i've purchased gift cards from randalls, safeway's sister store, with a credit card without problems earlier this year. they were coded as regular grocery store purchases on my chase statement. maybe 6 years ago i bought gift cards at cvs with a credit card but i don't know if they still allow that to be quite honest. i think some good general rules to follow with amex are 1) don't go crazy with sudden big purchases and 2) if you're going to buy gift cards try to add them to other grocery purchases so the totals aren't exactly $50, $100, $200, etc.

i was trying to meet the spend requirement on a new hilton amex before the statement closes today and had no problem prepaying my att bill with a 0 balance