Some credit card rewards programs are lame.  Lame, lame, lame.  I found out that my business credit card (which sees a lot of use in monthly server and IT personnel expenses) is no different.  I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get a rebate or a “nice gift” from the massive amount of points I had built up at 1 point per dollar.  The most direct cash I could obtain was about $64 per 10,000 points in the form of a check or debit card.  This is pretty frustrating because high-dollar gifts such as a set of Bose speakers translate to around $100 per 10,000 points.  But cash, no.

So I dug around a little bit until I discovered a little hidden feature that allows one to convert the points into gift cards at the same exchange rate as the gifts.  So I cashed out a crapload of points on a fist full of $50 Williams-Sonoma cards (I figured anything higher would be hard to sell), and I’ve been selling them like hot cakes on eBay.  I chose that particular card because you can use it at Pottery Barn, among many other stores.  After selling/payment fees and profit “loss” on the card, I’m making about $90 per 10,000 points in cash.

Take that credit card companies.