New Amex Shop Small program - earn 3 bonus points per $1 year-round

[drross]

Nothing for us yet

 

[Coops1]

Gee I never had any trouble using the shop small in Tassie though Launceston or Devonport.I would usually have maxed out after a week as most places I went to were in the shop small promotion.
I am happy with this one.

We did a November holiday in SouthWest WA....maxed all our credits at small Biz everywhere, plus bonus on top was Accor offers in Perth and Bunker Bay. Saved some significant $ on the trip.

 

[Gold Member]

Bah, I’m not making any additional effort to hunt out Amex Shop Small merchants and I’ve already received 7 Amex SS spend emails. Not sure if I can handle 12 months of this spam.

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Disappointing to see my favourite local coffee shop not on the Shop Small list this time. It changed owners in the past year which meant they set up a new AMEX merchant account under the new ownership - never stopped taking AMEX and is still a small business, but for whatever reason, doesn't quality. Will have to check how many of my other faves are or are not on the list...

 

[jakeseven7]

Another boring and coughpy enhancement to Amex.... if my card didn’t pay for itself I’d be completely out by now...

 

[albyd]

I’m personally surprised they let us game the system for this long.

I’ve been using Amex for most of my spend for years. I can count the number of times that I use my Visa in a month now on one hand. I know that’s not everyone’s experience.

If Amex were using these promotions to drive ubiquity of acceptance, it’s largely worked. It’s an expensive strategy to keep using when they no longer need to. MC & Visa just need to turn up to the game. Amex have got there by cutting their merchant rates which ultimately fund the largess we’ve experienced in the past. I’m not surprised the benefits have also fallen as their revenue has.

Don’t get me wrong ... I like these offers ... I just don’t think they’ll be as generous as they’ve been in the past.

 

[Doctore1003]

Bah, I’m not making any additional effort to hunt out Amex Shop Small merchants and I’ve already received 7 Amex SS spend emails. Not sure if I can handle 12 months of this spam.

The Amex SS email I received today said they will only be sent out to 15 April (I’m guessing this is personalised and covers the first two weeks from activating the offer)

 

[drron]

Well 2 years ago I had Amex,DC,Visa and MC cards.
I now only have Amex and MC.
The DC and visa were fee free but basically not worth the hassle.
The MC is used sparingly.Last month's account was $30 - my monthly mobile plan.
Amex certainly has been successful gaining traction.

 

[VPS]

In the last couple of months I'm surprised at the number of places that have accepted Amex that didn't before - Spotlight is one and my local chain of fruit and veg

 

[NoName]

Not on my supp. Also not on my DJs card.

Now received on my DJs card as of this morning.

Does anyone know of a spreadsheet with a list of merchants like there has been in previous years?

 

[Dr Ralph]

Now received on my DJs card as of this morning.

Does anyone know of a spreadsheet with a list of merchants like there has been in previous years?

No. I can't see anyone wasting their time making one given how pathetic the offering is

 

[NoName]

No. I can't see anyone wasting their time making one given how pathetic the offering is

Wouldn’t be much time required. Suspect it’s just a data dump from the Amex website. If I was competent enough IT-wise I’d do it myself.

As for the value of the promotion thats a matter of opinion. Personally I see this as 40,000 extra points for spend I would likely make at various merchants anyway over the course of a year. Add in a few places where you could make purchases and then convert back to cash (which were not difficult in the past to find in QLD at least) then it’s not too bad IMO.

As always YMMV

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Wouldn’t be much time required. Suspect it’s just a data dump from the Amex website. If I was competent enough IT-wise I’d do it myself.

As for the value of the promotion thats a matter of opinion. Personally I see this as 40,000 extra points for spend I would likely make at various merchants anyway over the course of a year. Add in a few places where you could make purchases and then convert back to cash (which were not difficult in the past to find in QLD at least) then it’s not too bad IMO.

As always YMMV

Yes, different strokes for different folks. I just earnt some points at a rural NSW Cafe where I had not even checked. A year is a long to time to be able to rack up extra points.

Plus, if I have understood this promo correctly you can have an unlimited number of transactions (until you reach 40,000 points) at the one business, rather than cap at say 5.

And in at least one case for me I should get balance the 40,000 points from just the one business. And probably on my two cards, and so that should be be 80,000 points with no need to chase around, or alter my spending behaviour.

 

[samh004]

I'm not particularly thrilled to hear that emails confirming bonus points will only be sent until April (I believe) as I do find it useful to know when I have qualifying spend. I also think that it might have been nice to have a varied number of maximum points earned per card, Centurion the most for example, Platinum Charge next as correct me if I'm wrong, but 3 bonus points up to 40,000 points a year is only equal to spend of $13,333.33? On any sort of charge card, that could be eclipsed pretty quick if you were 'shopping small'.

My first credit did arrive though. Only 38611 points to go!

 

[ChrisMars]

Anyone knows if the offer works if I add my card to google pay and pay with the phone?

I feel lucky as there are a couple of shops nearby I use frequently. I should get maybe 10k extra points over the 12 months, without changing my habits too much.

 

[VPS]

Anyone knows if the offer works if I add my card to google pay and pay with the phone?

I feel lucky as there are a couple of shops nearby I use frequently. I should get maybe 10k extra points over the 12 months, without changing my habits too much.

It's working fine with Apple Pay - I rarely use a physical card now

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Anyone knows if the offer works if I add my card to google pay and pay with the phone?

I feel lucky as there are a couple of shops nearby I use frequently. I should get maybe 10k extra points over the 12 months, without changing my habits too much.

Yes, all AMEX offers saved to a card work with all mobile wallets (as always, you just have to make sure you use the card where the offer is saved).

 

[sudoer]

Wouldn’t be much time required. Suspect it’s just a data dump from the Amex website. If I was competent enough IT-wise I’d do it myself.

The API powering the map works on lat/long coordinates and only returns the closest 100 merchants - you can have a play around with it here:

Google Sheets: Sign-in

Access Google Sheets with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).

docs.google.com

Easiest way to get lat/long coordinates is by searching your location in Google Maps and copying values from the address bar.

If there's another directory somewhere on the Amex site I'd be happy to take a look, but this is the best I could do

 

[samh004]

Just as a strange data point, I had a Whisky Club order process overnight, and then got an email saying that qualified. Only a small one on this occasion, but if there was every a big order for whisky through them, that extra 3 points/$ would drain quite quickly!

 

[TMP]

Haven't changed my spend patterns and have already earnt an extra 4000 or so points this month for VFF. Pretty happy with this offer as will easily get to the 40,000 cap without any change in what I normally use the card for.