In December 2022, Starbucks launched a new rewards program, Starbucks Odyssey, which includes NFTs, called Stamps. To participate, Starbucks invites you to their Beta program and rewards your purchases at freestanding Starbucks locations in the United States. Enter your email to join the waitlist: https://waitlist.starbucks.com/

 

“I hate Starbucks! It’s overpriced, and I don’t like coffee!”

 

Stick with me. There’s a degen play here. Active Journey Stamps currently resell for $34-48, which is 2x the cost of the purchases to earn them.

 

“So I sell the Stamps and basically get paid to drink Starbucks?”

 

You could play it that way, but then you’d miss future Mints and Benefits. Odyssey had their first paid mint on March 9th. The generative collection of 2,000 Sirens minted for $100. The post-reveal floor peaked at $830, and dozens of rares sold for $1,500 to $3,000.

 

Their second $100 mint of 5,000 First Stores didn't fare as well, but pre-reveal secondary sales still peaked around $250, with post-reveal rares selling in the $750 to $1,255 range.

 

Check out the secondary market for all the stamps: https://odysseymarket.niftygateway.com/marketplace/publisher/starbucks-odyssey

 

 

Each person holding two Journey Stamps got an Allowlist spot for the First Stores mint. And according to Odyssey staff, your Stamps, Points, and Levels will qualify you for future Odyssey Airdrops and Allowlists. So like most NFT projects, play the market swings between the milestones, then maximize the utility of your holdings during the most important events. 

 

“That sounds complicated. Can you make this easy for me?”

 

Of course! Be on the lookout for an email from Starbucks, inviting you to Odyssey, as you’ll only have three days to accept their invitation. After you join Odyssey, explore the Journeys, which are the keys to success: https://odyssey.starbucks.com/

 

 

There are three active Journeys, where you answer trivia and make purchases to earn Stamps. In 10 minutes, you can complete all the non-purchase Journey Activities to earn easy Points. You aren’t penalized for extra attempts, so speed run the first pass of trivia to collect the answers, and then get them all right the second time.

 

Now you can focus on the remaining activities, which require purchases. Make clever choices, as one drink can earn multiple checkmarks. If you (1) bring your own cup, (2) order a signature drink that ordinarily comes with milk, and (3) swap that milk for an alternative, then you can earn three checks with one purchase. Buy a qualifying bag of coffee with your drink, and you could earn four checks for $20 in one visit.

 

Be sure to make your purchases at freestanding Starbucks in the United States. Starbucks inside of Target stores, airports, malls, and other locations rarely work with Odyssey. Use your traditional Starbucks Rewards App account that you connected to your Odyssey account when you first joined Odyssey. This connection is the only way to get Odyssey credit, so you have to order through the app or scan it during an in-person purchase.

 

“What do all of these Points get me?”

 

The first quarterly Benefit Selection Period started in late April. Your Points determine your Level, and your Level determines which Benefits you can claim. The Points snapshot was already taken for April, and selecting these benefits will close on April 30th. The Benefits will change each quarter, but this gives you an idea of the kinds of perks you'll be able to choose during the next Benefits Period, which will likely be in late July or early August:

 

 

Points aren’t “spent” on Benefits. You pick a Benefit and keep the Points until they reset at the end of the year. Keep in mind that you only get one total Benefit, even if you qualify for the top Level. You don't get all the Benefits in your Level, and you don't get to pick a Benefit for each Level below yours. If a Level 3 person picks a Level 2 Benefit, that's all they get, and you can't change your choice.

 

And if you don't care about the Benefits, the sharp play is to sell Stamps during Benefits pumps, while holding enough Stamps and Points to qualify for Airdrops and Allowlists.

 

“Then I should sweep all the Stamp floors and hoard Points, right?”

 

Not exactly. It’s important to understand the Point values of Stamps. Stamps earned by completing Journeys are only worth 125 Points, and duplicates don’t earn Points. You could own one Doing Good Stamp or 10 of them, and you would still only get 125 total Points from your Doing Good Stamps. And if you sell your last Doing Good Stamp, you lose 125 Points.

 

Stamps from a paid mint are treated differently and are referred to as Limited Edition (LE). Both the Siren Stamps and the First Store Stamps are worth 1,500 Points each, and their points stack. You could buy four First Store Stamps to earn 6,000 Points. As soon as you sell an LE Stamp, you lose 1,500 Points. Because their points stack, buying LE Stamps is the quickest path to increasing your Points and Level to earn better Benefits. 

 

With all of this in mind, LE Stamps will likely offer the best swing plays, and completing Journeys will likely keep your engagement metrics high enough to qualify for future Mints and Airdrops.

 

“I have Stamps, but I want money. How do I sell?”

 

The Odyssey experience incorporates three tools. You use the standard Starbucks Rewards App for real-life purchases, the Odyssey website to complete Journeys, and the Nifty website to mint, buy, and sell Stamps. Nifty sucks, especially for mints, and you lose 10% of Stamp sales to royalties and fees. You can transfer Stamp NFTs off of Nifty to sell them on another marketplace, like OpenSea, but I don’t recommend it. There’s very little volume outside of Nifty because you lose all Stamp Points and utility when you transfer them.

 

First, complete your Seller Authorization on Nifty: https://odysseymarket.niftygateway.com/account/seller-settings

 

It’s easy to confuse the Odyssey site with the Nifty site because they’ve been skinned to look very similar. When in doubt, check your URL domain. If you struggle to stay logged into Nifty, revisit Nifty’s Odyssey login from the Odyssey Market tab.

 

 

Next, view your Stamps on the Nifty site. Click your PFP in the upper right corner and then click Profile.

 

 

Finally, on your Nifty Profile screen, you can choose a Stamp you own, click the List for Sale button, and follow the steps to complete your listing.

 

“Why is the 2022 Holiday Cheer Stamp so expensive?”

 

The 2022 Holiday Cheer Journey is closed. Only the earliest Beta testers were given the opportunity to complete this Journey, so only 578 Stamps were earned. The remainder of the 5,000 supply will be burned. So it’s the first Starbucks NFT and has fairly limited supply. Like the other Journey NFTs, it only earns 125 Points and doesn’t stack, so its value is largely historical.

 

Unfortunately, the first four Journey Stamps have been distributed in reverse serial number order, so Holiday Cheer serials 1 through 4,422 will be burned, while serials 4,423 through 5,000 will remain.

 

 

If you buy Stamps on Nifty before completing your Odyssey signup, you won’t get Points for those Stamps, even after you join Odyssey. Point totals are a bit buggy at the moment, but they claim this will be fixed soon.

 

Keep in mind that Odyssey Points are completely separate from Starbucks Stars that you may have been earning in the traditional rewards app for years. Once you join Odyssey, your IRL purchases will still earn mainstream Stars while also helping you complete Odyssey Journeys. So you get rewards on top of rewards!