Author Topic: Costco membership on Living Social right now  (Read 9756 times)

rebecuna

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Costco membership on Living Social right now
« on: December 17, 2013, 10:39:48 AM »
The standard $55 Costco membership, but they give you a $25 cash card so it's really only $30. If you haven't bought one yet, this is a great way to do it! Not good for renewals.

https://www.livingsocial.com/deals/968695-membership-bonus-costco-cash-card-coupons?ref=share-post_purchase-copy_box-web-deals&rui=22062022&rpi=144662935

Russ

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2013, 10:48:34 AM »
Is this for Boston only or am I misreading it?

schimt

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2013, 11:26:39 AM »
Not to one up you, but...

http://www.spoofee.com/how-to-shop-at-costco-free-without-a-membership/deals/814328

Costco Wholesale allows non-members to shop for free if they are using the Costco Cash Card during checkout.

Ask your friend with a Costco membership to buy several $10 gift cards or buy several $25 gift cards online
When non-members shop, just show the Costco Gift Card and pay remaining balance with cash

- There is NO extra surcharge for non-members
- Same discounts apply for non-members
- Same lenient return policy applies, you just need to keep your receipt

That's it! You just saved on the annual $55 membership fee


dragoncar

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2013, 03:47:00 PM »
Not to one up you, but...

http://www.spoofee.com/how-to-shop-at-costco-free-without-a-membership/deals/814328

Costco Wholesale allows non-members to shop for free if they are using the Costco Cash Card during checkout.

Ask your friend with a Costco membership to buy several $10 gift cards or buy several $25 gift cards online
When non-members shop, just show the Costco Gift Card and pay remaining balance with cash

- There is NO extra surcharge for non-members
- Same discounts apply for non-members
- Same lenient return policy applies, you just need to keep your receipt

That's it! You just saved on the annual $55 membership fee

From experience, this is a hassle (possibly on purpose).  They have to call a manager to override the membership confirmation, which can take a while during busy times.

schimt

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2013, 04:09:45 PM »

From experience, this is a hassle (possibly on purpose).  They have to call a manager to override the membership confirmation, which can take a while during busy times.

good to know, i haven't tried it yet, saw that about a week after we purchased a costco membership. I'll have to try it out before our's expires and if it's not too bad then maybe we will do it regularly. Probably only visit costco a few times a year to be honest and would be worth the hassle IMO.

Khan

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2013, 08:20:09 PM »
Plus, you should be a Costco member anyways. They're a good company, with good corporate citizenship(such a rare ****ing quality nowadays), that pays their workers well, and does right by it's suppliers too.

The membership fees are pretty much the largest(and only) source of profit they have.

Quote
Costco’s net income for the quarter totaled $547 million and the company’s revenue from membership fees totaled $528 million.

Read more: Costco: Profits Depend on Membership Fees - 24/7 Wall St.
http://247wallst.com/retail/2013/03/12/costco-profits-depend-on-membership-fees/#ixzz2nnE2ZE1Y
« Last Edit: December 17, 2013, 08:53:03 PM by Khanjar »

jr1029

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2013, 01:37:01 PM »
Hmm, i wonder what they consider "new" memberships - mine expired about 9 months ago. Probably I'd count as a renewal...

rebecuna

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2013, 04:10:30 PM »
Is this for Boston only or am I misreading it?
It is specifically for the Boston area (sorry-- didn't notice that when I posted originally!), and technically it says you have to activate at one of the 5 listed Costcos. But someone over at Fat Wallet was able to activate at a location 1200 miles away:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/1325169/?start=40
Probably just depends on the employee you interact with. Obviously, once activated the card would be good anywhere.

hownowbrowncow

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #8 on: February 08, 2014, 11:03:35 AM »
Living Social is offering a membership again - the deal's in Texas but can be activated at any Costco:

For NEW Costco members you can purchase a 1 year Gold Star Membership at $49.50 (using the promo code USA10 by 11:59pm 2/9/14).  This deal comes with a $20 Costco cash card plus some other freebies.

Use this link plus the promo code USA10 by 11:59pm 2/9/14:
[removed as I already got my purchase price refunded with the referral bonus]
« Last Edit: February 08, 2014, 11:16:56 PM by hownowbrowncow »

nottoolatetostart

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #9 on: February 08, 2014, 11:35:51 AM »
Thanks for posting this. I have been thinking about getting a Costco membership for quite some time.

I am considering this promo and also noticed that ebates will give you another 6% back for buying through Living Social to further bring down the cost. Not sure if it will work, but worth considering since it might be another $3- ish bucks depending on how the promos are stacked.

nottoolatetostart

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2014, 12:19:50 PM »
OK, I purchased the deal through Ebates/Living Social. Will edit this post later if I do indeed get the 6% on the $49.50 it cost. It looks like I just need to print it out and take it to my local Costco.

