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Apple Offers 10% Bonus iTunes Credit When Adding Funds to Apple ID

31 Flavas said:
I’d be happy if you can just explain why anyone is willing to sell on iTunes gift cards at a loss. I mean, sale prices on products, coupons, or groupon, credit card “cashback” or points, are one thing - they all have margins built in.

But, this is just straight up loss. A $100 gift card cost Apple or CostCo or BestBuy or whoever, $100. And they’re saying, sure give me $80 and I’ll turn it into $100 instead.
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I would assume that retailers buy iTunes gift cards from Apple at a discounted wholesale rate, then sell them for less than face value and still make a small profit.

Perhaps that's why Apple Store gift cards are kept separate. They might actually be worth their face value.
 
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Jeaz said:
Curious to why this isn’t a thing available in more countries. If it’d been US only I would have sort of understand but since it is in numerous countries it’s a bit strange why not the rest.
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Just speculating, but I would guess that each country has their own laws in dealing with gift cards. Apple is basically holding your cash for you without paying you any interest. I can envision that some countries would consider this a "banking" operation and would want to have more regulation or maybe a cut of the action.

There's plenty of unusual laws all over the place that prevents (or at least, discourages) companies from doing all sorts of things.

(aside - at least as recent as 10 years ago, Apple did not offer Applecare in Florida. This was because of a law in Florida prohibiting extended warranties. Florida did this because too many seniors were getting duped into buying bad extended warranty plans, or something to that affect)
 
31 Flavas said:
I’d be happy if you can just explain why anyone is willing to sell on iTunes gift cards at a loss. I mean, sale prices on products, coupons, or groupon, credit card “cashback” or points, are one thing - they all have margins built in.

But, this is just straight up loss. A $100 gift card cost Apple or CostCo or BestBuy or whoever, $100. And they’re saying, sure give me $80 and I’ll turn it into $100 instead.

The steakhouse near me offers a $10 “reward” for yourself - if you buy a $100 giftcard for someone else. But the $10 “reward” you get can't be used Friday, Saturday, Sunday or towards specials or alcohol. i.e. they’re not just giving me a 10% discount. You have to buy a regularly price meal that has it’s margins built in.

It doesn't surprise me at all that Apple don't want iTunes balance being used to pay for Apple hardware.
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You think these retailers are selling the cards at a loss? Why would they do that? Most likely they are selling at or slightly above their wholesale cost from Apple. It is also very possible that Apple is providing additional discount during these sales to the retailers as a way to get these cards in to users hands and the money in to their iTunes account. Once it is in the account, users will be more likely to spend the money as people will see this as money already spent versus being charged to their credit card.
 
Doctor Q said:
Why oh why aren't iTunes balances and Gift Cards in the same pool as Apple Store Gift Cards, so we could buy hardware or subscribe to a service from the same balance? Why do we have to feed two separate accounts, or have to guess which type of gift card a friend or relative would prefer?
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Digital vs Physical purchases.
 
You can also add the funds directly from your "App Store and iTunes" pass in your Apple Wallet.
 
Doctor Q said:
I would assume that retailers buy iTunes gift cards from Apple at a discounted wholesale rate, then sell them for less than face value and still make a small profit.

Perhaps that's why Apple Store gift cards are kept separate. They might actually be worth their face value.
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I don’t feel that’s correct. Giftcards never have value until they’re purchased at a register. Besides, even if they were bought at say 50% discount - that’s still a large buy in and loss because ... how often are they purchased?

I suspect there is a merchant service that splits a fee with the retailer. Maybe it’s 3% the value of the card. e.g. $100 gc costs $3, $1.50 of which the store gets for making the sale. Or something like that.

Someones taking a big haircut along the way to offer $100 for $80 or $90. Apple sure isn't going to offer 20% rebate on GCs to best buy, costco, target, etc

But, again, I’m not complaining. I have no problem with this. It just perplexes me.
 
Not sure if it’s still available, but yesterday I bought a $100 Apple gift card for $80 on Best Buy. I used my Apple card so I got 1% off of that as well. eBay also frequently offers that same $100 card for $85.

The 10% discount listed above can easily be beat if you shop strategically and top up when discounts are available.
 
Doctor Q said:
Why oh why aren't iTunes balances and Gift Cards in the same pool as Apple Store Gift Cards, so we could buy hardware or subscribe to a service from the same balance? Why do we have to feed two separate accounts, or have to guess which type of gift card a friend or relative would prefer?
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So true. A couple of birthdays ago, my family pooled to gift me around $120+ in iTunes Gift Cards, thinking it would help me towards my purchase of a new iPhone. LOL. They were so so wrong. :p
 
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No debate or questions at all for me. Let's see...give Apple $200, get $20 bonus and 1% back on the CC...what's wrong with that? I pay $9.99 a month for News+, $.99 for data, and my digital newspapers come up for renewal in July. If the bonus is offered again next year, I'll grab it and send in the max (for the 3rd time).
 
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Ken1222 said:
No debate or questions at all for me. Let's see...give Apple $200, get $20 bonus and 1% back on the CC...what's wrong with that? I pay $9.99 a month for News+, $.99 for data, and my digital newspapers come up for renewal in July. If the bonus is offered again next year, I'll grab it and send in the max (for the 3rd time).
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Nothing particularly "wrong", just that this is NOT the best deal for buying Apple iTunes credit. iTunes gift cards are on sale regularly throughout the year for 10%-15% off. But you can do even better this time of year.

Costco had $100 Gift Cards for $80. I bought 2 (maximum) so I got $200 for $160, plus I get 3% back at Costco at the end of the year ($4.80) for a total discount of 22%.

If you don't have a Costco membership, Best Buy had cards on sale as well.
 
Ken1222 said:
No debate or questions at all for me. Let's see...give Apple $200, get $20 bonus and 1% back on the CC...what's wrong with that? I pay $9.99 a month for News+, $.99 for data, and my digital newspapers come up for renewal in July. If the bonus is offered again next year, I'll grab it and send in the max (for the 3rd time).
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I like that it's instant and easy, too. No waiting for codes to appear via email , or gift cards that are late or go missing in the mail.
 
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