Great Deal: Buy An Apple Watch With An Amex Offer & Other Cash Saving Techniques

The Apple Watch has been on the market for a few months now and, while there are many that were disappointed with it, it remains a popular tech item. There are many things about it that make it convenient for the traveler with the current market of apps and those that will come as well.

Buy An Apple Watch With An Amex Offer & Save More

For those of you who have held out wanting a deal on an Apple Watch, that day is here! Last Friday was the day that it hit the shelves and online space of Best Buy, the first electronics retailer to sell Apple’s latest piece of technology. That is really good news for savvy shoppers interested in the watch as you will see!

One of the more recent Amex Offers to hit cardmember accounts was for Best Buy. It comes around at least once a year and offers $25 back on $250 or more spent at Best Buy. For most shoppers, that will just about beat the sales tax that they need to pay on items at Best Buy (unless you are purchasing gift cards). But, with the addition of the Apple Watch to Best Buy’s system, those Amex Offers can now be used on the Apple Watch.

Here is the way to get the most money off of the Apple Watch with some cost saving techniques. Keep in mind that the Apple Watch has popped up on eBay as a Deal of the Day twice – for a whopping $10 off retail price.:) And, those sold out fairly quick! So, this is a nice way to get more money off.

Sign-Up For Best Buy’s My Rewards Program

This reward program is a frequent shopper program that gives you a rebate on your spending for future purchases. They have changed some things about it but if you spend a minimum of $1,500 at Best Buy in a year, you receive some extra perks. One of my favorite is the extended 30 day return policy (over the regular 15 day). If you spend over $3,500 in a year, you will get a 45 day return window!

But, start your Apple Watch savings by signing up for the Best Buy My Rewards program (if you are not already). You will earn a $5 certificate for every $250 you spend. Sign-up here.

Go To Best Buy And Buy $250 In Gift Cards (Bring Your Amex Card) 2X

For this one, to get the best discount, you may need to purchase more at Best Buy to come out ahead with this so, if you are interested in the Apple Watch (not the Sport), it is best to buy $250 in gift cards on one Amex card (that you saved the Best Buy offer to) and then another $250 in gift cards on another Amex card (with the offer saved to it).

Doing this will get you two statement credits for a total of $50 back from Amex.

Go To eBay For 10% Off Coupon

Best Buy has movers’ coupons that you can get at the Post Office in the Mover’s package and register online or just buy it on eBay for around $5 – 10. This is an optional step but will give you another 10% off your purchase (or you can use it for an even higher priced item if you prefer). Make sure you get one that can be used online to get the best bang for your buck! When you get the code, you will enter it online under Promo Code and it will deduct the 10% (I can confirm it does work on the Apple Watch).

Go Through A Shopping Portal

*Note: If you use gift cards and/or the 10% off coupon, the portal may not payout for you. I have had it work in the past but cannot guarantee it will work on this. So, take that into account – if you just purchase the watch with a credit card, you will be fine. Otherwise, these may be surprise miles. 🙂

Now that you have your gift cards and coupon, it is time to put it all together. Go through your favorite shopping portal (most are around 1% or less). I picked the AAdvantage shopping portal because it is paying out at 1 mile per dollar plus the back to school special of earning even more miles on combined shopping. (Check Cashback monitor for your favorite portal’s earnings)

With the back to school promo, if you spend $125, you will get a 500 mile bonus. If you were to buy the Apple Watch (not sport) it would put you over the next threshold of $500 in spending for 1,250 mile bonus. If you are buying the Apple Watch Sport, any spending at any other retailer through the AAdvantage portal could get you to the $500 level. But, at the very minimum, you will get a 500 mile bonus plus the 360 miles for the watch purchase.

Building The Deal

If you use all of these factors (and the portal pays out to you), here is what you can get with the popular 42mm Apple Watch Sport – retail cost of $399:

• Two Amex Offers totaling $500 in purchases (use the extra purchase power or gift cards in the future) – $50
• Best Buy My Rewards (on the $500 in gift card purchases) – $10 for future purchases
• Best Buy 10% Off Coupon (not counting what you may pay on eBay) – $39.99 off
• AAdvantage Portal (use the portal of your choice) – 860 AA miles
• Total (taking into account even future savings) – $300 plus 860 AA miles

That is a cost savings of $100 on the popular Apple Watch Sport! Of course, you will be redeeming the rebates and other purchases for things you would normally buy to get the watch at that value, but that is still a great price!

It works out even better if you purchase the $599 Apple Watch. Here are the details (buying $250 of gift cards in-store and using a different Amex card online in combination):

• Two Amex Offers – $50
• Best Buy My Rewards Value – $12 for future purchases
• Best Buy 10% Off Coupon – $59.99 off
• AAdvantage Portal (or the portal of your choice) – 1,790 AA miles
• Total (taking into account the future My Reward certificate) – $477 plus 1,790 AA miles

Of course, this is all pre-tax so your total amount will vary.

Summary

Since the Apple Watch before this was really only available at Apple Stores, this is a great new way to save some money using Amex Offers and other cost saving techniques. Obviously, there are many people that do not enjoy the watch as they initially thought they would, but with these savings, it allows you to try it out and then sell it on eBay later for about what you paid (because they are still selling near retail).

For travelers and runners, there are a lot of apps and uses that could make the Apple Watch a tool you would use. Apple is due to release Watch OS 2 this fall that should bring about a lot of changes that people had been missing in the original release. It will be free so if you pick up the watch using these cost saving techniques now, you can get some big savings for a device that may end up being useful.