spend: 9,000 pts ($60) Lifestyle credits: two in 1st year ($100) Card fee: first year free (-$0) Additional monthly spend bonus also offered Rewards: $360 Card fee: $0 $120	3.33% in simple credit $50k annual cap	ends November 30th
Terms and conditions apply. Flytrippers editorial opinion only. Financial institutions are not responsible for maintaining the content on this site. Please click "See More" to see most up-to-date information.

We’ll have a more detailed comparison soon, but you can check out our very detailed resource pages for all these cards.

But the Amex Cobalt Card is obviously the best by far!

Because points are transferable to Aeroplan or Avios points, which have literally unlimited value. So if you use them well, you can in fact earn 10% everywhere very easily, instead of “just” 7.5% at our conservative Flytrippers Valuation.

That’s the beauty of rewards of the more lucrative type, at least if you like good deals and maximizing things! The Amex Cobalt Card is so good that even Americans are jealous of it (and they’re literally never jealous of anything in Canadian travel rewards, believe me).

It’s absolutely my favorite card as a travel rewards pro who has many cards.

Flytrippers opinion: The best overall card in Canada. A must-have with its 5X earn rate!
	Flytrippers Valuation of Welcome bonus (net value)	via Amex secure application link
	≈ $ 744ⓘ Rewards: ≈ $900 Card fee: $156
Card eligibility no minimum income required Welcome bonus eligibility must not have had this specific card ever before	Amex Membership Rewards (more lucrative) Bonus: 15k pts Earn on min. spend: 45k pts (total: 60k pts) • ≈ $1260 to UNLIMITED for premium flights • ≈ $900 to ≈ $1260 for specific economy flights • ≈ $900 to $1200 for flights (table) • $600 for any travel expense	How to unlock bonus spend $750/month for 12 months
Terms and conditions apply. Flytrippers editorial opinion only. Amex is not responsible for maintaining the content on this site. Please click "Apply Now" to see most up-to-date information.

Where to go for the gift card trick

You can find a lot of gift cards in pretty much all stand-alone grocery stores. Most of the gift cards listed in the last section are offered no matter the grocery store, but some gift cards are only in certain grocery stores (or only in convenience stores).

Some convenience stores code as groceries (if you don’t pay at the pump). For example, convenience stores like Circle K, Mac’s, and Couche-Tard are coded as grocery stores on the American Express (Amex) network. The Visa and Mastercard networks have their own merchant codes. Convenience stores usually have nice gift card displays.

General merchandise stores don’t normally code as grocery stores, but there are exceptions: Giant Tiger does code as a grocery store for Amex, for example. Walmart Supercenters might code as grocery stores on the Mastercard network, although there’s a workaround with Amex too, as I’ll show you in the next section with 2 of my examples.

For Amex cards specifically, most grocery stores in Canada accept American Express cards. Loblaw-affiliated stores are the main exception (along with most IGA stores in Québec, but that will change soon), and it really is worth changing grocery stores to get ≈ 7.5% in lucrative rewards.

I certainly changed grocery stores myself, to be able to use my Amex Cobalt Card. Amex cards often have the best welcome bonuses and the best earn rates, so they’re a must in everyone’s travel rewards strategy. It really doesn’t matter that they are not as widely accepted (it’s not as bad as it was in years past, too).

Concrete examples of the gift card trick

To give you a striking example, I had a $700 purchase to make at Canadian Tire. For car tires.

Why would I take my credit card directly to Canadian Tire and earn just 1 point per dollar (since it’s not a grocery store)?

Instead:

• I took my card that earned 10 times the points on groceries (10X was a special promo)
• I bought $700 in Canadian Tire gift cards at a convenience store that codes as a grocery store with Amex
• I paid with the gift cards at Canadian Tire

This gave me 7,000 points (literally a free reward flight to Vancouver) instead of just 700 points.

Exact same purchase: 10 times more points, 10 times more free travel.

Even without that 10X promo, the Amex Cobalt Card‘s regular 5 pts/$ rate is amazing and gives you 5 times more rewards so easily.

Again, it’s my favorite card to use and one of the rare ones that are worth keeping after the 1^st year’s welcome bonus!

One last example: for my food (and non-food) purchases at Walmart, which isn’t coded as a grocery store by Amex, I buy Walmart gift cards at a convenience store that codes as a grocery.

So I earn ≈ 7.5% at Walmart too. That’s 5 times more rewards than what most people get for the exact same purchase. There’s a reason I get to travel for less (and therefore more often) than most people.

Logistical aspect of the gift card trick

I always keep my purchase receipt and activation proof for all gift cards and prepaid credit cards, in case something’s wrong. But in many years (and many many cards), I’ve never had an issue.

I find it practical to always write the remaining balance behind the card, to avoid having to go check online every time. That allows me to know when to get a new one, so I never miss out on earning 5 pts/$. So each time I use one, I update the balance immediately when I get home, with a marker.

