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Talk about saving the best for last: if you still have the ability to get 20% via either of the 2 Amex Membership Rewards promotions, you can get a monster deal. I can’t take credit for this discovery — a reader commented on my post from late last night / early this morning, and it seemed good enough to share as all of the best Amazon deals can be maximized for a further discount by adding an Amazon gift card to make up the difference between the “original” price and $500, thereby netting a full $100 discount.
As an example, let’s look at the Apple version of the Bose noise-cancelling headphones that we posted last night. As you can see, the “original” price is $279 (the “price” under the list price):
As we noted last night, the 20% off that you can get by paying with 1 Amex Membership Rewards point (if you aren’t eligible for that promotion, see the section titled “Second 20% off promo” below) is taking 20% off of the original $279 and subtracting it from the sale price of $125.
20% of $279 = $55.80
$125 (sale price) – $55.80 = $69.20
And that’s how it comes up in the cart:
However, reader Larry figured out how to make this deal much hotter. Remember that the 20% off promo works on an order size up to $500 — you can get a max discount of $100. As Amazon is figuring the discount based on the “original” price of the headphones, Larry figured out that if you add an Amazon gift card worth the difference between the original price and $500, you’ll get a total discount of $100.
In other words, $500 (max order for discount) – $279 (original price of headphones) = $221. If you add a $221 Amazon gift card to your card, you’ll get a total of $100 off. Start off by adding the headphones (Apple version) to your cart plus a $221 Amazon gift card.
When you go to checkout and apply at least 1 Membership Rewards point either using the original promotion or the new promotion (more below), this is what your total will look like:
That’s a total of $247.99. For $247.99, you get:
- A $221 Amazon gift card
- the Bose QuietComfort 25 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones
And if you stack with the Quick Deal that Stephen posted earlier (See: New Amazon Amex Offer: Earn 3x Membership Rewards), you’ll also earn 744 Membership Rewards points. Now that’s a steal. If you were to value the Amazon Gift Card at face value, that would mean a net cost of $27 for the headphones. An Amazon gift card isn’t the same as cash that can be spent anywhere, but if you’re an Amazon Prime member, I’m sure it’s pretty close in value to you.
That same technique works on tons of other items. Here is the Sonos One with a total of $301 in gift cards ($50 as part of the bundle + $251 added to hit the $500 mark) for $353.91.
That speaker alone normally sells for $199. Getting that plus $301 in gift cards for $353 is an awesome deal.
This works for tons of the other good deals we’ve posted. As a reminder, here are some of them. Do the math on adding a gift card to the “original prices” crossed out below to hit $500 and trigger the full $100 discount. Some of them become really awesome — though note that some may no longer be available.
- Oculus Rift + Touch Virtual Reality System:
Original price $399Prime Day sale price: $349Final price: $269.20 - Robot Roomba 671 Robot Vacuum With Wi-Fi:
Original price $349.99Prime Day sale price: $229.99Final price: $159.99 with inflated 20% off (We have another 600-series model. My wife loves it. I hate the noise it makes when I’m trying to write….so we got a second one — before this sale
- Ring Video Doorbell Pro, Works with Alexa:
Original price $249Prime Day sale price: $174Final sale price: $124.20 with inflated 20% off (noted last night that my parents have a Ring doorbell that I gave them as a gift and they love it as there is no peep hole in their front door and they like to see who is there even when they aren’t home) - Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-In-1 Multi-Use Programmable Cooker:
Original price $99.95Prime Day sale price: $58.99Final sale price $39.00 - Coravin Model Limited Edition Wine Preservation System:
Original price $304.97Prime Day sale price: $174Final sale price: $113.90 (This is an interesting device that allows you to “access” your wine without popping the cork. I own one of these (resold a quantity of them). It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad. As I was typing this, I got up to pour a glass from a bottle I first tapped about two weeks ago and it tastes perfectly good. I haven’t gotten the claimed months out of a bottle, but neither am I storing in the correct conditions. At this price, I think it’s worth it if you prefer not to drink an entire bottle in one sitting. This is a better price than what I was stacking when I was reselling them). - Segway miniPRO Smart Self Balancing Transporter 2018 Edition, 12.5 Mile Range, 10 MPH of Top Speed, 10.5-Inch Pneumatic Air Filled Tires, Mobile App Control, Customizable LED Lights:
Original price $499.99Prime Day Sale Price $399.99Final Price: $299.99 (I own one of these and one of the Xiaomi-branded Ninebot. They are a ton of fun. We ride them on an old rail trail and they handle the bumps just fine and we live in the mountains and they handle hills without an issue. When our son really won’t fall asleep for a nap, my wife puts him in the stroller and pushes him down the rail trail with this and he falls asleep almost without fail. The Segway-branded version at $299.99 is a very good deal.). - LG V35 ThinQ – 64 GB – Unlocked (AT&T/T-Mobile/Verizon) – Aurora Black:
Original price: $899.99Prime Day sale price: $599.99Final price $499.99 - All-new Sonos One with 50 Dollar Amazon Gift Card – Smart Speaker with Alexa voice control built-in:
Original price $249Prime Day Sale Price $199Final price: $149.20
There are lots of other possibilities.
