Five Great Options for Deeply Discounted Amazon Gift Cards
I rarely shop on Amazon, especially lately. Several months ago, I described why I let my Prime membership expire. However, for those few times I still shop on Amazon, I want to get the best deal possible, as with any other site or brick-and-mortar merchant. Using discounted gift cards is my primary means to do so with many stores, including Amazon. Consumers can gain substantial value by pairing these discounted gift cards with Amazon’s competitive rates in many product areas. Resellers can and do increase their margins with Amazon gift cards. Let’s look at five solid options for acquiring deeply discounted Amazon gift cards.
#1. U.S. Supermarket with Amex Gold or Cash App Boosts
Note: All information about the American Express cards mentioned in this post has been collected independently by Miles to Memories.
I’m a big fan of purchasing gift cards at U.S. Supermarkets, primarily for the fuel points plays and gift card variety. For instance, Kroger offers 2x gas points on all merchant gift card purchases, including Amazon. However, I primarily save merchant gift card purchases for their 4x fuel point promotions, which run fairly often. On average, I feel like I see this promo at least once monthly, and Kroger is remarkably helpful in advertising in advance. Long story short, I average 12.3% off any merchant gift card from Kroger with fuel points through 4x acquisition periods and maximizing each fill up. I always redeem Kroger fuel points at the $1 offer per gallon maximum (for my area) and 35 gallon total limit. Kroger customers in certain regions can use more fuel points for an even higher amount of per gallon, further discounting their gift card purchases.
Of course, credit card rewards stack with the fuel points savings. I obtain 4x Membership Rewards points with my Amex Gold, or 5% cash back via Schwab Platinum Amex redemption. Incorporating the fuel points and credit card rewards, I can obtain Amazon (or any other merchant) gift cards at a 17.3% discount. I have great flexibility to obtain discounted gift cards at scale with $25k of 4x grocery store spend capacity for an Amex Gold account. Note:
Cash App
Can I do better at grocery stores? Right now, yes! Using the Cash app debit card in combination with their boost feature, I obtain 10% off grocery spend, including gift cards. What’s the catch? The scale is much lower – I recently have been getting a 10% off grocery store purchases up to a $7.50 discount each week. Still, this is a 22.3% discount on merchant gift cards on $75 of grocery spend weekly using the Cash app boost and fuel points maximization. That’s a great discount, regardless of scale.
Other Credit Cards Worth Considering
Note: All information about the American Express cards mentioned in this post has been collected independently by Miles to Memories.
Speaking of lower scale, other credit cards reward at high rates for grocery spend. The Amex Blue Cash Preferred provides 6% cash back at U.S. Supermarkets on the first $6k of spend per calendar year. The Amex Everyday Preferred offers 4.5x Membership Rewards at U.S. Supermarkets with the same spend rate and timeframe (with 30 transactions in a billing period). Chase Freedom, and now Freedom Flex, cardholders can and will obtain 5% cash back when grocery spending is a quarterly bonus category. If Chase’s Pay Yourself Back feature sticks around as we hope/think, this spend can reach 6.25% or 7.5% cash back with the Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, respectively. These are just a few of the most lucrative credit card options for grocery spend – Ian describes a few more here.
#2. Chase Ink Business Cash at Office Supply Stores (with Dosh, If Available)
I’m a big fan of the Chase Ink Business Cash card (we have four of them), and we especially love using them at office supply stores since we earn 5% cash back. The $25k of office supply store spend capacity per account is even better with 7.5% cash back via Pay Yourself Back. Also, Chase Ink Plus cardholders get $50k of spend capacity. Amazon gift cards are a great option for your office supply store spend on these cards.
You can stack this earn rate with their frequent deals for Visa/Mastercard gift cards and merchant gift cards, although I rarely have seen Amazon gift cards as part of their gift card promos (if ever). A stack that can work with Amazon gift cards is adding your office supply store-friendly credit cards to the Dosh app. While gift cards aren’t technically supposed to trigger cash back with Dosh, it is very merchant- and situation-dependent. For what it’s worth, I’ve had Dosh track and pay out on gift card purchases recently. My most recent success was with their 2% cash back/up to $5 back per purchase offer with Office Depot and OfficeMax.
#3. Gas Stations with Citi Premier
Many gas station brands stock a variety of gift cards, including Amazon. When I focus on gift card spend here, I concentrate on gas station brands where I earn loyalty points in their program. By doing so, I earn even more rewards and discounts on the same amount of spend. Although many chains have loyalty programs, I particularly enjoy earning loyalty points for gift card spend at Speedway. Speedy Rewards members earn 20x points on merchandise spend at Speedway, including merchant gift cards like Amazon.
