ma91pmh

Ok you are right and I am wrong. Amex is much more widely accepted at small businesses than Visa or Mastercard and this promo is just a national holiday where Amex sends money to those small business waving red white and blue flags as they sing along.

mnscout

There are a lot of small businesses in residential areas that do not accept Amex. In fact, most in my neighborhood don't. I think it's more of a stubbornness on the part of merchants than anything else, because they despise that AMEX charges more. There is also the fact that they can get away with it, of course, because pretty much everyone who has Amex will also carry a Visa or Master, so they don't have much of an incentive to take it in the first place.

Centurion

^^^^ I agree 100% with ma91mph+ also a PR move because amex got special treatment and was bailed out of jam during the financial crisis. Some people like me still upset how quickly rules were waived so Amex could have access to Federal Reserve Window to borrow money.

reclusive46

lol sounds a bit like a row of a street near where I live with loads of little convenience stores here in the UK. American Express never used to be accepted by them either. Then one of them accepted it and they all sort of it did lol

The markets are different though, these days in the UK, American Express costs no more than Visa or MasterCard to accept (Doesn't for my wife or brother anyway and they both have different business types and its much cheaper compard to MasterCard World cards). They also charge a flat percentage rather than a percentage and fixed cost, which is good as it means some small shops will have a minimum charge except for Amex. There are also no minimum charges for Discover (If they accept it), but Discover isn't issued in the UK lol!

The only problem it has with some merchants is a reputation of being expensive to take, merchants that looked into it 5 or 10 years ago when it was expensive have never looked again.

There are also rumours of one of the big banks in the UK changing its Visa Debit to a new American Express branded debit card, which will mean that merchants will basically have to accept it or they will have to turn some people away.

ctownflyer

$10 this year: http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/34857

jaymar01

uuugghhh

infamousdx

Sad.... and definitely changes my strategy. Instead of traipsing around town to multiple small businesses, I'll just do my spending at one place. Oh well

ma91pmh

not at all surprised... there was no way $25 per card was sustainable

iahphx

Right, especially since more people became "committed" to gaming it. I'll bet AMEX has seen a material increase in the number of folks signing up for "companion cards" due to this promotion.

I was travelling in Nevada on the day of last year's promo and remember it being somewhat confusing to find participating businesses. I also remember not being 100% sure I'd get my rebate, like when I bought gas at a convenience store, but I did get all my money.

Assuming there's less confusion this year -- that you can easily identify participating businesses -- $10 is probably enough to get me to participate, but in a more limited manner. It seems like gift cards for inexpensive restaurants/stores would be the thing to focus on. Like if your favorite sub shop participates, and you and/or family have a couple of AMEX credit cards, go in and get a handful of $10 gift cards for future use.

I don't think I'd be compelled to actually "shop" for anything, or even choose a restaurant to eat at, for only $10.

FederalFlyer

Since there has always been a requirement that you register cards in advance, with only a limited number of slots, the total amount of money Amex is willing to refund through this program is set in advance and, thus, should be sustainable whether they refund $10 per card, $25 per card or even $1000 per card. The only difference is that by refunding less per card, they can allow more slots for advance registration.

iahphx

But I don't think they've ever cut off registration for this deal. If they did, it would, of course, mostly benefit "the gamers." I know I would have registered all my cards the first day registration opened.

The problem for AMEX with the lower limit is that it kind of defeats the purpose of the promotion. AMEX is known for its higher transaction fees, and small businesses have historically been reluctant to accept AMEX cards. This campaign was designed to show that AMEX was "a friend" of small business. I'm certain that it did drive some traffic. $10 won't drive too much traffic. Perhaps people will stop in to their pet store and buy a bag of dog food.

friedablass

Ouch . This is not exciting at all. Last year if I wanted to make a $50 purchase at one store they had no problem taking 2 different cards and swiping each for $25, but I don't think it will fly to ask them to use 5 different cards for $10 each. They cut the benefit by well over 50%. Oh well, it was nice when we had it and I guess $10 is better than nothing.

reclusive46

Not really a surprise they cut it really. You only really had to look at it in the UK where it was halved from spend £10 get £10 back to spend £10 and get £5 back.

djtsukasa

Interesting how most of the major blogs haven't covered this.

iamfrugal

I know the deal is much smaller this year i.e. $10/card but I will be in Panama.Any ideas to take advantage? I have a large amount of Amex cards.Thanks