I am about to hit 3 million FPPs on Stars, which is enough for the Porsche. But I don't want a Porsche, I want the value of the Porsche in cash. I e-mailed Stars, and their response was:

>> 3 Million FPP Porsche purchase is worth $60,000. Please make the
purchase
>> and PokerStars will bank wire $60,000 to the dealership to help with the
>> purchase of the car. The direct cash option is $45,000. The Porsche is a
>> grand prize item with a better rate than our cash option.
>>
>> Thank you for being a Supernova VIP on PokerStars.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Scotty
>> PokerStars VIP Team


This seems pretty silly, and I told them so, but they don't seem willing to budge. Anyone out there have any luck getting $$ instead of the car? Or has anyone sold the value of the credit to someone for cash and can give me advice regarding the best way to do so?

Time to befriend a porsche dealer

go to a porsche dealer, and say, "what if somebody was going to buy me a porsche and I wanted to sell it back immediately, how much $ would I be able to get for it?"

Sometimes, asking for the email to be forwarded to a manager, can solve these matters.
Maybe you can explain to them that a player who has earned 3 Million points deserves better treatment. Also you can mention that other sites offer rakeback and Stars does not.

Sure, but I expect they'd give me a figure significantly below $60k. I'd do better selling the $60k credit to someone about to buy a Porsche, but that raises issues like where best to find that person (although camping out outside the Porsche dealership down the street seems like it might be kind of funny) and how to structure the deal so I don't get screwed (by giving him the credit and then not getting paid).

The problem here is that Stars believes their is a value in the publicity of giving away a Porsche. Giving away 60K is less. Plus its possible Porsche paid or traded for product placement on Pokerstars, hence the higher FPP value.

I'd assume Porsche and Pokerstars have some sort of deal going on here that makes the car or the $45,000 an equivalent cost to the website. In other words, maybe Porsche eats $15k.

FYP


When he said "yes, what do I have to do", just tell him the situation. Stars will send hin $60K and he'll give you $58K of it.

Yeah, this is what I expected them to say. But what they actually said is that they will wire $60k to the dealership. Maybe they just weren't being careful with their words or for some reason felt the need to misrepresent the situation, but if they really are sending $60k to the dealership vs $45k to the player it's pretty [censored].

A Porsche is only $60K in the US???

I thought it was about $100K here in Canada

don't they have a direct deal (like lower price for advertisement, more pieces or what ever).

congrats at all those fpps!

Porsches come in various price ranges from $52k to $600k

This is an entry level Porsche but still a great car. This at least answers a question for me about the car.

Stars offers you 0.02/fpp when you get the cars because it allows them to post it on their site and gets them publicity. If you want cash then you get 0.015/fpp. Sorry I have no sympathy for your situation.

Yes, they may wire 60K to the dealer, but we dont know what Porsche corporate is paying back to Pokerstars for each one given away. I expect Porsche to be paying for product placement on stars.

They probably stick PokerStars logos on the hood, sides and back of the Posrsche like they do on the FPP clothing. You have to get a paint job after removing them.

The item in the store says "Porsche," not "equivalent value in cash."

also, OP: you decided to wait until you got 3MM FPPs to ask this?

There is huge value in this... just look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBIa2JIx2TE&feature=related
http://www.pokerlistings.com/pokerst...r-points-21422
http://www.bankrollboost.com/poker_b...he-to-ddbeast/
http://www.fuzionpoker.com/online-po...away-porsches/

That kind of publicity brings them tons of new customers, which is probably worth more than the porsche itself in some cases.