Which Q4 5% Discover Categories Accept Apple Pay?

In case you didn’t know, Discover is offering a bonus 10% cash back when you use Apple Pay in store. This is in addition to the normal rewards you earn and also in addition to the Discover double cash back bonus, meaning you can earn up to 30% cash back by using your Discover it card (or Discover it Secured or Discover it Student, you can also earn 23% cash back on all purchases with the Discover it Miles) that is enrolled in the double cash back promo and Apple Pay.

I decided it’d be useful to look at the quarter 4 5% categories and which merchants accept Apple Pay. The categories are as follows: Department Stores, Clothing Stores, Amazon.com. We can rule out Amazon.com immediately because the Apple Pay purchases must be made in store. Let’s have a look at department stores & clothing stores instead.

We have two things that help with this, first Discover gives us some specific examples of what is considered a department store/clothing store and Apple Pay gives us a list of retailers that accept Apple Pay.

Department Stores

Out of the stores that Discover gives as an example, the following also accept Apple Pay:

  • bloomingdale’s
  • Macy’s

Clothing Stores

None of the clothing stores Discover gives as an example accept Apple Pay, that being said any clothing store that does accept Apple Pay should work fine. Such as:

  • Aerostaple
  • American Eagle Outfitters
  • Express
  • Foot Locker
  • Footaddiction
  • Nike
  • Sports authority

Final Thoughts

We will add confirmed in bold next to each retailer after we’ve confirmed it works fine. If there are any stores that we’ve missed, please let us know in the comments below.

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    William Charles
  • On September 10, 2015, 08:30

View Comments (23)

  • Was just able to pay with Apple Pay at kohls. The cashier told me they just got it working yesterday

    • Just to confirm. the charge posted today and apple pay does show in the description at Kohls so should get (5% category bonus +10% apple pay bonus ) X2 for double cash back at end of year. this was with an instore discount of 25% off purchase, which was taken first before the discover % 's off. Not bad 900 before discounts down to 490 after discounts and cash backs get applied

  • Although discover uses apple pay in-store. IT does not yet work in-app. I tried a couple of them and got a message not-enabled. I emailed discover asking them if apple pay works in apps. and got a reply not yet

  • Important question:

    So couldn't you just buy a $100 department store gift card, and effectively you're only paying $70 for it since it will fall under the 5% category and the 10% apple pay for 15% and that all doubles to 30%. Is this thinking correct?

    If so, all you then need to do is sell the giftcard for more than $70 right? And then you will break even or profit.

    Is my thinking flawed here or no? The 5% category bonus will double for sure right? And then if it's eligible for the apple pay it will double the 10% as well...so this seems easy enough, no?

    • I don't see how it would be worth it if all you can do is come close to breaking even. You will pay $100 for the card, then within a statement or two, you will get $15 back. You have to wait a whole year to see the other $15, so if you sell for anything less than $85, you are floating the difference for a year. Definitely not worth it. There will be much more profitable ways to use this deal.

  • If i want to keep this simple would it seem like a good idea to just lose out on a percentage by purchasing gift cards from the clothing stores here and reselling them?

  • I tried to find other retailers that accept Apple pay other than the ones that Were listed. To my knowledge you can use Apple pay at certain shops that use nfc. States Apple pay should work. I have an app that locates places. but I'm wondering if it has to be the stores listed by Apple pay retailers. To even get the deal.

  • What would be the GC strategy here with best liquidation / resell odds?

    Best I saw for Macy's was 77% (yuck) resale. Is there a better one or place that sells VGCs?

  • If you already have a discover card currently what excuse can you give to get a second one? I have a fraud alert on my card so always go to reconsideration and have to talk to a person who will notice I have a card ( even if the algorithms don't)

    Figured could say I want to give it to my gf who has bad credit history and can't get a card on her own.

    • Confused... macy's is actively denying ApplePay for big ticket items? or the cashback will not be recognized with Discover... and how would they have any control or say in that?

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