American Express often offers higher bonuses when using incognito mode/other tricks. Previously these offers only showed when going through the American Express website. These offers are now sometimes showing when clicking a referral link as well. One example is the 75,000 American Express Platinum offer we just posted about, but it’s also showing on things such as the AmEx EveryDay (for 25,000 points). When you use a referral link the persons who’s link you used also receives a bonus, self referral also work so this is one way of getting some extra points.
Here are some incognito mode offers we’ve seen before, I’ll bold the offers that readers confirm have been working when using a referral link:
- AmEx EveryDay 25,000 points. Best offer we’ve seen on this card.
- American Express Platinum 75,000 points. Keep in mind it’s often possible to get 100,000 points.
- Blue Cash Everyday $200 Offer. This is better than the standard $100 offer, but we’ve seen bonuses as high as $300.
Hat tip to Walter Credit
Are the incognito offers even available through cross-referral? I managed to get the regular 25k ED incognito offer (I needed something like 50 tries), but through a referral from a Gold card I only ever see the regular 15k offer. Many many tries.
Could you give a step by step on how to get referal and 25K Amex Everyday bonus? It would be really appreciated. I’ve tried a few times. Same process as incognito mode but instead going to Amex website after clearing cache etc, put in referral code link? THX
I was able to get the 25k bonus on the EveryDay for my wife using my referral link. I had to use a VPN through the UK but it worked!
Refferal shows Hilton Ascend for 150,000, and Honors for 100,000.
I am able to pull up 75K personal plat without a referral but every referral attempt is 60K. Is Amex tracking the 20+ uses of my referral anywhere and thus giving the low offers? Think it makes any difference if I use the email link instead of the web link I have been using?
using incognito i get:
Gold Personal 50K after $2K
Platinum Personal 75K after $5K
Green 25K after $1K
I don’t use incognito mode often & was just introduced to this method a few months ago. Just to be clear, how do I do this: 1) open incognito window and log into my Amex acct. to send referral email/link to a friend? 2) Does the friend who receives the email also have to be in incognito mode when they apply?
Thanks!
No, only the person using the link needs to open in incognito mode. Then hope for the higher offer
To elaborate, the “incognito method” is used when applying for a card. You use incognito mode so Amex can’t identify you from your browser cookies, in the hopes they give you the higher signup offers which are intended for attracting new customers. You have to be logged into your Amex account to generate a referral link, of course, so they know who to give the referral credit to. Being in incognito mode wouldn’t accomplish anything, because you then have to log into your Amex account to generate a referral, and then you’ve just identified yourself to Amex. Note, this does mean if you were in incognito mode for whatever reason while generating the referral, you need to open a new incognito window, or clear cookies, before following the referral link, or you probably won’t see the higher offers. Simply logging out of your Amex account won’t do anything because it doesn’t remove all the Amex cookies. They still know who you are.
Mines only showing 15k for amex eveyday referral.
Keep trying
Is there any rhyme or reason to getting the better offers to show, or just luck/brute force?
Just luck/brute force if you’re using the methods listed
I didn’t get the bonus when I got Amex Everyday. If I close it and reopen it, will get the bonus since technically I never received the bonus? When I opened this card my score was so low that they said here is $500 limit and no bonus.
You should receive a message if you are not eligible for a bonus before HP. Of cause bonus should be attached to the offer…
+1
Unfortunately it looks like the answer is generally “no”. I’m intrigued by what you said happened. Did you apply with an offer for the card? If you did and they approved you for the card without telling you you didn’t qualify for the offer, it’s not legal for them to later say “lol just kidding about that signup offer”. But unfortunately unless you’re still within the time limit for the offer it’s probably too late to do anything. Could you give us more details on what happened? Also this is a good time to remind people to save screenshots of signup offers, confirmation screens, and the like in case you need documentation later.
Offer shows but not work. Got “not eligible for bonus” message
Which doesn’t have anything to do with the referral. It means Amex flagged you as someone they think is churning.
To elaborate, see here if you’re not familiar with the “not eligible” message. It’s not a “flag” on your account; the computers look at your history and apply some heuristics. It’s possible to get “not qualified” for one signup bonus but get approved for another card’s. Happened to me last week. You also get the message if you’ve had the card before and therefore are disqualified by the “once per lifetime” rule. This predates the recent referral changes.