TopCashBack increases Amex gift card rebate to 3%

9

Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is happening now! Follow us as Greg, Nick, and Stephen compete to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines before November 23rd. Who will complete the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?

Follow along here!

Several cash back and mile-earning portals offer rebates/miles for shopping for American Express gift cards.  The best current cash-back offer is via TopCashBack, which is now offering 3% cash back.  They are also offering a code to remove shipping fees from business gift cards (but you’ll still have to pay card fees):  FSEMP14.

In the past few months, whenever TopCashBack has changed their Amex gift card payouts, other portals (BigCrumbs, Barclaycard RewardsBoost, Alaska MileagePlan Shopping, etc.) have followed soon after by changing their payouts as well, so keep an eye out for those.  For now, here are the best current rates from alternate portals (the best mile-earning option currently is the Arrival card 2X, which translates to 2.22% towards travel):

  • BigCrumbs: 1.2%
  • Barclaycard Arrival Rewards Boost: 2X miles (requires Arrival card)

Questions?
Please read: Everything you ever wanted to know about Amex gift cards.  And, if you still have questions, please ask via the comments of that post so that we can keep information about Amex gift cards in one place. 

Important notes:

  • Amex gift cards do not have PINs.  They cannot be used to load Bluebird cards.
  • Some credit card companies (such as Citibank) charge cash advance fees when purchasing these online.
  • Portals often state that using codes not found on their site will invalidate cash back / miles earned.  This has not been my experience.  I use codes for free gift cards every time.  Try SYNCGIFT, for example.
  • Some portals restrict the top card amount to $500.  You can easily circumvent this by logging into your Amex account (after clicking through from the portal) and then you’ll see values up to $3000.  Yes, you should still get cash back or miles (that has been my experience).
  • Cash back can take several months to go from pending to payable.
  • Miles often take several weeks or even a month or more to post, but then appear immediately in your mileage account.

See also:

Never miss a Quick Deal. Subscribe here.

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

9 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
ROAST

Did giftcardmall get rid of Choice e-gift cards? Can’t seem to find them on there anymore.

Ravi Nukala

TCB has this disclaimer..”Please note; there is a limit of $500 per gift card, anything higher will not be eligible for cashback.” Do we have to buy only 500$ card to receive Cash back?

Frequent Miler

No, I buy larger denominations and still get cash back. YMMV

Eric Maur

is there any rhyme or reason as to what orders Amex approves/declines? My order got declined, wife’s approved. Different credit cards used to purchase them. Last time, both got approved. First time, mine approved, hers denied…

Frequent Miler

It seems completely random to me too

Andy

I see TCB has “Please note; there is a limit of $500 per gift card, anything higher will not be eligible for cashback.” – has that disclaimer always been there? I’ve bought them many times but never noticed that.

Frequent Miler

That’s been there for a long time, but in my experience it is not enforced.

Erik

That code is giving free shipping, not no fees.

Frequent Miler

Oops. Thanks