American Express is once again bringing back Small Business Saturday on Saturday November 29th. Once again, this is an opportunity to help out small businesses in your community and to get stuff for free. Amex will reimburse you for using registered Amex cards at local merchants on that day. As I reported yesterday via my Quick Deals page, this year’s opportunity is better than ever before:
Earn $30 per Amex card
This year, the terms & conditions allow for 3 $10 statement credits per Amex card. That means it is possible to earn $30 per card!
Enroll Bluebird and Serve
Last year, Serve was included in this promotion, but not Bluebird. This year, the terms & conditions allow for both Bluebird and Serve.
Basics
1. Register each Amex card on November 16
Registration for Small Business Saturday begins on November 16 at 12:00 A.M. MST (“Mountain Standard Time”), and will continue until 11:59 P.M. MST on Nov 29, 2014 unless the registration limit is reached before then (the limit has not been published, to my knowledge). You must register each Amex card in order to participate in this promotion. Here are options for registering (from the Amex T&C):
A. By completing the registration form accessible via ShopSmall.com
B. By logging in to your account at americanexpress.com and clicking on the ‘Amex Offers’ tab or ‘Small Business
Saturday’ offer tile in ‘Amex Offers & Benefits’C. By logging into the American Express App and visiting the ‘Offers For You’ tab in the ‘Membership’ section
D. By adding the offer directly to your connected Card via amex.co/facebook
E. By tweeting #AmexShopSmall to add the offer directly to your connected Card
I highly recommend registering your Amex cards as soon as registration opens to make sure you get in before registration fills up.
2. Find qualifying local merchants
On Small Business Saturday, many local merchants will put up signs showing that they are participating in this promotion. You can also find participating merchants through this online map. Unfortunately, Amex doesn’t guarantee that merchants showing up here will actually qualify. Here is the text from their T&C (bolding is mine):
Qualifying small business locations appear on the Shop Small® Map available at ShopSmall.com. Please note that the
businesses listed on the Shop Small Map may change. In addition, business location and other information provided on the Shop Small Map may contain inaccuracies or errors, including as a result of information provided by third parties. Transactions with political campaigns or political action committees as well as purchases at gas or service stations do not qualify for the statement credit, regardless of whether they appear on the Shop Small Map.
3. Spend at least $10 per transaction
On Saturday November 29th, each small business purchase of $10 or more will be reimbursed $10 by Amex. Keep in mind that you must spend at least $10 per transaction to qualify. Two separate $5 transactions won’t count. Keep in mind, too, that each Amex card will be reimbursed up to 3 times, but only on separate transactions. For example: one $30 transaction will result in a single $10 statement credit whereas three $10 transactions will result in three $10 statement credits. You can ask merchants to split tender and charge you $10 at a time for a single purchase. When you do this it is best to use separate cards rather than swiping the same card multiple times (since the latter may be flagged as potential fraud).
Maximizing the opportunity
The trick to maximizing this opportunity is to register as many Amex cards as possible and to make sure to get the full $30 per card in statement credits.
More cards
There are several ways to get more qualifying Amex cards:
1. Sign up for new credit and charge cards. Many cards offer very nice signup bonuses, so this can be a great way to earn miles, points, or cash anyway. You can find up to date signup offers here. Amex usually limits people to 4 total credit cards, but does not have a limit to their charge cards (such as the Gold and Platinum cards).
2. Add authorized users. With most Amex cards, you can add authorized users for free. In those cases, there is no credit inquiry or cost to doing so. And, even though the authorized user cards are on the same account, they have their own card numbers and are treated as separate cards for the purpose of Small Business Saturday and other Amex offers.
3. Add employee cards. If you have an Amex small business credit card, you can add additional employee cards, usually for free. Employee cards have their own card numbers and are treated as separate cards for the purpose of Small Business Saturday and other Amex offers.
Note: Corporate Amex cards do not qualify.
4. Register Bluebird or Serve. This year, both Bluebird and Serve cards qualify for this promotion. Each person can only have one or the other. Make sure to register whichever one you have (and make sure it has at least a $30 balance on Small Business Saturday).
5. Add family accounts / subaccounts to Bluebird or Serve. Earlier this year, a reader proved that Serve subaccounts are a great way to sign up additional cards with Amex Sync Offers (see “More free cash from Amex via Serve subaccounts”). While the Small Business Saturday terms and conditions are quiet about subaccounts, I would be very surprised if they do not qualify. Each Bluebird or Serve card can have four subaccounts (called family accounts with Bluebird). You do need to have a unique email address and valid phone number for each one, but you do not need to provide an SSN. Each person added as a subaccount or family account must be at least 13 years old. Make sure that each subaccount is loaded with at least $30 on Small Business Saturday.
6. Register Amex cards issued by other banks. Citibank, Fidelity, and others issue Amex credit cards. These cards can be registered for Small Business Saturday and other Amex promotions.
