When I introduce AMEX credit cards, I often say that you can earn back $100 per year with AMEX Offer. So how exactly do you do that? Here’s a look back at the AMEX Offers I’ve used over the years.

amex-offer

2016 AMEX Offer Summary

So far, one AMEX card has earned back $172.

  • Coach.com: Spend $250, get 5,000 MR: You could buy physical gift cards directly on Coach.com and still trigger this Offer. Those physical cards should also work both online and in-store at CoachOutlet. I bought a few gift cards and planned to use them to buy bags as gifts to bring home. See details: Latest Best AMEX Offer Roundup
  • Ebags.com: Spend $75, get $15: Ebags.com sells all kinds of bags and luggage. Combined with 20% cash back from a shopping portal and a new-user discount, it was possible to get bags at about 70% off. I bought a few Fjallraven items to bring home as gifts. See details: Latest Best AMEX Offer Roundup
  • Boxed.com: Spend $50, get 2,000 MR: Boxed.com sells all kinds of household essentials. Combined with the new-user code 10off and shopping portal cash back, this was basically an instant deep discount. I bought some household necessities. See details: Latest Best AMEX Offer Roundup
  • Staples.com: Spend $100, get $25: Staples.com sells many gift cards, including Visa gift cards, eBay, Target, and Sephora, so buying $100 on one card completed the Offer immediately. I personally bought Target and eBay cards; if you don’t need store gift cards, just buy a Visa gift card. See details: Latest Best AMEX Offer Roundup
  • Jet.com: Spend $50, get $20: Jet.com was similar to Amazon and sold all kinds of items. It also had 15%-20% promotions for new users. I bought some snacks and household goods.

2015 AMEX Offer Summary

One AMEX card earned back $330. Although AMEX’s regular Small Business Day Offer became targeted in 2015, I still saved quite a bit by stacking different offers. The basic strategy was still to buy Visa gift cards, gas cards, eBay, Amazon, or high-value gift cards and resell them directly. Of course, since the total number of my AMEX cards increased sharply, the overall savings added up nicely.

  • BERGDORF GOODMAN: Spend $750, get $150: Buying gift cards also triggered the Offer, and the gift cards could be sold at about a 10% discount or used yourself.
  • DOLLAR GENERAL: Spend $25, get $5, up to three times: Dollar General sells many gift cards, including Amazon and Shell gas cards. I bought gas cards, which worked out to roughly 20% off.
  • TOYS R US: Spend $25, get $5: Toys R Us had $500 Visa gift cards, eBay gift cards, and more. At checkout, you could manually split the payment so each credit card paid just $25. I personally bought a $500 Visa gift card and split it across 20 cards.
  • NEWEGG.COM: Spend $100, get $25: Newegg.com sold various gift cards, including Visa gift cards and eBay, and gift card purchases also earned shopping portal cash back. I bought Visa gift cards and eBay gift cards.
  • AMAZON.COM: Spend $60, get $15: Amazon.com also sold various third-party gift cards. I bought some Nordstrom and Amazon gift cards.
  • Best Buy: Spend $200, get $20: Best Buy sold eBay gift cards, Visa gift cards, and various gas cards. I bought Visa gift cards and liquidated them directly.
  • NM LAST CALL: Spend $100, get $30: Last Call gift cards could be used interchangeably with NM and BG. Buying gift cards also triggered the Offer, and the gift cards could be sold at about a 10% discount or used yourself.
  • OFFICE DEPOT: Spend $50, get $10: Office Depot had $200 Visa gift cards, and one Visa gift card could be split across four credit cards at checkout.
  • DOLLAR GENERAL: Spend $25, get $5: Dollar General sells many gift cards, including Amazon and Shell gas cards. I bought gas cards, which worked out to roughly 20% off.
  • SAMSCLUB.COM: Spend $20, get $20: Sam's Club sold Visa gift cards online, and you could split the payment yourself. Also, Sam's Club gift cards and Walmart gift cards were interchangeable.
  • Lowe's: Spend $50, get $10: Lowe's sold many kinds of gift cards, including gas cards, eBay, Amazon, and more. I bought some gas cards, which worked out to about 20% off.
  • NEWEGG.COM: Spend $100, get $25: Newegg.com sold various gift cards, including Visa gift cards and eBay, and gift card purchases also earned shopping portal cash back. I bought Visa gift cards.

