This was one of the most-read posts on this blog when I wrote it in 2014, and people still find it. Almost everything in the step-by-step guide below has stopped working, so here’s where manufactured spending stands today, followed by my original guide for the record.
Quick Answers
Only on a small scale. Buying Visa and Mastercard gift cards still earns points, and stores like Staples, Office Depot and Kroger regularly waive the purchase fee on them, according to Doctor of Credit. The hard part is turning those cards back into money in your bank account, and most of the ways to do that are gone.
Rarely. The Post Office stopped accepting prepaid gift cards for money orders in November 2017. Walmart sells money orders for up to $1 each, $1,000 maximum, paid with cash or a debit card, and whether a prepaid card goes through as “debit” depends on the store and the register.
American Express discontinued both in June 2026. They were the backbone of manufactured spending for years, as you can see in my 2014 Bluebird guide.
Buying gift cards and money orders isn’t illegal. Deliberately splitting cash deposits to stay under the $10,000 bank-reporting threshold is (it’s called structuring), and banks and card issuers can close accounts they think are abusing rewards. I wrote more about this in How Much Manufactured Spend Is Too Much?
Manufactured spending today: what still works
- Buying gift cards: still works. Visa and Mastercard gift cards are still sold at office supply stores, grocery stores and drugstores, so a card with a bonus in those categories still earns extra. Purchase fees run a few dollars per card, but fee-free promotions come up most weeks.
- Liquidating them: mostly gone. Vanilla-branded cards stopped working for this years ago, the Post Office refuses prepaid cards for money orders, and Bluebird and Serve closed in June 2026. What’s left is local and unpredictable.
- Other workarounds: mostly gone. The big sports betting sites (DraftKings and FanDuel) stopped taking credit card deposits in 2025 and 2026. My old fantasy sports method shouldn’t be relied on.
- What I’d do instead. I said it in 2016 and it still holds: the only approach that hasn’t been shut down is putting real spending on your cards, whether that’s a business or regular expenses you’d pay anyway. More in The Best Way to Manufacture Spend Today and in the Future. If you just need to reach a sign-up bonus, gift cards for stores you already shop at are the low-risk way to do it.
All of my manufactured spending posts, most now marked as no longer working, are in the Manufactured Spending category.
My original 2014 guide (for the record)
Everything below is from May 2014. The fees, stores and cards described no longer work as written.
Update: Note that Vanilla branded gift cards (like the ones pictured below) no longer work. Other Visas, like the ones sold at grocery stores and certain malls, do still work. It is not easy to find stores that will sell you money orders any longer, but it is still possible. Policies always change and some methods may not work any longer.
One of the most popular ways to manufacture spend (i.e. rack up a ton of miles/points cheaply) right now is by buying PIN-enabled gift cards and liquidating them by purchasing money orders. As I did previously with Vanilla Reloads and Bluebird, I’ll provide a step-by-step explanation of how to use gift cards and money orders in this post.
1. Buy a PIN-Enabled Prepaid Card
My favorite is One Vanilla, which can be found at CVS and other stores around the country. These cards can be loaded up to $500 for a fee of $4.95, or a dollar more than Vanilla Reloads cost. PINs do not need to be set beforehand with these cards.
Less useful but still useable are Vanilla Visa gift cards, which are sold at many grocery stores and at CVS. These can also be loaded up to $500 for the same $4.95 fee. You may have trouble with them at some places, so go for One Vanilla first if you can. PINs don’t need to be set beforehand with these either.
The two I mentioned above are best if you have some type of drugstore/grocery store category bonus. If you’re only earning 1x, there are other cards that will be better to buy. I’ll cover those in a later post.
2. Find a Store That Sells Money Orders and Allows Payment with a Debit Card
Everyone’s favorite is Walmart’s Money Center because they charge the lowest fees – just $.70 per money order. There are plenty of grocery chains and other places that sell money orders as well, but not allow allow debit cards as a form of payment. A friend of mine told me of a local grocery chain that sells them for $.75 each, but has a limit of just $500 each. I’m sure there are plenty of others that you can find as well.
