My money would be on Saks, rather than Amex, since Saks is interested in the card holder making a purchase as big as possible every six month, rather than picking up a gift card every six month that you could even potentially sell.
That's too bad on Saks. If they wanted to only give the credit for people that make larger purchases then they could have made the credit a $50 off $1000+ (just throwing a number) purchase or something of the sort. The fact that they made it $50 off $50 precludes them from discriminating against anyone who only spends exactly $50 regardless of what exactly they purchased.
They have a right to exclude gift cards and if there's a way for them to track that and not apply the credit to such a purchase in the first place then that would be the correct way to do that, not to give the credit and then claw it back after deeper investigation.
Originally Posted by
notquiteaff
Does Saks sell gift cards in fixed denominations, or can you buy one (in store) for an arbitrary amount (say, $51)?
You can buy any arbitrary amount in store. The cards are empty and the cashier applies the amount you want to purchase which you then pay for.