American Express Gift Card Fee Waiver Promo Code (Updated 2012)
Black Friday Weekend Promo: American Express is offering both no purchase fees and free standard shipping (no promo code required) on all American Express Gift cards from 11/22 to 11/26. Usually, you can only get one or the other even if you have the proper promo code. This is very handy for bulk gifts and meeting credit card spending hurdles and you can buy them with any major credit card (details below).
New codes added. 
American Express Gift Cards are a flexible gift idea, as they have no inactivity fees, expiration dates, or other fees to the recipient. If they are ever lost or stolen, the remaining balance can be refunded or replaced.
In addition, they are useful for time-shifting your purchases forward, in case you’re still working on satisfying spending requirements for juicy credit card offers like the $400 cash bonus from the Chase Sapphire Preferred(SM) Card or any of the other $500+ credit card bonuses out there right now. You can buy these gift cards with any AmEx, Visa, Mastercard, or Discover card. Satisfy the hurdle, earn your rewards/cashback/points, and then spend them at your own pace without changing your buying habits.
Here are updated promotion codes that will waive the $3.95 purchase fee for American Express gift cards:
EMDECWE, valid through 3/31/2013
EMDECWER, valid through 3/31/2013
EMHEARTWE, valid through 4/1/2013
EMTHANK2, valid through 4/30/2013
You can only use one code per purchase, so you may actually save more money with these codes for free standard shipping ($5.95 savings):
AFLQ12013, valid through 3/31/2013
But wait! If you sign up for their “Premium Shipping Plan”, you should see a free next-day air shipping trial for 90 days. Canceling is easy and can be done online; Thanks to reader Albrecht for these detailed instructions:
-Log in to Amex
-Gift Cards at the bottom of the page
-Manage your orders
-Shipping Addresses section
-Your Premium Shipping Plan free trial will end in xx days.
-View
-Cancel
With a purchase-fee waiver code and the free shipping trial, you can buy a card with no fees at all. If there is no purchase-fee waiver currently available, the free shipping code can be used so that your only subject to the $3.95 initial purchase fee.
Finally, you can use certain cashback shopping portals like eBates ($5 bonus, 1% back) or BigCrumbs (1.6% back) to earn even more back.
“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.”
Expired Codes: (try if desperate)
EMDADWL, valid through 9/30/11
EMOCTWL, valid through 12/31/11
EMSVCA, valid through 1/31/12
EMADMWL3, valid through 5/31/12
REMADMWL3, valid through 5/31/12
GRADUATE, valid through 6/30/12
FATHERS617, valid through 6/30/12
EMMOTWEL, valid through 6/30/12
REMMOTWEL, valid through 6/30/12
EMDADWEL, valid through 8/15/12
REMDADWEL, valid through 8/15/12
EMGRADWEL, valid through 9/1/12
REMGRADWEL, valid through 9/1/12
EMWEDWEL, valid through 10/15/12
REMWEDWEL, valid through 10/15/12
EMWISHWEL, valid through 11/30/2012
WRAP12P, valid through 12/5/2012
EMGIFTWEL, valid through 12/31/2012
REMGIFTWEL, valid through 12/31/2012
EMOCTWEL, valid through 1/31/2013
HOLIDAYWE, valid through 2/28/2013
By Jonathan Ping | Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 11/22/12, 10:02am
June 7th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
This promo code (EMDADWL) is not working for me when I tried to use it today. I got the following error:
We’re sorry, but the Promotion code you entered is not valid or has expired. Please check to make sure that you entered the correct Code.
Did anyone had success with this code?
June 7th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Here is the exact link and text from the e-mail I received, let me know if that changes your results:
http://email.americanexpress.c.....mAAW-/axp6
June 8th, 2011 at 8:36 am
Seems to be working, says “accepted” when I add it to cart. Do you buy through the “business” section or “personal” section?
June 12th, 2011 at 11:25 am
Trying either (personal or buisness) didn’t work for me, at least the charges still showed up if I tried to go through to checkout, though I was finding that hitting cancel in the process would bring up a popup, where they’d waive the shipping charge (without signup for premium shipping). Probably a good deal if you want one card, though I was trying to get several smaller cards, so it wasn’t as good for me.
June 13th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
It worked for me! Under business section.
