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One of the best current deals for buying American Express gift cards is to shop through BeFrugal for 4% 3% cash back. This can be a great way to save money on everything you buy. That said, there are many complications involved with buying and using American Express gift cards, so I highly recommend that you read my overview if you are new to this: Everything you ever wanted to know about Amex gift cards.
In this post, I want to draw your attention to a free-shipping code shown on the BeFrugal site (and elsewhere): FSGRAD. When buying gift cards and going through the check-out process, this code can be used, through June 30th, to waive shipping fees.
Often, there are multiple discount codes available for Amex gift cards and they come in two forms: 1) free-shipping codes; and 2) codes to waive the $3.95 purchase fees. So, whether it is better to get free shipping or waived purchase fees depends upon how many cards you plan to buy and the cost of shipping.
Premium Shipping Plan
Its often possible to get both free shipping and fee-free cards by using codes to waive purchase fees, and enrolling in the Premium Shipping Plan which offers free next day shipping for an entire year. American Express offers this plan for $99 per year with a 90 day free trial to new subscribers.
To get this 90 day trial offer, add gift cards to your basket, click “Check Out”, and then sign in with your American Express credentials. You should now be able to select the Premium Shipping free trial as one of the shipping options.
After the free trial
I used the free Premium Shipping trial a couple of years ago and cancelled the service before once the trial was over. Since then, the offer for free shipping hasn’t shown up on my account. Then, last night, the author of Miles, Points, and Mai Tais told me about a neat trick she had stumbled upon. She found that the free shipping code, FSGRAD, could be applied to the $99 annual fee for Premium Shipping!
After clicking through from BeFrugal to Amex Gift Cards (for 4% cash back at the time, but now down to 3% today), I put a $3000 gift card in my basket, clicked “Check Out”, signed into my Amex account, and selected the $99 Premium Shipping Plan as my shipping option. And, I added the promo code FSGRAD. The next screen showed that the full $99 shipment plan fee was removed.
And, after placing the order, I received an email confirming that I am now enrolled in the unlimited 2 day shipping plan for a full year. Sweet.
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[…] Express Next Day shipping on all Amex gift card orders. Usually, the plan costs $99 per year, but thanks to a tip from a friend, I signed up for free. Since then, I’ve been able to get free money, in a way, by clicking […]
BEWARE – AMEX PROMO CODES VOID CASHBACK. I just ordered many $$ AMEX Prepaid Gift Cards using promo codes to save the $3.95 fee – I should have had over $1000 in cashback – and it was ALL cancelled either by AMEX or GCM because of their new policy.
Also – I’ve been concerned that if I used my AMEX $99 free shipping feature that the cashback would also be denied.
I inquired of BeFrugal’s online chat feature.
Here’s BeFrugal’s answers:
Per Todd, BeFrugal.com (8/15/14):
(1) (My question = Am I correct that the use of ANY promo code, however, does restrict cashback earnings?) Todd’s answer = \These are the current terms American Express updated to on 7/1/2014. They will no longer issue commissions for any order with a coupon code applied.\
(2) (My question = Does AMEX’s $99 free shipping plan void the cashback feature in the same way that promo codes void cashback?\ Todd’s answer = \Once purchased, the $99 free shipping discount applies to the account and is not a coupon code. There are no restrictions provided by American Express regarding this (AMEX Free Shipping) fee and it should not restrict cash back earnings.\
Nice post…..good research……
On BeFrugal for cash back on Amex GCs it notes :
\American Express Gift Cards are a flexible choice for family and friends that can be used to buy almost anything at millions of locations. *Cash back will not be earned on any order where a coupon code is applied.\
I’d read that last bit as entering any of the various codes to knock out card or shipping fee during checkout on AMEX will ultimately kill the cash back. Anybody confirm or deny this?
Made my first purchase via BeFrugal entering a code to waive card fee and my cash back shows pending. Don’t want to make mistake on 90 days worth of purchases before finding out…
Just checked mine and it says expires in 330 days. So all is good.
I had gotten the free shipping for a year promo. I also got an email confirming that the expiry is June 2015. I also successfully placed a couple orders with free shipping.
But when I checked today, I see that my enrollment has an expiry date in Sept 2014 – it looks like the 1 year free shipping was converted to the 90-day free trial? Anyone else see the same?
That’s weird. My free shipping still shows active for a year. Anyone else have this happen?
I just received an email from AMEX stating that my free premium shipping plan free “trial” would end 17 September 2014. I originally used the free one year code, FSGRAD, mentioned in this posting. Looks like I got downgraded without knowing too…..
I just got the email stating my trial period will end 9/17 as well. DJ, can you let us know what actually happened to your account?
I did all the above a couple days ago and was given “free shipping for a year”.. using the FSGRAD code. My card order was declined the next day.. and then today I got an email from Amex saying that I had been removed from the Premium Shipping Plan. Obviously they have caught on to this and are declining orders that tried to use FSGRAD to get free shipping on that order (and free shipping for a year!)… and then are canceling people from the Premium Shipping status. It was worth a try. And I lost out on the 90 day free trial to try this! Oh well. 😉
[…] View frequent milers post on the ultimate shipping code […]
I tried the FSGRAD code with the premium shipping. I see that it took $99 off, but when I log back a couple days later I still have to pay for shipping. Is this glitch dead or did I do something wrong?
I have no idea why that happened to you. Mine still works fine.
Great catch – used it today. What a great deal. I really enjoy your posts and love when I can get a big win like the credited free Premium shipping for a year. Thaks again for all you great posts!
[…] Frequent miler had an excellent post on getting free shipping for American Express gift cards […]
Sorry I am new: If i use an Amex SPG card, will these gc purchases count toward minimum spend with Amex? Please advice. Thanks.
Yes it will count.
Thanks Greg! Just got both my wife’s and my account loaded with the free year of shipping!
I finally figured out I needed to login to Amex Gift Cards during checkout, not just the Amex credit card account “Login” that first appears upon clicking thru from BeFrugal. Then the $99 shipping trial started appearing on the pulldown menu.
Ordered $1k with FSGRAD and shipping did appear free and I got the email. Next business order for $3k (thanks Vinh:) I used SYNCGIFT promotion code and got the purchase charge minused, along with the free shipping. Orders shipped without being declined. Thanks to everyone for pioneering this!
Just cancelled my trial and used the code for free ship for a year. Thanks Greg.
BEFRUGAL.COM is down to 2.5% CB now.