Amex Offers: 5% Back at Staples and Home Depot [Targeted]

There are new targeted Amex Offers showing up today. Instead of offering a fixed statement credit, they’re offering 5% off the purchase price in the form of a statement credit.

The Offer – Staples

This offer is showing up on some Amex business credit cards (no luck for me).

• Spend $200 or more at Staples or Staples.com with a registered Amex card and receive 5% back
• Others got the same offer but with $100 minimum spend instead of $200
• Max $5,000 in spend will get the 5% rebate, or $250 back
• Offer expires August 31, 2016

Terms (bolding mine):

The Offer – Home Depot

• Spend $200 or more at Home Depot with a registered Amex card and receive 5% back
• Others got the same offer but with $100 minimum spend instead of $200
• Max $2,000 in spend will get the 5% rebate, or $100 back
• Offer expires August 31, 2016
• In-store only

Terms (bolding mine):

Enrollment is limited. An “eligible purchase” means a purchase of $100 or more made in a single transaction by 8/31/16, on up to $2,000 in total purchases, excluding HD Direct, Home Decorators Collection, Home Depot Foundation, Home Depot Fuel, Home Depot Car Wash, Home Depot at-home services, Home Depot Carpet Clean, Your Other Warehouse, Red Beacon brand, and third party installation services purchased in home. Offer valid for in-store purchases only. Valid at any participating location in the US and US Territories. Offer is limited to a total of $100 in statement credits per American Express® online account. Must add offer to/enroll Card and use same Card to make the eligible purchases. Offer is non-transferable. If you order an item during the offer period but it is not sent/provided to you until after 8/31/16, it may not qualify for the offer. Statement credit will appear on your billing statement within 90 days after 8/31/16. Statement credit may be reversed if eligible purchase is returned/cancelled. Note that American Express may not receive information about your eligible purchase from merchant until all items from your eligible purchase have been provided/shipped by merchant. If American Express does not receive information that identifies your transaction as an eligible purchase, or if there is a delay in merchants submitting transactions to us, you will not receive the statement credit. For example, your transaction will not qualify if it is not made directly with the merchant. In addition, in most cases, you will not receive the statement credit if your transaction is made with an electronic wallet or through a third party or if the merchant uses a mobile or wireless card reader to process it. By adding an offer to a Card, you agree that American Express may send you communications about the offer. POID: BZFX:0003

Our Verdict

As a percentage, this offer is lower than the typical 10% – 25% discounts we get with Amex Offers. On the positive side, it’s a much higher dollar amount which gets the rebate, making it more lucrative in a way.

The Staples offer only excludes e-gift cards, indicating that physical gift cards are eligible. You can order $300 Visa gift cards online for a $9 activation fee. You’ll get $15.45 back from the 5% rebate and net $6.45 + points, assuming you have a way of liquidating them fee-free. Or else you can buy other physical gift cards from Staples or Staples.com at a 5% discount + points. For those with INK bandwidth this offer isn’t amazing, but for those without INK or if your INK is throttled this can be a great deal. Also, if you got the offer on your Amex Simply Cash card which offers 5% back on Office Supply stores, you’ll get 10% back at Staples – a great deal.

The Home Depot deal is harder to maximize with gift cards as the max Visa gift card is $100, and the fees will negate any profit on the deal. You can still use it to buy third-party gift cards in-store at a 5% discount.

HT: Dannydealguru, Slickdeals, and Slickdeals