The key here is to make sure that the total payment, including the fee, comes to a multiple of $500 so we can use our gift cards. For example, if you wanted to liquidate only one card at Walmart, you might ask for a money order totaling $499.30. With the $.70 fee on top of that, your total would come to an even $500.
You’ll be asked to swipe your debit card and enter your PIN, so swipe your prepaid card and enter any 4 digits as the PIN (I like 1234). The transaction should be approved and your money order will print out. You can discard your used prepaid card after this.
Once you get used to the process, you can do larger amounts using more cards. For example, you can ask for a money order for $999.30 and say you’d like to split it on two debit cards. At my local grocery chain I do $2K worth at once, splitting them on to 4 cards. My friend has done up to $3K and 6 cards. If you start going heavy on this, you’ll realize the luxury of being able to liquidate more cards in one shot, but be responsible about it.
3. Fill Out Your Money Order and Deposit it to Your Bank Account
Money Orders are guaranteed funds, similar to a cashier’s check. Write your name in the “Pay To…” line, sign the “Purchaser” line, and sign your name on the back as you would with any personal check. I’ve always written my own name in the “to” line and used my own signature in the purchaser lines.
Take your filled out money orders to your bank account and deposit them in your ATM or in person with the teller. Some ATMs can’t recognize the amounts and will ask you to manually enter the check total, which is simple enough to do. Your funds should be available to you the next day in nearly all cases.
4. Pay Off Your Credit Card As You Normally Would
At this point, the money is already back in your checking/savings account. You can pay off your credit card as you normally would, directly from your checking or savings account.
You’ve successfully manufactured spend!
Tips/Other
- If you have Bluebird cards in hand, you can also load them using these cards to save yourself the money order fee. Take your Bluebird card to any Walmart register (doesn’t have to be Money Center) and ask to load $500 on your card. They’ll ask you to swipe your debit card and enter your PIN, and you’re done. I don’t believe you can split $1K on two cards like this, but most cashiers are happy to do two $500 transactions back-to-back. Bluebird limits loads to $1K a day and $5K a month.
- How many money orders is safe to deposit to your bank account? I don’t know the exact answer to that, but I spread them around as much as possible. I have four checking accounts and try to keep it roughly even. I wouldn’t deposit more than $5K or so in any one account at a time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. It’s an arbitrary rule I set for myself and it’s what I feel comfortable with.
- Walmart Money Center machines can also print money orders and load Bluebird cards, but it’s rare to find them in working condition in my experience. If you do, you’ll quickly realize how awesome it is to not have to talk to anyone at Walmart!
- When you start using multiple cards and buying higher amounts, you may get funny looks. Some employees may ask if you’re using debit cards or prepaid cards. I find it useful to “ninja” it and show your real debit card to the cashier. Once they see the first one is real, they’re usually cool with the rest. I always hold my real debit card in case they ask to see the card.
- Build relationships. If you do this regularly, being friendly is your best bet to be able to do this continuously without being hassled.
- You’ll run into issues if you do this enough times. Sometimes your card wont activate properly, sometimes the cashier is pressing the wrong button, etc. In these situations, don’t push back, don’t get loud or upset. Just say “oh well, thanks for trying” to the cashier and figure out what happened later. Complaining about this will effectively burn a bridge with that cashier or store. You don’t want to do that.
Questions?
Changelog
- October 12, 2026: Added the 2026 overview and Quick Answers at the top; original 2014 guide kept below.
Last checked: October 12, 2026.
this post should be taken down immediately. Gift cards no longer work anymore. And it is misleading information on the internet. I didn’t read the comments on this and now I’m stuck with gift cards
Hi Michael – there has been an “Update” at the top that notes that some items mentioned in this post are no longer working. Policies frequently change, so unfortunately sometimes we all get stuck with cards. I always recommend doing a small amount first as a test to confirm any method works before buying a larger amount. I hope you find an easy way to liquidate the ones you have.
I just tried the one vanilla at a Walmart and it didn’t work. Any one know where that would?
