AMEX BCP-Costco-Gift Cards???

[Open123]

The Costco AmEx receives 1%.

The only AmEx card that receives 2% on Costco purchases is the Zync.  1% purchase + 1% Eco pack bonus.  Costco is considered an Eco merchant, hence the bonus. 

This is great if you can have your Zync points upgraded to full MR.

[Open123]

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@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

Interesting mechanism which I have never thought of.

My reasoning for getting BCE rather than BCP was that the difference requires 75 / (6% - 3%) = 2500 purchase dollars at non-CostCo grocery stores to break even with the annual fee.

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Pretty clever to buy your gift cards at a Supermarket, but I'm not sure if Amex/Visa gift cards count for the 6%.  I know that Amazon, Best Buy, and store cards do.

Can anyone chime in?  Great potential to maximize rewards for those willing to take the extra step before heading over to Costco.

[winstars]

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@Open123 wrote:

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@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

Interesting mechanism which I have never thought of.

My reasoning for getting BCE rather than BCP was that the difference requires 75 / (6% - 3%) = 2500 purchase dollars at non-CostCo grocery stores to break even with the annual fee.

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Pretty clever to buy your gift cards at a Supermarket, but I'm not sure if Amex/Visa gift cards count for the 6%.  I know that Amazon, Best Buy, and store cards do.

Can anyone chime in?  Great potential to maximize rewards for those willing to take the extra step before heading over to Costco.

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The groceries and gift card I bought at the grocery store yesterday are not showing on my online AMEX account yet. I think when it posts it will either be 430something $$$ "grocery" or it won't be... Will update when it posts!!!

[winstars]

My grocery/gift card purchase from the supermarket shows on my online AMEX as a grocery expenditure.... I went to Costco yesterday and used up almost all of the gift card total,  victory!!!

[bichonmom]

Very cool!

[Open123]

That is very cool!

[steve23111]

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@improvingmycredit wrote:

Hey winstars!  From everything I've read, you will get the 6% on the gift card purchase when you get your statement as long as you bought the gift card at a grocery store.  I think it's funny because I was actually going to do the same thing with regards to a gas gift card purchase just to test this for myself. 

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You are correct.

I do a lot of shopping at Kroger and if I know I'll be eating dinner at TGI Friday's or something like that, I'll grab a gift card for $25 or so to lock in the 6% rate vs. the 1% using my AMEX directly at a restaurant.

From what I've seen, most grocery stores have separate merchant accounts for their on-site fueling stations (if any), and those will be coded as fuel purchases and points would be earned at the lower rate.  My local Kroger is set up like that.  Purchases made at any register in the store (including Pharmacy and Cafe) will count as a grocery purchase as it's all under the main merchant account for the store, so 6% back.  However, at the gas pump, it's a different merchant account, coded as a gas station, so only 3% back.  My workaround is to buy a Kroger gift card while I'm in the store and then use that at the pump, securing a 6% cash back rate.

I don't go out of my way to accomplish any of this (if I don't need anything from the store, I'll just use my AMEX at the pump).  Time is money, after all.

[winstars]

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@steve23111 wrote:

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@improvingmycredit wrote:

Hey winstars!  From everything I've read, you will get the 6% on the gift card purchase when you get your statement as long as you bought the gift card at a grocery store.  I think it's funny because I was actually going to do the same thing with regards to a gas gift card purchase just to test this for myself. 

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You are correct.

I do a lot of shopping at Kroger and if I know I'll be eating dinner at TGI Friday's or something like that, I'll grab a gift card for $25 or so to lock in the 6% rate vs. the 1% using my AMEX directly at a restaurant.

From what I've seen, most grocery stores have separate merchant accounts for their on-site fueling stations (if any), and those will be coded as fuel purchases and points would be earned at the lower rate.  My local Kroger is set up like that.  Purchases made at any register in the store (including Pharmacy and Cafe) will count as a grocery purchase as it's all under the main merchant account for the store, so 6% back.  However, at the gas pump, it's a different merchant account, coded as a gas station, so only 3% back.  My workaround is to buy a Kroger gift card while I'm in the store and then use that at the pump, securing a 6% cash back rate.

I don't go out of my way to accomplish any of this (if I don't need anything from the store, I'll just use my AMEX at the pump).  Time is money, after all.

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But if 6% of $25.00 is $1.50, is buying the $25.00 gift card cheaper than $1.50???  New at this, I have not bought many gift cards EVER...  the other day I bought a $400.00 AMEX  gift card for $5.95,  but the $100.00 AMEX gift cards were $5.95 also, had I bought 4 $100.00 cards ,I make a grand total of $00.20. Are the $25.00 gift carfs cheaper than the cards I saw??? Like I said, I haven't bought many gift cards, the sheer number of them was amazing when I finally looked carefully at the display, which was all three sides of the end of an aisle at the supermarket!!!!

[stan_the_man]

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@winstars wrote:

But if 6% of $25.00 is $1.50, is buying the $25.00 gift card cheaper than $1.50???  New at this, I have not bought many gift cards EVER...  the other day I bought a $400.00 AMEX  gift card for $5.95,  but the $100.00 AMEX gift cards were $5.95 also, had I bought 4 $100.00 cards ,I make a grand total of $00.20. Are the $25.00 gift carfs cheaper than the cards I saw??? Like I said, I haven't bought many gift cards, the sheer number of them was amazing when I finally looked carefully at the display, which was all three sides of the end of an aisle at the supermarket!!!!

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There is no fee for purchasing store gift cards. Only prepaid CCs.

[stan_the_man]

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@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

Yes, that's why I often use my Delta Amex at the CostCo store (but the CostCo Amex at the CostCo gas station); airline card points are generally the equivalent of ~2%.

I'm not all that particular about which card to use, given the ~half price level at the CostCo store shelves (and half the hybrid gallons at the pump) to begin with.

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SkyPesos aren't worth $0.02 each. Plastic IQ pegs the value at $0.0111.

http://www.plasticiq.com/blog/value-of-delta-skymiles-points/

If you want 2% or more value at Costco, your only real options are the Fidelity 2% Amex or the SPG Amex (the last award I booked was worth $0.0333 per point).