Just got my Costco renewal notice with my Executive Member reward certificate. There's something new printed in the lower left corner of the check this year "Not Redeemable for Cash".

I've always redeemed for cash, so I'm trying to figure out the new rules.

If you purchase something for less than they value of the certificate, what do they do with the remainder, do they give you the change in cash, or do you have to keep using it for purchases until it's gone?

BTW: What is the cheapest item Costco sells in the store, food court doesn't count, not valid there.

And if you purchase something for slightly more than the total value of the certificate and pay the small remainder in cash, what happens if you return that item? Will they give you a full refund in cash?

Just wondering if it's possible to jump through some hoops to still get a "Redeem for Cash".

And the reason to do that is so that all actual purchases get paid for using the Costco Visa and get 2% cash back. Cash/Certificate purchases miss out on that 2%.

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GGD
Cash/Certificate purchases miss out on that 2%.

And that's prob why they stopped.

Figuring most peeps would never notice.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

I just did this. They don't redeem for cash but if you buy something will give you cash for the remainder. I had a $55 certificate. bought about $11 worth of stuff and got my change in real money.

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If you want to fix our country, work with us in the states. statesproject.org

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

I’ll bet you can grab a low cost item and get the rest in cash. No way they are going to stand there and hold up the line issuing you a GC, I wouldn’t think.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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graylocks
I just did this. They don't redeem for cash but if you buy something will give you cash for the remainder. I had a $55 certificate. bought about $11 worth of stuff and got my change in real money.

Thanks.

Just remembered, Bananas are $1.69. Any lower bidders?

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GGD

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graylocks
I just did this. They don't redeem for cash but if you buy something will give you cash for the remainder. I had a $55 certificate. bought about $11 worth of stuff and got my change in real money.

Thanks.

Just remembered, Bananas are $1.69. Any lower bidders?

Yep, that’s the lowest priced thing I can think of.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Hmm... I wonder if this is just an "Executive" level thing, or just brand new. We recently redeemed my wife's certificate (Gold level) for cash at customer service. I do remember they suggested we just go shop and redeem it at the register because they didn't have any cash, but they would go get cash if we were willing to wait. We were, so we got cash for the whole thing. I didn't look at the certificate, so I can't say if it actually said anything about being redeemable for cash or not.

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Gareth
Hmm... I wonder if this is just an "Executive" level thing, or just brand new. We recently redeemed my wife's certificate (Gold level) for cash at customer service. I do remember they suggested we just go shop and redeem it at the register because they didn't have any cash, but they would go get cash if we were willing to wait. We were, so we got cash for the whole thing. I didn't look at the certificate, so I can't say if it actually said anything about being redeemable for cash or not.

The Executive level certificate is an additional rebate to the cash back certificate at the gold level. It arrives a few weeks after the regular one that comes with the bill.

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If you want to fix our country, work with us in the states. statesproject.org

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

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Gareth
Hmm... I wonder if this is just an "Executive" level thing, or just brand new. We recently redeemed my wife's certificate (Gold level) for cash at customer service. I do remember they suggested we just go shop and redeem it at the register because they didn't have any cash, but they would go get cash if we were willing to wait. We were, so we got cash for the whole thing. I didn't look at the certificate, so I can't say if it actually said anything about being redeemable for cash or not.

You might be thinking of the Costco Visa certificate, that I've always redeemed for cash too. This is different, it's the 2% you get back for total annual purchases no matter how you pay (the Visa rebate is on top of this and on a different schedule), the gold level doesn't give any cash back.

Buy a rotisserie chicken - dinner and the rest in cash

....but at what......Cost......???

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

According to my wife ... anything over $300 comes back as a check. Don’t get me started on how much she spends at Costco

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Embarassing myself on the Internet since 1978.

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raz
According to my wife ... anything over $300 comes back as a check. Don’t get me started on how much she spends at Costco

Disagree. Last year we got back $522 in cash. I had the foresight to purchase the family cruise with the Costco VISA and we got 5% back on that!

(EDIT: That is for the regular "gold" level, not Executive)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2021 07:06PM by mikebw.

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GGD

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Gareth
Hmm... I wonder if this is just an "Executive" level thing, or just brand new. We recently redeemed my wife's certificate (Gold level) for cash at customer service. I do remember they suggested we just go shop and redeem it at the register because they didn't have any cash, but they would go get cash if we were willing to wait. We were, so we got cash for the whole thing. I didn't look at the certificate, so I can't say if it actually said anything about being redeemable for cash or not.

You might be thinking of the Costco Visa certificate, that I've always redeemed for cash too. This is different, it's the 2% you get back for total annual purchases no matter how you pay (the Visa rebate is on top of this and on a different schedule), the gold level doesn't give any cash back.

Ah yes, that must be it!

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mikebw
Last year we got back $522 in cash. I had the foresight to purchase the family cruise with the Costco VISA and we got 5% back on that!

Family cruise during 2020 seems kind of risky, even if you're getting 5% back.

I didn't notice a change and the Costco cashed ours out last month shortly after receiving it. It was a bit over $800 and we didn't have to buy anything.

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GGD

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mikebw
Last year we got back $522 in cash. I had the foresight to purchase the family cruise with the Costco VISA and we got 5% back on that!

Family cruise during 2020 seems kind of risky, even if you're getting 5% back.

Agreed, it was the prior year. We sailed in 2019, and received the cash back last year, 2020.

Silly English language. I read the Subject line thinking "rules" was a verb. Boy, was I disappointed.

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mikebw

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raz
According to my wife ... anything over $300 comes back as a check. Don’t get me started on how much she spends at Costco

Disagree. Last year we got back $522 in cash. I had the foresight to purchase the family cruise with the Costco VISA and we got 5% back on that!

(EDIT: That is for the regular "gold" level, not Executive)

I've done that several times, using CostcoTravel.com to book our annual family cruise. You get a gift card for about 8-9% of the cost of the cruise, plus extra by charging it to Costco Visa (3%) and having Executive Membership (2%).

The Costco Visa money back can be redeemed for a check, which promptly gets digitally deposited into my bank account.

Bought the bananas with the certificate, got the change in cash. Now I have a $100 and $50 that I need to turn into $20's. Asked for all $20's, this is what they had on hand.