[…] You purchase money orders. […]
As of now, I cannot find any Walmart,, drugstore, or grocery store in Dallas, TX that will let you buy money orders with PIN-enabled debit cards. On my most recent MS, I bought the cards and will use them to pay my Citi Master Card on which I charge everything anyway to replenish my AA miles. Pay Citi by phone. On my next to last MS, I prepaid my cable bundle, water, and electricity in advance with the credit card by phone. (I can use debit cards, too.) I get it back with no fees by having no monthly payments for a good number of months. With the miniscule interest you can earn on the tied-up funds, nowadays, the savings in gift/debit card fees is worth more.
[…] You purchase money orders. […]
Money order $1000 with OV didn’t work for me today. I used last digits as pin & told pay $.70 with cash. Cashier told me to hit cancel after sliding OV & select debit & pin. Didn’t work. What am I doing wrong? Appreciate your help..
Per the update at the top of the post, Vanilla cards no longer reliably work at Walmart.
What remaining gift cards still work with BB & MO?
Basically all other PIN-enabled gift cards. Grocery/office store ones still work.
General Comment. Yes, I use loaded debit cards to buy money orders in Walmart to complete minimum spending but we also buy groceries and merchandise in Walmart. Both my printers came from Walmart and my wife’s medicines come from Walmart’s pharmacy. The guy in the food chain who wants to cut out money orders with loaded debit cards is driving customers to his competitors.
[…] complete the minimum spend, I will be using Vanilla Prepaid Cards from CVS (the one near me still sells them on credit) and then going to Walmart and loading them onto […]
[…] You have to put on your critical thinking cap and work so that you learn to fish. This brings up this post that I saw while I was away that PF Digest posted about the comments in his “Ethics, […]
CC companies and WalMart and all the other actors in this play are fully aware of all the opportunities they left for MS. As long as it is profitable for everybody, there is no incentive to close the loopholes.
It’s not like points and miles bloggers are so smart and the employees of these companies are so stupid that they are being outplayed.
So, there is no secret to protect here. Probably those people are laughing they pants off when reading these heated comments on this post.
John Brew – I’m hoping you are being sarcastic here. I’ve been doing this a long time 15+ yrs. This commentary is unbelievably naive if you are serious. Im not sure where I would start in breaking down your factually incorrect statements. So I think I’m best to say I disagree with your entire post.
If my comment can be seen as sarcastic, please interpret it as sarcastic towards people like you.
I fully stand by my statement that the moment a MS opportunity stops being a win-win, then it is withdrawn.
You must be missing the fact that for every successful MS player like you, there are hundreds who just f…-up and are being taken advantage of the CC companies.
There are plenty of deals that never even start as profitable for said companies. If you think that “they” are always correct in their gauging of the profitability of deal then you are seriously overestimating their skill level. But unfortunately they all do eventually figure out their losing ideas. Sometimes on their own, sometimes they are alerted to them. I certainly don’t feel unique as there lots of smart people involved in this craft. Do some people lose? Sure, it’s a required part of the game.
I do not get the beef by MM, this info has been written up by DansDeals and FrequentMiler and soon to be cut and pasted by DoctorofCreditWilliamCharles
I agree this level of detail doesn’t need to be blogged. That said, being a good steward of MS begins with a look in the mirror. MS contests, seminars presentations, etc. are just as destructive to the longevity of the game.
When we first started learning how to collect points and miles we had to go to blogs like this to learn the methods. Even applying for a lot of c cards is not something the average person is comfortable with, and does not do. What use is reading anything if you don’t learn something from it? Thank you bloggers for all your help! And no, I don’t go telling everybody the tricks, because they can easily find the same info by searching for it, if they are so inclined.
Why blog if you’re not giving useful information? Keep it to yourself then and don’t criticize the ones who help others learn.
“PIN number” and “ATM machine.” wow. just wow.
Yes it’s redundant, but it’s also commonly used in today’s speech. Not an excuse for bad grammar…will correct and try not to make the same mistakes in the future.
