TL,DR: Buy discounted Apple gift cards with rewards credit cards
(Also, this plan can take years to pull off)
I used the method below to buy a Mac Mini A2348 with 1 TB SSD and 16 GB RAM.
If you think the iPad, iPhone, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Studio, iMac, Mac Mini, and Mac Pro are all too expensive and/or poor values for money relative to their competition, you're not alone. It certainly doesn't help that Apple's own 0% interest financing tops out at 12 months for Macs.
But what if you still want one of the above? How do you do so affordably?
The overarching answer to this problem is to use Apple gift cards to prepay for Apple products over time at your own pace at a discount, up to $2000.
This works because Apple tends not to the increase price for the same product post launch, giving you a static savings target. It also works best if you live in the US or have a US based credit card and can shop at US based retailers.
Step 0: Identify your desired product
This not only tells you how much in gift cards you have to buy, it tells you the maximum you should spend per month on gift cards if you want to pay less than what Apple charges. To find that latter number, click the Buy link for any product and look at the financing monthly payment.
Step 1: Get the following credit/rewards services
- Best Buy Visa Card (5% store credit rewards on non-payment plan Best Buy purchases)
- Target RedCard (instant 5% off all Target purchases)
- Amazon Prime Store or Rewards Visa Card (5% store credit on all non-payment plan Amazon purchases)
- A rewards credit card - called RewardsCreditCard for ease of reference going forward - that allows those rewards to be redeemed on Apple gift cards on sale. An example is Chase Freedom Unlimited
- PayPal (Use PayPal's Pay in 4 where they are accepted, e.g. Best Buy, to reduce your effective monthly payments for gift card purchases)
- PayPal Credit (Use PayPal Credit's 6 months 0% interest on >= $99 where it's accepted, e.g. Best Buy, to reduce your effective monthly payments for gift card purchases)
- (Optional)
- Apple Card (3% cash back at Apple.com. Can use if account balance insufficient to cover entire purchase. Note that the rewards percentage is lower than that of Options 1 to 3 above)
- Inviation only:
- e-Rewards (choose Apple gift card as for your payout option)
- The Bank of America Advisory Panel (choose Apple gift card as your payout option)
If you buy more than 20 x [Amazon Prime Annual Membership Fee] from Amazon per year, the Prime card will pay for itself in rewards. Not to mention you also get Prime Video included for free.
You'll notice a tradeoff with the above that you can either spread your purchase over monthly payments OR get cash back. It's theoretically possible to get cash back via Rakuten, Slickdeals, etc. but AFAIK most retailers do not offer cash back on gift card purchases. It's always worth a shot, though.
Step 2: Check for discounted Apple gift cards at each RewardsCreditCard statement
These should be located in RewardsCreditCard's online account. Some such credit cards rotate which gift cards are discounted monthly, so stock up on rewards points until the Apple gift cards are discounted. For example, Chase Freedom Rewards gift card sales are 10% off. This means that you can turn 1.5% cash back rewards into 1.65% Apple gift card rewards.
Once you have received any gift card, redeem (Apple instructions) it immediately, otherwise the number may be compromised and the funds drained.
Step 3: Create a Slickdeals alert for Apple gift cards
I use the following settings:
-
Keyword:apple gift card -
Target Forum:Freebies,Rebates,Hot Deals,Coupons,Free Magazines,Contests & Sweepstakes,Drugstore/Grocery B&M Deals + Discussion,Black Friday Deals,Local Deals,Free Digital Goods,Cyber Monday Deals,Circulars Deals
Step 4: Watch your Slickdeals alerts
You'll want to look for deals that offer at least 10% off or 10% in rewards for Apple gift cards. Typical deals are:
- Best Buy: $10 reward certificate with >=$100 Apple gift card
- Target: $10 gift card with >=$100 Apple gift card
- Amazon: Varies, but don't buy anything that gives less than 10% rewards
Step 5: Buy Apple gift card from Slickdeals alert
Complete each transaction with the payment method from Step 1 that works best for your financial situation.
For the Amazon Prime Card specifically, you might want to choose the 0% interest or equal payments plan (in that order) if your purchase total is eligible, as this can lower your monthly cash outflow. However, doing so removes the 5% rewards on the purchase.
For Best Buy Visa you'll want to combine the gift card purchase with enough other items to qualify for 1 of their 0% interest payment plans. The card sometimes has an Apple Sales Event between Thanksgiving and Christmas during which storewide purchases of $499 or more are eligible for 18 months no interest. As with the Amazon Prime Card, choosing a payment plan eliminates the 5% rewards.
Target doesn't do payment plans, but unlike Best Buy and Amazon the 5% discount is applied at the point of sale, so you save money instantly. As with the Apple gift card, redeem the included Target gift card immediately. You can do so by adding it to your Target account from any web browser.
As mentioned before, redeem the Apple gift card immediately.
Step 6: Set up a Rakuten account
This can give you cash back on some Apple purchases. Slickdeals, Honey, etc. also have similar programs.
Step 7: Buy your Apple product with your account balance
If buying a Mac: due to Apple's artificially short product update support periods, choose a current generation Mac only. Previous gen Macs at Apple retail prices are exceptionally poor values for money for this reason.
Be sure to activate your Rakuten savings before checking out!
Check Apple's Certified Refurbished Products first. My experience with refurbished machines is they're just as reliable as brand new machines.
If you can't find a refurb you like, wait for Apple's Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals. Typically (it varies) these include a discount on the product + a gift card with the purchase. As before, you'll want to apply the gift card immediately.
Step 8: Keep the product box and packaging
That's right, you're not done yet! A major aspect of Apple hardware is their resale value as well as the Apple Trade In program.
Step 9: Don't forget to redeem the offers that come with the purchases
Some, like Apple TV+, are both stackable and usable by returning users. This means that if you already have a free trial going, you can use a separate free trial obtained from another purchase to extend the existing free trial.
Step 10: Repeat Steps 0 to 9
Because of the short product support periods, Apple iDevices and Macs have dates beyond which they are insecure for use. As such, you'll want to start preparing for your replacement product as soon as you get your new one. If this sounds like a hardware subscription without a name, congratulations, you've discovered Apple's business model.
By using this method you'll eventually you'll have enough of an Apple account balance + trade in/Swappa sale value to afford the latest Apple device when Apple drops support for the one you currently have.
You should also save anywhere from 10 (minimum) to ~25% (theoretical maximum) overall on the purchase via the cumulative discounts. This almost certainly more than the interest you'd get from simply saving the same money in a bank account. Yes, there are other investment vehicles that might pay more, but I'm betting if you have those then buying a Mac outright probably isn't an issue for you in the first place ;)
Due to Apple's pricing structure, which includes keeping prices static despite inflation, don't waste time looking for single discounts of over 15% or cumulative discounts of over 25% as they pretty much don't exist.
In fact, I'd go far as to say any brand new Apple listing for more than 25% off is most likely fraudulent unless it's from large reputable retailer.
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