You Buy Gift Cards With American Express | Can

At first, everything seemed fine. The transaction was approved, and Alex's online tracker showed he had met the spending goal. He even expected to earn because the purchase happened at a U.S. supermarket.

Yes, you can buy gift cards with an credit card, either directly through the Amex Gift Card site or at various retail locations . While the transaction itself is legal and allowed, Amex has specific rules regarding how these purchases interact with reward points and Sign-Up Bonuses (SUB) . The Story of "The Bonus Hunter's Blunder" can you buy gift cards with american express

Alex had just received a shiny new and was determined to hit the $4,000 minimum spend requirement to unlock a massive 60,000-point sign-up bonus. With only two weeks left and $1,000 still to go, Alex decided on a "shortcut": he went to a local grocery store and bought $1,000 worth of Visa gift cards. At first, everything seemed fine

However, a few weeks later, the "RAT" (Amex’s ) stepped in: supermarket

: Because the store provided "Level 3" transaction data (which lists exactly what was bought), Amex saw the gift cards and denied the 4x reward points.

: Amex terms explicitly state that "purchases of gift cards" do not count toward the minimum spend for a SUB.

: While Alex wasn't banned, he learned that "manufactured spend"—buying cash equivalents to game the system—is highly frowned upon and can lead to account shutdowns if done frequently. Key Takeaways for Buying Gift Cards