[Update] Fluz App: Buy Exact-Value Gift Cards at a Discount + up to $15.50 Signup Offer

Update 1/11/21: Gift cards for Groupon, American Airlines, Airbnb, Uber, Delta, Southwest, Amtrak, etc, now code as Travel. See full list here. That’s in addition to the previously discussed category bonuses, such as restaurants coding as Dining, grocery stores coding as Grocery, etc; see Credit Card Category Bonus, below.

Fluz Cashback

Earlier this year we reviewed the Fluz cashback app. At the time, they primarily focused on card-link deals. They’ve since shifted to the ‘payments’ model which basically means you buy a gift card from them and earn cash back, similar to MPX and some others. The beauty of these systems is they typically allow you to buy gift cards in the exact denomination you need, so when you’re at checkout, in store or online, you can open the app and buy a gift card for the exact amount you need and earn some cashback in the process.

Available Options

They have a wide variety of options, even some different ones I don’t recall seeing elsewhere. They even have Amazon which was removed from most other marketplaces; some of us have better ways to pay at Amazon, but interesting nonetheless. Here are some sample rates, at the time of this writing (these will change over time):

Amazon 1.5%
eBay 1%
Home Depot 2%
Bed Bath & Beyond 3%
Airbnb 2%
Delta 2%
Southwest 2%
Carnival Cruise 7%
Nike 7%
Adidas 5%
Gap 7%
Walmart/Sam’s 1%
Groupon 7%
Chipotle 2%
Starbucks 2%
Grubhub 2%
Hulu 3%
iTunes 4%

Credit Card Category Bonus

Fluz has the category codings drilled down to the merchant in many cases. Examples:

Kroger, Ralph’s, and Giant Eagle gift cards code as Grocery category; see full list here
Office Max and Staples gift cards code as Office Supply category; see full list here
Individual restaurant gift cards should all pass on the Dining category; see full list here
UberEATS codes as Dining category (these gift cards work for regular Uber rides too)
Gift cards for Groupon, American Airlines, Airbnb, Uber, Delta, Southwest, Amtrak, etc, now code as Travel; full list here

These codings should work on any card – Visa, Mastercard, and Amex. You can always do a small purchase first to test the waters.

Signup & Referral Offers

They also have an interesting ‘Vouchers’ system. Each Voucher gets you a discount of up to 35% on select gift card brands, up to $3.50 discount. Meaning that you can get a $10 gift card for $6.50. Note, these vouchers now expires after 60 days.

Here’s an updated list of available options which the vouchers can be used on (as of 4/19/20):

12% discount: Netflix
15% discount: Hulu
20% discount: UberEATS, Doordash, Caviar
25% discount: Papa John’s
35% discount: Starbucks, CVS, Grubhub, Seamless, Spotify, Chipotle, Papa John’s, Burger King, Peet’s Coffee, Coffee Bean, Jamba Juice, Taco Bell, Domino’s, Papa John’s, Dunkin

The way to earn vouchers is through their referral system:

New members who sign up with a referral link automatically get three Vouchers (could be worth around $10).
When you refer someone who makes a purchase, the referrer gets one Voucher.

For the referrer: Aside the bonus one Voucher that the referrer gets, Fluz also have a tiered referral system which allows referrers to earn up to $180 and up to $2,000, based on the quantity and quality of their referrals. You can find all the details in the Fluz app. These two offers are slated to expire on January 15, 2020; keep an eye out in the app to see if they extend these offers or have other offers. There’s also a small kickback you get for each purchase your referral makes. (Plus various other tier bonuses that can be met for additional bonuses to the referrer. These are significant bonuses, but require you inviting many users; you need to opt in to get these additional bonuses, so be sure to do so in the app.)

$5 Signup Offer

Fluz now offers a $5 bonus for signing up with a referral link and completing 5 steps during account setup:

Take ‘missed earnings’ test – you can find that button in the ‘Earn With’ section.
Pick five favorite merchants – After you do the missed earnings, the system will prompt you to add the merchants you have missed earnings on as favorites. Be sure to add 5.
Set your network growth goal – At the bottom of the missed earnings, there is a call to action button to set the goal. Or you can find it on the top of your earn with page.
Turn on location and notifications so the system can remind you to use Fluz when you are at a store we offer cash back at.
Make your first purchase.

