American Express added $300 in annual Lululemon credits to their Platinum card with a new $75 credit available each calendar quarter (Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sept, Oct-Dec).
Caveats
- Enroll: Be sure to enroll in the Lululemon credit before using.I believe you just enroll the first time when you get the card and that enrollment lasts for all future quarters and future years; correct me if I’m wrong here.
- Payment: Be sure to pay directly and not via Paypal.I assume Apple Pay is fine.Please comment below if you have success with any non-direct payment form (Paypal, Apple Pay, etc).
- Timing: Be sure to do any online purchases a few days in advance of the end of the quarter in case the item doesn’t ship right away or the charge doesn’t complete right away.
Please comment below if you have success with an online order on the last day or two.Store purchases should be fine until the last day of the quarter.
Stack Opportunities
- Portal: When shopping online, go through an online shopping portal.Compare rates here.Historically, Rakuten seems to bump up their rate to 10x every few weeks, and occasionally even to 12x or 15x.
- Amex/Chase Offers: There are often Amex Offers or Chase Offers for Lululemon.
Even if you don’t get the AmEx Offer deal on the Platinum card itself, it still should be possible to go into a Lululemon store and ask them to split the purchases between cards.E.g.if you’re spending $200, put $75 on the Platinum card and the other $125 on a card with an Amex/Chase Offer.
- First-time coupon: You can get 15% off your first online order of full-priced items when you sign up for Lululemon emails.(Exclusions include: We Made Too Much, Accessories and Gift Cards.) If you don’t see the pop-up, go incognito and it should pop up.
- Deals: Check this DoC tag #lululemon to see if there are any relevant deals.
- Gift cards: The terms exclude gift cards from earning the $75 credit.
In practice, it possible that buying a Lululemon gift card in-store would work and that buying a physical gift card online would work.(Online e-gift cards are unlikely to work since they are processed by Cashstar.) We don’t yet have data points on whether gift card purchases work.Regardless, there’s a good chance that at some point they’ll recode their online checkout and/or their store checkout so that gift cards are distinct and can be excluded from the credit.
- Return stacking: Another option might be to buy a $75 item one quarter and then go back in-store within 30 days to return the item for a store credit.This can help you ‘roll’ multiple $75 credits into a single item.
I’m not an expert on how Lululemon processes returns, but hopefully there’s a way to ask them for a store credit instead of a card refund.
- Splitting payment: if you have multiple Platinum cards, go in-store and hopefully the cashier will know how to split the item between two cards.[It’s also possible to split the charge online by using Paypal – HOWEVER, we don’t yet know if Paypal purchases work to trigger this credit (probably not).]
- Sort by price: If you want something completely free, search a specific category and sort by price.Here is a sample link of a specific category showing the low-cost items on top.
- Double-dipping: When you signup for the Platinum card, you can usually get five $75 credits within the first year.For example, if you apply during November, you’ll get the Q4 credit of that year and then the the Q1-Q4 credits of the following year.
If you really hone in on timing, it’s possible to get six $75 credits by applying in the middle of the final month of the quarter (March, June, September, or December), and then keeping the card for a few weeks after the annual fee posts.People often like applying in December to try triple-dipping on the various annual credits that align with the calendar year, and doing so can work to squeeze in one more $75 Lululemon credit as well.(Even if you cancel the card before the charge posts completely you are likely to still get the $75 credit.)
- Let us know what we’re missing.
