Get 10% off Target gift cards Sunday only. And a tip to save even more

Target is discounting its gift cards 10% Sunday only, Dec. 3.

Shoppers can buy up to $300 with the minimum purchase being $10. Buy online or in stores. The cards cannot be used for purchases on Sunday but can be redeemed starting Monday, Dec. 4 at 10 a.m. CT (why 10 a.m., Target?).

For individuals and families who regularly shop Target, you can maximize the purchase by paying with a credit card that gives an additional discount. But not the RedCard. Target gift cards purchased on a RedCard will not receive an additional 5% discount, although most other purchases do.

Discover cardholders who activate its quarterly promotion before charging the Target giftcards, can get an additional 5% off. Cardholders can activate the 5% quarterly promo by calling the credit card or signing in online and going to the Rewards tab. The promo this quarter is an extra 5% savings at Amazon and Target through Dec. 31, so if you still have lots of Amazon shopping to do this year, keep that in mind.

Note: After today, Discover cardholders won't see any additional advantage using Discover at Target compared to a RedCard because RedCard holders always get the 5% extra discount plus a few extra perks such as free shipping and an extended return policy on select items. Discover cardholders don't get the extended return policy or free shipping unless they meet minimums.

Nearly all credit cards will get consumers an additional 1% savings., but check with your credit cards with lots of point perks. There may be others besides Discover that are offering more than 1-2% savings.

If you want to take advantage of spending more than $300, check with friends or family who don't shop at Target. Get them to put up to $300 on one of their credit cards. You give them cash for the amount they charged and they get to keep the 1% credit card bonus. Target indicates in the offer's fine print that the offer is limited to $300 per household, but it's unclear how they enforce that. Obviously, they can track once a credit card has been used to pay for $300 in gift cards, but do they track use on other credit cards? In other words, if an individual in Target uses Discover to charge $300 of gift cards and then goes to a different checkout with a Visa card to pay for more gift cards, will it go through?

Walmart's prices are often considered to be as much as 10% less than Target's, so this deal evens the playing field somewhat. Walmart has not participated in gift card offers in the past. As the low price leader, it probably doesn't feel that it needs to. And don't attempt to get Walmart to match Target's 10% discount. Walmart quit price matching last year when it realized that it looks bad when the "low price leader" offers a price match program.