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But there is an easy workaround. Read on…
I’ve written a lot recently about the ability to buy American Express gift cards and get cash back through sites like BigCrumbs and TopCashBack. The best deals are usually the highest denomination gift cards since the card fees and shipping charges are then a very small percent of the overall cost. Well, sometime this week, American Express changed their site. It used to be that you could buy their gift cards with denominations up to $3,000. Now, if you start from a cash back portal, the highest denomination you’ll see is $500.
Browse directly to American Express:
If you browse directly to American Express gift cards and click on the generic card on the top left, you can select values ranging all the way to $3,000:
Browse via cash back site:
If you start from a cash back site like BigCrumbs, the picture is different. Now the largest denomination available is $500:
Simple Workaround
Currently, there appears to be a very simple workaround to this limit. The trick is to buy a Personalized gift card which can still have a value of up to $3000:
To find the personalized gift card option, scroll all the way to the bottom of the Amex gift card screen and look for the little text saying “Gift Cards”:
This technique has the added benefit of allowing you to put your name on the gift card. I haven’t tried this technique myself yet, but I’ve heard from several readers that cash back is awarded for personalized gift cards.
Hat tip: Delta Points
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[…] Low value gift cards: A third problem is that when you first click through to American Express, you will only be shown gift cards with very low total values (most top out at $200). If you do not find a way to buy these gift cards with waived fees, then each card’s $3.95 fee will eat up your 2% rebate from TopCashBack. Also, trying to pay large tax bills with a pile of $200 Amex gift cards would surely be an extremely unpleasant experience. Luckily, there is a simple workaround to this issue. It is still possible to buy $3,000 personalized Amex gift cards and quite a few readers have reported that cash back is awarded for these purchase. For details on how to buy these gift cards, please see “Amex takes away $3K cash back gift cards.” […]
UPDATE: The AMEX giftcard cashback has now been in the “confirmed” section for 1 month!
It appears that no one has gotten cash back from purchasing personalized Amex gift cards. Until someone confirms at least one positive result, you might want to update the report with a note indicating this fact.
Michael: TCB usually shows the pending cash back in a few hours or a day or so. It sounds like Amex didn’t report the sale to TCB correctly.
Sorry, I meant June 15, and June 18… Not April
This is the first time to use TCB. April 15, I ordered the max limit for AMEX gift cards. I first cleared my browser, and did not use any coupon code (even thought I had one). I then clicked through to AMEX web site and went to the bottom of the page to gift cards, then to personal cards and order 2 cards. On the TCB website, it shows I clicked through, but it says I haven’t earned anything yet… Today is April 18. How long does it take to show up?
Sam: yes, based on my experience you should get points.
Will I get points buying amex gift cards with my amex SPG card? Or will amex consider this a cash advance.
[…] As I reported in April, American Express changed its website so that if you begin your shopping from a cash back portal, they will only allow you to buy cards with up to $500 in value (see “Amex takes away $3K cash back gift cards“). […]
Has been more than a week and still waiting for TCB to respond. I am pretty sure I won’t get the CB 🙁
I have bought two personalized gcs at $3k. I used a promo code on one of them, but not the other. I have received no cashback, and I have lodged claims with TCB for both of them.
I didn’t get CB going through gift card link on the bottom right of the page.
I think if you want to get CB, you need to pay 3.95$/500$ fee.
I bought 3k two weeks ago and CB is not showing up in TCB. Submitted a ticket just now. We shall see…
Docomo: I don’t know. I’d like to hear too if anyone has done this recently (bought a $3k personalized card) and received cash back?
Hi Frequent Miler and everyone, I wonder if there’s any recent success story with this? This is new to me and I am about to buy a $3000 gift card. The only way to get it is to first go through the TopCashBack link and then click “Gift Cards” at the bottom of the page in order to order a $3000 gift card. However, I wonder if using this trick will still trigger cashback? Anyone got this to work recently, thanks for any help or comment. Have a wonderful weekend 🙂