2.25% cashback on Amex Gift Cards, but changes in fees.
Update 2: There is anecdotal stories that Top Cash Back has not been paying out for purchases of Amex gift cards. Their site currently states that they are no offering cash back for these gift cards.
Currently purchases via Big Crumbs are posting in 7-10 days. If your purchase has not posted within 14 days you can submit a ticket. They will verify your click-through and typically post the purchase within a day or two after receiving your ticket.
Some member have reported success liquidating Amex gift cards at CVS to purchase vanilla reloads. You might want to test this option with your local store as some cashiers want the name on the card to match your credit card. They will type in the last four digits of your card during the purchase.
Update: Cash back rate is currently 1.4%. Historically the rate changes very little over the year until November and December. These can be used on Amazon Payments and other methods to liquidate. I would suggest entering in your cards information with the wrong expiration date, saving the card, and then updating to the correct expiration date to avoid the $1 temporary hold so that you can liquidate all funds on the gift card. I always suggest reading the most recent posts to keep up to date before making a large purchase. The most recent posts usually contain either shipping or fee codes. These codes tend to come in emails put out by American Express. Something most if not all bloggers will not mention is that these cards come by UPS and are dropped off on your doorstep without having to sign. So please be aware of this. Though, there have not been any issues with this posted on Flyertalk.
Bigcrumbs just bumped the cash back up to 2.25%!! Even higher than the black friday 3 day special. Special shout out to Judy who was my referral for posting about the jump in cashback over black Friday weekend.
I believe the black friday weekend special was fee-free and $3 2-day shipping, but this has changed.
Do not use a coupon code when purchasing to remove the fees, you may not get cashback. Use code WRAP12P for free standard shipping, and a backup code for free shipping is AFLQ42012. For business you can use AFLQ42012 for $5.95 off shipping.
For personal Amex Gift Cards the max per order is $5k. So I would suggest to maximize purchasing a $3k and a $2k card since there is a flat $3 shipping.
$5k * 2.25% = $112.5
$112.5 - $3.95 fee - $3.95 fee = $104.60 back per transaction
Business Amex Gift Cards
$75k * 2.25% = $1687.50
$1687.5- $98.75 fees = $1588.75
I do receive a commission for anyone who uses my link, but will help provide any answers regardless if someone uses my link or not.
I also suggest not purchasing what you cannot liquidate. AZ payments provide a fee free way to liquidate up to $3k per month. Bluebird you can purchase vanilla refills a drug stores for a nominal fee. Max load for BB per card is $5k.
Williampaid has a flat rate of 2.45% to help liquidate if you want to do some research.
In my opinion this is a great way to boost your SPG Amex spending. You maybe be taking a risk when changing your monthly spending habits with Amex. I do not know how prevalent financial reviews are on here. This is a great opportunity to get spending on your Amex Cards for points and put a little money in your pocket. There are several easy methods of liquidating these cards right now and in the end you are gaining points and liquidation methods allow for a bit of cash back.
I do want to warn that the two day shipping is dropped off at my door step. So keep that in mind. If anyone want to chime in with any mistakes or extra input go for it. The bonus posted on my Bigcrumbs account within days of reviving my gift cards. Cash back with Bigcrumbs is sent faster than any other cashback service.
I've yet to see any mention of this information on the blogs, but would appreciate a shutout to Judy who originally announced the black Friday. Seems after the Amex small business Saturday and now this.. exciting to have some great deals out there to boost spending and earn some SPG points and money in my pocket from the cash back.
Maybe others can chime in with their experiences of using services like other payment services that charge 2.4% fee, and also the limits per month for personal and business gift card orders.
Looks like the point gods have been well to us this season!!
Do not use a coupon code when purchasing using the fee free promotional codes otherwise you will not get cashback. Use code WRAP12P for free standard shipping, and a backup code for free shipping is AFLQ42012. For business you can use AFLQ42012 for $5.95 off shipping.
Could you clarify on this a bit? You said not to use a coupon code when using these promotional codes... are coupon codes and promotional codes not the same thing? What would be an example of a coupon code?
Could you clarify on this a bit? You said not to use a coupon code when using these promotional codes... are coupon codes and promotional codes not the same thing? What would be an example of a coupon code?
If I understand correctly.....free shipping vs free card fees. Free shipping appears to be ok, but getting the cards fee-free can prevent the cash back.
It seems this CB rate is in flux these days. Yesterday afternoon they briefly had it at 1.75%.
I wouldn't be surprised if the rate changes again. Given that 2.25% is the largest I've seen this in years, I doubt the change will be upwards, but, who knows...
If I understand correctly.....free shipping vs free card fees. Free shipping appears to be ok, but getting the cards fee-free can prevent the cash back.
I was denied cashback after using a free shipping code. Also "missing cashback" claims have to be filed promptly.
So when bought on an AMEX card, these count as minimum spend for signup bonus purposes?
Or is that risky if your intention is to liquidate them by bulk paypal/AP/sq/etc...?
I've done it to get spend on my Amex cards. Just remember, Amex can trace who you spend your gift cards with, so there could be a problem.
I would not use sq or any other hand held devices. They are very particular about gift cards being used and I have since gone away from them in terms of doing this. You do not want your money to get tied up for months, which is what they will do. Simply not worth it.
I've done it to get spend on my Amex cards. Just remember, Amex can trace who you spend your gift cards with, so there could be a problem.
I would not use sq or any other hand held devices. They are very particular about gift cards being used and I have since gone away from them in terms of doing this. You do not want your money to get tied up for months, which is what they will do. Simply not worth it.
Amex also knows how often I use Amazon Payment as well. YMMV, but it seems that it is hard to gauge how much they go after these people. Technically they are still making $$ when you liquidate these cards. I think it's kind of like the 50k limit for spending with the Bold card, as some level there might be red flags. I personally wouldn't go out and order $30k+ in business cards.
I would always suggest doing some research if you are going to participate in a deal like this.
Amex also knows how often I use Amazon Payment as well. YMMV, but it seems that it is hard to gauge how much they go after these people. Technically they are still making $$ when you liquidate these cards. I think it's kind of like the 50k limit for spending with the Bold card, as some level there might be red flags. I personally wouldn't go out and order $30k+ in business cards.
I would always suggest doing some research if you are going to participate in a deal like this.
Yeah..i had to cut out amzn for a month...last two months i had quite a bit of spend and it was all amzn, huge red flag to get nailed.
But with 2.25% back...i'm gonna have to buy some up...I actually like using my cap 1 card for this if i have easy liquidation...2 miles per dollar and I can use that card to offset mileage runs for elite status.
I'm curious, does paypal not care how much you send if you are paying a fee? They are obviously providing the service and know you are sending money for whatever reason, but would they shut you down if you sent say $5K a month to somebody? When the fee is less 1% out of pocket, i consider it worthwhile.
I've only failed to get my CB twice but filed claims both times and got it.
Mike
Back in the days of the mint there was a month where they weren't showing up for everyone. Bigcrumbs acknowledged the problem, fixed it, apologized, and if I remember correctly everyone got their money in a timely fashion.
Mine posted a few days after getting the cards in the mail this week. Usually they are a bit faster, guessing they got hit with a lot of black friday transactions?
