music streaming

You can save money on the music, television and film streaming and downloading services in Canada by purchasing discounted gift cards to pay for downloads or subscriptions in advance.

I’ve personally obtained discounts and bonus loyalty points on gift cards for Amazon.ca (Amazon Music/Prime Video), Cineplex, iTunes, Google Play and Netflix. And have seen similar offers on gift cards for SiriusXM and Spotify on occasion at some retailers. But you’ve got to know where to look to find them:

Amazon.ca – Amazon occasionally has targeted promotions that are sent by email to their customers and occasionally pop up on banners on their site, most of which include promotional credits when one reloads their gift cards or adds funds to their Amazon Cash accounts. At the moment there is an offer for a $5 promotional credit for first-time users that add $20 to their Amazon Cash account before September 30th, 2020.

Best Buy Canada – iTunes gift cards are usually discounted at this electronics chain in the Christmas shopping season but offers do occasionally pop up from time to time.

Esso/Mobile Canada – Esso Extra points can be redeemed in store for Cineplex gift cards and online for Amazon.ca, Cineplex and iTunes gift cards. Click here for details.

Guardian/IDA – Both these pharmacies have rare offers on gift cards, also mostly in the Christmas shopping season. Their flyers might be worth a browse then.

Jean Coutu – Mostly located in Quebec, New Brunswick and Eastern Ontario, this pharmacy occasionally offers a discount on gift cards. And although you can’t collect or redeem Air Miles for gift cards at the stores themselves, you can redeem “Cash Miles” for Cineplex eVouchers from Air Miles collected at participating retailers.

Loblaws – This grocery chain and its affiliated stores (Your Independent Grocer, Real Canadian Superstore, Atlantic Superstore) mostly offer bonus Optimum points with the purchase of the above-mentioned gift cards but do occasionally offer discounts on these gift cards. Look at the bottom of the flyer pages for their weekly offers and/or occasional graphic showing the gift cards associated with the week’s offers.

London Drugs – Although I haven’t personally shopped at a London Drugs pharmacy, I’ve heard they occasionally have discounts and offers on their gift card selection. I’ve seen a flyer or two with some rather interesting offers that I couldn’t take advantage of because they don’t have a store in my community. They do ship gift cards by mail though.

Petro Canada – Although I haven’t seen discounts being offered on gift cards by this gas station chain, it is one of the few retailers that allow people to redeem their loyalty points on physical and electronic gift cards, specifically from Best Buy, Cineplex and iTunes.

Pharmasave – Another pharmacy that has discounts on gift cards, mainly in the Christmas shopping season.

Rexall – This chain of pharmacies used to offer bonus Air Miles for gift cards but have just introduced their own loyalty program, whose terms & conditions state points cannot be collected or redeemed on gift cards. But I suspect they may discount specific gift cards on occasion, like during the Christmas shopping season, so you may consider browsing the weekly flyers.

Shell – These gas stations rarely have flyers but they and Air Miles occasionally send out promotions that contain offers for bonus Air Miles, by mail, email and on their respective web sites. But the selection of cards may be limited in the smaller locations.

Shoppers Drug Mart – This pharmacy also offers bonus Optimum points and also occasionally offers discounts on specific gift cards, mostly posting these offers along the bottom of their flyer pages, among other information. They also occasionally add pictures of the gift cards that are eligible for an offer that week.

Sobeys – This grocery chain occasionally offers discounts and bonus Air Miles on gift cards, including a few of the gift cards listed above.

I haven’t yet tried Rakuten to get money back from my Cineplex and Cineplex gift card purchases but I’ll consider it in the future. And if I can think of some more discounts and loyalty point offers I’ll update this blog entry, as soon as possible. I’m sure I’m forgetting one or two.

Meanwhile, I hope you’ll be able to find some deals.