In these current economic times the last thing many people are thinking about is spending more money on gadgets, gizmos and goodies, but consider for a moment if you are already spending the money scattered around at different stores what perks might come your way by making more/most/all these purchases through a single business. Keep reading, as this doesn’t mean you can’t shop at competing stores and still earn perks.

I remain a fan of club cards and reward programs. My feeling is if you are spending the money, why not take advantage of any perks and extras, within reason of course (you don’t spend thousands to buy some $5 piece of junk for ‘free’) that are thrown my way. If you’ve ever bought anything at Best Buy then you’re probably familiar with the Best Buy Reward Zone card. If you spend more than $2,500 USD per calendar year using the card starting this year you can earn their Premier Silver card.

Once you’re a Premier Silver member you get the following additional perks:

• 25% point bonus on qualifying purchases. Typically you earn 1 point per USD spent. Premier Silver members earn 1.25 points per $1 USD spent
• Point banking. Instead of receiving smaller denomination Reward Zone certificates Premier Silver members can bank the points and use them for bigger ticket items and shopping for speciality items in the awards catalog
• VIP events. When Best Buy hosts special events in your area, you’ll be a priority guest. We’ve been to a few of these special events and they are pretty cool. There are drawings and giveaways, special deals where you can save additional money on purchases.
• 45 day return policy. Whether you buy online at bestbuy.com or in store, you’ll get a little more time to return any item if it doesn’t meet your satisfaction
• Free BestBuy.com standard shipping on qualifying purchases. Take that Amazon.
• Dedicated Premier Silver services telephone number. 1-866-797-7367.

Since we routinely spend an average of several hundred dollars a month, and have been doing so for over five years, I’m a little surprised we didn’t make it into their Premier Silver Reward Zone sooner. We were members for years when you had to pay $10 a year to be in the club. Looking at our purchase history, we earned well over one million points a long time ago. Best Buy is our offline retail store of choice to buy games, music and bigger ticket electronics (like computers).

Tiered programs are very common in casino player club programs. The more you spend (gamble) the more perks you earn. It doesn’t matter what you win or lose to the casinos, only that you cycle through lots and lots of money. Smart marketing.

Shop at competitors and earn reward points

Best Buy also has a Premier Silver online mall [member link, login required: http://onlinemall.myrewardzone.bestbuy.com/] where you can earn Reward Zone points by shopping under their affiliate code at other online businesses. I didn’t realize this until looking around. I hinted at this in the opening paragraph. Did you realize you can earn as much as much as 20 points per $1 USD spent shopping for things through the Best Buy online mall? I didn’t.

Until Oct 31, 2008 if you purchase a single item worth at least $50 through the mall you’ll earn 250 additional Reward Zone Points [member link, login required: https://myrewardzone.bestbuy.com/premier/offerDetails.jspx?offerCode=2861]

Tip: make sure you are logged into the reward zone before following any links or your purchase may not be tracked. I noticed when testing this that you seem to get logged out a little too often for my liking. If you aren’t logged in then your online mall purchases under Best Buy affiliate code won’t be tracked.

For those who don’t like Best Buy

In the past when writing about Best Buy I’ve been a little surprised how many people don’t like them and voiced that in the comments area. I’m not some huge Best Buy fanboy and don’t own any of their stock, it’s just another retail electronics store that happens to have a lot of things we like to buy. Where else should we shop for these things offline? Don’t say Circuit City, their prices suck.

Since Best Buy will match any other store’s price (you just have to ask) why not buy from them and keep track of all your purchases in one place? They may do stupid stuff like have a different websites that they show you in store, so be smart and print out any prices from the website and be sure to take note that it is not a web-only deal. Like with anything else in life, read the fine print.

Some of the complaints I’ve read about the program seem to be from people who didn’t read the fine print. Remember, the little print taketh away so always read the program rules carefully and do not rely on the people who work in the store to have all the right answers. Since you have 45 days as a Premier Silver member if you find out you aren’t credited for points and/or were misled on a purchase, don’t just bend over, take it back to the store and buy elsewhere.

Did this post make you go hmm?

Maybe Related Posts (plugin generated)

• How to use credit cards and not let them use you
• Best Buy Reward Zone Dining Added to Earn Additional Points
• Buy The Police reunion concert tickets if you are a Best Buy Reward Zone member
• Best Buy not really the best buy, Reward Zone and RFID by 2007
• Trouble for Best Buy
• Wow 1080p, yowsa!