Amazon just rolled out an incredible promotion that allows shoppers to take 20% off combined orders of $250. In total, shopper can save up to $50 by taking advantage of this easy to use offer.
Use American Express Membership Rewards Points At Checkout
Amazon is currently offering up to $50 in savings when Amex customers pay with their eligible card and use Membership Rewards points at checkout. Now I know what you’re thinking and no you don’t have to use a ton of MR points to benefit. In fact, to receive the full $50 of savings, you only need to use 1 (one) Membership Rewards point. That means if you maximize this benefit you’ll get $50.00 of value from a single Membership Rewards point.
To take advantage of this offer you must first register on Amazon.com. After clicking on the registration link (not an affiliate link, btw) you’ll reach this landing page.
At the bottom of the page, you’ll find the “Click Here To Activate” button. Click that button while logged in to Amazon.com and the promo code will instantly be attached to your account.
Next, as you shop, add items to your shopping cart. You can choose to max this benefit out in a single checkout or spread it out over several orders. Amazon keeps track of the offer and offers the savings on the first $250 spent on eligible items. However, I filled up my shopping card with exactly $250 to make sure I receive the full $50 discount with a single purchase. After you’ve added items to your shopping card proceed to checkout.
Keep in mind this offer is only valid until October 23, 2017. You still have some time to register, but make sure to take advantage of this offer sooner than later!
Paying With Membership Rewards Points
After you proceed to checkout and confirm your shipping address you’ll reach the payment method page. At this point you’ll need to add a qualifying Membership Rewards credit card as a payment method. Once added, you’ll find the option to pay with your Amex card and a further option to use MR points to checkout.
Important: Please do NOT use more than a single Membership Rewards point to take advantage of this offer. As you can see above, MR points are worth about $0.006 when used for Amazon purchases! Considering you could easily get $0.015 of value from MR points using other redemption methods this represents a terrible use of Membership Rewards points.
However, since you only need to use a single Membership Rewards point to take advantage of this offer, it represents a good opportunity to save $50.
Proceed To Checkout and Save $50!
Once you’ve applied your single Membership Rewards point to your purchases it’s time to proceed to checkout. Upon checkout you should see the “Amex 20% Discount” applied to your purchase. My order of the new Bose Soundsport Free headphones didn’t quite cost $250, but I’m ok falling $0.20 short. Now if only I could somehow get rid of those pesky taxes!
Final Thoughts
This may very well be the only time I can actually recommend using American Express Membership Rewards points to pay for a purchase on Amazon. Other than this offer, doing so represents a truly atrocious value. Sadly, I imagine many people will activate this offer and continue using MR points for purchases until they’re out.
It pains me whenever I hear people discuss the awesome new merchandise they’ve just purchased with points. I think of all the first class flights or five-star hotels they could have instead stayed at. However, I guess if they used points to purchase a VR Headset they could potentially get the same experience!
Either way I’m glad Amazon pushed this offer out because it was an easy way to save $50 on a purchase I’ve been considering over the past few days. I love Bose headphones, but couldn’t stomach the $250 price tag for their latest wireless ear buds. With this discount I ended up pre-ordering a set, I just hope I love them as much as I love my other Bose products.
Featured Image Courtesy of Amazon.com
