How To Activate an American Express Gift Card—A Complete Guide

Most gift cards, such as Costco and Starbucks gift cards, are tied to a particular store. You can use some gift cards for purchases outside the issuing company for different services and products, like Robux. American Express gift cards work in a slightly different way—their use isn’t tied down to a particular store or product. Before you can use an Amex gift card, you may need to activate it. 

In this guide, we’ll explain how to activate an American Express gift card the easy way. We will also show you how you can earn free gift cards, prepaid cards, and even cash using Mode Mobile’s services.

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American Express Gift Card—How Does It Work?

American Express offers both plastic and digital gift cards that are sold in custom denominations starting from $25 to $3,000. Both types can be personalized with pre-made or custom designs and messages and delivered instantly through email or physical mail, with the latter option taking several days.

American Express gift cards (like other cards issued by financial institutions) are open-loop gift cards. They work in a similar way to credit and debit cards, which means you can use them everywhere they are accepted, like a regular payment method.

Do You Have To Activate an American Express Gift Card?

You may have to register your Amex gift card depending on where you buy it from. 

If you purchase the gift card directly from the American Express website, the card you receive will be activated and ready for use. Amex gift cards bought from authorized third-party vendors may require activation, though. For example, if you buy a gift card from a physical store like Walmart, the card will be activated at the cashier’s station. In other cases, you will need to activate the card yourself.

How To Register an American Express Gift Card

There are two ways you can register an American Express gift card:

1. Online
2. Customer support 

The following table highlight the step-by-step process for each option.

Where Can You Use American Express Gift Cards?

An American Express gift card isn’t a regular gift card. It is a card preloaded with funds for product purchases and service payments in any store—physical or online—where regular Amex cards are accepted. This includes:

• Amazon
• American Eagle 
• Fandango
• Disney World
• GameStop 
• Groupon
• PayPal
• Home Depot
• Netflix 
• Sears 
• Verizon

This means you can use it across the U.S., Canada, The Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. You can’t use your Amex gift card overseas, though. For instance, Amazon accepts Amex gift card payments in the U.S., but in Europe, you won’t be able to pay for your Amazon purchases using the same card. You can still work around the issue—American Express lets users transfer their Amex gift card balance to their digital wallets, including:

• Apple Pay
• Samsung Pay
• Google Pay

Mode Mobile Helps You Earn Free Gift Cards 

Source: Mode Mobile

Mode Mobile is a company that offers rewards-based services through its two products—the Mode Earn App and the Mode Earn Phone. Both products let you perform various phone-related tasks and collect rewards for completed activities. You’ll be able to earn rewards for the following tasks (and more):

• Playing mobile games
• Surfing the internet
• Listening to music
• Locking your phone
• Completing surveys
• Checking the weather
• Reading news articles
• Charging your phone
• Installing partner apps
• Watching short videos

Once you complete an activity, you get redeemable points that you exchange for different prizes, including:

• Gift cards for renowned brands like Steam, Sephora, Apple, iTunes, and others
• Game cards for Fortnite, PlayStation, Free Fire, and PUBG
• PayPal cash deposits
• Cryptocurrencies and stocks
• Virtual prepaid Mastercards
• Physical items
• Shopping discounts

Mode Earn App—The Most Reliable Free Gift Card App

If you’re looking for a reliable and trustworthy free gift card app, the Mode Earn App is the app for you. It is one of the most popular reward-based apps on Google Play, with more than 30 million downloads across the world and over 2.6 million user reviews, with an incredible app rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars.

Source: Google Play

The Mode Earn app works in a simple way—after you install it, the app will run in the background, tracking your completed activities and rewarding points for them. It enables you to earn up to $600 a year in cash and rewards.

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• Watch Mode
• Games Mode
• News Mode
• Share Mode
• Fitness Mode
• Lock Screen Mode
• Data Mode 
• Music Mode

Besides helping you earn, the Mode Earn Phone is an amazing device. The latest model—the Mode Earn Phone MEP2—has specs that secure smooth everyday use, including:

• 6.52-inch display
• Octa-core processor with 4GB RAM
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• High-end front and back cameras
• Multi-network compatibility

Source: Mode Mobile

How To Get Your Mode Earn Phone

There are two ways you can get the Mode Earn Phone:

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How To Use Amex Gift Cards

Source: Cup of Couple

When buying items in-store, use the Amex gift card to pay as you would a regular credit and debit card. The same applies to online purchases—once you’re on the order checkout page, follow the listed steps to pay online using the Amex gift card:

1. Find the Payment Method section on the platform
2. Select Credit or Debit (don’t choose the ‘gift card’ if it’s available)
3. Insert your gift card number and other card information as prompted 
4. Enter the recipient’s name and address

Checking Amex Gift Card Balance 

As you use the gift card, you should monitor your spending to avoid failure of transactions. You can track spending by checking the balance on American Express’s website through the following steps:

1. Open the American Express website
2. Click the Check Balance button on the top right side of the screen 
3. Enter the 15-digit gift card number and other card details as prompted on the page
4. Press Sign In—you should be logged in to check your balance 

Use the provided links as there are many copycat websites looking to steal your financial and personal information.

Where Can You Get American Express Gift Cards?

Besides the official website, you can get Amex gift cards from several authorized in-store and online third-party vendors, as shown in the table below:

Still, buying directly from the company is better for the following reasons:

• The Amex website provides business gift cards ideal for corporate gifts 
• You can buy Amex gift cards worth up to $3,000 on the company website, while the majority of third-party retailers max out at $100

Source: Mikhail Nilov

How To Get Amex Gift Cards for Free

Amex gift cards don’t come cheaply. Apart from the face value of the card, you will pay an additional purchase fee when you buy from the company website. For the minimum gift card amount of $25, you will pay an additional $2.95, and for the maximum amount of $3000, there’s a purchase fee of $5.95. Third-party sellers like Target and Walmart have even higher additional fees.

You can avoid high gift card costs by finding free Amex gift card offers. There are two reliable ways you can score free American Express gift cards:

1. Participating in social media giveaways
2. Using free gift card apps

Social Media Giveaways

Many brands and social media influencers use social media giveaways to increase their reach. To enter a giveaway, participants are usually asked to perform simple promotional activities, such as commenting and tagging friends on a post or sharing a post to their profile. Winners are selected at random and get to take home various prizes, including gift cards, products, and shopping discounts.

You can find free Amex gift cards by searching for relevant hashtags on Instagram or TikTok, such as:

Remember to be careful when looking for Amex gift card giveaways—there are plenty of scams offering knock-off gift cards and used gift card codes. Only participate in giveaways conducted by established content creators and brands.

Reward-Based Apps

The chances of winning a giveaway are low, and using rewards-based apps is a much more convenient alternative to getting your hands on free gift cards. These apps reward you with a range of prizes for performing various phone-based activities, such as playing games, on your phone. You can get free gift cards, prepaid cards, and shopping discounts, among other prizes.

Yet, not all reward-based apps are worth downloading—you need to find one that:

• Is safe to use
• Has a variety of earning tasks
• Offers a reasonable earning rate
• Provides gift cards you want or versatile rewards like cash and open-loop gift cards

You can find suitable apps by reading user reviews and checking their ratings. If an app doesn’t provide the gift cards you want, choose an app that offers cash rewards so you can purchase the cards.

Featured image source: CardMapr.nl