ozstamps

In OZ we get one MR point per $AUD spent. That a 2.8 benter deal than a UK member or 1.8 better deal than a USA member. A weak currency is not ALL bad.

Re cars, most prestige dealers take them for full amount of car. GLADLY. huge signs at dealer yards (and I mean HUGE!) saying Amex accepted etc.

Here is the deal. Very simple -

A new BMW is $100,000. The CEO is allowed new car of his choice to 100K under his salary package deal, and the company will pay the $100,000 and it is budgeted for. Company writes cheque for $100,000 and gives it to executive and he places into his Amex account, placing him 100K in credit. Cheque stub says "New car for Bill Gates - Acme Car Sales". Car dealer chanrges car at list or thereabouts, so who gives a toss about 2% on that basis. Phones Amex anyway, and they do a deal at typically 1.5% of that figure for a single sale. Amex processes charge no hassles as card is in credit to that sum.

No one loses.

1. Amex make dough at 1.5%.

2. Company pays 100K for car, no more no less.

3. Executive gets 100,000 points in Amex MR

4. Car dealer gets a sale at close to list on a luxury car.



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~ Glen ~

alexbs

I dealt with a wholesale business, who were putting 5 Million AUD per month through their personal amex cards.

THey had literally Millions of points.

ozstamps

Alexbs, yes I guess spending $5M a month WOULD give you millions of points.

Frankly I always wondered when Amex would re-rate the points based on the cruddy dollar. I have about a million points, and moved that sort of amount to Starwoowd previously.

Yes, we have relatively limited use of the points via the Qantas + affiliates etc, but when I can get 11,000 km round Australia J Class trips like this with rather little points, we KILL the USA schemes when you think about it! To do this on UA would need 5 times as many points.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/002911.html



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~ Glen ~

Ferrari

It must just be in Canada that the 1.5 points are applied, i think its great, i brought my Range Rover with my Amex....the only draw back was when Amex withdraw from my airmiles program (AC)

The program cost $50.00 per year...well worth it......

eastwest

Oz, (or any other merchants out there)
Just out of curiousity, what's to stop the following:

You and I are friends and in cahoots. I let you (your company) charge X amount each month. You then write me a check for 98% of what I charged. (98% or whatever would cover your fees from Amex.)

I use it to pay off the charge, and the cycle starts over. Especially if I could get 1.5 miles to dollar -- I could really clean up.

Am I missing something obvious here?

-levi aka eastwest

cordelli

Lojack is a radio transmitter that is activated when your car is stolen. The police can activate it, and then it emits a tracing signal so the car can be located. It's very useful, but only in areas where the police are equipped to track it. If there are not any police with the equipment where the car is then it's of no use.

ozstamps

Levi - Yep. TAX!!!!!! Why would I want to let you put say $100,000 thru my business and get nothing out of it??? My turnover gets boosted by that fake 100K. And there is this nasty man here called the Tax Commissioner who wants a CHUNK of that increased turnover. Then there is GST, then there is ....

And I get audited and say .. "hey man, get off my case - Levi got a free ticket to Greenland out of this deal".

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~ Glen ~

carpeperdiem

Besides the fact that it violate most merchant account agreements and the merchant can lose their teminal and merchant priveleges, etc. ?

cpd

carpeperdiem

Besides the fact that it violate most merchant account agreements and the merchant can lose their teminal and merchant priveleges, etc. ?

cpd

clanson

Most recently I used my Starwood Amex to pay for a new Mazda Van. I started by contacting the dealer, informing them we were in the market and advising them we would only purchase if we could use the card.

Last year, I paid for my new Lexus in full on my Aadvantage Visa card. Prior to presenting the card, I had obtained a letter from Visa International stating that refusal to accept a Visa card by a merchant is a contravention of their agreement. Although most attempt to, a merchant cannot limit acceptance of the card. You either accept it or you dont. When in doubt they should read their agreement with Visa/Mastercard.

BoSoxFan45

I wonder if I could do this with my red Sox season tickets. Just $4000, but that's $4000 miles. They take visa/MC/Amex for regular tickets, but not for season tickets. Think I could press them on this?

eastwest

Not being a businessman, I missed some pretty obvious ones . . . Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer my question.

-levi aka eastwest

MukMuk

tom & cordelli, thanks for your help with the LoJack. Whatever will you americans come up with next!

In Australia, a Visa card linked to Ansett Global Rewards program recently introduced this clause in their contract:

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The Card must be used wholly or predominately for personal domestic or household expenditure.

It may also be used for reasonable expenditure of a personal business nature.

We reservce the right to determine, in any instance, whether the use or proposed use of your Card has been or will be in accordance with this requirement.
------

Shareholder

Ferrari, when did Amex have a link with AC's Aeroplan points program? It has always been CP's CanadianPlus that was the primary FF program in Canada. Now we are left with DL and CO as places to put these points, or Starwood but at a very poor exchange rate. [And of course, Amex's own somewhat inferior to its US program credit towards purchase of tickets.]

But Ken Hamer is on to something too, since we get 1.5 points (Amex Plat Canada) per Cdn$ and this converts at a 1:1 ratio to points in both US programs. That's almost twice the points per dollar than is given by Amex in the US, or by Visa and Mastercards associated with airline programs. As ozstamps points out, maybe there is one good thing in having a weak currency.

rmccamy

I recently put $10,000 on the DL Skymiles Amex as part of my purchase of a new Blazer. I signed up for the Skymiles card mainly just to make this one purchase. The mileage award was 10K bonus for the signup, 10K for the money spent (dollar for dollar), and a one-time 50K bonus for spending $10,000 in the first six months. In other words, a $10,000 purchase = 70,000 Skymiles! Due to Delta Double Miles on certain other purchases, I've continued using it, but will probably get rid of it when I'm due to re-up the fee in a year.

Only downside to the deal: the annual fee to get this card was $85, and I don't take delivery on the 50,000 mile bonus until Aug. or Sept. 2001.

Still, it was nice to sort of feel like I will get a couple of free plane tickets along with my new car.

BTW: You cannot use the GM Mastercard to purchase a new GM car and redeem the earnings on that purchase.