Looking for that last minute x-mas gift? Well make sure you DON’T buy an American Express (AMEX) Gift Card. The transaction fee can range from 14% to 6%. I purchased these last year and vowed to never do so again. Processing fee of $3.95 on a $25 gift card. Then yesterday while in line at Pavilions, the woman in front of me bought a $100 AMEX card that had a $5.95 processing fee. She was pissed. This year i decided to just purchase Target and Ralphs gift cards. The recipients can use them for necessities and I don’t fee raped.
I know they need to make money, but that is way too steep. I am boycotting AMEX gift cards forever.
on Dec 24th, 2008
Amex ha ha
on Jan 9th, 2009
In case you already have an AMEX gift card and are having trouble using it, we’ve published a how-to of how to restore your balance if your card is declined or past the “Valid Thru” date– including how to get the service fees wiped if you are in a state that prohibits them.
Hope this is helpful! http://tinyurl.com/7jk57m
on Jan 9th, 2009
It’s not a simple question! First you have to distinguish between “single merchant” gift cards (like a Best Buy card) and “multiple merchant” or bank-issued cards like the AMEX gift card. California for example restricts fees on the former; Connecticut restricts fees on both. Then you have to consider by-state court cases for interpretations of the law. We have links to a few sites with state-by-state legal reviews in our post on AMEX gift cards; also info on states that some AMEX gift card agents have been trained to approve fee removals for. As for how AMEX determines whether you are a resident of one of those states? Working on it. (link again is http://tinyurl.com/7jk57m)