The Amex Platinum card has a number of benefits, including elite status, lounge access, and credits for airfare and hotel expenses. Readers often ask about the Saks Fifth Avenue credit, which is one of the benefits less talked about in a post. Between January and June and between July and December, the Platinum card will give you 50 in statement credits for purchases at the store. If you go to a store in person, that may not be enough to buy anything, and I have seen people say that they weren't planning to use the benefit at all. I don't think that's a good idea. The benefit of 25% of face value is what we use to calculate the first-year value of the card. I think it's a mistake to leave it standing because there are so many ways to use the credit that you can probably do better
There is a twice-annual statement credit of $50 on all flavors of the Platinum card. Between January and June and between July and December, there are those credits.
You may be able to use the credit four times if you only keep the card for a year. If you applied and were approved on June 20th, you would get your card in time to get the January-to-June credit this year, the July-to-December credit this year, and the January-to-June credit next year.
The credit can be used for purchases made in store or online. Gift card purchases are excluded from this benefit. Many people have successfully purchased gift cards in-store despite what the terms say, although at one point we heard from a couple of readers who claimed to have gotten the credits back. There are other items for less than $50 on the website, even though online gift card purchases do not work.
Don't forget to use a shopping portal if you're shopping online. Rates at the time of writing aren't very high, but portals sometimes offer as much as 15% back at the store. We try to report it when rates go up, but you can also set an alert at your favorite shopping portal to be notified when rates go up.
You can get Shoprunner for free with your Amex card if you have items that are eligible for free Shoprunner two-day shipping.
Despite the fact that this is one of the lower cash value perks of the Platinum card, we often get reader questions or comments about how to use it. A member of Frequent Miler Insiders reported that they were surprised by how expensive things were in the store when they went to check it out. A friend of mine had a similar experience a few years ago, walking out of a store with a pair of gloves and marveling at how hard it was to find something for less than $50.
Stuff in the store is expensive. The $50 credit is very easy to use if you are like that. It is not a good idea to head to a store for a $50 item if you want to keep things close to $50.
You might want to shop online instead. If you live near a store, it's a good idea to swing by it first.
Gift card purchases are not included in the Amex benefit. If you buy a gift card online, you won't get the credit. Many readers have purchased gift cards at the store. The benefits of buying a gift card include being able to bank the credit for use in a later 6 month period, as well as being able to combine multiple credits for a larger purchase. I'm not sure if Saks is listed on the various programs that offer cash back for in-store purchases, but if they do it may enable something of a double dip - earning rewards for the in-store purchase of the gift card and later for the online use of the gift card
The best option for those without a physical store is to shop online. How much can you get on the website? Readers have given many suggestions.
You can find a lot of stuff under $50 in the sale section, though I sometimes find items that are on sale that I didn't see in the sale section. Face masks, socks, children's clothes, bib, books, toothpaste, and toys are all items you'll find on the first page of the "sale" section when sorted by price. There were 11 pages of items. There are more than 1,000 sale items in the list with 96 items on each page. There are over four thousand items in the sale section.
There is a link to sell items.
My wife likes buying skincare items that she likes. She would spend $50 on skincare at least twice a year if she didn't get the credit, because she likes trying new things, and she would be less inclined to do it if she didn't get the credit. We got the set for less than $50 a couple of years ago, and she was happy with it. I've been using Jack Black shaving oil for a long time. I have used a Platinum card credit on it in the past because it costs the same regardless of where I buy it.
There are links to items under $50.
goblets, wine glasses, coffee mugs, water bottles, and other beverage vessels are cheap. Four-piece sets of drinking glasses and wine glasses are cheap. I am sure that you can find cheaper glassware elsewhere, but I am not sure if you can find something that fits your theme.
There is a link to drinkware and glassware.
I bought the wool fedora above for $51.20 last year. For a while, I kept an eye on this one, and I saw it on sale for $75 to $100. As the winter season came to a close, I snapped it up. At the time of writing, the only item under $50 that comes up with my "fedora" search is one for kids, as prices do change during shoulder seasons.
Men's and women's hats are linked.
There are a lot of small items, like spatulas and other small tools, and you can find a few French presses for less. If you go up to $60, you can find some Le Creuset items that are nice for a few dollars.
There is a link to cookware sorted by price.
There are a lot of options for kids clothing items, which start under $5. I am going to buy a hoodie for my son that will cost less than my shaving oil, and I will be able to use my Platinum card to pay for it. If there are children in your life, you can find a couple of things for less than $50.
There is a link to all kids items.
There is a mixture of items that include toys and books at the link, but I think that subcategory is worth a quick highlight. There are a lot of children's books and toys at the store. At the holidays, I found that the prices of toys were a little higher than Amazon, but if you have kids for whom to buy, you should easily get better than our 25%-of-face- value metric.
There is a link to toys and books.
Lots of different loose-leaf teas, chocolates, spices, and more can be found at Saks. I was wondering if all of the items in this category would qualify for the Platinum card credits, as some of them are clearly drop-shipped from other companies, but a couple of members of our Frequent miler Insiders have reported buying chocolates or cookies in the past and receiving the credit I don't know if the Chicago Steak Company items will get credited, but I've seen them go on sale for $50.
There is a link to gourmet food under $50.
A member of our Facebook group mentioned that they carry umbrellas. I didn't see a lot of options under $50, but there are at least a few options that wouldn't cost much after the credit. If they are better quality than the cheap umbrellas I have used, this may be a good use of the credit.
Links to umbrellas sorted by price
If it weren't for the fact that so many readers have mentioned using their credits to buy Bombas socks, I wouldn't have considered including socks here. I don't know what makes Bombas socks special, it's just not a brand I'm familiar with. I think there are a number of kids options that appeal to my kids, so if I need a filler to get to $50 on my Platinum card, I will keep socks in mind.
If you only shop in-store, the credits on the Amex Platinum card can be difficult to use. Thousands of items can be found for free or close to it if you shop online. I have seen this benefit dismissed as worthless by some people, but I still find a lot of items at the website that I can use or gift. Is this benefit worth $50 a year? I haven't failed to use my benefit since it launched. The Platinum card seems to have turned into a coupon book. I agree. I don't usually struggle to use this coupon, even though I'm not a typical Saks customer, because of the huge array of items they stock online.
Readers, what have you gotten with your credits?
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