Update 01/17: Devaluation is now in place again. Fingers crossed you were able to use up your points before now.
Third update: Now some people that were showing the new redemption rates are now seeing the old ones. I’d redeem your points if you can get them to be worth 0.5¢.
Second update January 2nd, 2018: Looks like some people still see the old options…
Update January 2nd, 2018. Not 100% sure when this occurred but Samsung has made two negative changes to their rewards program:
- Devalued points. Previously you could redeem points for the following:
- $5 Visa gift card: 1,500 points (0.333¢)
- $20 Visa gift card: 5,000 points (0.4¢)
- $50 Visa gift card: 10,000 points (0.5¢)
Under the new program the only option is the $50 Visa gift card and this now requires 12,500 points (0.4¢).
- Eliminated referral program. Previously you could refer friends and both parties would receive a $5 bonus
Original post November 14th, 2016: Samsung has added a rewards program to their mobile wallet/payment platform Samsung Pay. Users will receive points whenever they make a purchase using Samsung Pay and these points can be redeemed for gift cards (including Visa gift cards), Samsung products and more. In addition to this users can also instantly win prizes that change monthly.
In addition to this they’ve also launched loyalty tiers based on how many transactions you make per month. The rewards program is scheduled to begin on or about November 17th, 2016 at 6PM and the the first phase is scheduled to end at 11:59PM on November 17th, 2017.
Let’s take a deeper look at this new program.
Samsung Rewards
Points are not tied to the value of each purchase, instead you earn a flat 10 points per qualified transaction (this increases based on your status outlined below). You’re also limited to earning points on 50 qualified transactions per month. Other restrictions included:
- If multiple transactions are made within five (5) minutes, Participants will only earn Points for one (1) Qualified Transaction in these circumstances
- Points earned will expire at the end of the calendar month one year after they are earned
- Points will be awarded approximately within 24 hours of a qualified transaction.
Status Tiers
Samsung Rewards has three status levels
- Silver status: Requires five transactions in one month and gives users twice the points for every transaction
- Gold: Requires twenty transactions in one month and gives users triple points for every transaction
- Platinum: Requires thirty transactions in one month and gives users quadruple points
You can earn Tier status any time within the month by making the required number of transactions and your Tier status lasts the next following full calendar month. For example if you reached Platinum status on November 17th you’ll have that status level for the rest of November and all of December. You’d only receive 40x points per transaction for transactions made after you reached that level.
Instant Win Prizes
The program will award select active enrollees instant win prizes, the prizes will change monthly and to launch they are offering a trip for two to Napa Valley.
Redeeming Points
- $10 merchant gift card: 2,400 points (0.416¢ per point)
- $20 merchant gift card: 4,800 points (0.416¢ per point)
- $50 merchant gift card: 10,000 points (0.5¢ per point)
- $5 Visa gift card: 1,500 points (0.333¢)
- $20 Visa gift card: 5,000 points (0.4¢)
- $50 Visa gift card: 10,000 points (0.5¢)
Best bet is 0.5¢ per point.
Our Verdict
At best you’ll be able to earn a total of 2,000 points per month, that’s worth approximately $10 per month (if you max it out fully with Platinum status) if they aren’t holding any specials and you save up your points.
The nice thing about this is that you still earn the normal credit card rewards and get these Samsung pay rewards on top of it, you’ll also receive points if you use a debit card and most debit cards don’t have rewards programs anymore. I suspect all of the major mobile wallets/payments systems will introduce rewards programs in the near future as well.
Hat tip to reader Avrohom K