$30 per card
On Saturday November 29th, each small business purchase of $10 or more will be reimbursed $10 by Amex for each card that you’ve registered for this promotion.
- Keep in mind that you must spend at least $10 per transaction to qualify. Two separate $5 transactions won’t count.
- Keep in mind, too, that each Amex card will be reimbursed up to 3 times, but only on separate transactions. For example: one $30 transaction will result in only a single $10 statement credit whereas three $10 transactions will result in three $10 statement credits.
- You can ask merchants to split tender and charge you $10 at a time for a single purchase. When you do this it is best to use separate cards rather than swiping the same card multiple times (since the latter may be flagged by Amex as potential fraud).
Have fun
The fiscally smart thing to do on Small Business Saturday is to buy gift cards at merchants you shop with regularly anyway. In this way you’ll truly get the equivalent of free money from American Express. In my case, I prefer to see it as a fun shopping spree. Each year my family heads to downtown Ann Arbor with stacks of Amex cards and the goal of maximizing the promotion with each card. This year, that means spending at least $30 in three separate transactions with each card. We generally buy presents, toys, food, whatever. Its truly a free-for-all shopping spree that helps local merchants! How cool is that?
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
I read this post way back when it first appeared…I think I’m generally oriented toward “maximizing” deals, but the way you concluded this post really changed the purpose and meaning of today for me. I found I reflected on small businesses over dinner, enjoyed family and socialized with employees, and generally had a fantastic time!!! It really was a pre-Christmas warmup, like tailgating. Thank you for helping me realize that the fun of “maximizing…deals” could involve more than me, my computer, and my credit cards. Cheers!!!
Glad to hear it!
Is there a way to download a city list of participating businesses? The map tool is difficult to use.
You mentioned online if cards \if they are processed locally\. Is there a way to tell this?
Not that I know of other than to buy one $10 thing online and see what happens. My guess is that very few online purchases will work though
“buy one $10 thing online”
They have a way to know if “card present” or not. If card isn’t present, they will very likely not apply the deal to it.
This is DIFFERENT than processing the card manually rather than via swipe.
can additional cardholders make the $10 purchases (up t three) and receive three $10 credits on the card account that the MAIN cardholder uses the promotion for?
the only difference in the card #, is that last 4 digits and the name.
Please advise
Yes.
I was able to register our cards this morning & I’m excited about our mini shopping spree around town! The facebook amex offers didn’t show SBS for the Serve card but I was able to register through ShopSmall.com. Received email confirmation on Serve & Bluebird through that application page. Thanks for your help!!
i know u mention split tender could cause probs but what if i were to buy (3) gc from same store, purchasing seperately 1after another? does that csuse any probs?also, if a listed merchant has a website will i receive the bonus for online purchaseas well as in store?
Whether you do split tender or purchase one after another, there is always the chance of Amex flagging the purchases as suspicious. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. You can simply call them and approve the purchase (or reply to an email or text if they send you one).
.
Regarding website purchases, I think that depends on how exactly they process those purchases. I think that the only way to know if it works is to try it with one order then wait about 30 minutes or so to see if you get a confirmation email from Amex.
I’m curious if RedBird will work, even if it isn’t specifically listed in the T&C.
It’s still a pilot program, and it runs through the Serve platform (the website even redirects to amex.serve.com), so I think it may be worth a try!
Yep, its worth trying. We can try on Sunday when the registration goes live.
Like many others, my husband and I will be abroad that Saturday. I’m looking for success stories of taking part in this promotion long-distance. Simple Google and Flyertalk searches weren’t much help.
I will also be abroad and I think it has to be a purchase with the physical card present, so no dice.
OMG. I can’t believe they are doing $30 this year! Last year was still OK, but I thought for sure it would be $10 again. Our family also has a ridiculous number of cards. This makes it a bit more confusing, but hey! Love Amex. Best cards ever. Thanks for the info.
On the one hand this is great. On the other do I really want to spend (and can I convince my S.O. to join me in) a day on the long holiday weekend at a shop buying 90 $10 gift cards? And is 30 Amex cards between us overkill? Or are we lightweights?
Last year, Square worked, but it literally took months for some of the cards to receive the credit. My PenFed AmEx didn’t come through until September of THIS year from last year’s purchase in November. Another card (but I can’t remember which) didn’t post until around March or so. All of the AmEx branded cards posted immediately.
one of my favorite “fun” credit card perk!
Can you purchase online restaurant gift cards ?
Possibly. You would have to find a restaurant that processed online gift card orders locally.
Do Bluebird and Serve Issue Authorized User Cards?
Yes, with Bluebird they’re called Family Accounts and with Serve they’re called Subaccounts.
too bad gas stations are specifically excluded this year. Last year I used five cards to get $50 worth of free gas.