I noticed the coupons include a 48 pk of AA batteries. I rarely use batteries for anything, but looking on ebay, someone has sold batteries for about $17-18 recently. So I will probably do that too to bring my cost for this membership down.

So the overall "cost" of this membership appears to be $55 - $5.5 Team USA Living Social coupon - $20 gift card - $2.97 ebates - $13 net from expected sale from batteries on ebay - free chicken ($5 value?) = $8.53 let alone a coupon for a free case of water and coupons off of coffee and tuna. I'm excited because I was going to break down and buy the $55 membership based on what I've read on the savings per pound on organic produce & chicken and coffee.

Can't wait to go!

hownowbrowncow

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2014, 12:43:14 PM »
nottoolatetostart, you might even be able to make money off this. 

If you have any friends on the fence about joining, email them your referral link or post it here and on any other forums/social media sites you use and if three people buy it you get the deal for free.  I just got a notification from LivingSocial that my $49.50 purchase will be refunded!  I posted here, on Facebook, and some other forums.

If you used my link, thank you :)  Also thanks for the tip about the batteries on eBay I wasn't sure what I would do with 48 batteries so selling them is a great idea.  As a vegetarian not sure what to do with the chicken - maybe I can donate it?
« Last Edit: February 08, 2014, 12:45:24 PM by hownowbrowncow »

Dicey

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2014, 11:07:22 PM »
What Khanjar said, plus two more reasons to pay for your own Costco membership:

Coupons - In most stores, if you buy items that are featured in the circular, you automatically get the discounted price. If it doesn't happen automatically, all you have to do is point it out to the (well-paid, hooray) cashier, preferably before the transaction is completed. The cumulative savings on items I would purchase anyway more than cover the cost of membership.

Rebates - You won't get them using gift cards, and these can also cover the membership fee fairly quickly. We're getting nearly $1k between Costco and AMEX rebates this year. BTW - Costco AMEX card has no annual fee, score!

Finally, the gift-card suggestion does work, but I'd rather shop without the hassle and with a clear conscience. Just speaking for my very own self, not pointing fingers at anyone.

dragoncar

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #13 on: February 09, 2014, 02:21:19 PM »
What Khanjar said, plus two more reasons to pay for your own Costco membership:

Coupons - In most stores, if you buy items that are featured in the circular, you automatically get the discounted price. If it doesn't happen automatically, all you have to do is point it out to the (well-paid, hooray) cashier, preferably before the transaction is completed. The cumulative savings on items I would purchase anyway more than cover the cost of membership.

Rebates - You won't get them using gift cards, and these can also cover the membership fee fairly quickly. We're getting nearly $1k between Costco and AMEX rebates this year. BTW - Costco AMEX card has no annual fee, score!

Finally, the gift-card suggestion does work, but I'd rather shop without the hassle and with a clear conscience. Just speaking for my very own self, not pointing fingers at anyone.

Conscience?  Why would they sell gift cards if they didn't want people to give them away?

Edit: and you are spending $33k-99k per year on your Amex?  Sheesh
« Last Edit: February 09, 2014, 02:25:07 PM by dragoncar »

samdbtto

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Re: Costco membership on Living Social right now
« Reply #14 on: February 09, 2014, 06:16:12 PM »
Not to one up you, but...

http://www.spoofee.com/how-to-shop-at-costco-free-without-a-membership/deals/814328

Costco Wholesale allows non-members to shop for free if they are using the Costco Cash Card during checkout.

Ask your friend with a Costco membership to buy several $10 gift cards or buy several $25 gift cards online
When non-members shop, just show the Costco Gift Card and pay remaining balance with cash

- There is NO extra surcharge for non-members
- Same discounts apply for non-members
- Same lenient return policy applies, you just need to keep your receipt

That's it! You just saved on the annual $55 membership fee

Costco pays its employees well, offers fantastic benfits and rewards its shareholders. Unlike some companies the  profit is not sucked dry by sinister corporate types while the workers live below the poverty line.  They set a good example for the retail business on how to treat their employees and offer products that are actually good quality. Their profits are raised by their memberships, check their quarterly earnings to see so yourself.  Everything brought to you by Costco would not be possible if not for the membership fees and if you bypass this you screw everyone in the process, including the people that work there.   The spirit of the policy posted here is so you can buy your friends/family a GIFT card and they get to themselves something nice or possibly for people to finally give that freind/family the incentive to go to Costco to see what they have been telling them about.  It's not there to exploit to save 55 bucks.

For anyone doing this stop and please buy a membership and please don't encourage others to do this on the internet.


*Disclaimer - I work for Costco, but Costco being a great company is pretty common knowledge.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2014, 06:33:59 PM by samdbtto »