June 15th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
I got the same error as the first commenter. Maybe it’s only available to people that got the e-mail…
June 17th, 2011 at 10:19 am
For the purposes of spending a certain dollar amount on a credit card to earn a bonus, what about hotel reservations where they charge the first night right away? You can cancel the rez later and get a refund so I’m wondering if there is any reason I couldn’t book a bunch of reservations at a high priced hotel for 6-9 months out to help me get to $3k I need to spend on my Chase Sapphire within 3 months and then simply cancel those reservations after I’ve made my minimum spending requirement.
Any chance that Chase sees that the refund relates to an earlier charge and tries to get back the bonus?
June 20th, 2011 at 6:07 am
never thought of this way as expediting point/reward collection. thanks for the tip
June 21st, 2011 at 9:09 am
I wanted to purchased several Amex gift cards as gifts for future weddings, etc (using my Chase Sapphire Preferred card). I wanted to do the premium shipping plan; however, this is an option only if you are an Amex card holder. Did anyone find a different solution?
June 27th, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Has anyone found the “Premium Shipping Plan”? I found the terms and conditions from a Google search, but I can’t find any place to sign up for it.
June 27th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Has anyone been successful buying these with free shipping and with the code? I just received my Chase Sapphire Preferred today and would like to buy some of these to use at Costco. I would prefer to get the shipping free and the waived fee that Jonathan mentioned. Also does anyone know if I can buy at separate times and still get the free shipping each time? Jonathan, you said to cancel “ASAP” but if you cancel won’t you lose the free shipping? What is the charge to join the “Premium Shipping Plan”? Does anyone know if you can buy Costco gift cards with a Visa card in the store or online?
June 29th, 2011 at 4:47 pm
I found the info when trying to check out and buy the gift cards. From what I recall, it’s a little box that offers you a chance at free shipping. The Premium Shipping Plan is just that, a shipping membership plan that offers free shipping as long as you are a member of it. There is a free trial to get you to try it out. I can only assume that if you cancel the membership, you lose any further free shipping privileges.
June 29th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
Jonathan,
Thanks for replying back. A couple days ago I tried to use the code that you gave. It appears to be expired (as others here said). I looked at the shipping option and it appears to only be $1.95 for regular shipping. So I might just buy a $1000 (or more) gift card and spend the $3.95 + $1.95 as that doesn’t seem too costly.
June 30th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Can anyone answer this: does buying Amex gift cards count as a purchase transaction if you pay with an Amex credit card? Or cash advance?
June 30th, 2011 at 2:31 pm
It should definitely count as a purchase if you buy with an AmEx. I have heard stores of it counted as purchase my most folks with Visa/MC, but also stories of it being counted as a cash advance for some. However, you can call them and argue that these are just gift cards just like Walmart gift cards.
Alternatively, you can call up beforehand and set your cash advance limit to zero, and then try to make the purchase online. If it goes through, it should be counted as a purchase. Setting the cash advance limit to zero can be a good idea in general too.
July 8th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
The code only works if not doing through BigCrumbs link, it seems like.
July 14th, 2011 at 6:11 am
I was just given one of these amex gift cards. It says on the paper that the card is attached to “$3.95 Purchase Charge”. Does that mean that the person who bought the card for me had to pay 3.95 above it’s face value to buy it? Or does it mean that each time I use it, there’ll be an additional 3.95 deducted from the card’s remaining balance? I don’t want to ask the gifter because it sounds ungrateful somehow questioning the real value of what they’ve given me or how much it cost them. It’d be useful to know though whether I need to basically think of it’s value as being (at least) 3.95 lower than it’s face value.
August 1st, 2011 at 9:28 am
I went through ebates and got the error message, but when I went to their site in a new tab, I used the code without a problem.
September 19th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
$200 limit on eGiftcards. Can we use it multiple times?
November 4th, 2011 at 7:41 am
How do you cancel the premium shipping plan? Do you have to call?
December 3rd, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Just ordered a couple cards. From the confirmation email:
Special Offer: Thank you for your order! With our compliments, your next order of American Express Gift Cards is FEE-FREE. Simply enter code EMSVCA upon checkout at americanexpress.com/gift to receive 100% off the purchase charge. You can use this code for every order you place through 1/31/12.
December 6th, 2011 at 8:48 am
Received the same EMSVCA code good till 1/31/12.
Easy way to cancel Premium Shipping:
-Log in to Amex
-Gift Cards at the bottom of the page
-Manage your orders
-Shipping Addresses section
-Your Premium Shipping Plan free trial will end in xx days.
-View
-Cancel
December 6th, 2011 at 9:02 am
@Bob, @Albrecht – Thanks for the updates and tips!
