I made cash status!

congrats.. whats your secret??

You can do that...how long have you been here to get there

I have been on it since march it is nice

OK...well you have been here for almost a year...wow...I would totally change

WOOHOO! Way to go!

The only thing I can think of is that I think Gather or Paypal one takes a processing fee off your total amount of cash redeemed. You might want to do some research on that.

Otherwise, Congratulations!!!

I got an email today too...I qualified in July. I'm not sure what I will do. I love the gift cards, and I like not having to pay taxes on the money. I believe there is a slight charge every time you "cash out" for cash. Maybe someone can respond with more details about that.

I'd think about taxes first. But if that's not an issue I would go for it!

Great job!

You have to submit a w-9 anyway if you earn over $600 in gift cards, so honestly, the taxes don't really play into it.

Congratulations!
If the money is sent to your PayPal account, it is free to transfer those funds to your bank account. There is a fee to have a check sent to you, but still you can transfer for free.
The only issue is...once the money is in your bank account...it is harder to justify taking it out to spend ont he things you would have with the gift cards....if that makes sense.

Faith, what about the paypal fee? What does that come out to be, approx.?

Priscilla- that's my feelings, too. It's harder for me to justify splurging on a new book with cash, than it is with a gift card. I'm leaning towards gift cards for now, I think.

Faith, do you know- if I decline cash now, am I still qualified to switch later on if I want?

Congratulations Heather - hard work at Gather does pay off:)

I just got my e-mail today. It does say in it you can switch back to giftcards whenever you want

Heather: I am the SAME way about not being able to justify spending cash on things that I'd normally spend a gift card on. Plus for me, gift cards are so easy to give away as gifts, you know?

I've been told that once you qualify for the cash program, you can send in that W-9 whenever you'd like to switch to the cash option. I don't believe the invitation expires, but I do know that once you've redeemed $600 in either gift cards OR cash, you MUST send in that W-9 because they will need to report those earnings to the IRS.

Barbi is right that it does say that you can switch back to gift cards whenever you want after you've chosen the Cash option, but... I believe you can only switch back once. If you decide to go back to gift cards, I've been told that you're unable to receive Cash again.

Sue - I'll get back to you in just a few minutes about the Paypal fees, thanks for your patience!

Alrighty, Sue - I'm back with the answers to your Paypal questions.

Here is a link to Paypal, which will show you all the fees depending on what type of Paypal account you have (personal, business or premier): Paypal FEES

I hope this helps!

I chose to switch to cash a month ago and LOVE it!

This all sounds great! I think I'd have to stay with gift cards myself. Just a personal opinion. I suppose if I ever was able to commit the time needed to generate the points necessary to switch, I might think differently.

Congratulations to everyone who got their email!

congrats!

Good for you. I just got an email, also. I think I will stay with the gift cards.

Wow! Way to go Heather!

Way to go ;-)

Thanks- and congrats to those of you who also got the email!!

I think for the time being, I'm going to stick with the gift cards. If it ever comes to them not offering cards I can use, maybe then I'll switch. But for now, I can really have fun with those cards!

I'm almost to 3,000, should I expect a email as well?

Shun - as long as you've earned 3000 points in ONE calendar month from non-promotional activities, then you should receive an invitation to the cash program.

Gotcha!

Great, Shun. I love your icon, it's really cute.

Congrats! I got mine too and faxed off the W9 the next morning. The GCs are great but I have a few that I haven't even used and I could really use the cash. For example, my hard drive crashed this week and those Home Depot cards just don't work when you need a new hard drive!

congrats you can always switch between gift cards and cash at least thats what i heard

Congrats! I am so glad that you have done so well. I am still trying to earn enough for my first gift card.

That is awesome I a new to gather so this i great news to me!!