5 ms·

"Mastermind" - giving away a ton of points for a card that is doing it's best to be an Amex Platinum? I don't see how "copy the most successful prestige card"

"Mastermind" - giving away a ton of points for a card that is doing it's best to be an Amex Platinum? I don't see how "copy the most successful prestige card" and "Give a huge point bonus higher in value to the consumer than the cost of the card to the consumer" is a mastermind strategy.

cylinder 9y ago
It seems like the most visionary idea in America these days is "just buy your customers by giving away a lot of money." Chase, Uber, Amazon all seem to enjoy it as well as many wannabe startups.
- bloaf 9y ago
  See also: Jet.com before it got bought.
matte_black 9y ago
It’s anecdotal but Chase Sapphire Reserve is easily the best card I own and I have an Amex Platinum.
- kilroy123 9y ago
  How so?
  - matte_black 9y ago
    There’s endless articles comparing the two online but to give my personal input I find quite a few of the perks Amex Platinum offers really don’t matter to me, and the reward points and travel credit for Chase Sapphire Reserve are just way better.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
  - mter 9y ago
    Restaurants/travel are 3x points and transfer easily to airline partners. The travel bonus is $300 dollars and incredibly easy to get (uber/toll/planes/whatever all count) making the card effectively 150 dollars a month if you do any sort of travel. Add in free priority pass and it's easily the best restaurant/travel card around. With a few thousand in spend for restaurants/travel, it's trivial to exceed the 150 annual fee.
    - mehrdadn 9y ago
      > Restaurants/travel are 3x points and transfer easily to airline partners. Have you actually done the math? 3 points/$1 and each point at an airline is generally worth around 1.5 cents, so it's equivalent to getting maybe 5% cash back at restaurants. Compare this to the Uber card where you get 4% cash back on dining. For the 1% to break even with the $450 annual fee - $150 credit = $300 net, you need to average at least ~$40 on dining/travel on your credit card per day. And then you have to make sure you only use the points for trips that you would have already gone on anyway on cold hard cash, otherwise you're just spending far more money on food/hotel/rides/etc. I don't know about you but it's an understatement to say that I'm skeptical this comes out to the benefit of the majority of the card's users.
      - atupem 9y ago
        Correct me if I'm wrong... $450 renewal fee, $300 annual travel credit, so the card costs $150 per year. With points valued at $0.015, you need to earn 10,000 points to break even (150/0.015). You get 3 points for every $1 spent on food/travel, so you need to spend $3,333/year on those categories to break even. Personally I spend way more, so the card is definitely worth it to me.
        mehrdadn 9y ago
        It seems you did not read the comments? You are comparing against cash. Nobody claimed cash was better. The entire discussion was in response to the comment [1] that "Chase Sapphire Reserve is easily the best card I own and I have an Amex Platinum", hence we were comparing against other credit cards (not against cash/debit/etc.), and as an example I explicitly compared CSR to the Uber card for you. Read the above discussion. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16057816 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16057816
- silviogutierrez 9y ago
  I'm also curious how so.
  - noncoml 9y ago
    10,000 points sign up bonus. $300 towards traveling every year^. Basically they pay her/him to have the card. ^Without the ridiculous restrictions that Amex has in its equivalent perk.
    - zimbu668 9y ago
      Well there is a $450 annual fee, so you still need to manage your points to come out ahead.
      - matte_black 9y ago
        I easily come out ahead. I max out the $300 travel credit no problem and then use a ton of points to surpass the extra $150.
    - cthalupa 9y ago
      I max out my $200 Uber credit and $200 airline credit each year on my Platinum, so I do a bit better there than the Sapphire Reserve would get me.
      - noncoml 9y ago
        I have a Platinum and find the $200 airline credit worthless, as it cannot go towards the ticket, Chase can, and you have to choose the airline beforehand.

cylinder 9y ago

It seems like the most visionary idea in America these days is "just buy your customers by giving away a lot of money." Chase, Uber, Amazon all seem to enjoy it as well as many wannabe startups.

bloaf 9y ago
See also: Jet.com before it got bought.

matte_black 9y ago

It’s anecdotal but Chase Sapphire Reserve is easily the best card I own and I have an Amex Platinum.

kilroy123 9y ago
How so?
- matte_black 9y ago
  There’s endless articles comparing the two online but to give my personal input I find quite a few of the perks Amex Platinum offers really don’t matter to me, and the reward points and travel credit for Chase Sapphire Reserve are just way better.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- mter 9y ago
  Restaurants/travel are 3x points and transfer easily to airline partners. The travel bonus is $300 dollars and incredibly easy to get (uber/toll/planes/whatever all count) making the card effectively 150 dollars a month if you do any sort of travel. Add in free priority pass and it's easily the best restaurant/travel card around. With a few thousand in spend for restaurants/travel, it's trivial to exceed the 150 annual fee.
  - mehrdadn 9y ago
    > Restaurants/travel are 3x points and transfer easily to airline partners. Have you actually done the math? 3 points/$1 and each point at an airline is generally worth around 1.5 cents, so it's equivalent to getting maybe 5% cash back at restaurants. Compare this to the Uber card where you get 4% cash back on dining. For the 1% to break even with the $450 annual fee - $150 credit = $300 net, you need to average at least ~$40 on dining/travel on your credit card per day. And then you have to make sure you only use the points for trips that you would have already gone on anyway on cold hard cash, otherwise you're just spending far more money on food/hotel/rides/etc. I don't know about you but it's an understatement to say that I'm skeptical this comes out to the benefit of the majority of the card's users.
    - atupem 9y ago
      Correct me if I'm wrong... $450 renewal fee, $300 annual travel credit, so the card costs $150 per year. With points valued at $0.015, you need to earn 10,000 points to break even (150/0.015). You get 3 points for every $1 spent on food/travel, so you need to spend $3,333/year on those categories to break even. Personally I spend way more, so the card is definitely worth it to me.
      - mehrdadn 9y ago
        It seems you did not read the comments? You are comparing against cash. Nobody claimed cash was better. The entire discussion was in response to the comment [1] that "Chase Sapphire Reserve is easily the best card I own and I have an Amex Platinum", hence we were comparing against other credit cards (not against cash/debit/etc.), and as an example I explicitly compared CSR to the Uber card for you. Read the above discussion. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16057816 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16057816
silviogutierrez 9y ago
I'm also curious how so.
- noncoml 9y ago
  10,000 points sign up bonus. $300 towards traveling every year^. Basically they pay her/him to have the card. ^Without the ridiculous restrictions that Amex has in its equivalent perk.
  - zimbu668 9y ago
    Well there is a $450 annual fee, so you still need to manage your points to come out ahead.
    - matte_black 9y ago
      I easily come out ahead. I max out the $300 travel credit no problem and then use a ton of points to surpass the extra $150.
  - cthalupa 9y ago
    I max out my $200 Uber credit and $200 airline credit each year on my Platinum, so I do a bit better there than the Sapphire Reserve would get me.
    - noncoml 9y ago
      I have a Platinum and find the $200 airline credit worthless, as it cannot go towards the ticket, Chase can, and you have to choose the airline beforehand.