There are no PINs on gift cards or prepaid cards, so don’t lose them. That said, even normal credit cards can now be used without a PIN by using contactless payment, so it’s not really very different. It’s just that I assume that gift cards and prepaid cards don’t have the same protections credit cards have if it happens. I’d rather take steps not to find out, so I have a Tile tracker in my wallet (it beeps if my wallet moves away from me).

Spending caps with the gift card trick

For categories with multiplier earn rates, credit cards impose spending limits.

(That’s because some people find savvy ways to earn many many points and abuse these multiplier rates, I’ll talk about that in another post…)

The spending caps are annual or monthly, depending on the card. All cards are different obviously, in all aspects. They’re different products, that’s normal.

Anyway, as an example, let’s take the best. The Amex Cobalt Card gives you 5 pts/$ on a maximum of $30,000 per year. That’s not too restrictive for average spenders. It will soon change to $2,500 per month. Same total, just more logistics to maximize it (without being too restrictive for most people, as they don’t spend that much every month anyway).

That means you can make purchases of $30,000:

• at the grocery store
• at retailers available with the gift card trick
• anywhere else with the prepaid credit card trick below

And you’ll get 5 pts/$ on everything. That gives 150,000 very valuable points for those who like to maximize.

If you reach that limit, that probably means you have a family or at least a life partner. A “Player 2” as we say in the world of travel rewards.

Get them to get their own Amex Cobalt Card to get another welcome bonus and another $30,000 at 5 pts/$! It’s easy to circumvent the cap this way.

If you’re playing solo or want to do even more than $60,000 in spending, then you can add a Scotiabank Gold American Express Card too. The points aren’t worth as much, but they’re still very good. That one is capped at $50,000 per year.

Free insurance coverage and the gift card trick

Here’s the main caveat of the gift card trick.

By paying with a gift card or prepaid credit card, your purchases won’t be covered by the purchase protections (for theft, loss, damage, etc.) and extended warranties that come free with almost all good credit cards.

So only use this tip for purchases where you don’t want to have these protections (that still leaves a lot of purchases).

For example, when I buy an expensive electronic item, the free insurance coverage is often worth more to me than the extra points.

But for something like clothing, food at Walmart/Costco, or anything like that, I’d much rather get 5 times more rewards (although I recently learned that some people get a full refund for worn-out clothes with these protections, I might try it for a scientific purpose… I love to try out everything).

Every traveler’s priorities are always different, of course. But the vast majority of people are too busy/lazy to make insurance claims for those 2 specific coverages, even if it’s so easy and fast. So if you’re in that group, take the bonus points on everything, obviously.

To be fair, there’s also the fact that many don’t even know that cards have these insurance coverages; we’ll have a detailed guide soon.

Gift card trick abuse

If you don’t abuse the gift card trick, you won’t have any problems (I’ve been doing thousands of dollars a year myself for years). In fact, in theory, you could even abuse… as long as you follow the simple pro tip.

Abuse is when some people use their credit cards only to buy gift cards or prepaid cards and no other transactions ANDwhen they buy many of them (we’re talking amounts in the thousands of dollars monthly).

The fact of the matter is that in Canada (unlike in the USA), card issuers do not get access to the data showing what you buy. At all.

But obviously, they can suspect it. Again, if you’re not doing huge amounts, don’t worry. But if you want to be extra safe, the main tip is to just use your card for a bit of other organic spending too. Not JUST for prepaid credit cards and gift cards.

It’s especially important for prepaid credit cards, as those are considered “cash equivalents” way more than simple gift cards.

Finally, another tip is to camouflage those prepaid card or gift card purchases. For example, an amount of $500 + a $7.95 activation fee + the tax on the fee (which varies by province) charged regularly makes it obvious that it’s a prepaid credit card plus the activation fee. So just throw in one or more item that you need anyway to make it a bit less obvious.

If you just use the trick for gift cards, especially if you’re not doing huge amounts, you’re even less likely to have issues.

But if you always buy gift cards with nothing else on that transaction, for a nice even and rounded $200.00 or $300.00 amount… it makes it pretty easy for the card issuer to figure out you’re always buying gift cards. Again, just throw in one or more items that you need anyway, to make sure the amount is never an even rounded number. That’s it!

And if you do decide to abuse for thousands and thousands of dollars, you must accept the risks. Protect your points by transferring them or redeeming them quickly.

The prepaid credit cards trick

Note that you can also apply this tip to buy anything anywhere, instead of just the retailers available in the gift card displays. Like for your Costco purchases for example!

By simply buying $500 Mastercard or Visa prepaid credit cards.

Gift cards are free, but prepaid credit cards have an activation fee, so it lowers your effective earn rate a bit, but not much: many have an activation fee of just $7.95!

It’s profitable if you know how to do math!

That’s only a 1.6% fee, far less than what you earn in rewards with 5X the points.

It’s important to know how to do the math in the world of travel rewards! You see, the fee is even technically just 1.5% (because you also earn 5 pts/$ on the fee too).