2014 Offer Summary

One AMEX card earned back $160. AMEX’s Small Business Day Offer was the biggest highlight in 2014: getting $30 back on $30 per card was amazing. For the other merchants, I mostly bought Visa gift cards and gas cards. Since I didn’t yet understand buying and selling gift cards at the time, I skipped quite a few Offers and didn’t earn as much as I could have.

  • Best Buy: Spend $200, get $25: Best Buy sold eBay gift cards, Visa gift cards, and various gas cards. I bought Visa gift cards and liquidated them directly.
  • TOYS R US: Spend $75, get $15: Toys R Us had $500 Visa gift cards, eBay gift cards, and more. At checkout, you could manually split the payment so each credit card paid just $75. I personally bought eBay gift cards.
  • STARBUCKS: Spend $10, get $5: I directly bought a $10 Starbucks gift card. At 50% off, it was an easy buy.
  • Small-business-saturday: Spend $10, get $10, three times: I bought a bunch of $10 gift cards at a local grocery store and got $30 for free.
  • OFFICE DEPOT: Spend $50, get $10: Office Depot had $200 Visa gift cards, and one Visa gift card could be split across four credit cards at checkout.
  • Home Depot: Spend $100, get $20: Office Depot had $100 Visa gift cards, so one AMEX card could be used to buy one Visa gift card.
  • Staples.com: Spend $100, get $20: Staples.com sold many gift cards, including Visa gift cards, eBay, Target, and Sephora. I directly bought a $100 Visa gift card.
  • WAL-MART.COM: Spend $15, get $5: One card buying a $15 Walmart gift card got the job done.
  • Lowe's: Spend $50, get $10: Lowe's sold many kinds of gift cards, including gas cards, eBay, Amazon, and more. I bought some gas cards, which worked out to about 20% off.
  • Staples.com: Spend $100, get $20: Staples.com sold many gift cards, including Visa gift cards, eBay, Target, and Sephora. I directly bought a $100 Visa gift card.

2013 Offer Summary

One AMEX card earned back $205. I got my first AMEX card in September 2013, just in time for AMEX’s year-end AMEX Offer spree during the holiday shopping season. After that, I couldn’t get excited about other cash-back cards anymore. Just one AMEX card earned me $160 in three months.

  • Kohl's: Spend $50, get $10: Kohl's sold various gift cards, including Amazon, gas cards, and Staples. I bought some gas cards and Staples gift cards.
  • ZAPPOS.COM: Spend $150, get $30: I didn’t bother with gift cards and just bought a bag directly.
  • TIGER DIRECT: Spend $100, get $30: I bought a Free After Rebate item and effectively cashed out directly.
  • LANDS END: Spend $100, get $25: At the time, LandsEnd gift cards could be used at Sears, so I bought some gift cards and got in on a small deal at Sears.
  • AMAZON.COM: Spend $75, get $25: I bought Amazon’s own gift cards.
  • Small-business-saturday: Spend $10, get $10: I bought a $10 gift card at a local grocery store and got $10 for free.
  • NEIMN MARCUS: Spend $250, get $50: Buying gift cards also triggered the Offer, and the gift cards could be sold at about a 10% discount or used yourself.
  • Murphy USA: Spend $5, get $5: I got $5 of gas for free.
  • Lowe's: Spend $50, get $10: Lowe's sold many kinds of gift cards, including gas cards, eBay, Amazon, and more. I bought some gas cards, which worked out to about 20% off.
  • Forever 21: Spend $25, get $5: I bought some clothes.
  • Staples.com: Spend $100, get $25: Staples.com sold many gift cards, including Visa gift cards, eBay, Target, and Sephora. I directly bought a $100 Visa gift card.
  • TripAdvisor: Register an account, get $5: I registered an account for every AMEX card and got free money.

Additional Notes

  • I picked my oldest AMEX Blue Cash Everyday credit card to summarize the AMEX Offers I’ve used, and added a few MR-related AMEX Offers from other cards as a supplementamm
  • This is only the money saved from AMEX Offers on one primary card. My authorized user cards basically saved the same amount, because they also had separate AMEX Offers. So you can imagine how much some people can earn in a year if they have 100 cards total across primary and authorized user cards!
  • There are fees when buying Visa gift cards or buying and selling gift cards, but once you factor in the AMEX card’s own 1%-2% cash back and the occasional shopping portal cash back on gift card purchases, those fees are basically offset. So when calculating total profits, I didn’t account for those costs and simply added up the rebate amounts.
  • Most of you probably won’t go after Offers as aggressively as I do, so estimating that one AMEX card can earn back about $100 per year through AMEX Offer is still pretty reasonable.

Related Articles