Amex Shop Small is by far my favourite campaign run by American Express on a yearly basis. If you haven’t heard about it, pay attention because it can save you a nice chunk of money whilst supporting local small businesses.
In this post:
What is Amex Shop Small?
It’s a way for American Express to promote their card acceptance in the local community by rewarding you (the shopper) with $10 cash back on each transaction over $20 ( up to 5 times per card!). It’s a great way to save on everyday purchases and support the small business owners and operators of Australia.
How Does Amex Shop Small Work?
It’s extremely easy to participate, all you need to do is register your American Express credit card on the Shop Small website or in your online account (see screenshot below) and spend $20 or more up to 5 times (1 transaction per merchant) in November. Registration is now open, and even if you have a bank issued Amex card, you’re eligible to participate.
When does the Shop Small cash-back post?
Under the terms and conditions, it says credit can take up to 90 days, however from previous Shop Small experiences it only takes a few days before the credit appears on your card. You will also get an email notification as soon as you make a transaction. You can read the full terms here.
Eligible Amex Cards
All primary and supplementary cards are eligible for shop small, please note that each card (including supplementary cards) need to be registered separately on the shop small website.
The following cards are excluded from this Shop Small promotion: Corporate Cards, American Express Business Travel Accounts, Government Cards, Global Travel Cards, Business Cards that are affiliated with a wholesaler partner, Corporate Purchasing Cards, Corporate Meeting Cards and David Jones Store Cards.
How To Maximise Shop Small?
As you may have noticed, each card can only be used once at every store you shop at.
My personal tactic for maximising shop small is by splitting larger transactions across multiple cards. Let’s say you’re purchasing an item of $100, ask the store person nicely if you can split it over 5 cards. This way you will be saving 50% of your purchase, pretty sweet! Don’t want to carry around a big stack of cards? Try adding them all to Apple Pay or Android Pay.
Who’s Participating In Amex Shop Small 2019?
Amex is planning to double the acceptance rate of their cards in the next 2 years. Chances of your favourite store being part of the Shop Small campaign are pretty high. From experience, some store owners aren’t even aware of Shop Small, but if they accept American Express and are a small business, they are generally signed up to the promotion automatically. To make it easy, Amex has created a useful map which seems to be getting more accurate each year. The map isn’t 100% though so it’s always best to check with a local store to see if they accept Amex; if they do, chances are high they’re part of Shop Small.
Make sure to register your cards today and go Shop Small! The Shop Small campaign is limited to 118,000 cards Australia wide so make sure you get registered ASAP. This usually lasts a few days before it reaches the cap.
Don’t Have An Amex?
We’ve got you covered! Here’s a selection of my favourite American Express cards:
- Amex Explorer (now with 50,000 bonus points) – Learn more…
- Amex Qantas Ultimate (now with 120,000 bonus points) – Learn more…
- Amex Velocity Platinum (now with 50,000 bonus points) – Learn more…
