American Express Membership Rewards - Need workaround for businesses that won't accept AMEX

I am remodeling my bathroom and many of my vendors don't accept AMEX. It's about 10,000 worth and I would like it to qualify for my threshold if possible or it seems a waste of benefits.

Any workarounds to this? I have the cash, but just need to get some AMEX credit for it

I am remodeling my bathroom and many of my vendors don't accept AMEX. It's about 10,000 worth and I would like it to qualify for my threshold if possible or it seems a waste of benefits.

Any workarounds to this? I have the cash, but just need to get some AMEX credit for it

Nope. If they don't take Amex, there's really nothing you can do. They more than likely don't even have a merchant agreement to even accept Amex.

Use a Visa, MasterCard or Discover. I don't see any other options.

What about buying gift cards from 3rd party retailers? Or does that not earn AMEX points (I'm still new at MR)? I am thinking that even if you can't use HomeDepot or Rona cards, you could buy the VISA or MC gift cards that can be used anywhere. Problem is they usually have a lower limit so you'd need a ton of individual cards per transaction which may run you into issues too. But it's worth looking into.

You could ask them to get a SQUARE merchant account. I would send them a link that shows Square only charges +2.?% for Amex. But to be frank...A lot contractors are going to shy away from Amex just on the basis that Amex is very agressive on behalf of cardholders if their is a dispute. I know plastic surgeon who refuses all credit cards just so he does not have to deal with chargebacks aka disputes
The only other method is you could ask that contractor to let you buy the supplies direct. Contractor will not like that for several reasons. Either way you are making a messy transaction that may bite you later on various issues that are not worth it

I was looking to buy a 5000 mc prepaid and or gift card and could not find one. I only could find one for $500. My new shower doors are $4500 I don't think I could get them to use 9 gift cards.


Amex gifts don't count towards your spend threshold.

Anyone know of a retailer where you an buy $1000 gift cards for Visa?

When we remodeled our bathroom we did the work ourselves, and you can buy the materials at Home Depot, as we did, which I assure you takes Amex. But you have to be handy. Bathrooms are not very difficult though so it's a thought, yes? As another poster says, many contractors are basically you know what bags and they are worried about chargebacks, so you can forget about a d. taking a card that can be charged back.

When we remodeled our bathroom we did the work ourselves, and you can buy the materials at Home Depot, as we did, which I assure you takes Amex. But you have to be handy. Bathrooms are not very difficult though so it's a thought, yes? As another poster says, many contractors are basically you know what bags and they are worried about chargebacks, so you can forget about a d. taking a card that can be charged back.


I have worked it out with my contractors to let me purchase all of the materials from Home Depot already. It's the Labor and the shower people I am having issues. Amex spent a lot of time with me trying to find a workaround and they suggested purchasing gift cards (nonamex) I am just trying to find the largest denomination that I can purchase using a credit card. I think I found a place with $1000 increments, so that might solve my issue.

You could ask them to get a SQUARE merchant account. I would send them a link that shows Square only charges +2.?% for Amex. But to be frank...A lot contractors are going to shy away from Amex just on the basis that Amex is very agressive on behalf of cardholders if their is a dispute. I know plastic surgeon who refuses all credit cards just so he does not have to deal with chargebacks aka disputes
The only other method is you could ask that contractor to let you buy the supplies direct. Contractor will not like that for several reasons. Either way you are making a messy transaction that may bite you later on various issues that are not worth it

My Plumber agreed to take square, so am happy with that. Is that why merchants don't take it, due to the chance of chargebacks? I always figured it was the higher fee

I was looking to buy a 5000 mc prepaid and or gift card and could not find one. I only could find one for $500. My new shower doors are $4500 I don't think I could get them to use 9 gift cards.


Amex gifts don't count towards your spend threshold.

Anyone know of a retailer where you an buy $1000 gift cards for Visa?

Do $1000 Visa gift cards exist?

Do $1000 Visa gift cards exist?

I found $750 and $1000 the $1000 only if it is a corporate account, which I can use my business, seems like they will take a credit card, but they have to call you first. Will let you know if it works and if they will take AMEX. Fingers crossed.

My Plumber agreed to take square, so am happy with that. Is that why merchants don't take it, due to the chance of chargebacks? I always figured it was the higher feeI'm pretty sure it's the higher fee. Both Citi and Amex (not sure about other card issuers) give you 60 days from the date the charge posts to your account to dispute it. At least in Texas, that gives residential contractors at least two weeks to send out lien notices if a charge has been disputed (assuming payment is made at the completion of the job); commercial contractors get an extra month. But I think some states (Florida?) have much shorter windows.

We have suppliers that take all cards, and they're not shy about telling you their preference (Visa or MC). But with the economy the way it is (and the number of dirtbag contractors out there), they're just happy to get paid on time.

That's why I was so surprised that the company I want to make my shower doors was willing to walk away from a $5000 sale. Normally I can get a company to give I , but this one would not.

Still waiting to hear from Visa, hoping to hear something tomorrow.

Does PayPal take Amex?

Does PayPal take Amex?
Yes, Paypal takes Amex Cards for their usual fee of 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction. And this WILL count as a purchase.



Amex gifts don't count towards your spend threshold.

You are correct, the Gift card itself does not count towards your spending threshold but when you use your Amex to buy a Gift card in a store (Let's say Safeway) the actual purchase of the Gift Card does count as it's a normal purchase in a grocery store. I do it regularly with Starbucks cards.

The difficulty you may encounter is the 4-6% user fee when you purchase Visa or MC cards. (All the Visa/MC cards I've seen in Canada have a user fee).

