As I am gearing towards $30,000 of spending on my American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card, I had the opportunity to purchase gift cards at 20% off and resell at 79% of the face value or 10% off and resell at 89.5%.
The .5% is the difference between buying points at $.01/point and $.005/point. Also note that a .5% is a 100% increase in cost. Because of that, I almost always avoid gift card churning when buying points at $.01/point as it is costly.
The only time I can justify buying points at a penny would be to hit spending goal bonuses. I wound up buying both the 20% off (Barnes and Nobles) and 10% off (Nordstrom) in order to hit the SPG gold status.
I still have about $3,500 left in spending from now to the end of the year. I am still on track to spend $30,000 with the SPG credit card.
Would it just be cheaper and less hassle to get the Amex Platinum card? Or are you prevented from getting the bonus?
You’re right it would be less hassle getting the AMEX Platinum. After charging so much on the SPG card and with the extra benefits of the Platinum, I am highly considering opening it.