Dan Eleff, a Chabad chasid whose family has lived 5 generations in Cleveland, started his blog Dan's Deals in 2004. His passion for scoring deals dates back to junior high school when at age 12 he dragged his parents to purchase Beanie Baby toys only to sell them on eBay for 30 times the price. He learned the ins and outs of rewards programs through eBay’s early Anything Points system.
Later, as a rabbinical student, Eleff scoured the internet looking for toilet paper deals for his yeshiva, which led him to start his own blog. His domain DansDeals.com claims to have two million page views a month. He now holds multiple seminars a year and has garnered a particularly large following among Jews looking for flights to Israel.
Eleff says he’s had well over 500 credit cards in his lifetime and has taken multiple first-class around-the-world trips with his family thanks to miles from sign-up bonuses.
Just a month ago he won a Starwoods Hotel competition by bidding over 1 million Starpoints (value = $20,000) to throw out the ceremonial pitch at the final 2016 World Series game.
His web site is devotedly followed by people like Oren Wachstock, a 29-year-old dentist living in Teaneck, New Jersey, who now spends his nights writing his own blog about credit cards with the most cash back and where to buy discounted gift cards.
“There are people who think it’s a time trap. I get tremendous satisfaction out of helping people get cash back, get more income, and be able to travel. This is my hobby and the more intense it gets, the better I feel about it,” Wachstock laughs. But he admits his wife thinks he’s crazy and has threatened to start a support group called “Dan’s Deals Wives.”
While Dan’s Deals consistently ranked at the top of the list during the voting period, Eleff acknowledged that finding out that he won the USA Today contest still came as a surprise.
“It’s nice to be acknowledged but I didn’t expect it because the other sites exclusively cover mileage,” said Eleff. “Dan’s Deals has always been about bargains and mileage is a part of it because it is part of the ecosystem of finding bargains.”
While Dan’s Deals consistently ranked at the top of the list during the voting period, Eleff acknowledged that finding out that he won the USA Today contest still came as a surprise.
“It’s nice to be acknowledged but I didn’t expect it because the other sites exclusively cover mileage,” said Eleff. “Dan’s Deals has always been about bargains and mileage is a part of it because it is part of the ecosystem of finding bargains.”