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1800Flowers often shows up as an Amex Offer: Spend $50, Get $15 Back. This used to be a great start towards huge savings. It was possible to earn 20% back through cashback portals, buy $50 1800Flowers gift cards, earn 30% back from this Amex offer, then use those gift cards for even more rewards. At times I was able to stack so many deals that I actually earned money on each order!
That was then.
Today, 1800Flowers no longer sells by-mail gift cards (and e-gift cards do not trigger the Amex offer). Additionally, 1800Flowers has stopped awarding miles & points for the portion of an order where a gift card is used for payment.
Extreme Stacking Today
So, what’s left?
We can still stack the following deals:
- Amex Offer: Spend $50, Get $15 Back
- Amex OPEN Savings: Amex Business cards automatically get 5% cash back or 2 additional Membership Rewards points per dollar at 1800Flowers
- Celebration Rewards: Earn a $20 certificate for each $200 spent at 1800Flowers
- Free shipping via ShopRunner (which is free for Amex cardholders) or 1800Flowers’ Celebrations Passport
- Choose one of these:
- Portal cash back or
- Earn miles via a promo code (note that ShopRunner free shipping doesn’t work with this option)
Adding the Amex offer
You can load the offer to your Amex cards through Twitter with hashtag #Amex1800Flowers, or by logging into your Amex account to find the offer, then click “Save Offer”. Either way, please see our Complete Guide to Amex Offers for details about how to load the offer to multiple cards.
Ideally you would use Amex business cards since they earn an extra 5% cash back via the OPEN Savings program.
Free Shipping
Sign up for ShopRunner for free (here). If you want to earn miles via promo codes, though, you’ll have to sign up for Celebrations Passport which usually costs $29.99, but it is often available for $19.99. You can find the latest promotions here: www.1800flowers.com/promo-codes.
Portal Cash Back
Portal cash back rates vary from time to time. Usually 15% cash back is available, but at times we’ve seen 25% cash back or more.
And you don’t have to shop through 1800Flowers itself. Shopping through other brands such as 1800Baskets, Cheryl’s, etc. will work as well. Check CashBackMonitor for current rates at each of these brands: 1800Flowers, 1800Baskets, Fruit Bouquets, Cheryl’s, Fannie May, Popcorn Factory.
Promo Codes (Earn Miles)
1800Flowers (and its associated brands) often offers promo codes to get discounts, free shipping, or to earn miles. For the latter, you can find up to date promo codes here: 1800Flowers Extreme Stacking promo codes, portals, gift cards, and more.
Is it worth it? Cash back example
If you’re going for cash back, buying gift cards at an extreme discount can be a viable way to go (via Groupon, gift card resellers, etc), but it won’t stack with the Amex Offer deal which gives you $15 off $50 (30% back on exactly $50)…
Suppose you find items that add up to exactly $50, you have the Amex offer on an Amex business card, and you click through a portal offering 20% cash back. For simplicity we’ll ignore the possibility of paying sales tax:
- Spend $50, get free shipping through ShopRunner
- Portal cash back: 20% of $50 = $10
- Amex Offer: $15
- Amex OPEN Savings: 5% of $50 = $2.50
- Celebration Rewards: Earn 1/4th of the points needed for a $20 certificate
If you repeat all of the above four times (which requires 4 separate Amex business cards), here are the totals:
- Spend $200
- Cash Back: $110
- Celebration Rewards: $20 certificate
Overall, you get $220 worth of overpriced stuff from the 1800 brands for $90. In other words, you save 59%.
Is it worth it? Earn miles example
Promo codes available for earning miles vary from time to time. We tend to see the best offers around the holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Mothers Day. At this time, the best current promo code I see is: Alaska Airlines 25 miles per dollar: AKA3. In this example, I’ll assume that we use that code.
Suppose you find items that add up to exactly $50, and you have the Amex offer on Amex business cards. For simplicity we’ll ignore the possibility of paying sales tax. We’ll also assume that you’ve previously purchased a 1 year membership to Celebrations Passport for free shipping.
