Guess what? Amex has extended the deadline on their “Small Business Saturday” $25 credit promotion. It was originally set up to be a one day event (11/27 only) and limited to the first 100k cardmembers that signed up. Now it will run until 12/31, and is open to the first 300k who sign up.
Briefly, you need to register your Amex card (click that link to do so) and then spend $25 at an eligible merchant before December 31st.
Eligible merchants include:
…any independently owned small businesses that accept the American Express Card. Purchases made online, at large, national chains, at franchised business locations and at government agencies are not eligible. Prepaid, corporate cards and ExpressPay transactions are not eligible.
Once you complete the steps, you’ll receive a $25 statement credit (typically within 5 business days). This offer is limited to one credit per cardmember, so if you’ve already participated, then you can’t do it again.
As I said before, this is a win-win for you and the merchant, so if you know of a local business that accepts Amex, you should consider signing up and then dropping by for some holiday shopping.
I signed up on a Friday and made a purchase at a small business ($25 gift card) on Saturday. My AMEX account was credited on Monday. Good deal!
For what it’s worth, I had a couple of small biz purchases on Thursday and Friday of last week and the $25 credit posted to my account on Sunday (yesterday). So maybe 2-3 days?
Yes I checked last night and also have already received the credit of $25. Thanks AMEX!
Checked my account activity and saw a $25 credit with a description of ‘Small Biz Sat’.
There is commentary on another blog that says they received their $25 credit back: http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/american-express-small-business-promotion.html
My understanding from reading the fine print is that any business that fits the eligibility criteria above are participating. While it’s true that there was a merchant side to the program (to get free money for advertising, etc.), my understanding was that this wasn’t required for the business to be eligible for the $25 promo.
How I read it is if it fits the profile of small, local business (e.g. not a franchise, not a chain, not bought online) then it will be valid. I read nothing about the merchants having to register. I will post when(if) I get a statement credit if this is true or not.
After signing up it said “at participating small businesses only.” How are we supposed to know?
The small businesses had to also register to participate in this promotion. It sounds like a great offer but when I researched it online, I only found one participating store out of hundreds of small businesses in my area.