Amex Small Business Saturday

[havaneselover]

Tomorrow's the day. I've got three cards registered so I'm hoping to get $90 back. Wish the find a store feature were a little better but I'm excited for some more savings.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

They should include Sunday as well and give an incentive to shop both days and help out the local folks.

Read an article from one of our local businesses that said for every $100 spent at a small business $63 of the dollars remain in the community. But $100 at a box store only $40 remain in the community. Something to ponder as you shop tomorrow!

 

[havaneselover]

They should include Sunday as well and give an incentive to shop both days and help out the local folks. Read an article from one of our local businesses that said for every $100 spent at a small business $63 of the dollars remain in the community. But $100 at a box store only $40 remain in the community. Something to ponder as you shop tomorrow!

Yeah, small business weekend would be terrific. I don't do a lot of small business shopping because I mainly shop online (for convenience/budget reasons) so I'm looking forward to seeing what the local stores have and picking up some gifts.

 

[ellone]

Went to a small local toy store - they even had 20% off this weekend. Made 6 purchases across 2 cards so I'm pretty set with presents for the kids.

 

[havaneselover]

I've used $30 of my $90 so far ($10 at a local grocery and $20 at the swim shop).

I had to come home an regroup.

I think I'll treat myself to chinese for dinner which I haven't had in at least a year.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

So I have 5 amex cards, all registered. Today I went to a small shopping center that has almost all local stores (Except for the whole foods). I used 2 cards at breakfast at a new restaurant I hadn't tried before. Then I went to the Vom Fass store next door and was very impressed (if you've never gone to these, they are really nice - a little pricey but such a fun shopping experience). I spent $25 and used one of the cards. Then I went to another local store - Whisk, and got a silpat, which I had seen used on cooking shows. They had a lot of really nice stuff, but the problem is, I paid $30 and now that I am home and have researched it it is half that price on Amazon. I don't mind spending a little more for local, but twice as much is pretty high. I may actually return that later today...

Then I went to another small gift store and couldn't decide between a gift for myself or my friend. I finally bought something for myself, but then I felt guilty and went back in and bough the gift for my friend, using the same card, so if you can do it twice at the same store I will be fine.

In between all that I stopped at Gigis cupcakes and used a BOGO free coupon from the coupon/fundraiser book, and since I have a loyalty card with them I had earned $5 so I got them for free!!

I still have 3 cards that I haven't used, so we will need to go somewhere for dinner and then later out for drinks and use our Amex cards...

Thanks to everyone on this board for all the great tips!!!

Because of what I have seen on here, I also finally, after years of having an amex, went and sent up an online account and saw all those great offers they have. I am trying to use some of those today (like $5 off a $15 purchase at Walmart.com. I tried to do it last night using 3 different cards and they were all rejected as possible fraud. I called Walmart, they couldn't give me a good explanation, so I am trying again today.

One of my Amex cards has a special for $15 off a $15 or more at Amazon, so I just spent $25 there....

 

[Aryn]

We have 6 cards, so we spent the morning buying little items at local businesses. I bought books and some nice wine, got stocking stuffers and yummy smelling soaps. I also went to the yarn store and bought some baby alpaca yarn, that is so soft I just want to touch it all the time.
We still have 2 cards to go

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

Enjoyed myself at this awesome store

http://stnicks.com/virtual-tour-st-nicks-christmas-store/#

Hopefully this link works- you can walk through the store on a virtual tour - very cool.

St. Nick's Christmas store in Littleton, CO

 

[scard192]

used my card twice today and will again tonight for dinner

 

[LisaR]

Really ticked! Found a restaurant we love and it is listed on the AMEX site. Ordered, ate, and attempted to pay with our Amex card only to be told they don't take Amex. So mad! We were debating between that restaurant since we love it and another one we have never tried. Should have gone with the new place. I came home and double checked and sure enough, they are listed on the website. Ugh! I have two more uses now so I guess we will head back out in a bit.

 

[java]

Free bagels this am! Fancy brush for me that i would have never bought without the $10. And finally e liquid from a local shop for my adult son.

 

[Sleepy425]

Really ticked! Found a restaurant we love and it is listed on the AMEX site. Ordered, ate, and attempted to pay with our Amex card only to be told they don't take Amex. So mad! We were debating between that restaurant since we love it and another one we have never tried. Should have gone with the new place. I came home and double checked and sure enough, they are listed on the website. Ugh! I have two more uses now so I guess we will head back out in a bit.

I had one local coffee shop hand me my card back and ask for something else. I just handed it right back to them and said no, it is small business Saturday I am using this.
It is possible they stopped taking it and it is still on their website - a few local places that went out of business quite a while ago are still listed. Their page is clearly not updated often at all.

 

[scard192]

I had one local coffee shop hand me my card back and ask for something else. I just handed it right back to them and said no, it is small business Saturday I am using this.
It is possible they stopped taking it and it is still on their website - a few local places that went out of business quite a while ago are still listed. Their page is clearly not updated often at all.

Had a similar problem 2 years ago, Had a Groupon for a remote car starter,checked and they were listed on the Small Business Saturday website so made the appointment for the install that day. Went to pay with Amex and was asked if I had another card to use. I lied and said no and they did take the card. Back then it was one $25 credit and I really wanted that savings.

 

[Judique]

Really ticked! Found a restaurant we love and it is listed on the AMEX site. Ordered, ate, and attempted to pay with our Amex card only to be told they don't take Amex. So mad! We were debating between that restaurant since we love it and another one we have never tried. Should have gone with the new place. I came home and double checked and sure enough, they are listed on the website. Ugh! I have two more uses now so I guess we will head back out in a bit.

Yes, I don't quite get that. Similar to my daughter's experience except she didn't dine at the restaurant.

I went to 2 wine shops and picked up some wines for over xmas. Then went to the Peruvian chicken place and picked up dinner. All 3 were in my email earlier so no misses.

 

[havaneselover]

I used all 9 of mine (and got 9 email confirmations). I was nervous about the last place (Chinese restaurant) because they didn't have the Amex sticker in the window but I handed them my card and they swiped it.

I ended up with $40 of free groceries, $10 off a pair of Nike elite socks for my DS, $20 spent at the swim store (kids keep losing insulated water bottles), $10 off at the pharmacy, and sweet and sour shrimp for $3. I'm slightly exhausted.

 

[fbb]

I prepaid the vet.

 

[tasha99]

All food for me--groceries, Chinese lunch, and a pizza for the kids for dinner.

 

[smokeyblue]

Really ticked! Found a restaurant we love and it is listed on the AMEX site. Ordered, ate, and attempted to pay with our Amex card only to be told they don't take Amex. So mad! We were debating between that restaurant since we love it and another one we have never tried. Should have gone with the new place. I came home and double checked and sure enough, they are listed on the website. Ugh! I have two more uses now so I guess we will head back out in a bit.

We had the same thing happen! At least it wasn't an expensive restaurant, but we surely would have ate somewhere else since we already dined out for lunch. Then we went to a party store that was on the list, went to pay for our wine and they said they didn't take AMEX.

Even with these two snafus we had a fun day shopping and eating in a totally different way than we usually would. We pretty much shopped and and ate from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and 90% was small business. I had 1 card and my BF had 3. I found a new store that I just adore and it's taking every fiber of my being to not return and buy more stuff!

 

[descovy]

I went 3 places yesterday (on the AMEX list). Only one accepted American Express After being shot down twice, I was over it.

Small business Saturday was a bust for me. Don't know how they even end up on the list if they don't accept Amex.

 

[Nennie]

I bought $10 gift cards from a bunch of local eateries! That's what I do every year!