Most of us know that shopping internationally can mean a significant savings especially with tax refunds via Global Blue, Planet Payment, Travelex, etc. I recently returned from Paris, where I shopped at a few stores who did tax refunds via Global Blue. However, I also discovered and tried out a newer service called Wevat (referral REQRESZQ for additional 5 euros refund; I receive no commission) for smaller purchases, and I’m here to report the experience!
Categoryshopping
Recently I was in Europe with a few travel companions that are really into luxury goods. Apparently Europe is the place to get them for a huge savings, and I accompanied them while shopping in Vienna, Milan, and Zurich. I’m not into luxury goods, but I learned a lot in the process that I thought I would share for anyone who might want a one-off luxury product for themselves or interested in getting started on reselling these.
I recently got back from Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. My travel companion said his friends were asking him to buy COVID-19 rapid antigen tests abroad because they were cheaper and more abundant there Unfortunately, they asked when we were already on our last stop in Zurich, Switzerland, so we didn’t check the other countries. Switzerland is known to be expensive (honestly, I loved Switzerland and didn’t feel that it was extraordinarily expensive compared to major urban cities in the US like SF or NY), but we went out to check the local pharmacies anyways. We were shocked to find that it actually was cheaper and more abundantly available than in the US. Here are some datapoints on what we found:
Update sometime in 2022 it now codes correctly for everyone even if it says Beverages & More, Inc, HOWEVER charges less than $10 no longer get credited. Must be over $10.
Update 1/25/22 – Chase and GoPuff still have not resolved this issue for Californians yet, it’s still showing up as BevMo and not getting credited back. Chase deflects the blame back to GoPuff, saying they cannot control how a merchant codes. GoPuff keeps saying they’ve passed the issue on to their engineers, but nothing has come of it in months.
Gopuff (my referral) has been working hard on marketing lately. I’ve been getting ads everywhere for them, and every time I walk past a BevMo (Gopuff acquired BevMo for $350MM in Nov 2020) I see a tent sign about Gopuff outside the entrance. I’ve seen Chase offers for them, and there’s currently even a targeted 99% off Boost up to $25 off in Cashapp for it.
Gopuff also recently announced a Gopuff x Chase benefit where you can get $10 credit per month per Chase card you have through 12/31/2023. Nearly every Chase card qualifies (except Amazon, it seems). The Ink cards also get the credit, even though it’s not officially on the list.
Update 5/4/21: There is currently an Amex offer for Yamibuy for $10 off $50 in one or more transactions, expiring 6/3/21! I appreciate it if you use my referral link for $5 off. 🙂 Please also check out my Pro Tips for Weee! post.
This is a follow up to M’s post about Weee! (my referral for $20 bonus) back in December. Weee! is an Asian grocery delivery service similar to Instacart and Amazon Whole Foods/Fresh currently serving the SF Bay Area and Seattle. I started using it at the beginning of Shelter In Place since I craved Asian groceries, but the lines at 99 Ranch were sometimes pretty daunting. I’ll also talk about some similar alternatives to Weee!, Yamibuy and Yamimeal in this post.
Updated 2/6/2021
A couple months ago, I wrote a post about Asian grocery/food delivery services. Since then, I’ve been using Weee! the most, though Yamibuy actually has a wider selection and greater coverage. Weee seems to promote their products more frequently with various discounts and has also been greatly expanding their daily bundles. You order multiple days’ worth of bundles in advance.
It’s been 2 years since my original post and would you believe the search is still ongoing!? It appears that it’s a hot topic in the media too. However, I think I’m a lot closer to the ultimate shoe than before. As an update, I’ve still been traveling primarily with my sneakers (my favorite daily driver is the Adidas Ultraboost Parley) as the main shoe that I wear around the airport, onto the plane, etc, and in my luggage I have also packed my Tory Burch Minnie and sometimes also pair of flip-flops or water shoes, depending on the destination. Given that I travel with a 19″ carry-on spinner only, I try never to have more than 3 pairs of shoes with me, and ideally only 2, including the one I’m wearing.
Coinseed's bait-and-switch scam. They'll lure you in with the promise of 2% Amazon cashback across the board, and then prevent you from withdrawing it.
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Travel hackers are a really weird bunch. After all, who in their right mind would spend their time chasing deals that earn 1000 miles here or a slim 1-2 points per dollar spent? This doesn’t even count for all the time we spend feeding various obscure routings into award flight searches in order to find that “perfect” redemption that includes the newest plane model or an amazing lounge stop (you know who you are).
As weird as we are, we get it. This is not for everyone. I’ve spent a bit of time writing about things that are more accessible to the average person, like earning cash back instead of miles or reducing hotel costs by buying loyalty points at a hotel chain. If that’s too much for you, even learning how to use Google Flights or some of the other tools we recommend can get you on the path to savings.
What if that’s still too much? Well then, this post is for you.
Travel Hacking Is a Way of Life
Travel hacking roughly boils down to strategically taking advantage of deals and loyalty programs to get as big a discount off the retail price of travel as possible. Who’s to say this can’t apply to other goods and services? As with travel hacking, it’s all about knowing your tools…
Tool #1: Signup Bonuses
Sound familiar? Obviously, sign-up bonuses for credit cards are about as lucrative as they get, but many companies will happily offer you $10 or $20 to try out their product. Since the idea of a sign-up bonus is to get you to try out the service and hopefully use it long-term, you want to find products or services that you would be paying for anyway. If you don’t watch TV, don’t sign up for a Netflix subscription, even if they give you a few months free. That’s just asking for a recurring charge that you forget about.
Tool #2: Rebates and Special Offers
Be loyal only to those who give you the best deal.
While this is terrible advice for (most) relationships, in the supplier-saturated world of the internet and mobile phones, it’s pretty easy to find product or services that are fungible with one another. Uber too expensive? Try Lyft. Amazon Prime not cutting it for you? Try Google Express. Everyone wants your business and will offer you promotions that compete with each other. Use this to your advantage.
Moreover, just as the retention call (threatening to cancel in hopes of having an annual fee waived) can is useful in mitigating the cost of credit card annual fees, so too can they be useful for utilities or other recurring services. I have countless friends who have saved hundreds of dollars a month by threatening to cancel their service and having their introductory promotions renewed. Try it some time (and be ready to actually cancel).
Tool #3: Rewards Programs
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