[…] and it’s not often obvious where the lines are. Case in point: Travel Summary’s guide to manufactured spending, which drew some opposition from Marathon Man. I don’t know who’s right or wrong in […]
p.s., And no, even with two whole years of experience, I will NOT be volunteering for an interview on MMS’s blog! {wink}
Two whole years Wow. Why would anyone volunteer to be on the most EVIL bloggers site. Bowtie is such a geek with his fake smile and it is a mystery why his nosy self isn’t damaged like his friends. Why perpetuate the risks here when you could use the same amount of time trying to sabotage the bloggers. Maybe make some complaints about those guys outing deals that are not already openly public.
It really is foolish of anyone clicking on any of the bloggers links that simply copy a deal from one another. There is a reason some of us went underground deep into the secret tunnels in the earth long ago and post much less on FT.
Why should I tell about the two other banks I know with 5% cash back credit cards. I can think of many reasons not to one of which is smaller banks can’t take the hit or the heat of hundreds or even thousands of people earning 10k to 20k per month of each of them.
When you post info that has not been opening posted you only drive people away from ever wanting to deal with you. Keep quiet and maybe a group of you quiet people will get together and find your own tunnel to hide in. Ours are full so don’t ask to join
You are a good laugh and I am a angry big woman who agrees with everything Marathon Man said basically and so does my significant other and she is a happy little Gal who agrees with MM too well partly because I told her he is right and then she read it.
It is pointless to keep talking about MS deals that are still working well. Why fill the airways with more Google results for the CC companies and banks to have their staffs print out and show them or give them for reading then maybe they act and shut more and more down.
“The combination of all of these postings are effectively saying cut down all of your trees now, don’t leave any for the future. ”
The tragedy of the commons. And dear-old MM is out there swinging his sword (valiantly but hopelessly) at this windmill, when there are “more-threatening” (or more careless) windmills that he could (or, he says, IS) be tilting at. You cannot address the tragedy of the commons by trying to shame or correct any member (or several members) OF the commons. (I don’t remember, and don’t have time (or interest) to go looking up some of the alleged ‘fixes’ for the tragedy of the commons (if there is one, short of forming a govt with enforcement power — EEK!)
I happen to agree with all-y’all who are worried — or just annoyed — with the folks ‘outing’ all the deals and tricks and ways to get ahead in this ‘biz.’ (And fer shure annoyed about the card pimping.) I’ve only been reading and learning since March last year — when I was in a rush-situation and needed to get miles and get across the continent without any money… And yes, I made some mistakes because I was new. (Delta AMEX card again? Really? oops. {eye roll} But also Ink Bold, which let me fly!)
I’m still not in a stable enough financial position to take advantage of the tips and tricks and special deals. My husband died in 2011; I’m still in survival mode and look wistfully at all the deals and options and things in a variety of blogs (and that Chase 60k offer is just burning a hole in my heart!) — and then I close the page(s) and console myself that they (whoever) will do it (whatever it is) again later, when I am stable and I will take advantage of it then. I’m missing out now, but I’m in no position now to take advantage.
Should all newbies protect themselves the same way? Sure! But they won’t. Should all … oldbies (?) work to protect the newbies — and the commons? I’m not so sure.
Elenor a lot of new people can’t even appreciate what it is were talking about when we discuss issues like deals being killed because a lot of people didn’t live back in the times when such deals didn’t even exist.
Many things exist now that did not exist when I first started.
Now this doesn’t make me any better of a person or anything, I just have a greater understanding of the flow of the stuff and you’ve said that you’re new to it all.
I hope you can get yourself on track so you can live the way you want to travel, and I’m sure you will in time. I have actually been there myself.
I will also let you know that my sword has been made from the metal melted down from the shavings of the backs of thousands of VR cards and my Gmail suit was made from the sheets of 1000 GCs
We all need to do our part to ensure this stuff last as long as it possibly can we all need to do our part to help others understand it before they out the deals and see it fall apart because yes, they will.
That way, people in your exact situation can still travel cheaply without having to be so financially secure but none of this matters anyways. ie we wont be able to MS using these methods when they become gone.
