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

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.

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!

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2023 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.