Still waiting to hear from Visa, hoping to hear something tomorrow.

I think you are probably waiting to hear from a bank, because VISA does not issue cards. If you menation the name of the card issuer somone may know if they accept American Express as a funding source.

Making Amazon Payments to these contractors might be an option. Of course you're limited to 1K/month in fee-free payments per Amazon account.

Likewise, there are a couple of our larger vendors won't take Amex. If there is a work around, it'd be great.

Greetings,

I have a large purchase that I was intending to make on an AMEX card to clear spending requirements for a sign up bonus.

However, I learned that the vendor takes VISA/MC/DISCOVER but not AMEX.

Is there anywhere I can buy a VISA/MC/DISCOVER cash card for several thousand dollars on AMEX, without taking a huge hit in fees?

Thanks very much in advance,

JoeJetplane's question has been appended to this recent, unfinished, discussion about the same quest.

If you're willing to take the transaction fees, there are visa/mc prepaid options that you can buy reloads for. Just buy the reloads with Amex and eat the $4-6 per $500 fee if it's that important to you. The netspend and visabuxx options come to mind.

The netspend and visabuxx options come to mind.

My experience has been that Amex is not an option for credit card reloads of these cards, only Visa and Mastercard.

I am remodeling my bathroom and many of my vendors don't accept AMEX. It's about 10,000 worth and I would like it to qualify for my threshold if possible or it seems a waste of benefits.

Any workarounds to this? I have the cash, but just need to get some AMEX credit for it

I am always doing house remodeling, working with a number of contractors. Setting aside materials (which you can purchase on your AMEX); if you offer to pay your contractors in CASH they will often give you a substantial discount.

Such (cash) discount, far exceeds the value of 8,000 to 10,000 worth of points. :D:D

Save the AMEX purchases for travel+retail where you have no choice. Contractors are ripe for discounts, IMO. ;)

I am always doing house remodeling, working with a number of contractors. Setting aside materials (which you can purchase on your AMEX); if you offer to pay your contractors in CASH they will often give you a substantial discount.

Such (cash) discount, far exceeds the value of 8,000 to 10,000 worth of points. :D:D

Save the AMEX purchases for travel+retail where you have no choice. Contractors are ripe for discounts, IMO. ;)

+1....recently got a $3400 bid for doing a patio. I asked what discount for all cash and they knocked $400 off. That is much better than the points value.

Hello,

I was going to pay some of my bills using the starwood preferred card to help meet minimums, but they don't take American Express. Any suggestions on ways to get around it? What do most American Express users do when the card isn't accepted?

Thanks for the help

sound48's question has been appended to a recent discussion of this topic.

Hello,

I was going to pay some of my bills using the starwood preferred card to help meet minimums, but they don't take American Express. Any suggestions on ways to get around it? What do most American Express users do when the card isn't accepted?

Thanks for the help

If they take MC or Visa, you can go to a store (most grocery and office supply stores sell them) and buy a Visa or Mastercard prepaid "gift card." You can usually load up to $500 on them, and the fee is typically $5.95.

Hi,

Please help me out. I have a AMEX $5,000 in 3 mos to meet for 50,000 MR. I have a annual auto insurance bill due next week. I logged in last night. Found out my insurance company only take visa and mastercard. I really want it charged on my AMEX. any way to work arounnd? all inputs are appreciated. Thanks in advance

Welcome to Flyertalk. xinwen69's question has been appended to a previous discussion of this topic.

See my post above. Go buy gift cards and use them to pay your insurance. I'd suggest buying one first as a test because not all gift cards work online in all scenarios. Your promo offer sounds like a Plat card, so unfortunately you can't get bonus points by buying at a supermarket or gas station for 2x points, but it will at least let you move the spend for a net fee of $5.95 per $500 spent.

You could use paypal. If the vendor doesn't want to pay the fees, you could send it as a "personal" payment and elect to pay the fees yourself. However, given that the fee is ~3% ($300 on $10,000), I suspect that won't earn out the points you receive, unless your typical point "spending" yields greater than $0.03 on the dollar (certainly possible if the use is an international fight).

I have a 7-8k charge coming up later this month. I am trying to hit a spend on my Amex but the vendor only takes Visa. What's the easiest way to do this - the best I have got is $500 visas from the grocery ( with $3.95 charge for each one) I am a bit worried that buying 14-15 visas in a short period would cause me problems with Amex.

Got an office depot nearby.....

WF prepaid. I have seen ads for a mastercard pre-paid product....

Go to a store and buy the $500 visa gift cards. I've bought multiple cards and then read off like 8 different cards for insurance bills etc. You might want to contact the company you are paying and see if they will take multiple credit cards to pay off the bill.

I have a 7-8k charge coming up later this month. I am trying to hit a spend on my Amex but the vendor only takes Visa. What's the easiest way to do this - the best I have got is $500 visas from the grocery ( with $3.95 charge for each one) I am a bit worried that buying 14-15 visas in a short period would cause me problems with Amex.

Amex won't know that you bought VIsa gift cards at a retail store - they can't (yet!) see the itemized receipt.

Well, if you charge $503.95, several times over, that might look suspicious. But throw in some random things you need to buy anyway, go to different stores, etc. if you're concerned.

nic3456's question has been appended to the established thread on this topic.

You might consider paying your Amex bill in advance (assuming you have the cash) so that when you charge the gift cards, you don't actually owe them money.

Do $1000 Visa gift cards exist?

giftcardmall.com

American Express launched a new prepaid debit card called Bluebird. It gives some exciting opportunities to collect points even for check payments etc.

Bluebird discussion here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/1395628-wal-mart-amex-take-banks-bluebird-debit-card.html