The Offer
- Spend $250 at Bloomingdale’s or bloomingdales.com and receive a $50 statement credit.
This offer is TARGETED. I found it on most of my accounts, but not all.
Bloomingdale’s sells $250 gift cards and they can be resold for around 82% of their value. Additionally, according to FrequentMiler’s Laboratory, ExtraBux will pay out on gift card purchases. They are currently offering 9% for Bloomingdale’s purchases.
[UPDATE 3/8/15: Based on my experiences and that of others, it appears that ExtraBux no longer pays out on Bloomingdale gift cards.]
One small catch: Bloomingdale’s charges a $5 fee for physical gift cards, which will eat into the profitability of this deal. E-gift cards don’t come with a fee, but they’re harder to liquidate. If you have a physical Bloomingdale’s nearby, you could buy the gift card in-store, but you’ll lose out on the portal cashback.
The math:
- Buy the $250 gift card for $255. Get the Amex credit. Total spent is $205.
- Resell it for $210 (82%). Profit $5.
- Get another $22-$23 back from the portal.
- Get 255 free credit card points.
- If everything goes well, you’ll profit around $30 per registered Amex card.
A few notes:
- I haven’t tested yet to see if the Amex credit will hit with a gift card order. From the T&C it sounds like it will, since it only excludes gift card orders. In previous offers, even e-gift cards triggered the credit.
- In the Laboratory it’s noted that mileage portals did NOT payout for gift cards. Thus, there is some risk that the portal payout may not work, even for ExtraBux or a different cashback portal.
- There’s no reports on whether e-gift cards will trigger portal payout.
- Gift cards are excluded from ExtraBux T&C, so you won’t be able to file a claim if it doesn’t track properly.
The Fine Print
- Valid in-store or online
- Valid until 3/30/15
Our Verdict
I think I’m in for this offer. I’ll definitely start this slow and make sure the Amex credits are hitting and the portal is tracking. If it does, I’ll place orders on the rest of my cards as well.
Let us know if you found this offer in your Amex account.
See these posts to learn more about Amex Offers:
