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How to boost your Amex spend by using PayPal for online purchases

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Trying to buy some trainers for my son from the Decathlon website recently, I was reminded of an interesting trick which you can use at retailers which do not take American Express.

This assumes that you are keen to push up your Amex spend to hit a bonus or voucher target.

Here is the payment page of the Decathlon website:

Using American Express at Decathlon

You will see that American Express is not accepted.  However, this doesn’t mean that you cannot use an Amex card.

Look elsewhere on the payment page and you will see the the Paypal logo.

PayPal DOES let you use American Express.

This is what comes up – it opens my Paypal account, which has a BA Amex card linked to it, and I can use it:

Using Paypal where Amex is not accepted

You do not even need a PayPal account to pay with PayPal. You can click on the ‘Pay with PayPal’ link and enter your card details directly.  That said, it makes sense to open an account and link your American Express card as you do not need to remember your card details when paying in the future.

There are no extra fees for using PayPal with retailers.

How to boost your Amex spend by using PayPal for online purchases

Note that some retailers manage to block PayPal from showing the American Express option if they do not accept Amex themselves so this is not always a solution.  In the majority of cases, as with Decathlon, it will work just fine.

The only thing worth noting is that you lose some of your consumer protection if the retailer goes bust if you pay with PayPal. This is because you do not have a direct contract with the retailer.  PayPal does have its own reimbursement scheme called PayPal Buyer Protection which may cover you but it is not legally enshrined.

Next time you pay a retailer who does not accept Amex but does take PayPal, click through to PayPal instead.

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Comments (70)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Josh says:
    7 Oct7 October 04:10

    PayPal buyer protection in practice provides very poor protection if you compare it to the protection, provided by the credit card.
    You can’t speak to anyone, and they favor the merchant. Much better to use a credit card directly.

    • mkcol says:
      7 Oct7 October 09:18

      Totally contra to my experience with them.
      Was able to chat with someone & the amount was refunded immediately pending their investigation, which found in my favour both times.

    • Anthony says:
      7 Oct7 October 11:24

      I found PayPal protection on a par with AMEX tbh, when I raised an issue they froze the transaction immediately, and I got a refund within a couple of days

    • Aston100 says:
      7 Oct7 October 11:46

      I too have had a poor experience with PayPal protection. In my case, they completely favoured the retailer who claimed to have sent the correct item (they hadn’t) despite photographs and links to what was sent versus what I’d ordered.

  • Peter says:
    7 Oct7 October 04:34

    The credit card protection starts at transactions of £100.01 and up to £30k. I definitely wouldn’t want to loose that protection. And as you get so few points for transactions less than £100, it is hardly worth the effort.

    • John says:
      7 Oct7 October 08:28

      The effort of logging into PayPal rather than inputting your credit card details. Really!!!

    • Harrier25 says:
      7 Oct7 October 09:32

      Of course, for purchases under £100 you still have charge back protection from credit cards..

  • Gordon says:
    7 Oct7 October 05:20

    “Trying to buy some trainers for my son from the Decathlon website recently”

    @Rob- Is this a second pair of trainers or is it the same pair the last time you submitted this article! I have actually used this method a few times before, but with (Amex being accepted at a great many more retailers than before)Confirmed by “Hannah Lewis” of Amex, it’s not very often required.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      7 Oct7 October 07:08

      Kids feet go so quickly these days.

      The Government sould do something about it!

    • Rob says:
      7 Oct7 October 09:03

      My 12 year old is now on Size 43 shoes (he is 5’10’ though) …

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:
        7 Oct7 October 09:32

        I hope that’s European sizes! Despite living in Italy for 3 years I’m still not sure what my shoe size is over here… just taken a look and it’s 46… I’ll forget that again soon enough.

      • Gordon says:
        7 Oct7 October 10:50

        My son has size 11 feet.(CoCo the clowns size) He’s 6ft 4” though.

      • zapato1060 says:
        7 Oct7 October 12:14

        Jeez, Im 40 and that size, let me know if you need a few unworn pairs.

  • David says:
    7 Oct7 October 06:20

    Curve connects to PayPal but does not allow Amex to be used.

    • Carlos says:
      7 Oct7 October 06:33

      Also blocks your paypal account later

      • Erico1875 says:
        7 Oct7 October 06:56

        What would be the point of using Curve if it blocks Amex?
        You can already pay with Visa/Mastercard

        • lumma says:
          7 Oct7 October 10:18

          I think it’s so you can spend your PayPal balance directly with the Curve card, rather than sending the money to your bank.

  • Manya says:
    7 Oct7 October 06:57

    I’ve sometimes found that Apple Pay will also accept PayPal when the vendors portal will not.

  • Andrew. says:
    7 Oct7 October 07:37

    Better trick!

    Check your Sports Loyalty offers first. At the moment if have 8% on Barclaycard (Visa) and 7% Virgin Money at Decathlon, also 1% at Airtime on spend at Decathlon.

  • Maurits says:
    7 Oct7 October 07:47

    Some years ago I had a huge dental overhaul, costing £19000. The dentist didn’t accept Amex but I paid them through PayPal and earned a nice amount of Avios.

  • NigelthePensioner says:
    7 Oct7 October 07:49

    Proving that Curve is pointless!!

    • Andrew J says:
      7 Oct7 October 07:51

      I didn’t realise it was still going.

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:
        7 Oct7 October 09:34

        I had to look up Curve, it’s normally called ‘bendy’ around these parts

        • Harrier25 says:
          7 Oct7 October 11:46

          It hasn’t been called that for a few years. That’s when Curve had a use and before they got greedy.

        • Aston100 says:
          7 Oct7 October 11:50

          I miss those codename times.

    • Bob says:
      7 Oct7 October 09:55

      It is not totally pointless. A few years ago when they first came out, I started to use Curve Metal to pay off my BA Amex PP card, with a Barclay Avios card loaded to the Curve Metal, then pay off my Barclay card using direct debit. So, effectively, I earn 3 Avios points per pound spent (spending on ba.com and BA Holiday is even more lucrative with Amex giving double points) …. And having the same spending counted towards the vouchers… Yes, both companion from Amex and upgrade from Barclay.
      So, I use my Amex card first, if they don’t accept it, I use Amex via PayPal, then Curve card (Barclay doesn’t support Google Wallet, so it is always a good solution to have for mobile payment if you are a Android user).
      *disclaimer, this is not financial advice.

      • Lumma says:
        7 Oct7 October 13:23

        I think there’s some that think with what happened with the IHG creation cards, it might not be worth the risk doing this and potentially losing one of the most lucrative MasterCards.

        Or the other view is to rinse it as much as possible while you can, especially with New Day seemingly starting to treat curve transactions as cash advances this month.

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