Points can be redeemed for a variety of rewards in various denominations, but I enjoy the flexibility of redeeming for $10 Speedy Cash gift cards, good for fuel and store merchandise. This $10 gift card requires 10,450 points, effectively making each point worth just under one-tenth of a cent per point. Alternatively, a $10 Speedy Cafe/Speedy Good to Go gift card is only 7,900 points, but these cards are only good for food and beverages (not fuel). Still, that’s an improved cent per point rate of just over 0.00126. Considering the 20x earning rate, you are getting 1.9% and 2.5% in actual rewards on spend when redeeming for those two gift card options, respectively.
Credit Cards To Consider
Still with me? Let’s exhale and go over credit card rewards at gas stations. My favorite card to use at gas stations is the Citi Premier, which earns 3x ThankYou points. I redeem ThankYou points at 1.375 cents per point (at least I do for the first 100k points redeemed per year), so I’m effectively earning a bit over 4.12%. While I also use the Amex Business Gold at gas stations for 4x Membership Rewards points (terms apply), I don’t consider this a viable long-term option for me due to its annual fee. Of course, I’m also a fan of using the Freedom Flex when gas stations are a 5% quarterly bonus category. Here are a few more gas station-friendly credit cards to consider.
Taking into account my favorite Speedy Cash gift card redemption with the Citi Premier spend, this play earns 6.02% in rewards on spend.
#4. Target RedCard or Amazon Credit Cards
Target RedCard credit and debit cardholders obtain a 5% discount on merchant gift cards including Amazon. In general, there aren’t any stacking or additional savings opportunities here. However, I like this option for its simplicity and freedom. By simply using my RedCard at checkout, I can immediately obtain a 5% discount on Amazon gift cards. And there is no cap to this benefit with the Target RedCard. Done!
Similarly, the Amazon Business Prime credit card from Amex and the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa credit card from Chase also provide 5% cash back on all Amazon purchases. (Terms apply.) However, each card requires a Prime membership, currently $119 annually. That doesn’t work for me, but maybe it does for you!
#5. Amex Offers
Last, but certainly not least, are the wide range of plays using Amex Offers. There are too many to list here, but recent favorites were two simultaneous stackable Lowe’s offers earlier in the summer:
- Save 10% on Lowe’s purchases, up to $100 back.
- Get one additional Membership Rewards point per dollar at Lowe’s.
The key to above was loading both offers to my Blue Business Plus card. By doing so, I earned 10% cash back and 3x Membership Rewards points on my Lowe’s spend. With Schwab Platinum Amex cashout, that’s 13.75% cash back on this Lowe’s spend. Amazon gift cards are widely available at Lowe’s.
Even better, Amex offers these deals broadly and repeatedly. Many merchants across a variety of store types offer third-party gift cards, including Amazon. While not all Amex offers are triggered by gift cards, many do! Amex offers and related stacks can lead to outsized savings with a bit of out-of-the-box thinking. Of course, depending on the store type, ensure you load the offer the optimal Amex credit card for the purchase. But of course, not all offers are available for all of your cards. Regardless, routinely log in to your Amex account and see what offers are available!
Deeply Discounted Amazon Gift Cards – Rankings and Other Considerations
Which options are the best for buying deeply discounted Amazon gift cards? It depends. No one’s situation is exactly the same. We have different cards and are in different situations. We may not be targeted for the same Amex offers. Grocery stores and their fuel point programs are very region-specific. But for my situation, I rank the above five options as follows (best first):
#1. U.S. Supermarkets with Amex Gold/Cash Boosts
#2. Gas Stations with Citi Premier
#3. Amex Offers
#4. Target RedCard
#5. Chase Ink Business Cash at Office Supply Stores
Why did I order this way? I have lots of credit card grocery bonus category capacity and I highly value fuel points, so grocery stores is the easy #1. Gas stations is #2, while the rewards earning rate is lower than a few other options, my 3x gas station bonus spend is uncapped. I rank Amex offers at #3 because I can achieve a very substantial percentage discount, even at lower scaling. Target comes in at #4 due to its simplicity but also relatively low discount. Chase Ink Business Cash comes in #5 not due to its earning rate, but rather to opportunity costs in the bonus category spend limits. I focus my Chase Ink Business Cash spend on other opportunities, which I prioritize higher than Amazon gift cards.
Get Creative!
Stack the different options, including those above and also others you use to come up with new, more deeply-discounted options for obtaining Amazon gift cards. Stack various shop with points offers while paying with discounted Amazon gift cards to save big! Doctor of Credit provides a great resource here on how to do so.
Depending on your level of interest in Amazon (or other) gift cards, the options are endless. Have fun!
Deeply Discounted Amazon Gift Cards – Conclusion
It’s not feasible to cover every possible option for obtaining discounted Amazon gift cards in one article. That’s a good thing! It means that we have plenty of options out there for saving in new, different, obscure ways. You can use similar thinking to obtain any type of discounted gift card. Discover what works for you and go for it! What are your favorite strategies for obtaining discounted Amazon gift cards?
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