GigWalk: Get Paid For Simple Jobs With An iPhone

Help yourself pay for that $30 a month data plan by putting that iPhone to work! 🙂 New iPhone app GigWalk pays users to take pictures of specific objects, record audio/video, or verify something live in person. For example, client TomTom asked folks to take pictures to help with their GPS service. Gigs start at $3 but go up to $90.Via Gizmodo via Techcrunch.

It kind of reminds me of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, which uses crowd-sourcing to perform small tasks that are very difficult to automate and thus is best done with humans. Currently, there are Gigs only in the following metro areas: Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, South Florida.

British Airways Visa 100,000 Mile Bonus (Expired)

Update: This card offer is now expired.

A final reminder that this offer is scheduled to end on Friday actually more specifically on Thursday night 5/5/11 at 11:59PM EST. It is not being extended.

This is the highest credit card mileage bonus I have ever seen. The Chase British Airways Visa Signature card (expired) is offering 50,000 British Airways (BA) Executive Club miles for new cardmembers with first purchase, and another 50,000 BA miles after spending $2,500 within 3 months of opening, for a total of 100,000 miles. There is an annual fee of $95, but you should be able to easily get $1,000 worth of value from this deal, if not more. We took advantage of the last time this deal was around, and ended up flying to Europe in business class with fully lie-flat seats across the Atlantic Ocean, on tickets that retailed for over $8,000 each.

To quickly recap, for those of you that primarily travel within the US, you can redeem British Airlines miles on American Airlines. You can get 4 roundtrip coach tickets within the continental US for 100,000 miles, or 3 round-trips to Hawaii for 105,000 miles. For those of you that like to travel internationally, in addition to British Airways destinations in Europe, you can redeem your miles on Cathay Pacific to Asia, or redeem on LAN to South America. 100,000 BA miles could get you a roundtrip, business class ticket to these destinations. More details in previous post here.

Prosper $104 New Lender Bonus – First 200 Only

Person-to-person lending site Prosper is offering new lenders a $104 bonus for the first 200 people to complete a new lender application, starting at Noon Pacific on Wednesday 4/27. You must reinvest the bonus into Prosper loan notes, which you can later sell or collect loan payments from until they mature. I really don’t like these types of promos because it’s hard to know if you’ll actually qualify for the bonus. If you’re interested, definitely apply as close to the start time as possible.

To be eligible for the bonus, you must complete the Prosper Lender Registration process starting at noon Pacific Daylight Time on Wednesday , April 27, 2011 (the “Promotion Date”). Only the first 200 customers who complete the process will be eligible for the $104 bonus. The $104 bonus can only be used for investments in Prosper Notes; at its discretion, Prosper may withdraw the bonus in the event that the funds are not invested within 14 days of the Promotion Date.

If you are an existing lender, you probably go the e-mail that they are currently offering 4% cashback for manual investments in their “featured” listings.

British Airways 100k Miles Promo – Booking Award Tickets On American Airlines Using British Airways Miles

Update 5/6/11: The 100k mile card promotion is now expired. The information on using British Airways miles should still be accurate.

First, a quick reminder that the British Airways 100,000 mile promotion mentioned previously is scheduled to expire in less than two weeks on May 6th. To recap, the Chase British Airways Visa Signature card (expired) is offering 50,000 British Airways (BA) Executive Club miles for new cardmembers with first purchase, and another 50,000 BA miles after spending $2,500 within 3 months of opening, for a total of 100,000 miles.

There are many options on how to spend these points, for example we spent them on business class tickets to London and Rome. But to show the basic value of this offer, I looked into how to use British Airways miles to book award travel on American Airlines, their partner in the US. If American Airlines has a domestic award seat available in their “MileSAAver” category, then in general you can book it with British Air miles. A flight within the continental US costs 25,000 BA miles plus $5, with no fuel surcharges. (Other combinations of less miles and more cash are available, see below.)

If your flight is a direct flight with no stopovers, you can search and book an award online at BritishAirways.com. On the site, go to “Spending BA Miles” and then “Book with partner airlines” and then “Make a reward booking”. They always try to find BA flights first, but once you search for domestic flights, you’ll see this option to include partner airlines.

Here is a screenshot of an award I found from Los Angeles to Dallas/Ft. Worth for 25,000 miles + $5:


(click to enlarge)

Note that I can see the availability even if I don’t have enough miles to actually book it yet. Alternatively, you can book an American Airlines flight from the continental US to Hawaii for 35,000 + $5. Here is an award I found from Los Angeles to Honolulu during the summer for that amount:


(click to enlarge)

Of course, it’s better if you can book ahead of time for the best availability. If your flight has a stopover, you might want to look for award availability on the American Airlines website first and then call British Airways to book the award flight. Since you can’t find the airfare online through their search system, you can try asking them to waive their phone booking fee. Thus, with the 100,000 miles from this offer (plus $20 in fees), you could by four domestic round-trip tickets in the lower 48, or nearly three round trip tickets to Hawaii.

Groupon: $8 For Domino’s Pizza, $20 For General Mills Combo

Update 4/21: There is a new national deal for a General Mills sampler pack that include a whole bunch of random goodies like cereal and sn.acks, along with a coupon book. Over 1,000 bought already, partially I guess since cereal is so darn expensive these days

Groupon has a national deal (still valid 4/21) at Domino’s Pizza that gets you any large pizza with up to 10 toppings (online order, carryout only) for $8. Valid at all locations in lower 48. I haven’t tried their new revamped pizza yet… is it really better?

