Amex Shop Small is back – get £5 for every £10 purchase in July

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American Express is bringing back its ‘Shop Small’ promotion this July. And this means a potential £50 for every American Express card you hold!

Lloyds TSB and MBNA Amex cards are included as well, so this could be a very generous deal for some people.

Shop Small

If you missed ‘Shop Small’ last year, it is a very simple idea. American Express produces a huge list of small, mainly independent, shops up and down the country which accept Amex. There is a website listing all the shops and many also have a blue ‘Shop Small’ logo in their window.

When you spend £10 or more in a ‘Shop Small’ during July, you will receive a £5 credit from American Express on your statement!

This time, American Express has put a cap in place. This should stop some of crazier stuff that went on last year where people managed to do literally hundreds of transactions. They are also insisting that you spend £10 to get £5 back, rather than the £5 to get £5 back they offered in 2012.

You are now restricted to 10 transactions per card account (supplementary cards do not get their own 10 transactions, I think – but this is to be confirmed). Each transaction must be in a different shop – but, of course, you can visit the same shop using different Amex accounts. Online transactions do NOT count.

How to get started

The first thing to do is to register all of your American Express, Lloyds TSB Amex and MBNA Amex cards at the ‘Shop Small’ website. (Corporate cards and pre-paid cards cannot take part.)

The second thing to do is to look at the list of participating shops and working out how best to use them. Don’t forget that a lot of pubs are taking part as well!

Happy hunting!

Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, British Airways American Express

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Clive J says:

30 Jun30 June 15:47

Thanks for pointing this out. I made £45 last year and hoping to do better this year with two cards. Plenty of opportunities for me, both in my home town and where I work. They must have done some updates to the list as there is a pub listed that wasn’t even open last time.
David M says:

1 Jul1 July 21:14

Worth noting that the D&D Restaurant Group are running a spend £50 get £10 off via FourSquare during July. All restaurants appear to be present!
Phil says:

3 Jul3 July 12:29

I live in the centre of Brighton and there are about 100 shops participating on my doorstep – including many many pubs….
oliuk says:

5 Jul5 July 11:16

Has anybody rolled into a restaurant and asked them to split the bill in £10 chunks over multiple cards? Bit cheeky but will make for a half price meal if they will do it…
- Trevor says:
  
  5 Jul5 July 12:09
  
  I did this in November and of course charged just £5 per card for an almost free night out! Stupidly, I forgot to split payment last night.
  
  More importantly, has anyone registered more than 1 card in their name (T&Cs state 1 card per person) and supp cards and seen the results on their statement yet?
  - Will says:
    
    8 Jul8 July 23:34
    
    I’ve done this on different cards in the same name and it works and shows on the statements. Not tried a supp yet. Paid last November on 12 cards at the local Indian. Took absolutely ages on the card reader. Went next door to the wine bar at gone 11pm and had a session at the bar only to find their card machine was stuck on summer time and it was the last night of November so my generosity at the bar bit me there. £10 minimum Amex spend at that one too. I laughed very hard when I checked the CC stubs in the morning!
flyforfun says:

8 Jul8 July 10:24

Tried to use this at a restaurant I’ve regularly been using Amex at until earlier this year when I got my 2-4-1 voucher and switched to my MBNA BMI classic to get 2 points per £. It appears since they did a refurb and swapped banks to the new Metro bank they no longer accept Amex.

To let Amex know do you just contact them on the number on the back of the card and mention the promo or is there a special number to call?
Ben E says:

8 Jul8 July 11:52

Bump on this one… does anyone know the best way to contact amex about shops that are on this list but don’t take Amex? Want some kind of money back now, after going to a place on saturday and not being able to use my wad of amex cards
- Ben E says:
  
  8 Jul8 July 15:24
  
  Seemingly just ring them up! £10 credit coming my way 🙂