AmEx Points---Best bang for the buck?

[juiceman311]

Hello, I am looking to cash in my modest 70,000 AmEx points before downgrading my charge card to a blue credit card. I am moving into a new place and would love a new 32" LCD and a PS3. I got really excited to see that Home Depot has $500 giftcards, and sells PS3's and the TV I wanted as well. Fortunately, just before cashing in for $700 worth of HD giftcards, I found out that their online store does NOT accept their own gift cards, and they do not sell PS3s or TVs in stores, so no go there...Any suggestions? The AmEx giftcards are half the value of other vendors (70,000 pts would get me $350). Dell's highest card is at $200 and not combinable with more than 1 card, so that makes it kind of pointless if I have to spend a significant amount out of pocket.

Thanks in advance

[djap2]

Hello, I am looking to cash in my modest 70,000 AmEx points before downgrading my charge card to a blue credit card. I am moving into a new place and would love a new 32" LCD and a PS3. I got really excited to see that Home Depot has $500 giftcards, and sells PS3's and the TV I wanted as well. Fortunately, just before cashing in for $700 worth of HD giftcards, I found out that their online store does NOT accept their own gift cards, and they do not sell PS3s or TVs in stores, so no go there...Any suggestions? The AmEx giftcards are half the value of other vendors (70,000 pts would get me $350). Dell's highest card is at $200 and not combinable with more than 1 card, so that makes it kind of pointless if I have to spend a significant amount out of pocket.

Thanks in advance

Most cost effective option is to see if anyone you know needs the HD gift cards, and sell the cards to them for cash. Of course, not the easiest thing to do. I wouldn't go for the 50% less value. Do they offer any cards for BestBuy or other electronics stores at the same 1% rate? That might also work...or find other cards that someone might use that is going to make a big purchase and trade. Some networking around the office or with friends, neighboors or family might get you what you need. Good luck!

[juiceman311]

Most cost effective option is to see if anyone you know needs the HD gift cards, and sell the cards to them for cash. Of course, not the easiest thing to do. I wouldn't go for the 50% less value. Do they offer any cards for BestBuy or other electronics stores at the same 1% rate? That might also work...or find other cards that someone might use that is going to make a big purchase and trade. Some networking around the office or with friends, neighboors or family might get you what you need. Good luck!

That's the only solution I see. I tried speaking with a Dell rep yesterday, and basically they said they are limited by their prompts and that the AmEx cards are actually just $200 coupon codes and not actual giftcards (wtf?) so they can't consolidate them.

I think I'll send an email out to my school (graduate school, lots of homeowners) see if anyone wants a $500 HD card for like $480? If no bites, I'll probably try to sell them on eBay. I've been monitoring it, and it seems like the $500 cards go for $480-485.

[juiceman311]

Spoke with a homedepot.com representative today. They said you CAN get any online deal with a giftcard, just takes an extra step. You have to go to your local home depot B&M, go to CS and tell them you want to make an online purchase with a giftcard. They have a manual process they go through, they will order it for you and allow you to pay with the giftcard for the online items. I printed the chat transcript with the rep just in case, and I clarified it several times to ensure I was not missing something. You can in fact purchase ONLINE ONLY items with giftcards by going to the HD B&M. Hope that helps someone out there.