expired Posted by Redmont • Nov 15, 2022
Nov 15, 2022 1:34 PM
expired Posted by Redmont • Nov 15, 2022
Nov 15, 2022 1:34 PM
Get +5 Amex Membership Rewards® points per eligible dollar spent on Amazon. Up to 2,500 points
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(and even if you DO never travel there's ways to get 1c or more value out of MR so it'd still be better- but granted that requires more hoop jumping than getting 1 cent or more per MR for travel)
(and even if you DO never travel there's ways to get 1c or more value out of MR so it'd still be better- but granted that requires more hoop jumping than getting 1 cent or more per MR for travel)
6 MR/$ (since it is an additional 5 points on top of the usual 1) is the equivalent of 4.2% (if you use the points for cash back or cover Amazon purchases) where as the Chase Amazon card is a flat 5% whose points can be used to cover Amazon purchases 1-to-1.
The best you can hope for with this deal is if you get an opportunity, like last November, where redemption for certain gift cards is boosted. The best was California Pizza Kitchen which went from $0.01/MR to $0.0147/MR. Gap went from $0.01/MR to $0.0125/MR. So if you had gone for a $25 Gap card, it would have cost you 2000 MR. You have to spend $333.33 to get 2000 MR. So $25 on $333.33 is 7.5%, but of course the money has to go to the Gap
Apple was boosted to $0.0106/MR, meaning $25 GC cost 2358 MR, requiring $393 in spending. $25 on $393 is 6.4%.
But again, this is dependent on AMEX bringing back this Holiday season promo. It was the first time I ever saw it, last year. I made out like a bandit hoarding MR points for so long and then getting $90 worth of Gap gift cards for 7200 points (good for use at Old Navy).
Apple was boosted to $0.0106/MR, meaning $25 GC cost 2358 MR, requiring $393 in spending. $25 on $393 is 6.4%.
But again, this is dependent on AMEX bringing back this Holiday season promo. It was the first time I ever saw it, last year. I made out like a bandit hoarding MR points for so long and then getting $90 worth of Gap gift cards for 7200 points (good for use at Old Navy).
This also, again, assumes you never travel.
Even then it's not quite right, because there's many gift cards that without a sale you get 1c/pt value for- meaning that'd be 6% cash back equivalent with this deal.
If you do travel though you can trivially get 1-1.5 cents a point for your MR, meaning 6MR per $1 is 6-9% cash equivalent for travel right off the bat (either via the amex portal, or points transfers).
If you ever do any premium travel (ie not cheapest coach) you can trivially get 2-3 cents per MR, and often 3-5 cents via transfers to airlines... putting 6MR/$ at 12-18% CB equiv low end, and 18-30% higher end.
(also the folks who are set up to get 1 or 1.1 cents cash from MR--- possible with an Amex biz checking account or certain, specific, platinum cards-- would be able to get 6 to 6.6% actual straight cash with this deal but as I say not everyone will be in that bucket)
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Even then it's not quite right, because there's many gift cards that without a sale you get 1c/pt value for- meaning that'd be 6% cash back equivalent with this deal.
If you do travel though you can trivially get 1-1.5 cents a point for your MR, meaning 6MR per $1 is 6-9% cash equivalent for travel right off the bat (either via the amex portal, or points transfers).
If you ever do any premium travel (ie not cheapest coach) you can trivially get 2-3 cents per MR, and often 3-5 cents via transfers to airlines... putting 6MR/$ at 12-18% CB equiv low end, and 18-30% higher end.
(also the folks who are set up to get 1 or 1.1 cents cash from MR--- possible with an Amex biz checking account or certain, specific, platinum cards-- would be able to get 6 to 6.6% actual straight cash with this deal but as I say not everyone will be in that bucket)
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These cards will already offer you 6% like you said. Good point. Just hoping to see the discounts they had last year. Gap at 6% is nice, Gap at 7.5% is very nice. Apple currently at 5.1% is nice, but 6.4% is very nice.
I unfortunately do not have 5,000 points to test the AMEX travel system to calculate what rates I get. I don't fly premium, so I can't assume I'd do better than $0.01-$0.015/pt like you said. But good point none the less.
Even then it's not quite right, because there's many gift cards that without a sale you get 1c/pt value for- meaning that'd be 6% cash back equivalent with this deal.
If you do travel though you can trivially get 1-1.5 cents a point for your MR, meaning 6MR per $1 is 6-9% cash equivalent for travel right off the bat (either via the amex portal, or points transfers).
If you ever do any premium travel (ie not cheapest coach) you can trivially get 2-3 cents per MR, and often 3-5 cents via transfers to airlines... putting 6MR/$ at 12-18% CB equiv low end, and 18-30% higher end.
(also the folks who are set up to get 1 or 1.1 cents cash from MR--- possible with an Amex biz checking account or certain, specific, platinum cards-- would be able to get 6 to 6.6% actual straight cash with this deal but as I say not everyone will be in that bucket)
And for those reasons, the sites that were buying Amex membership points are no longer buying those points. Yeah - I tried with a few - I had 250K points.
They're not really that limited though... usually at least 2-4 on almost every flight year-round with a few exceptions.
I mean, you DO have to know "when they're available" but you do for ANY airline ticket you ever buy.
It's pretty trivial to FIND such availability... this fall alone I had no trouble finding it for biz flights through Singapore and ANA booking systems for example for different trips.
There's even 3rd party services that'll find them for you (including sending active alerts if you want something super specific) that cost literally a couple of bucks if you still have trouble finding this yourself though.
For example there was even last-minute availability on JFK to Frankfurt in Singapore Business class like 10 days ago:
https://thepointsguy.co
That said- you can almost always beat even the 1.54c rate with point transfers, though there are exceptions (coach on southwest is one I can think of)
No- the reason SOME sites shut down was it was a violation of Amex terms, and you could potentially lose all your points as well as the broker losing on both ends of the transaction-- and Amex had gotten more aggressive in cracking down on it.
Such sites do still exist though, for example
https://milesbuyer.com/sell-miles...ex-points/
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They're not really that limited though... usually at least 2-4 on almost every flight year-round with a few exceptions.
I mean, you DO have to know "when they're available" but you do for ANY airline ticket you ever buy.
It's pretty trivial to FIND such availability... this fall alone I had no trouble finding it for biz flights through Singapore and ANA booking systems for example for different trips.
There's even 3rd party services that'll find them for you (including sending active alerts if you want something super specific) that cost literally a couple of bucks if you still have trouble finding this yourself though.
They really aren't though.
For example there was even last-minute availability on JFK to Frankfurt in Singapore Business class like 10 days ago:
https://thepointsguy.co
As with all your claims sofar, this too is factually untrue.. the portal is 1 cent per point by default.... --and if you have an amex business platinum card you can effectively 1.54 cents per point using the portal for biz or first class on ANY airline... or even booking coach tickets specifically for your annual-selected airline.
That said- you can almost always beat even the 1.54c rate with point transfers, though there are exceptions (coach on southwest is one I can think of)
No- the reason SOME sites shut down was it was a violation of Amex terms, and you could potentially lose all your points as well as the broker losing on both ends of the transaction-- and Amex had gotten more aggressive in cracking down on it.
Such sites do still exist though, for example
https://milesbuyer.com/sell-miles...ex-points/
My comment about redemption was about the platinum card and not the business platinum. I definitely didn't any good redemptions with the regular platinum.
And that site that you quoted - I tried them too. No follow up from them after the initial automatic response which probably is a good indicator of the current state of affairs.
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