All information about the Amex Platinum card has been collected independently by Miles to Memories.
Saks Fifth Avenue
Much in our hobby comes in waves, like elevated card welcome offers, elite status pushes, and people asking about what’s good at Saks Fifth Avenue for about $50. That last one is due to the Saks Fifth Avenue Amex Platinum benefit, which biannually offers consumer cardholders a $50 credit on in-store or online purchases. But with patience and just a bit of extra effort, Platinum cardholders can do so much more with those credits. Over the weekend, I made a $715.51 purchase on Saks.com using nine gift cards and one credit card. Only $15.51 of that total wasn’t derived from Saks credits. Here’s the process I followed and why Platinum cardholders should care about this method.
I Bought Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Cards In-Store
I have no Saks Fifth Avenue nearby, but I travel enough where I’m naturally around one a couple times annually. On these trips, I take a heavy stack of Amex Platinum cards. I find a helpful Saks rep at the store and ask to buy gift cards. Often, they preemptively ask, “you want a $50 gift card, right?” Instead, I ask for one large gift card amount and request to split payment across multiple Amex cards ($50 each).
I’ve achieved varying levels of success with this method. Some reps are able to deliver, while others are nice enough but unable to figure it out. I’ve had similar experiences when I’ve requested reps to add more gift card balance to an existing card. Absent success in either of those situations, I just go for individual $50 Saks gift cards. After all, I’m there, and I just want to get the credits triggered.
Patience
This may be the hardest part for some. To achieve any significant gift card amount, one must either hold a ton of Platinum cards, buy gift cards over multiple six-month timeframes, or both. Indeed, with my eyes on a specific goal, I was getting tired of waiting. But I calmly collected gift cards for just over a year and arrived at the necessary amount to buy the desired item.
An Improvement Along the Way
For a variety of reasons, some of you may have been frustrated by Saks.com over the years. One significant annoyance was that Saks.com would only allow one gift card per transaction. Well, that’s changed. I’m not sure when it did, but I discovered it for myself over the weekend.
I sat down at my desktop with a stack of nine Saks gift cards totalling $700. I found the item I’d been saving up for, added it to my shopping cart, and finally came to the all-important page with payment methods. Knowing I’d be over my gift card balance (if multiple gift cards actually worked), I added one credit card, then one gift card. I then successfully added a second gift card. And another, then again. I was off to the races. Without issue, I added nine gift cards and one credit card as payment.
Generally, I find things tend to work out the way they should. And they did here. After I added my ninth Saks gift card, the box to add more grayed out (see above). It appears a Saks shopper can only add nine gift cards maximum to an online order. This worked out perfectly, as my purchase required all nine that I had, and I only needed to pay $15.51 in overage with a credit card.
Don’t Forget Promo Codes and Portals
I was still able to use a promo code for free shipping on my order. Unfortunately, Saks excludes the item brand I selected from the more significant 10% off and 15% off promo codes. As always, I tracked from an online shopping portal (Membership Rewards-earning Rakuten this time) to Saks.com. The final details of the transaction are below:
Why This Matters
The ability to use multiple gift cards on Saks.com matters for a few reasons. First and foremost, the Saks site offers many items which aren’t available at their brick-and-mortar stores, including what I purchased. If actual stores offered the same inventory, this online nonsense would matter as much. Second, Platinum cardholders have a more convenient option for purchasing items well beyond the $50 threshold while maximizing the Saks credit over time. Third, the free shipping threshold for Saks orders has risen, slowly but surely. After being able to cobble together free shipping closer to $50, Saks raised it to a $100 minimum last year. But I was easily able to take advantage of the free shipping promo code (FREESHIP) with a $200 minimum on the above purchase.
Saks Fifth Avenue – Conclusion
The patience for the longer play is probably the biggest factor here. In terms of the work to buy the more expensive item I had as my goal, the process may have been simpler, at least mentally. To maximize the credit, I would’ve previously fussed with separate shopping trips (online or otherwise), including the not-insignificant time it takes to find “cheap” items, then completed many small orders. Instead, I just bought gift cards, waited, and made a single order. Understandably, many will prefer other moves with the Saks credits. But I’m glad how this one turned out, and I’ll start another stack process in July. How have you been maximizing your Saks Fifth Avenue Platinum benefit?
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Saks sells Bombas socks! So we’ve just had a nice stead stream of well made socks for our little toesies. I like your patience method, though. Presumably the gift card purchase needs to be in person not online?
That’s correct, Sarah. Give it a try!
The bigger story here appears to be how you amassed 9 gift cards in just over a year. How many personal Plat annual fees to did you pay for over that timeframe?