- Spend $50, get free shipping through Celebrations Passport
- Amex Offer: $15
- Amex OPEN Savings: 5% of $50 = $2.50
- Celebration Rewards: Earn 1/4th of the points needed for a $20 certificate
- Alaska Airlines: Earn $50 x 25 miles per dollar = 1,250 miles
If you repeat all of the above four times, here are the totals:
- Spend $200
- Cash Back: $70
- Celebration Rewards: $20 certificate
- Alaska Airline miles earned: 5,000
Overall, you get $220 worth of overpriced stuff from the 1800 brands for $130. In other words, you save 41% and earn 5,000 miles. If you don’t care about the stuff at all, this is like buying miles for $130 / 5,000 = 2.6 cents each. That’s not an amazing price, but it’s not terrible if you have a great use for those miles. Alternatively, if you think of it as buying Alaska miles for 1.5 cents each, then the 5,000 miles represent an additional $75 discount off your order. Viewed that way, you would have bought $220 worth of stuff for $55. That’s a 75% discount.
Wrap Up
1800Flowers is no longer the amazing opportunity that it used to be, but there are still options for stacking deals. If you find items at exactly the right price points, you can get 59% to 75% off the 1800Flowers listed prices. Even then, you can probably find far better prices at local stores.
The bottom line is that these discounts are worth pursuing when you need gifts delivered and you can order products in $50 chunks.
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United portal: https://shopping.mileageplus.com/me____.htm?gmid=5339
Earn 30 award miles per $1 spent on flowers and gifts!
Use coupon code: MP69 Valid through Dec 26, 2017
Had United miles expiring and needed to send flowers. The 1800flowers web site is having extreme issue that was confirmed by CSR. Wouldn’t let me complete order w/ my United member#. Contacted my trusty CSR who I’ve been working w/ for years. Told me there was a better United code than what I used and said would apply. I told CSR to go for it. Cashbackmonitor has highest @ 15 miles. Also used the Amex offer.
Here’s CSR reply:
David,
I believe your all set.
I corrected your membership ID and added the promotion code MP63. (30 per $1.)
The request has been submitted to United, you should see the increase of 3,000 on your next statement.
Let me know if there not received.
Thanks David. So, it sounds like the only way to use that promo code is via a CSR, right?
Not sure Greg. CSR offered to place the order so I said, yes. Haven’t tried using MP63 on-line. Miles posted within a few days.
[…] The 1800Flowers Amex Offer is Back. Do we care? (Expires 10/31/17) […]
Bought shipping just before policy change 🙁
Their flowers are poor quality, will never buy for real purchase. Auf Wiedersehen
Since I had to file 6 chargebacks last time they screwed me over, I ain’t playing this game no more.
“I have reviewed your orders and found that they were paid for with a gift card, savings pass or Celebrations Rewards pass. I’m sorry but you are not eligible for miles/points on these orders. “
After getting burned (No southwest miles) on a dozen orders I paid with gift cards, I’m out. It’s not worth the subpar product and time spent on frustrating calls and emails to ignorant and clueless customer service reps. I hope they go bankrupt.
I would not have given up and i’d have gotten the miles that was deserved. Unless they can prove that the T&C specifically said, “no gift cards”, you should have got the miles.
I went all the way through the chain. They dgaf. I filed chargebacks with amex for gift card purchases and got all the money back that way.
I still use Discover deals to get $30 GC for $20. I combine w/ TB1750 which gives 1750 jetBlue miles. This works consistently and recently the points have been posting quickly w/o having to contact CS. I buy flowers regularly and will be using the Amex offer today w/ the jetBlue code.
That’s interesting. Do you make sure to spend at least the required $34.95? Also, do they enforce the 5 per person rule?
Yes & NO
Interesting. I wonder…
With the “per dollar” offers people have been reporting that they’ve only earned points on the part of the order that was paid by credit card. Maybe since you used a “per order” offer, the fact that some of it was paid by credit card was enough to trigger the points.
I don’t keep track if I paid any portion of an order w/ a CC. Most orders are strictly GC’s from Discover Deals and the rest are Amex deals. I have 11 orders using TB1750 since the 1st of the year. Many I had to contact CS, but I received the miles fairly quickly after the contact by email. I don’t give up and never been burned. I never use per $ offers.
[…] The 1800Flowers Amex Offer is Back. Do we care? by Frequent Miler. Don’t think most people will care anymore to be honest. […]