Second 20% off promo
As we reported last night, Dan’s Deals notes that there is a second Amex promotion for 20% off that is separate from the one we wrote about a week ago. This one requires you to pay with at least 1 Membership Rewards point and add coupon code AMEXSWP20PD. Word is that this deal may work for people who maxed out the previous 20% off promo and/or may work for those who weren’t targeted for that one. There’s no guarantee — but it’s worth a shot.
Bottom line
If you are still eligible for either of these promotions and you value Amazon gift cards anywhere near cash, adding a gift card to hit the max discount looks like the best deal yet. Thanks to reader Larry for pointing this one out!
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Thanks so much for posting! I ended up buying the Roomba but not the same one you listed since it was unavailable. HOWEVER, in hindsight I made a Slight MISTAKE. The amazon gift cards ended up being 20% OFF. I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT $500 in gift cards THEN BOUGHT PRIME DAY DEALS WITH THE GIFT CARDS SINCE PRIME DAY DEALS WEREN’T DISCOUNTED 20% OFF. BOOM
Nick so I seem to get these emails a day later. This popped up in my email late the am of the 18th although post date was the 17th. Sadly everything expired.
Sounds like you’re subscribed to “daily” emails, where you get one email every day with that morning’s analytic post and snippets of all of the posts from the previous 24 hours. If you’re interested in deals, you’ll want to subscribe to “instant” post alerts. Just click “subscribe” at the top of this page (under the Frequent Miler banner) to choose the “instant” email subscription, where you’ll get an email each time we post something. You can also follow us on Twitter and turn on mobile notifications and/or do the same on Facebook to receive updates on your phone. Here’s a link to the “subscribe” option at the top of the page:
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Thanks for posting this Nick. I already own the headphones, but couldn’t pass on a deal like this. I was able to get 3X membership rewards on the purchase too. I’m a fan of the AirMod QC25 wireless adapter (sold on Amazon or eBay for about $59) for anyone wanting Bluetooth with these headphones.
Somehow I ended up getting these Bose QC 25s for absolutely free – I don’t get it either but I’m not complaining. I added a $302 Amazon e-gift card to my order (android headphones were originally $198, and after applying 1 MR point and using the coupon code, Amazon marked it down $52 for the 20% coupon (makes sense), and then $73 off for Prime savings, and then a further $73 off for the Deal of the Day. It looks like they somehow discounted the $73 ($198 to $125) twice – not complaining, but wow.
My mother in laws account worked for me for this promo. I already did the first promo twice. I added my wife’s Amex card, and scored a new set of Bose 25’s for about $27. Damn. 90% off. I’d say that’s a great deal. Thanks for the tip.
I don’t think these are two separate promotions. If you have used the previous one you can’t get the code to work.
I don’t think that means they aren’t separate promotions. Some people weren’t targeted for the previous one and were able to use the code on this one.
Worked flawlessly for me. $24.99 net for the Bose headset, and a $221 Amazon GC after applying 1 MR point and using the 20% off coupon code. Thanks Larry and Nick!! 🙂
I am able also unable to get the 20% off on gift cards. I can get discount on other items but not on gift cards. Any ideas
Well, I haven’t actually used up the original 20% promotion, so I’m still using that one. Just now started with a clean cart and added the Bose Apple headphones and the $221 Amazon GC and it’s coming downt to the same $247.99 shown in the post — so it’s still possible. Perhaps some of you guys already bought Amazon GCs before with this promo? Maybe try 3rd party GCs?
I can’t get it to work. And I definitely used a point and the promo code AMEXSWP20PD . tried many times, 2 different accounts, 2 different cards. it’s only taking the 20% off the physical item, not the value of gift card
Great deal if you are just buying one. If you are buying more than 1, as in my case, then you’d be paying close to $150 for 2 no matter what.
You can just buy $100 third party gift card of your choice, and add $400 Amazon GC to maximize the deal. Worked for me for Uber GC. Also earned 4x MR points with Amex BBP.
Not working for me. I’m registered for the 20% off. Then I used 1 point and it’s not discounting the gift card.
I switched to using the promo code and that came up as invalid
Happened to me as well. Try using 1 MR point AND the promo code together. that worked for me
That worked . Thanks.
[…] WOW: Get those Bose for a net ~$27 (sorta). Or tons of other deals amplified. […]