You are probably aware that you can earn 1 extra mile per dollar spent at Amazon.com by going through Hawaiian Airlines online shopping portal. That’s not bad, but here are a few ways to do much better:
Chase Freedom:
In the first quarter of 2012, gas stations and Amazon.com are the 5X bonus categories for the Chase Freedom card. As long as you register for the promotion, until the end of March anything you buy at Amazon.com will be rewarded with 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar, up to $1500 for the quarter. After the first quarter, not all is lost. Take a look at the Freedom’s bonus category chart:
- Q1 (January – March): Gas stations and Amazon.com
- Q2 (April – June): Groceries and movie theaters
- Q3 (July – September): Gas stations and restaurants
- Q4 (October – December): Hotels, airlines, Best Buy and Kohl’s
Q1 is already covered. In Q2, note that groceries are on the list. According to this Amazon.com page a number of grocery stores carry Amazon.com gift cards. So, from April to June, rather than buying from Amazon.com directly, go to your grocery store to buy Amazon.com gift cards. After you apply them to your Amazon account, all future purchases will default to using the gift card credit (this will work for regular purchases, download movie rentals, subscribe & save purchases, etc.)
In Q3, I think you’re out of luck (unless you saved up on gift cards from earlier), but in Q4 you can go to BestBuy to buy more Amazon gift cards!
Chase Ink Bold:
The new Chase Ink Bold offers 5 points per dollar for purchases at office supply stores. Both Staples and Office Max carry Amazon gift cards according to this Amazon.com page. So, using your Chase Ink Bold, visit one of those stores and load up on Amazon.com gift cards.
American Express Business cards
Most, if not all (?) American Express business cards give you American Express OPEN Savings. This means that, for purchases at certain merchants, you get money credited back to your account. One example is OfficeMax in which you receive 5% back for purchases of $100 or more. By buying Amazon.com gift cards at OfficeMax using your Amex business card, you can save 5% on all Amazon purchases!
Citi Forward
The Citi Forward card offer 5 points per dollar for restaurants, books, movies and music. Probably because of the “books” category, Amazon.com purchases receive 5 points per dollar!
Other Cards
If you hold a credit card that offers bonus points in certain categories such as groceries, drug stores, office supplies, etc., then check out the list of stores that carry Amazon.com gift cards. Find a store that qualifies and use your card to load up!
Icing on the Cake
Once you have loaded up on Amazon.com gift cards, don’t forget that you can still earn Hawaiian Airlines miles for your purchases! Make sure to sign up for their HawaiianMiles frequent flyer program and then visit Amazon.com on their online portal before making any purchases.
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For anyone late to the party like me just note Hawaiian Airlines has stopped giving out miles to most Amazon purchases. They restrict you to Sports Clothing, Sports Gear and Toys. Still if you have to buy something in that category, why not do it. Off the HA site, “*As of 1/23/13 miles are no longer earned for purchases on every Amazon.com category.”
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Wicked thread.. I had to check it twice to comprehend it all though, haha!
The double dip through Hawaiian does work. It actually looks like I got the miles based on the item’s price and not the total after the subscribe and save discount and coupon. Here’s a boring toilet paper purchase I made in December:
On Hawaiian’s Site
DATE DESCRIPTION MILEAGE BONUS TOTAL
12/9/11 Amazon 30 0 30
My Amazon receipt:
Items Ordered Price
1 of: Charmin Ultra Soft, Double Rolls, 4 Count Packs (Pack of 10) 40 Total Rolls [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging] [Health and Beauty]
Condition: New
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
$29.98
Item(s) Subtotal: $29.98
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
Promotion Applied: -$4.50
Your Coupon Savings: -$3.00
—–
Total Before Tax: $22.48
Sales Tax: $0.00
Gift Certificate/Card Amount: -$11.01
—–
Total for This Shipment: $11.47
Total paid by Gift Certificate/Card: -$11.01
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This works at Barnes and Noble as well, they sell gift cards at some locations.
The Deal Mommy: I assume you mean that buying gift cards, in general, at Barnes and Noble works for OPEN savings — not that you can get Amazon cards there. I’m sure they wouldn’t sell their competitor’s cards.
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Doesn’t get much better than this. Love the icing on the cake!
[…] Maximize points per dollar at Amazon.com […]
What about buying amazon.com gift cards through Staples or Office Max (with the Bold card) through UR.com? Would that be stackable to earn 10 points/$?
Scott: Unfortunately, last I checked, none of the stores sell Amazon gift cards online so you won’t be able to stack the savings to 10 points per $ as you suggested. Also, not all online merchants will give points for gift card purchases through the UR mall, so be careful with that as well. Staples does sell Visa gift cards online. If someone wants to experiment, I’d be very interested to hear whether you get points for both the UR mall AND the Ink Bold by buying those cards!
JohnnieD: Thanks for the reminder about converting Hawaiian Airlines miles to Hilton points!
Infamousdx: Great tip!
Everett: I’ve tried it and it worked! I used an Amex business card at OfficeMax to buy a $100 Amazon gift card. About 5 days later, I see the $5 credit on my OPEN Savings account!
Remember, once you get Hawaiian miles, one mile transfers to two Hilton Honors pts, in 1K min transfer…
yes all non-credit card (visa, mc, amex) gift cards are at face value
I assume that the Amazon gift cards at Office Max are sold at face value? A gift card fee for purchasing the card would negate the 5% savings.