More cash back for Amex gift cards

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TopCashBack now offers cash back for American Express Gift Cards.

One convenient way to meet credit card spend requirements quickly is to buy gift cards.  American Express gift cards, in particular, are convenient because they can be purchased online through cash back portals, so that you actually profit a bit when making the purchase.  You can then use those gift cards at any place that takes Amex for payment.

TopCashBack currently offers 1.5% cash back for American Express gift cards, which slightly beats BigCrumbs, which currently offers 1.4% cash back. Some people do better with BigCrumbs by setting up accounts for their relatives and referring themselves. Each referrer gets .2% cash back, and the referrer of the referrer also gets .2% cash back. So, it’s possible to get as much as 1.8% cash back from BigCrumbs, but this clearly violates their terms & conditions. Personally, I wouldn’t do this, as it crosses my ethical line.

There are two versions of the American Express gift card shop. One is intended for personal use and one for business. Only the personal one is available through TopCashBack, but both are available through BigCrumbs. (Edit: both personal and business cards are available through both portals). The personal site limits orders to $5000 per month whereas the business site limits orders to $75000 per month.

On Friday, last week, I tested out TopCashBack by going through their portal to buy a $3000 Amex gift card.  Two days later, 1.5% cash back showed up in my TopCashBack account as pending:

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It is not unusual (with any cash back portal) for it to take a few months before the cash back becomes payable.  It will be interesting to see how long this one takes.

If you’re interested in saving money buying gift cards via TopCashBack, here’s how…

1. Log into TopCashBack

Search for American Express Prepaid and Gift Cards. Click “Get Cashback Now”.

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2. Buy gift cards

In order to minimize fees, I recommend buying fewer, larger gift cards. The limit, per card, is $3000. Also, coupons are usually available to reduce gift card shipping fees. For example, you can reduce shipping charges by $5.95 by using the promo code AFLQ12013.

If you buy more than one gift card, you might do better to use a code that removes each card’s $3.95 fee. Try code EMSVCA.

Pay with the best rewards credit card available, but do not pay with a Citibank card as Citi treats these purchases as cash advances. If you’re unsure about whether your credit card company will treat these as regular purchases, call to set your cash advance limit to zero before purchasing gift cards.

3. Calculate Savings

Let’s show an example: If you go through TopCashBack and buy a $3000 gift card using the shipping promo code shown above, you will pay a total of $3006.95. Then, you should get $45 back from TopCashBack.  Your profit, then, would be $45 – $6.95 = $38.05.  As a percentage, the cash back gives you a savings of 1.27%.

About Prepaid Cards

American Express offers free prepaid reloadable cards through their site.  Since, TopCashBack advertises $10 back for prepaid cards, I went through the portal and ordered a prepaid card to see if I would get $10 for free.  So far, this “purchase” hasn’t shown up in my TopCashBack account, but I’ll let you know if or when it does.

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