The Offer
- Spend $200 or more on Amex gift cards at americanexpress.com/gift, pay with your registered Amex card, and receive a $10 statement credit.
This offer is available with by tweeting #AmexGift with a connected Twitter account or by saving it in your Amex login.
The Fine Print
- Valid 9/8/16 through 12/31/16
- Offer valid online only at americanexpress.com/gift, not valid in-store
- If you order an item during the offer period but it is not provided until after 12/31/2015 it may not count for this offer (more about that here)
- Excludes logo & gift cheque purchases
- $200 threshold can be done in one transaction or multiple transactions
Our Verdict
This offer comes up often and – aside from the sizable hassle of dealing with $200 cards – it could be a good deal to lock in a 5% discount everywhere. (Last time the deal was just $5 off $200, but it’s usually $10 off.)
The thing to beware of is the fees associated with buying Amex gift cards:
- Shipping fee of $8.95. If you have the premium shipping plan with Amex, shipping is free. And you can get a 90-day free trial. Or use promo code: FREESHIP16 to waive the fee.
- Purchase fee of $3.95. Use promo code: FEE16 or SEPTB2C200 to waive the fee.
Important note: you can only use one promo code per order.
As an alternative, you can go through a shopping portal to buy Amex gift cards and get 1.5% back, but then you can’t use a promo code, so promo code is usually better for low-dollar orders.
If you can get the cards completely fee-free then you’ll be netting the $10 offer credit (5%) by purchasing $200 Amex gift cards with each of your registered Amex cards. They can also make a great gift for the upcoming holiday season.
Bear in mind, however, that you may be losing by paying with your registered Amex card versus paying with a credit card that earns higher rewards. For example, if you buy a $200 Amex gift cards on the Amex Blue Cash card you’re only getting back 1% in rewards, versus the 2% you could have earned on that spend by using a 2% card. In the end, you’re only gaining $8 per offer, not $10.
If you don’t have the free shipping plan, choose the personalized gift card option and you’ll be able to order a gift card in the amount of $198 which will be eligible for the cheaper $2 shipping fee.
View Comments (15)
In case it helps anyone, shipping is free currently on $200 consumer business cards (non-personalized, no specific codes).
Still doesn't seem particularly worth it in terms of liquidation but you would get full $10 off $200 on the offer with NOFEE16 code of similar.
This would have been great if I still had the free shipping. If I remember correctly, you can only use one code, so using the free shipping code would maximize the profit. $10 - $3.95 gives a profit of $6 MINUS opportunity cost of 2% or $4 (assuming Amex doesn't give you points), and you get a NET PROFIT of $2. Not worth the time of liquidating these cards with real purchases, unless I'm missing something.
You can always get another 90 days trial of the free shipping with a different log in. if not you can buy The Preferred Gift Cards from American Express for a reduced fee plus it tracks with topcashback. So if you get another 90 days trial and use a coupon for the fee you could be making 5% plus points and maybe portal cash back. If you are willing to pay a fee to easily cash them you can use plastiq for a 2.5% fee.
Hmmm strange to read the above comment from thedimt about not earning points for this purchase. I wouldn't bother with just the $10 off but if I can earn 5x Hilton points this would be a great deal.
Anyone else have insight?
i could swear last time they had the promo i did earn points on the purchase... and i also got cashback despite using promo code.
i'll try it again on my SPG card, i'll post the result here.
I did a custom $198 with a promo for no purchase fee and TopCashBack confirmed it tracking at $2.97.
I had a similar experience a while back https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amex-gift-card-promo-code-working-for-small-gift-card-purchases/
Does anyone know if MR are earned when purchasing these cards? I have a 2x offer i'd like to use with Platinum
In my experience no MR are earned, I purchased a card a few months ago for a legitimate gift. Oddly, csr did count it when telling me how much I had left on minimum spend, but I wouldn't count on that, just like some people having annual fees count.
I don't need $10 bad enough to hassle with it.
Trying to add it through login gives "Sorry about that! The offer you selected is currently unavailable. Please try again."
False alarm. Went through on like the 5th try.
Isn't AmEx cracking down on people doing Ms? Yet they offer promos to buy GCs. Seems ironic
Check this out:
http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/08/investing/wells-fargo-created-phony-accounts-bank-fees/index.html
I think I dont mind wells fargo coming down on MSers using their credit cards suspiciously.
Hard to tell a redneck from a terrorist.
Even CNN has typos galore...sad. Crazy story though. They should be prosecuted for crap like that.