Pretty sure most/all of these things will be accomplished during the signup process, just keep an eye out to ensure you complete all of them.

This $5 bonus is on top of the Voucher bonus mentioned above which can be worth up to $10.50 for a total bonus of $15.50. The $5 is more valuable since it’s straight-up cash which can be used to buy a $5 Amazon gift card, for example, whereas the Voucher offer is only valid on select gift cards.

You can find and share Fluz referrals on this dedicated page. Here’s my Fluz referral link (referral code: DOCTOR), thanks to anyone who uses it. You can even add a referral link after signing up, in many cases, if you forgot to use a link or input the code during signup.

Payout

Your Fluz cashback can either be cashed out via Paypal, bank account, or to a virtual debit card. Or you can use your balance to reduce your cost when buying a gift card from Fluz. (The latter has the advantage with no minimum for cashout while the other cashout methods all have a $26 minimum for your first cashout.)

Update History

Update 12/21/20: Dunkin is now a 35% voucher option (previously 12%). Also Caviar got added, and Papa Johns/Domino’s got bumped from 25% to 35%.

Update 9/9/20: Amazon is up to 1.5% now. Wish is up to 1.5% as well. Both are usually .5%. (One additional note: we’ve heard mixed reports on Fluz triggering the Shop Small offer – they do show on the Shop Small map and they often (usually, I think?) trigger the credit, but not always. Reason for the variance isn’t entirely clear.)

Update 8/12/20: Fluz now accepts Apple Pay too. (Paypal, card, and bank were always options.)

Update 7/8/20: Just a quick update on the Shop Small angle (mentioned below): readers are now getting the $5 Amex credit posted to their account. Sometimes you’ll get an email at time of initial purchase and sometimes you won’t, but it seems that all Fluz gift card purchases will work to trigger the Amex Offer. Some stores like Amazon has a $15 minimum (or sometimes $50, goes up and down) while others have a minimum of $10 or less. You’ll also get a bit of Fluz cashback on the purchase too.

Here’s the link which shows Fluz as a Shop Small merchant.

Update 7/5/20: According to reader aquac, FluzPay is included in the AmEx Offer: Shop Small, Spend $10+ and Receive $5; and even shows clearly on the Shop Small map. Could be an easy way to use up that Amex Offer on any gift card offered by Fluz.

Update 8/4/20: Amazon is back again with 1% cashback and $15 minimum. Walmart back as well with .5% and $10 minimum.

Update 7/21/20: Amazon is back with 1% cashback and $15 minimum. Amazon is officially $15 minimum, but sometimes goes up to $50 and has sometimes disappeared as well. (Separately, UberEATS and Doordash are back as Voucher redemption options.)

Update 7/9/20: You can find and share Fluz referrals on this dedicated page.

Update 7/3/20: They’ve added Dunkin and Taco Bell as voucher options at 12%/35%, respectively. Updated below.

Update 6/10/20: CVS added back as voucher option.

Update 5/28/20: Fluz is now accepting PayPal as a payment option. This will be useful as Q3 is 5% cashback with Discover. Hat tip to GC Galore

Update 4/17/20: Both Groupon & CVS have been removed as voucher options.

Update 4/3/20: Netflix gift cards in $30 and $60 denominations have been added as a voucher redemption option with a 12% discount.

Update 3/19/20: Fluz has added Doordash and UberEATS as an option to their Vouchers system (see below). Note, both DoorDash and UberEATS are at a lower 20% discount level (less than the standard 35% level). You can get $3.50+ off a Doordash or Ubereats gift card if you have any vouchers available. Good time to signup or to use up any existing vouchers you have.

There’s also a $5 signup bonus by following the steps mentioned below (‘$5 Signup Offer’). That’s on top of their regular 3 vouchers signup bonus which is worth a $10.50 discount on brands like Starbucks, UberEATS, Doordash, etc. Total signup bonus value can be up to $15.50.

Update 1/16/20: Fluz now offers a $5 bonus for signing up with a referral link and completing various steps during account setup. Valid through February 1, 2020. More details below in the ‘Signup & Referrals’ section.