Originally Posted by
mdggdm
...I do periodically purchase gift cards for resturants, gas cards for employees, gifts and just to have mad money in my wallet instead of cash.
Sounds as if it was a straightforward market research call. There are two different classes of gift cards:
Merchant cards are issued by retailers and are sold at face value. There is absolutely no restriction on buying such with an American Express card.
American Express, MasterCard and VISA also sell prepaid cards which can be used at most (but not all) places where credit cards are accepted. These are sold above face value, and a card issuer
may consider them to be a
cash equivalent if purchased directly from a financial institution. These are the type of cards most often discussed on Flyertalk.
Which type was American Express asking about?