December 6th, 2011 at 9:03 am
I bought giftcards with my citicard AmEx, and it counted as a CASH ADVANCE, not as a PURCHASE. They reversed the charges, but people should check their cardmember agreements before using a card to purchase a gift card.
The AmEx gift card purchases I made with my Chase Sapphire were counted as PURCHASES.
December 8th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
@Joe — the $3.95 is when you purchase the card, thats it … if you get the fee waived, its waived
Once you have it, there are no FEES associated with using it
December 9th, 2011 at 5:44 am
I been looking for coupon codes to purchase few gifts cards to send to my clients and save on shipping and purchase fee as well. Thanks for the codes.
December 14th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
I took advantage of this last year, but it seems it won’t allow me to benefit, from a 90-day free enrollment to the next day shipping, for a 2nd time.
Can anyone confirm?
December 20th, 2011 at 7:21 am
@J.C.
Do you remember how much you ended up spending in GC’s?? I was thinking about buying $2K worth in order to meet my spending requirement on my Chase Sapphire Preferred, and want to make sure that it goes through ok. Thanks!
December 22nd, 2011 at 3:11 pm
looks like the promo codes are dead?
December 22nd, 2011 at 10:58 pm
Craptards! Neither of the promo codes work anymore. AND they’ve up their shipping to $8.95. :!
January 13th, 2012 at 7:40 am
Confirming, despite their promise, Amex disabled the January code
January 18th, 2012 at 11:48 am
Update, it works again. Just had to clear the cookies for some reason on IE.
March 7th, 2012 at 6:24 am
“EMSVCA, valid through 1/31/12″ Just worked for me on 3/7/12.
March 9th, 2012 at 11:51 am
Thank you for sharing this code!
April 13th, 2012 at 9:12 am
EMSVCA, valid through 1/31/12 worked for me on 4/13/12.
June 2nd, 2012 at 1:24 pm
I’m not sure that those cards are a good buy. Because I’ve had the pleasure of getting a 100$ gift card from my employer…
a. How do you get the last $ off of them
b. How do you remember to use them, track all of your purchases on them, etc
c. Just another card to carry in your wallet, and is lost $ is you lose your wallet.
d. Is all of this stress worth the amount on the card, let alone the free $$ you may qualify for with a rewards card.
Far better to look towards getting rewards by doing things like
a. waiting on big purchases till you have a card (a new phone, new computer, etc.)
b. purchasing something like a gym membership for a year, where you get a discount for buying in advance, and would have payed month to month anyway.
c. transfering fixed costs to the card, things like phone bills, rent, heat, etc
June 2nd, 2012 at 6:11 pm
Getting the last $ off them is simple, you can go to any retailer and ask for a split transaction. If you card has $5.64 left on it and your bill is $20.21, just ask for a “split transaction” and charge $5.64 on the first one, and the remaining balance on your regular card. I’ve done it many times to use up gift cards, usually at a Target or Wal-mart and not a small mom and pop.
The rest of your reasons are mental, which are valid and I agree with them but this is more of a last-ditch effort purpose, i.e. you have to spend $3,000 in 3 months but there is only 2 weeks left and you still have $500 left and nothing else to buy right now. Buying a gift card that stores value (and hopefully close to free with these codes) would be much preferable to wasting money on something you don’t need.
June 4th, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Do you know if these Amex cards can be used to pay tax at websites like payusatax.com and count as debit cards? That’d be awesome because the fee for debit cards is usually about $4-$5 range flat-rate; good way to earn some cash-back.
June 4th, 2012 at 8:52 pm
I’m pretty sure they would count as a credit card. Don’t you have to use a PIN for debit card purchases?
June 19th, 2012 at 10:10 am
Thanks so much! THE FREE PROCESSING CODE JUST SAVED ME NEARLY $400 IN PROCESSING!! That is a huge savings!!
THANKS AGAIN!
August 27th, 2012 at 11:30 am
What if the card is lost/stolen in the mail? Is there some kind of security activation process? Thanks.
November 6th, 2012 at 11:44 am
EMWISHWEL, valid through 11/30/12
JUST WORKED BEAUTIFULLY AND SAVED ME $181.70!!!! Thank you sooooo much for posting!
November 26th, 2012 at 8:40 am
Can anyone tell if they ship via USPS or UPS/Fedex? That would make a difference between shipping to home or office.
December 1st, 2012 at 9:12 am
BigCrumbs Cash Back Details & Exclusions : “Cash back not available on eGift Cards. Cash back is not offered on fee-free promotional codes.” Has anyone had success using these promotion codes as well as the cashback from bigcrumbs ?