Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend. If you still need to do some holiday shopping, today is a great day to get your shopping done. Today is Green Monday and many stores are offering deals. Plus, don’t forget to earn cash back today – Ebates is offering double cash back at 600+ stores today only. In other news, if you have the Google Express AMEX Offer (spend $50 or more and get a $20 statement credit) or the Office Depot AMEX Offer (spend $50 or more and get a $10 statement credit), I have some data points to share regarding my experiences with those 2 AMEX Offers. These AMEX Offers came out a few weeks ago, so check your AMEX account to see if you have either of these offers available. Let’s start with the Google Express AMEX Offer.
Google Express allows you to shop at many different stores (including Staples) and check out once through Google Express. Luckily for me, Google Express has gift cards for sale through Staples. I linked the AMEX Offer to a few of my AMEX cards and purchased a few gift cards to give as gifts.
The strange thing about Google Express is that when you check out, the checkout page shows sales tax on all orders, even for order that should not be charged sales tax (like gift card orders).
Not to worry, when your order is paid and shipped, the correct charge will apply. The pending charge shows on your AMEX account for a few days, then disappears for a few days, and then the correct charge posts. This happened for all of my Google Express purchases.
If you are new to Google Express, they are offering a $10 bonus (my referral link – thank you) when you make your first order.
A few days after placing my order, I received a package from Google Express. Inside the box, is an overly protected gift card. I’m not sure if Google Express knows what a padded envelope is, but maybe they can search for it and find out ;)
Everyday, I checked my AMEX account to see if/when the $20 statement credit would post. After more than a week of waiting, the $20 statement credit finally posted to my AMEX account.
In contrast, the Office Depot AMEX Offer was pretty easy. Since Office Depot doesn’t sell any non-Office Depot gift cards online, I walked into my local Office Depot store and bought a $50 Amazon gift card.
2 days after the charge posted, I received the $10 statement credit. Now that is the kind of speed I like!
If you have any questions about either AMEX Offer, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Gift cards via Staples – not available in my area!
Try different zip codes if you have friends or family members in different states.
I wonder if you can still order from Staples even if it is not in your area. In other words, I dont see it as a requirement that you shop in your own area. (I see it available in 94105 zip, for example, but I’ve never used Google Express and dont know if they will reject my offers if they see I’m 1000 miles away!)
Can any readers verify is this is accurate or not?
I think as long as the zip code you enter is relatively close to the zip code the package is delivered to, it should be fine.
Any other zip codes that work for Staples? They are not in my area and 94105 is a long way from here. Also, anyone know if you can buy a gift card with a gift card at Bed Bath and Beyond?
I’m sure there are many other zip codes that will work. I work in zip code 94105 (San Francisco), so maybe other big cities will work. I don’t think you can buy a GC with a BBB GC.
Does the $10 referral credit also work on gift cards?
I’m not sure, I haven’t tried. If you do, please let me know if the coupon works on gift cards.
Grant, super helpful. i also went thru the “magic trick” cycle w/ the Google Express charges appearing, disappearing and reappearing. Unfortunately, now the charges are posted (not pending), but the Amex Offer itself has reappeared in my account (it had been taken off, and i had gotten the “satisfied” email). In the past, when that has happened w/ other offers, that means that Amex determined that my transaction didn’t meet the offer…but it should’ve. so i’m worried. and getting Amex to manually honor it is a major PIA. i love Amex offers and have saved thousands with them over the years but they’re mechanics are so annoying that i’m starting to consider ditching the card.
I would wait the 7-10 days after the charge posts before doing anything. If you originally got the congratulations email, you should be fine. Just wait it out and it should resolve itself.
I have opened more than 30 Google Express accounts with over 30 different emails to take advantage of new account discount coupons….use incognito of course
Good to know, thanks for sharing :)
I have opened more than 30 cereal boxes while inside 30 different grocery stores to take advantage of the free prizes inside…use gloves of course.
Haha, funniest comment of the day. Thank you :)