If you don’t have a Groupon account already, please use my sign-up link, and I’ll get some Groupon credit for referring you. (It feeds my dining-out addiction… literally.) Then visit the Domino’s pizza deal link.

You can save even more with cashback shopping sites like eBates ($5 new customer bonus), Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus), and BigCrumbs.

Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529: $25 Matching Contribution

The Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 college savings plan is offering a $25 matching contribution if you open a new account and invest at least $25 of your own money. No promotion code required. Expires April 30, 2011. (Update: This offer is now expired.) A little kick to get started. Set up an automatic contribution of as little as $25 every month and you’ll barely notice it.

If your in-state plan doesn’t have good tax benefits, I would recommend looking plans with low-cost investment options such as the Utah and Ohio plans (really anyone that offers Vanguard investments). I like Ohio specifically because they offer good investments that suit my preference for very conservative investments for college, including high-yield CDs and inflation-indexed bonds.

$100 Tradeking Referral Extended to April 14th

The $100 Refer-A-Friend promo for TradeKing.com has extended to April 14th. You just need to apply by the deadline.

If you get a referral from an existing account holder, open a new account with at least $1,000 within 30 days of application, and make a trade within 180 days, both people will get $100. In addition, you can double-dip this with the up to $150 transfer fee rebate that they offer if you transfer assets from another broker. Visit this post for details.

Chase AARP Visa – 5% Cash Back For 6 Months

Via a specific banner ad, the Chase AARP Visa has a introductory promo of 5% cash back on all purchases for the first 6 months (specifically, 6 billing cycles). There appears to be no limit to their cashback awards and their reported credit limits are about the same as other Chase cards, so if you have the ability to charge a lot of money on your card within the next 6 months, this card is for you. Selected fine print:

For the first 6 billing cycles from your enrollment date in the program, you will earn 4 bonus points in addition to your 1 base point (total 5 points) for each $1 of net purchases. You do not earn points on balance transfers, cash advances, cash-like charges such as travelers checks, foreign currency, and money orders, any checks that are used to access your account, overdraft advances, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or fees of any kind, including fees for products that protect or insure the balances of your account. There is no maximum number of points that you can accumulate in the program.

Doing the math, if you can charge $2,000 total, you’ll get $100 back. Up that to $20,000, and you’ll get $1,000 back. The usual ideas include charging any medical bills, homeowners/car/life insurance, travel expenses, or large home improvement purchases. Some people even prepay their utility bills. If you haven’t already, you could also pay any income taxes owed on the card, and you’d still come out slightly ahead after their usual ~2.5% fees.

Catches? Well, you’ll have to be a member of AARP first. That costs $16 a year and is actually open to those under 50, and although you won’t get full benefits, reportedly it will let you get this card. Otherwise, just avoid doing any funny business that will close your card before you cash out your rewards.

eBay $7 for $15 on Groupon

Groupon has a national deal today where you can get $15 worth of credit at eBay for only $7. Nearly 25,000 have been bought already.

Limit 1 per person. Limit 1 per order. Valid only on eBay.com in the U.S. Must have a registered eBay and PayPal account. Credit card info may be required at checkout. Not valid towards service fees. No cash back. May apply value toward tax & shipping. May use over multiple visits.

If you don’t have a Groupon account already (what!?), please use my sign-up link, and I’ll get some Groupon credit for referring you. Then visit the deal link. Thanks!

$100 Tradeking Referral Offer Ends March 31st April 14th

The $100 Refer-A-Friend promo for TradeKing.com has been unusually popular this time around. If you get a referral from an existing account holder, open a new account with at least $1,000, and make a trade, both people will get $100. I’ve already gotten paid $500 for 5 referrals since the beginning of March, and the referred have gotten paid too, so TK is both opening accounts quickly and crediting the money faster than in previous promos.

Visit this post for details. Offer expires March 31st, 2011, but you have 30 days from initial application to fund. (And yes, according to TK Live Chat you can double-dip this with the $150 broker transfer fee refund.)

Update 3/31: Extended to April 14th!

Amazon Appstore Opens For Android: Free Angry Birds

The Amazon Appstore for Android OS smartphones has opened, and they are offering new free apps every day to promote it. Yesterday’s app was Angry Birds Rio (still free)… Wednesday was World Series of Poker: Hold ’em Legend (not free anymore), Thursday is Doodle Jump.

Even though I don’t really play games, I really should upgrade to an iOS or Android phone when my contract ends in August. Some of the apps out there nowadays are really useful.

Chase Sapphire Preferred: $625 towards Travel

Chase Sapphire Preferred ImageThe Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a rewards credit card offering new cardholders 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. 50,000 points can be redeemed for $625 in travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards™ since they offer a 25% boost towards airfare and hotels. Earn 5,000 additional bonus points after you add the first authorized user and make a purchase in the first 3 months from account opening. No annual fee for the first year, $95 in future years. Additional details here.

New: Earn 2 points per dollar spent on dining & 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

(This card is the “big brother” of the regular Chase Sapphire® Card, where you can get 10,000 points after you spend $500 in purchases within the first 3 months, and an additional 2,500 bonus points after you add the first authorized user and make a purchase in the first 3 months from account opening. There is no annual fee in the first year or subsequent years.)

“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.  “The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.”