The argument to stop fighting a cause is never strengthened by having someone say that it’s not worth doing it because they think its not having an affect. The cause needs your help and your friends’ help to make it so that MSing as we know it can continue and people like yourself can travel the way you want to.
Will you help?
You say you havent the time? Does that mean you want someone else to do all the work for you? Well then if thats the case, let all the blogs stand. For they are doing all that work… They just ultimately want the affiliate money from your clicking on their links.
You probably helped kill some deals to over the years melting your lame ass sword. You go to those seminars why don’t you spill some fish sauce on Bowties speech and let it splash. You all have to much to say and I wouldn’t have even posted but my partner insisted I speak my mind because I am so angry I am sweating my panties
The key word here is sustainability. As a community we must work together to keep some type of sustainability in the environment. The recent postings across all blogs, not just this one, and including Wiki’s etc reminds me of forestry class in college. If you cut down all of the trees now you can have a lot of revenue this year, however you’ll have no revenue for the next x years while you wait for those trees to grow back.
In the interim, you also have no tourism because the landscape is ugly, no animals because they have no longer have homes, landslides occur because the roots aren’t there to hold the soil in place, and greater unemployment in your area because there are no more forestry/tourism related jobs. The combination of all of these postings are effectively saying cut down all of your trees now, don’t leave any for the future.
All we can do is work together with a goal of a sustainable future. Sure, some bloggers out there will do anything to monetize their blogs even if it means circles & arrows, even at the cost of some of their reader’s credit scores… because more will follow. But if we can start looking at the future, we can all earn miles today… and tomorrow.
Well said. We’ve created a new thing – instead of tree-huggers, we have points-huggers!
Where is William Charles? I am surprised that Mr. Charles has not put his two cents in? That guy is EVERYWHERE!
Anyways, I agree with elenor5, she has said some good things. MM is trying to ‘save’ his job, as I’m sure he’s comfortable with the current MS opportunities out there currently and I don’t blame him! But come on, can’t TS post whatever he wants on his own blog?
William… Please post for us all here your ms tips and tricks. Its ok, because you know about it you assume everyone must know about it so it’s okay to post right?
Now please post your most coveted MS ideas.
Wait you won’t post your most coveted ideas? why not? are we afraid someone is going to take them and run them because of overexposure?
While you’re at it why not give the Coca-Cola’s secret recipe?
I think many readers are beginning to see my point
I finally got over here (from TBB, where else?) and my reaction is (with no offense intended): I’m finding Marathon Man acting like the PETA folks who will happily throw a jar of red paint on some 70-yr-old woman wearing her fur coat — but who then slink quietly by the Hell’s Angel in his leathers… MM is trying to “fix” the miles-and-points world by haranguing (sorry, that’s how it seems) one blogger who isn’t even a problem: TS — but MM is NOT out tilting at the windmills that are the actual CC pumpers. He’s trying to convince TS to not state his own position and advice here on his own blog (which I think he has done gracefully and clearly); but MM is not (at least, “also”) over at the other blogs haranguing them for less-graceful ‘outing’ of information.
In my advice list for dating, mating, and marrying, we often caution against trying to be the GMU — the General Manager of the Universe — trying to make the world (or our mates) go the way we want them to (or think they should go), rather than going our own ‘correct’ (by our lights) way and (we hope) enticing our mate to come/go along. I see and understand MM’s frustration with ‘the universe’ — but it’s not within his — or TS’s — purview to fix. And ‘fixing’ TS will not fix the universe!
My only response to that, elenor5 is this:
There is only one me and while you may be glad, the point is I can only work it alone one at a time.
I am on Ft trying to quell the outage over there. I have talked to or tried to talk to MMS and others on how to still be welcomed to go out and make money but please dont do it by outing deals. I have been actively yapping away at proposed ways to respect the craft of ms more so we cannall make it last and not aid in its demise.
If you think I need to work harder at this or you think I only “attacked” this blog and need to do more, then why not come around and help me!
Re read what i have been saying and ask yourself; do you want this ms thing to last or not?
I welcome a pm in ft
Elenor5 – well said, well said.