Fee Free Gift Cards from Amex
 

I was poking around the Amex site yesterday and ran across this promo til July 15th. You can buy gift cards without the typical $3.95 charge each or the $2 per month fee by using promo code BA2008

It takes 2-8 days for shipping at $7.95 and I can buy 10 -$500 cards per order. Sounds to me like 5K SPG or TYP or Airline Miles or Hotel points for $7.95 per day until the 15th of July.

I am assuming buying these will be treated as a purchase. But where can we unload them? Post Office money orders? Our local bank or Credit Union?

Or is this only good for those with large upcoming purchases?

I'd appreciate the collective wisdom of the group figuring how I can add 5K SPG to my acount every day for the next week. By PM or posting here.

Thanks

Can't buy postal money orders with a credit card (but can with a debit card):

http://www.usps.com/money/sendingmon...rs/welcome.htm

If there's a way to monetize them on a risk-free basis, it could definitely be a way to pick up a lot of miles / points quickly (or if one just has a big redemption coming up in the near future). However, I am not sure there's an easy way to monetize this.

There isn't an easy way to use them. Every so often amex has a promo- buy a few cards and we'll send you a $25 bonus card. I've participated in the last two promotions, but I always end up with a few hundred bucks in amex cards to burn off. End up using them to buy store gift cards and spend them on purchases I was going to make anyway- which is fine in most cases, but realize then you're losing the original opportunity cost of just using your credit card on those purchases (especially if you have select spend bonuses- like on gas, groceries, drugstores, etc.) And you lose all the great perks of a platinum card, like extended warranty, purchase protection..

It was worth it for me (2x $25 gift cards, minus 2x $3.95 activation fees, plus $25 bonus card still puts me ahead $17), but if you're just doing it for miles it probably isn't. If you want to give the cards to your nieces and nephews for christmas, then go for it by all means :)

that's what I'm noticing too. I did a few loops on the promo you describe, and now I'm trying to use the AMEX cards. They don't seem to work at pay-at-the-pump, and splitting orders down to sub-$25 is a bit of a pain.

Pay at the pump is generally an exclusion but I even had trouble using one Sunday at the retailer (Rite Aid) where I purchased it under the Spring Fling promotion . . .

If you can't monetize them without spending them, then they just don't seem worth it.

As mentioned by someone else, you lose too much opportunity cost; cash in bank, and reward bonus for just making the purchase with the CC. I would never use them at the 'pump' because I'm grandfathered into the that nice 'Chase Cash Plus Rewards' program that gives 5% cashback at gas stations, drug stores and supermarkets.

You're likely better off buying travelers checks with your Amex at $1000 per week.

Naturally, if you find an easy way to turn these back into cash, please do share the information :)