I finally got around to signing up for Google Pay; by signing up with a referral link from the comments and then activating the Target offer and buying a $50 Target e-gift card, I’ll get $42 back. That sounds like a good deal in my book.
Poking around the Google Pay app, I see see dozens of offers for places like Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Gap brands, H&M, Adidas and more. Essentially, it’s the latest addition to the list of Card Link Programs whereby you add your credit card in the Google Pay app, and then you when it senses a transaction at one of their partner merchants you’ll get the stated reward.
Note an important difference between Google Pay and most other card link programs: with many programs you just link your card, set-and-forget style, and the credits come rolling in on their own. In the case of Google Pay, it’s more like Amex Offers where you need to first activate the offer in order to get credit. You do NOT need to pay with Google Pay in order to get credit; just enroll in rewards, add your card, and activate the offer you want to use. Only Visa, Mastercard, and American Express are eligible for rewards, not Discover cards.
If you are a big shopper, you might want to just periodically enroll in all offers. Personally, I’ll probably just check the Google Pay app for an offer before making a purchase at a merchant that might be in the Google Pay system.
We’ll try writing up dedicated blogposts on the bigger deals found on Google Pay (find them at this link), similar to what we try doing with Amex Offers, but just take this as a headsup that it appears like it’ll be a legitimate addition to the stacking game with card link programs. And presumably the Google Pay link will stack with all other card link programs since Google probably has their own system for tracking, and won’t overlap with the others. Of course it’ll stack with things like Amex Offers and other kinds of loyalty programs as well. We’ll add Google Pay to our Complete List of Card-Linked Reward Programs.
