FAQ Rewards Policy - Updated February 2025
Cisco’s Customer Lifecycle Marketing team has recently made updates to the Cisco Insider Advocates reward fulfillment policy to ensure that public and private sector fulfillment aligns with Cisco’s compliance policy and tax legislation. Please refer to the following reward eligibility FAQs for the latest guidance.
1. Why have changes been made to the rewards library?
As of August 2020, Cisco updated its Global Travel & Expense (GTE) policy. Private sector customers are permitted to redeem rewards for items up to $500 in value. Total redeemed rewards may not exceed this monetary value during a single calendar year. In the same respect, Public sector customers are permitted to redeem rewards up to $250 in value during a single calendar year, while public sector customers specifically residing in the US are still not eligible for monetary rewards or compensation as part of Cisco’s current GTE policy. Please note, you must be a Cisco customer in order to be eligible to redeem a reward.
As a result, we recently switched merchandising vendors and are in the process of re-evaluating our rewards library to avoid potential legal or tax-related repercussions and to fully adhere to Cisco’s global compliance policy.
2. What if I hit the $500 reward limit earlier in the year?
All private sector reward eligibility will be capped at $500 and at $250 for eligible public sector customers and partners. If you reach the fulfillment limit before the end of the fiscal year, you will be prevented from redeeming any new rewards with monetary value. At the start of the new calendar year, the rewards cap will be re-calculated and go back to $0.
3. How are you keeping track of the reward limits? How will I know when I am approaching my limit?
This is an automated process that will be calculated on the backend by Influitive and Cisco.You’ll receive regular messages from the rewards notifier regarding how many points you have left to spend for the year. Please contact your community manager if you have any additional questions.
4. Why are there only a handful of rewards in the rewards library now?
In order to streamline reward fulfillment and make it a more efficient process overall, we are working with our new merchandising vendor to provide items that are compliant with Cisco’s updated GTE policy. We are also consciously selecting items that are easier to ship to avoid potential global taxation issues.
Our rewards library is constantly being reviewed to ensure that the most in-demand items are offered to our advocates, however it is fully budget dependent. Please know that the Cisco Insider Advocates team is always advocating for our members to make this program the best that it can be.
5. Why can’t I see all of the rewards mentioned in the reward library?
You will only see the rewards available to you at your level. Higher value rewards are offered to our higher tiers, like Advocate Star and Advocate Rockstar levels. If you do not see any rewards, it is likely we are out of stock and new rewards will be added soon or you have already redeemed all of the rewards available to you at your level.
6. Why is there a limited amount of stock for each reward?
All rewards are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. As always, some items will only be offered in a limited stock to maintain competition standards in the gamified community structure. As we continue to expand our offering of rewards in the library, we will ensure that there is an appropriate amount of items in stock for each reward.
7. Can I redeem the same reward multiple times?
You may only redeem any given reward once. This is to ensure fairness for your fellow Cisco Insider Advocates so that they can redeem rewards too. For example, you cannot redeem two Amazon Echo Dots.
8. How will I know when my reward has shipped?
Your community manager will send a message confirming your reward request and then will send a second message once your reward has shipped with the tracking numbers. Please do not message the community managers requesting tracking numbers. They will be sent when they are available, usually within 1-2 weeks of your request. Please also note that all rewards, once redeemed, MUST be claimed within 6 months of redeeming. If not, then we may not be able to help deliver your reward.
11. Why are there no physical rewards available for my country?
Unfortunately, due to the changing regulations around shipping, we are currently unable to ship physical rewards to the following countries. We are working hard with our current suppliers and sourcing new ones to find alternative offerings so please watch out for new rewards soon. We also offer select digital rewards in some of these countries.
- Greece
- Ukraine
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Azerbaijan
- Uzbekistan
- Georgia
- Belarus
- Armenia
- Georgia
- Russia
- Ukraine