In short, that gets you a net of ≈ 6% back everywhere with the Amex Cobalt Card (7.5% minus 1.5%), including at Costco for example.

Yet another example of why it’s absurd to want to avoid fees without looking at both sides of the equation. Avoid fees that don’t give you anything of course, but those who know how to do math should gladly pay $7.95 when it gets you 2,539 Amex points instead of 500 points (2,039 Amex points are worth ≈ $31).

I always buy $500 prepaid credit cards with my Amex Cobalt Card to use them at Costco and at every merchant that isn’t available via the gift card displays directly (when I’m not using my spending to unlock the many welcome bonuses I get every year of course).

Obviously, always buy the $500 cards, never less. This spreads out that already low fee over a bigger amount. Paying $7.95 on $500 is just a 1.6% gross fee as I said, but paying $7.95 on a $100 prepaid card is an 8% gross fee… not the same thing at all. Doing the math is vital in this world!

You won’t find no-fee Costco gift cards at the grocery store… so that’s why the prepaid credit card trick is the best way to maximize your earnings at Costco! I earn ≈ 6% there, which is 6 times more than those who have Costco’s very own credit card (that doesn’t even have a welcome bonus to boot)!

And I don’t need the extended warranty to buy bulk chicken breasts! Make sure to get a prepaid Mastercard and not a prepaid Visa, as Costco only accepts Mastercards.

Also, some convenience stores and grocery stores even have $500 prepaid Mastercards with a lower $5.95 fee, which is just a 1.2% fee! But those have gotten harder to find recently.

Finally, the same insurance warning applies, but there’s an additional warning with prepaid credit cards: I recommend keeping your empty ones in case you would have to do a return for a refund (sometimes the original card is required).

List of retailers that can indirectly count as a grocery store

As mentioned, some gift cards are available at just one of the retailers, some are available everywhere, some are not always in stock everywhere either… but this gives you a good idea of the possibilities.

Start keeping an eye out and stopping at the gift card displays in stores near you (grocery stores and those that code as grocery stores).

You might even have more options than this list, as it’s based on my own findings here in Québec (I would assume the selection is pretty similar Canada-wide since these are mostly national brands, but we don’t always get everything here).

General retailers

• Walmart
• Hudson’s Bay
• Amazon
• Ebay

Hardware & home

• Ikea
• Canadian Tire
• The Home Depot
• Wayfair
• HomeSense
• Michaels

Travel

• Airbnb
• Hotels.com
• WestJet
• Uber
• Disney
• Various packages
• Amerispa

Sports

• SportChek/Sports Experts
• Atmosphere
• Decathlon
• Foot Locker
• Golf Town
• Bass Pro Shops
• Cabela’s
• Sporting Life

Entertainment

• Apple
• Best Buy
• ToysRus
• Indigo
• Cineplex Cinemas
• Guzzo Cinemas
• Ticketmaster
• Netflix
• Spotify
• SiriusXM
• Archambault
• Renaud-Bray

Clothing

• H&M
• Winners
• Marshalls
• Reitmans
• RW&CO
• Penningtons
• Lululemon
• American Eagle Outfitters
• GAP
• Old Navy
• Banana Republic
• Saks Off 5^th
• Ardene
• La Vie en Rose

Beauty

• Sephora
• Bath & Body Works

Telecommunications

• Bell
• Rogers
• Telus
• Fido
• Virgin Mobile
• Koodo
• Chatr Mobile
• Freedom Mobile
• Lucky Mobile
• Public Mobile
• Various calling cards

Games

• EB Games
• App Store / iTunes
• Google Play
• Kobo
• Twitch
• Xbox
• Steam
• PlayStation Store
• Nintendo eShop
• Fortnite
• League of Legends
• World of Warcraft
• Blizzard
• Roblox
• KarmaKoin
• Valorant

Food & Gas

• Petro-Canada
• Esso / Mobil
• Irving
• Ultramar
• Metro
• Super C
• SAQ
• DavidsTea
• Couche-Tard

Restaurants

• Uber Eats (Uber card)
• Door Dash
• McDonald’s
• Tim Hortons
• Subway
• Starbucks
• Dairy Queen
• Burger King
• Harvey’s
• Pizza Hut
• KFC
• Taco Bell
• The Keg
• Swiss Chalet
• Scores
• Pizza Delight
• Kelsey’s
• Montana’s
• Milestones
• East Side Marios
• BierMarkt
• The Landing
• Fionns
• Vinnie Gambini
• St-Hubert
• Cora
• La Cage
• La Belle & La Bœuf
• Nickels
• Scores
• Mike’s
• Baton Rouge
• Ben & Florentine
• Première Moisson
• Microbreweries (Packages)

Images of the gift card displays

This is a typical convenience store gift card display (Couche-Tard in Québec).

This is a typical Giant Tiger gift card display.

This is a typical grocery store gift card display (Super C or Metro in Québec; many use the same displays).

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