Update March 16, 2025. Thanks to TJ in the comments below I now know how to redeem these cards. TJ said:
So the email you got from has a string of number and letters after the word PIN. That’s your activation code. Activate the card at https://www.myprepaidcenter.com. Why SYW doesn’t include these instructions is a mystery to me.
Update March 17, 2025. I got the card with the above process. I found out it only lasts 6 months as well. So in the future I’ll just continue to get the Visa eGift cards since they are easier to acquire. I used up this $200 Mastercard gift card on Pepper buying $200 Sam’s Club gift card at 10x discount.
Originally posted March 13, 2025:
Today I received an email from Citi regarding my Shop Your Way (SYW) card. They announced that SYW points can now be redeemed for a Prepaid Mastercard.
To test this new feature, I redeemed 200,000 SYW points for a $200 Mastercard Gift Card. Unlike the Virtual Gift Card (VGC) eGift cards, which have a six-month expiration date, I noticed no such expiration mentioned during the purchase process, which I found encouraging.
However, the email I received for the card appears to be defective. It lacks both the card number and a redemption link. While the $200 Mastercard Gift Card is visible in my ShopYourWay.com account, clicking on it and then selecting “redeem” redirects me to the gift card purchase page.
I anticipate having to contact customer service by phone to explain the issue. Given that this is a new feature, I expect they will resolve the problem promptly.
Here’s the T&C in the email for this gift card.
Some more information from the ShopYourWay.com for this card. The bottom of these terms and conditions say “Valid for up to 6 months”. We’ll see how long I have — I have no clue since they haven’t yet sent me the card info. But again unlike the VGC eGift Card they don’t say in big letters up front that it expires in 6 months.
So the email you got from has a string of number and letters after the word PIN. That’s your activation code.
Activate the card at https://www.myprepaidcenter.com
Why SYW doesn’t include these instructions is a mystery to me
I learned this from: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/targeted-citi-sears-sywr-spending-offers-for-march-may/#comment-2023491
I can’t recall if the expiration date on the mastercard was 6 months out or 9 months out as I have already used it.
I tend to buy these cards for $1 worth of points with $199 of spend on the SYW mastercard to trigger online spend for the promo (just got another one – 250k points for $750 online spend), and also to use up the bonus points. You can only redeem for one gift card per day from SYW, so it’s a multi-day process, kind of annoying, but whatever.
Personally I think the Visas are easier to deal with, but if the mastercards have an expiration date that is further out, I can see why someone might prefer those.
Thanks a bunch TJ, updating the article now to reflect what you said. I would of never figured this out lol. I did observe there was a PIN but couldn’t figure out what to do with it. This Mastercard Gift Card thing appears to be new with SYW — at least I hadn’t seen it before.
Cool! Update it again when you know if the expiration date is 6 months, 9 months, or something else. 😉
In the update above, I mentioned it was only 6 months long and that I’ll just get Visa eGift Cards from now on.