B&H has launched a new “Payboo” credit card that lets you save the sales tax on a purchase at B&H: the amount of sales tax paid is instantly credited to your card (as a reward). This could end up being a huge savings (for example, up to 9.9% if you live in Washington state). The card has no annual fee.
To check the reward available to your particular state, take a look at the B&H Payboo page and click “Check Savings”.
We previously wrote about B&H and other dealers now collecting sales tax to an increasing number of states, as a result of the South Dakota v. Wayfair ruling. No doubt this has been affecting sales at these big online dealers, and this new offering from B&H tries to turn the clock back to how out-of-state shopping used to be.
A reminder that our street price options often do not collect tax on items shipped to most states, so always do check in with us prior to a large purchase.
It looks like the only catch is the 29.99% interest rate. So if you pay in full each month, it would be an easy way to save a few percent on a purchase.
For a few years, Amazon has been charging sales tax where I live. Once B&H started to charge sales tax, I shifted some purchases to Amazon because I find their Amazon Lockers very convenient. With price being equal, convenience made a difference. However, this Payboo card would save me about 6% at B&H, so I may shift some purchases back to them.
Correct. If you’re not paying in full, you’re better off finding a free financing offer (6 / 12 months). B&H and Adorama both offer something, as does PayPal (via PayPal Credit).
Amazon credit card offers 5% back too
True but you still pay the state sales tax so you come out a little behind B&H with no sales tax assuming your state sales tax is more than 5%.
Every credit card has an astronomical APR so you can say this about all of them. Obviously the key is to pay in full every month. Actually the real key is to not spend more than your means.
With that high APR, you better be in a good financial position to pay at the end of the month. Otherwise, you might be better just paying that sales tax rather than the interest on this credit card.
Why would you ever pay interest on a credit card?
Most of us don’t. But it is important for other people to foolishly pay the interest so that we get discounts.
This is huge, as I’ve been going with the street price program over B&H lately (85mm F/1.4 IS and 16-35mm F/4 IS) as I wasn’t being charged sales tax. This will level the playing field a little bit.