Great Deal: Save On Amazon With Amex | One Mile at a Time

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Yesterday an Amazon promotion for those using Amex points ended, and today a new one was introduced. I'd definitely recommend checking if you're eligible for this one, as it's potentially extremely lucrative.

Over the past year or so we've seen some incredible opportunities to redeem a small number of points towards an Amazon purchase to score a discount. This is the gift that keeps on giving, and is such an easy way to save on an Amazon purchase.

Amazon Shop With Points

It's possible to redeem several rewards points currencies for purchases on Amazon, through the Shop With Points program.

The catch is that it's almost never a good deal, since the value they give you per point is extremely low. For example, here's how much value you can get with certain points through Amazon, compared to what I value those points at:

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• Amex Membership Rewards: 0.7 cents per point, though I value them at 1.7 cents
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• Chase Ultimate Rewards: 0.8 cents per point, though I value them at 1.7 cents each
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• Citi ThankYou: 0.8 cents per point, though I value them at 1.7 cents each
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• Hilton Honors: 0.2 cents per point, though I value the points at 0.5 cents

The one time it can make sense to redeem points for Amazon purchases is when there's a great promotion, as we're seeing right now.

Redeem One Amex Point To Save With Amazon

Amazon is offering a discount when you use American Express Membership Rewards points to pay for at least part of your purchase. It seems like there are two versions of the offer out there:

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• Save 30% on your purchase, up to $30 back
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• Save 40% on your purchase, up to $50 back

Note that not everyone will be eligible - you'll have to check at the registration link. For example, I was targeted for the last promotion, but not for this one.

The promotion is valid through June 30, 2020, or until 25,000 customers have redeemed this offer, whichever comes first.

The process of taking advantage of this is easy:

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• You first have to activate the offer by clicking the "Click to activate" button on this page (not everyone will be eligible, though hopefully many/most of you are)
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• Then add eligible items to your shopping cart, which includes virtually anything that is sold and shipped by Amazon (this includes third party gift cards)
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• At check-out use at least one Membership Rewards point for your purchase (and that's exactly what I'd do - I recommend redeeming exactly one point)

I wasn't targeted for this one, but to give an example of how I've used similar offers in the past, I added a $200 third party gift card to my cart. Since I had an Amex card earning Membership Rewards points linked to my account, I was asked to select how many points I wanted to redeem. I selected the equivalent of $0.01 worth of points, which is one Membership Rewards point.

As you'll see, the discount was reflected on the purchase page, and I was asked to pay $159.99 for a $200 purchase (this was for a 20% off promotion).

Make sure you don't actually pay for your entire purchase with points, or else you'll be getting a really bad deal.

Given that most of us are on lockdown, being able to buy everyday essentials through Amazon might be the best option right now.

However, if you're looking to buy a gift card, it would appear that third party gift card purchases are qualifying for discounts as well. You can buy gift cards from popular companies like Uber

, Southwest Airlines

, Whole Foods

, and more. If you'd spend money with these companies anyway, you might as well save. Just make sure you see the discount reflected when you finalize the purchase.

In the event you're able to activate the offer but then have issues at check-out applying the promo, try to change the Amex card you're using for the Pay With Points feature for this particular purchase, ideally to one that you haven't used with this promo in the past.

Bottom Line

Saving 30-40% on an Amazon purchase is basically like free money, given that they sell just about everything. Hopefully many of you can take advantage of this offer.

(Tip of the hat to Doctor Of Credit)