What stores are supermarkets for AmEx Blue Cash Preferred?
#1
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Join Date: Oct 2010
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What stores are supermarkets for AmEx Blue Cash Preferred?
Sorry if this is a wrong forum, but I cannot find anything meaningful going by a Search function and I though this forum will have the most knowledgeable audience as far as the question:
Blue Cash PreferredSM from American Express provides 6% for purchases at "supermarkets" with only definition in Terms and Conditions "6% for eligible purchases at supermarkets (excluding superstores and warehouse clubs)". So in reality what major stores are supermarkets but not superstores?
What about Walmart, Target and Kohl's for example? Are any of these supermarkets but not superstores?
Blue Cash PreferredSM from American Express provides 6% for purchases at "supermarkets" with only definition in Terms and Conditions "6% for eligible purchases at supermarkets (excluding superstores and warehouse clubs)". So in reality what major stores are supermarkets but not superstores?
What about Walmart, Target and Kohl's for example? Are any of these supermarkets but not superstores?
#2
Fly book Evangelist, Moderator: American Express, Citi, Diners Club, Signatures
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Supermarkets are firms which primarily sell groceries such as:
Kroger, Safeway, SuperValu, Publix, A&P, Albertsons, Whole Foods, etc. The stores you mentioned do sell groceries, but that is not their primary business, and they are not classified as supermarkets for credit card transaction processing purposes.
Kroger, Safeway, SuperValu, Publix, A&P, Albertsons, Whole Foods, etc. The stores you mentioned do sell groceries, but that is not their primary business, and they are not classified as supermarkets for credit card transaction processing purposes.
#3
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Location: GGG, DFW, IAH
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Supermarkets are firms which primarily sell groceries such as:
Kroger, Safeway, SuperValu, Publix, A&P, Albertsons, Whole Foods, etc. The stores you mentioned do sell groceries, but that is not their primary business, and they are not classified as supermarkets for credit card transaction processing purposes.
Kroger, Safeway, SuperValu, Publix, A&P, Albertsons, Whole Foods, etc. The stores you mentioned do sell groceries, but that is not their primary business, and they are not classified as supermarkets for credit card transaction processing purposes.
Why don't just make things simpler and call same things universally? Is that a marketing trick of some kind? Making people think that cards have somewhat different bonus categories when in fact they don't?
Or am I just missing something?
#4
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#5
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
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This can be a bit tricky and it depends on the each individual store. Some stores, it can even depend on how each register is programmed.
I know for my local Raley's, it did not count as 'supermarket'.
I know for my local Raley's, it did not count as 'supermarket'.
#6
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Premier Rewards Gold Card: X2 on groceries, where "groceries" purchases are described as follows "charges at U.S. stand alone ... supermarkets are eligible for bonus points."
Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back at supermarkets where "supermarkets" purchases are described as "eligible purchases at supermarkets (excluding superstores and warehouse clubs)"
So at the end of the day X2 on PRG and 6% for Blue Cash Preferred is earned at the exactly same stores even though in one case it's marketed as "groceries" and in other case as "supermarkets". Confusing...
#7
Join Date: Oct 2008
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I understand that and the generic idea that it only matters how a particular store was coded in the application to the payment processing network (AmEx in this case). What I'm pointing out is an apparent inconsistency in marketing between different AmEx cards:
Premier Rewards Gold Card: X2 on groceries, where "groceries" purchases are described as follows "charges at U.S. stand alone ... supermarkets are eligible for bonus points."
Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back at supermarkets where "supermarkets" purchases are described as "eligible purchases at supermarkets (excluding superstores and warehouse clubs)"
So at the end of the day X2 on PRG and 6% for Blue Cash Preferred is earned at the exactly same stores even though in one case it's marketed as "groceries" and in other case as "supermarkets". Confusing...
Premier Rewards Gold Card: X2 on groceries, where "groceries" purchases are described as follows "charges at U.S. stand alone ... supermarkets are eligible for bonus points."
Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back at supermarkets where "supermarkets" purchases are described as "eligible purchases at supermarkets (excluding superstores and warehouse clubs)"
So at the end of the day X2 on PRG and 6% for Blue Cash Preferred is earned at the exactly same stores even though in one case it's marketed as "groceries" and in other case as "supermarkets". Confusing...
Your best bet would probably be to inquire using a secured message.
#8
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Correct. There's nothing devious here. All of the other major rewards card issuers employ copywriters who sometimes use "groceries" or "supermarkets" as shorthand for "transactions at merchants who primarily sell groceries".
#9
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 27
Raley's groceries?
Let me know if it's impolite to resurrect or hijack this thread. But..
the reason I just got this card was obviously for my 6% cash back on groceries. The majority of my grocery shopping is done at Raley's and I can't find Raley's on the list of grocery stores. Anyone know if Raley's gets the 6%?
the reason I just got this card was obviously for my 6% cash back on groceries. The majority of my grocery shopping is done at Raley's and I can't find Raley's on the list of grocery stores. Anyone know if Raley's gets the 6%?
#10
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
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Let me know if it's impolite to resurrect or hijack this thread. But..
the reason I just got this card was obviously for my 6% cash back on groceries. The majority of my grocery shopping is done at Raley's and I can't find Raley's on the list of grocery stores. Anyone know if Raley's gets the 6%?
the reason I just got this card was obviously for my 6% cash back on groceries. The majority of my grocery shopping is done at Raley's and I can't find Raley's on the list of grocery stores. Anyone know if Raley's gets the 6%?
#11
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#12
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A big grocery store is a supermarket.
A tiny grocery store is not a supermarket.
Ie, a supermarket is a grocery store above a certain size.
That is the colloquial distinction.
Now, how Amex counts that, I dunno.
On my Everyday card, where I get 2x to 2.4x MR on groceries, I don't worry about whether a tiny grocer is a supermarket or not, as long as they code as groceries. Which, btw, some 7-11s do but other 7-11s don't (some 7-11s code as gas instead, whether or not they have gas pumps attached).
On my Everyday card, Ralphs (a Kroger supermarket brand), Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and certain 7-11s all code identically as:
A tiny grocery store is not a supermarket.
Ie, a supermarket is a grocery store above a certain size.
That is the colloquial distinction.
Now, how Amex counts that, I dunno.
On my Everyday card, where I get 2x to 2.4x MR on groceries, I don't worry about whether a tiny grocer is a supermarket or not, as long as they code as groceries. Which, btw, some 7-11s do but other 7-11s don't (some 7-11s code as gas instead, whether or not they have gas pumps attached).
On my Everyday card, Ralphs (a Kroger supermarket brand), Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and certain 7-11s all code identically as:
Category: Merchandise & Supplies - GroceriesIf you have another card, and are not sure whether supermarkets code differently on it than other groceries, I suggest you make a small purchase at a supermarket, a small purchase at a small grocery, and see if there's any difference in the coding after each purchase posts.
#13
Moderator: Manufactured Spending
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Let me know if it's impolite to resurrect or hijack this thread. But..
the reason I just got this card was obviously for my 6% cash back on groceries. The majority of my grocery shopping is done at Raley's and I can't find Raley's on the list of grocery stores. Anyone know if Raley's gets the 6%?
the reason I just got this card was obviously for my 6% cash back on groceries. The majority of my grocery shopping is done at Raley's and I can't find Raley's on the list of grocery stores. Anyone know if Raley's gets the 6%?
For example, Trader Joe's would be a grocery store but not a supermarket.
But recently, the lines are blurring and the best advice is to make a small test purchase to determine how a particular location codes.
#14
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
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It might depend on the card network too. I know that my local Target is classified as a grocery store according to Mastercard, for instance.
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