Premise
I’m starting a new series, to help people save money. I specialize in this, and I might as well speak about the less well-known ways of saving money on travel. If people read this and save some bucks, feel free to kick some my way.
This post will focus on rideshare – Uber and Lyft specifically. These have been godsends and save me from riding in taxis. Most people know that Uber/Lyft send out promotions and discounts every so often, but I’ll write about benefits that anyone can take advantage of – first time users or repeat customers! I’ve saved hundreds of dollars with these “hacks” (they’re not hacks) and hope you can do the same.
Uber / Lyft – Affiliate Cash back
I previously wrote about Lyft here where you get $1 off per ride through Rakuten’s Ebates. However they have since cut that to just $0.25 per ride. Still better than nothing, but not much.
Uber was a bit better, at $1 cash back per ride through Ibotta last year. That was a sweet deal, especially combined with a ride pass where Uberpool was only $1.99 per ride. Thus, $1 back meant saving 50%, and each ride was actually under a buck! Crazy cheap. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Uber back on the Ibotta platform in a while.
Gift Cards and Credits – Save Even More!
There will always be people who have merchandise credits or gift cards to stores who want to convert them to cash. Huge, multi-million dollar marketplaces have sprung up to handle the gift card market, making a commission on each sale or purchase. I use a combination of GiftCardGranny, GiftCardWiki, and eBay, to search for the best discounts. I don’t have a relationship with any of the three – other than as a customer!
As a consumer, I target places where I plan to spend my money, in this case Uber or Lyft, and purchase discounted gift cards from sellers, which saves me anywhere between 2 and 20 percent.
GiftcardGranny
My original go-to, the Granny is an aggregator, sort of the tripadvisor of gift cards. They currently aggregate gift card sales from various sites such as Raise or CardCash, and recently entered the selling scene themselves with a points loyalty and discount system. It used to be really good, but once they started selling their own cards they push that over the discounted third party sellers – which lowers their value proposition in my eyes. Their data also seems to be less accurate or comprehensive than GiftcardWiki, which I recommend
GiftcardWiki
I found this site recently and it’s been better in terms of analytics. Not as pretty, but definitely useful, to know historical discount rates, changes in quantity over time. In the picture below, Uber can be had for up to 5.5% off. Note that in the case of both GiftCardWiki and GiftCardGranny they don’t sell the gift cards directly, but just aggregate the sellers for easy searching. You are subject to the terms and conditions of each seller and their gift card guarantees.
eBay
This one is always an excellent resource for discounted credits. In the example below, you can see a $100 Lyft Gift Card for only $72. Thus you’d save 28% on every single Lyft ride you took with that credit. That is more money in your pocket that you can spend on other things. eBay’s feedback system and buyer protection are also useful – if you have any issues with the codes the seller will either send you another or refund you, without too much issue (hopefully).
Conclusion
In all cases, I look for digital versions of the gift cards, because you can expect them immediately – like under an hour in most cases, and definitely within 24 hours of purchase. Thus you can use them very quickly. If you purchase the day before a trip or a flight, you’d be able to get the code, apply it to a ride to or from an airport, and save upwards of 30% on that ride. This is certainly stackable with Uber/Lyft in-app promotions, as well as the per-ride affiliate bonuses from Ibotta and Ebates.
If you’re concerned about legitimacy, I hear you. Should you have any issues with the codes or gift cards, then I recommend you reach out to the seller or gift card website immediately. This means the website who actually sold it to you, not GiftCardGranny or GiftCardWiki. Most selling websites have a gift card guarantee of at least 30 days, and sometimes up to a year. If the gift card doesn’t work that time they’ll give you a full refund no questions asked. I’ve done it several times with no issues.
Try it out, save some money, and let me know how it goes!
Affiliate Codes – download and enter these codes to save. Thank you for your support.
Uber: danielw9388ue – save $2 off first 3 rides!
Lyft: HOTELION – save $5-10 off first ride!
Ibotta: rnoexaa – earn up to $20 sign up bonus!
Ebates: Get $10 off first purchase!
Featured Image is from Unsplash. Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links which, should you click through and/or make a purchase, grant me a commission. Also, I only post in the best interest of my readers. Lastly, thank you for supporting my blog and my travels.
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Another method in getting discounted UBER gift cards is to look out for discounted GAMESTOP gift cards. Gyft sometimes runs 10% off sales on these, as does ebay/paypal. Goto Topcashback and then head over to Gamestop. That will net you 1% back. Then sign up for the Gamestop rewards program. Purchase digital UBER gift cards using the Gamestop gift card. Earn another 1% Gamestop credits, which eventually, you can use to pay for an UBER gift card.
Thats a great tip – Thanks!
Topcashback is paying out 8% on Raise. Pick up a Gamestop gift card for around 5.5% off, use code Lucky7 to get an additional 7% off (today only), and then use the card as instructed above. Not bad.
I’ll have to check that out! Thanks.