Unexpected, shopping Amazon with CC points

[Brad Johnson]

Got an email a week or two back letting me know I could link my CC card Rewards account to Amazon. Mentally filed it away under "might come in handy someday" and thought nothing more about it. "Someday" arrived sooner than expected.

Bedroom TV has been cranky for a couple months, losing picture and not responding to the remote. It started as an brief glitch every week or two. Over time, frequency and duration slowly increased until it was happening at least once an hour and lasting for up to a minute. Last night it crapped the bed completely. It would stay on for fifteen or twenty seconds, lose picture for a bit, then spontaneously reboot. No magic smoke but it's definitely a progressive board-level failure of some sort. Can't gripe much, though. I picked it up on an open-box sale more than a decade ago so I got my money's worth.

SWMBO and I were looking at replacements on Best Buy when I recalled the "Shop with Points on Amazon" thing. Ten minutes later a TV and stand are on the way for zero out of pocket. It isn't the most frugal use of points as the $ per point value is noticeably truncated versus things like travel, but it still beats shelling out $450. Even with that, we still have a huge point balance due to intentionally running everything possible through the CC. Nice upgrade, too, as the old TV was only HD, and that by just enough to call it so. Had to get a stand due to the new TV's outboard kickstands being too wide for the space. No biggie as I'd wanted to do that for a while. It'll tidy up the space and leave a perfect spot for the Roku.

Biggest question now is whether or not it will arrive undamaged. We have a local Amazon distribution center which also houses the area delivery group. Hopefully that reduces bounces between transport modes and limits potential for damage.

Brad

[cordex]

I have an Amazon credit card that I mostly use for Amazon shopping, but one of my other credit cards also gives me the option to shop with points on Amazon.  I never use that card's points on Amazon, though, because there is a 20% point discount in value.  So the $312.75 in rewards I have on that card is only worth $250.20 on Amazon.  Screw that noise, I'd be way better off charging the purchase directly to that card and applying the points to the card balance.

We ended up going with an articulating wall mount and cables run through the wall for our TV.  I highly recommend that over perching a big TV on a stand.

[zxcvbob]

I have an Amazon credit card that I mostly use for Amazon shopping, but one of my other credit cards also gives me the option to shop with points on Amazon.  I never use that card's points on Amazon, though, because there is a 20% point discount in value.  So the $312.75 in rewards I have on that card is only worth $250.20 on Amazon.  Screw that noise, I'd be way better off charging the purchase directly to that card and applying the points to the card balance.

We ended up going with an articulating wall mount and cables run through the wall for our TV.  I highly recommend that over perching a big TV on a stand.

I apply the points from my Amazon card later to the credit card balance, because if I apply it at time of purchase I don't get 5% back. 

[Brad Johnson]

I'd be way better off charging the purchase directly to that card and applying the points to the card balance.

Doh! 

Oh, well... Live and learn.

Brad

[HankB]

. . . We ended up going with an articulating wall mount and cables run through the wall for our TV.  I highly recommend that over perching a big TV on a stand.

I went with an articulating wall mount for my TV (65") in the living room - one of the best decisions I made. Just ONE connection leading up to the TV from behind the A/V console underneath carrying both the power cord and HDMI connection. (The wires are tied together.) MUCH more stable than the itty bitty legs that came with the TV.

Smaller TVs don't really need a wall mount - I'm using a 32" TV right now as a computer monitor, and the 40" TV in the MBR is perched on its own pedestal mount which in turn sits on a rotating TV/soundbar stand I built. Both of the smaller sets are just fine on the included pedestals.

[K Frame]

I bought a wall mount when I bought my new TV in January 2023. Still don't have it on the wall mount, but I've got a friend coming in in a couple of weeks for a visit and I'm going to get him to help me mount it.

I thought about running the cables and everything through the wall, but I'm not going to. I decided against when I dropped cable and now the TV gets everything wirelessly except for the signal from my XBox and the really thin Optic sound cable. Yeah, still wires snaking up the wall, but I'm going to keep the TV stand where it is for the sound bar, my Xbox and some other things and that will help hide the wires. I can also build a chase for them if I want to and paint it the same color as the wall and it will blend.

[Brad Johnson]

I highly recommend that over perching a big TV on a stand.

To give context, the stand is a central pedestal, not a giant piece of furniture. I have a similar stand on the basement TV and it's great. Cabling runs behind the pedestal.

https://a.co/d/bHbxOwX

I wouldn't recommend it if the surface it sits on is anything but absolutely stable. The single central stand isn't nearly so rock solid as the factory outboard kicks and can amplify movement. For our needs, though, it's perfect. I have a black low-profile power strip I can undermount on the mid-bar (yay zip ties). That and a couple of velcro straps will allow me to tuck cabling away until it's completely invisible from the front and almost so from the side.

Brad