The David Jones American Express Card range is a sleeper hit for savvy points collectors thanks to their ability to earn bonus Qantas Points for specific spend categories.
This guides looks into the features and benefits of the David Jones American Express Card.
The key things to know about the David Jones American Express Cards:
- The David Jones Cards are some of the highest Qantas Points earners on the market for supermarket and fuel spend
- The Platinum Card offers a lucrative earn rate on David Jones spend along with other David Jones benefits – if you can direct spend to David Jones, this will pay off
- These Cards are suited to those who spend significantly at David Jones, supermarkets and on fuel
- The points earn rate on all other spend is beaten by other cards in the market
Card Details
| Card | American Express David Jones |
| Loyalty Program | Membership Rewards or Qantas Frequent Flyer |
| Points earned from spend | 3 David Jones MR points or 1.5 Qantas points per $ at Supermarkets/Fuel 2 David Jones MR points or 1 Qantas Point per $ spend at David Jones 1 David Jones MR points or 0.5 Qantas point per $ spend everywhere else |
| Overseas transaction fee | 3% of the converted amount |
| Mobile wallet | Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay |
| Included insurance | Card Purchase Cover Card Refund Cover (PDS) |
| Annual Fee | $99 p.a. |
Earning points from spend with the David Jones Card
The earn rates for the David Jones American Express Card depend on whether you have opted in to earn Qantas Points with the card, or Membership Rewards points.
Effective Frequent Flyer Program Point Earn Rates
| Frequent Flyer Program | Points earned from spend |
|---|---|
| Qantas Points | 0.5 point / $ |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles | 0.5 Mile / $ |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 0.5 Mile / $ |
| Malaysia Airlines | 0.5 mile / $ |
| *Opt-in to Qantas direct-earn to earn Qantas Points on spend | |
The David Jones American Express Card is less lucrative for points earn with spend at David Jones (1 Qantas point per dollar) but otherwise offers the same earn rates as the David Jones American Express Platinum Card elsewhere.
| Qantas Points | Marriott Bonvoy points | |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets & Fuel | 1.5 points per $ | 2 points per $ |
| David Jones | 1 points per $ | 1.33 points per $ |
| Other spend | 0.5 points per $ | 0.67 points per $ |
What’s the deal with David Jones American Express cards?
As a David Jones American Express Card Member, you have two options: either opt-in to Qantas direct-earn, where points sweep over to Qantas each month, or opt-in to Membership rewards. There’s no additional fee for either option.
In the Membership Rewards, there are no difference in transfer rates between the Ascent/Ascent Premium American Express Membership Rewards points and those earned from David Jones cards. This means they transfer at a ratio of 2:1 Membership Rewards points to frequent flyer points/miles into most frequent flyer programs as well as Hilton Honors, and 3:2 to Marriott Bonvoy.
The rates are available to Card Members once they have a card and are logged in to their account, but it is not possible to research the transfer rates on the David Jones Rewards on the American Express website before you get a card. Even when you do have a card, if you are opted into Qantas Points, you can’t see the rates either, as the Membership Rewards section of your account online is locked off.
Partner program transfer rates
Here are the transfer programs and rates confirmed by American Express as an existing Card Member:
| Partner | Transfer Rate |
|---|---|
| Air New Zealand Airpoints | 0.005 |
| THAI Royal Orchid | 0.5 |
| Etihad Guest | 0.5 |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 0.5 |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 0.5 |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 0.5 |
| Malaysia Airlines Enrich | 0.5 |
| Emirates Skywards | 0.5 |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 0.67 |
| Hilton Honors | 0.5 |
Note that you can’t sign up for the card and flip-flop between the Qantas and Membership Rewards options frequently. American Express allows you to change this once per year. It can take at least a week to change earn options.
Using this ‘feature’ of the program, you could choose to earn the sign-up bonus in one program, have it transferred to your frequent flyer partner airline of choice, and then swap to the other points currency for ongoing points earn – if that works for you.
Making the most of the David Jones online and in-store benefits
Free shipping
Although it’s not explicitly stated as a card benefit, shopping online at David Jones gives free shipping to holders of both the David Jones American Express cards. Shipping normally costs $9.95 for most orders, and this is an interesting perk of the card which has me using it a lot more.
David Jones online retail experience is pretty usable. It’s no Amazon.com, but it works well on mobiles and tablets too. It has its quirks, but it does have a wide range of product available for purchase, and pricing reflects that in store – so if there’s a large sale on, you can grab some pretty decent deals.
There are also some food and consumable type purchases available online too, which are useful to consider with the free shipping. The ability to get free shipping on any item of any price, plus their relatively usable online store and checkout process, is all fairly frictionless.
For example, I’ve bought several smaller price items such as toys, gifts, kitchenware, coffee beans and a range of other things on sale, and all in separate orders which have arrived in a few days via Australia Post.
Complimentary gift wrapping
Complimentary gift wrapping is available for either online or in-store purchases. This is worth around $10 per item, and I did a quick test on a couple of items to see how they arrived. This was the result:
Two really sturdy boxes which were a little inappropriate for the items sent, but hey, not complaining. It’s free! I imagine at Christmas this could be a real time-saver, as I assume they would offer seasonal wrapping.
The Travel Insurance, Buyer’s Advantage Cover and the Card Purchase Cover are all fairly standard Amex premium card offerings. Read the full PDS here.
This guide references some of the benefits of insurance policies provided with this card. You should read the PDS and obtain independent professional advice before obtaining this product.
You have a choice of 12 months Interest-Free with no deposit when you spend $500 or more on your Card, in one transaction; or 60 months Interest-Free with no deposit when you spend $1,000 or more on your Card, in one transaction, across all departments instore or online at David Jones. However, each new interest-free instalment incurs a $35 establishment fee and a $2.95 monthly account keeping fee, so ensure you do the sums and make sure this works for your needs.
You can also opt for the 3 Months Pay Later Option – allowing deferred payment for 3 months when you spend $50 or more on your Card, in one transaction, across all departments instore or online at David Jones.
The other options are for free delivery on large items, interest-free periods, etc. are all nice to-haves too.
| Normal | Platinum | |
|---|---|---|
| Travel Insurance | x | |
| Buyer's Advantage Cover | x | |
| Card Purchase Cover | x | x |
| Free delivery (instore purchases) | x | x |
| Free delivery (online purchases) | x | x |
| Free alterations on clothing purchased in store | x | |
| Free gift wrapping | x | x |
| Up to 5 years interest free on purchases of $1,000 or more in one transaction, across all departments, instore or online | x | x |
| 3 Months Pay Later deferred option on purchases of $50 or more in one transaction, across all departments, instore or online | x | x |
| Shopping nights, events, etc | x |
Unparalleled mobile wallet integration
American Express cards support Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, meaning you can use this card on your smartphone for easier payments.
Read the Point Hacks guide to using Apple Pay or for using Google Pay and Samsung Pay, including instructions on how to add your American Express card to those services.
With this feature set up, it means you could still use your NFC-enabled phone to make purchases with your American Express account, even if your physical card is lost or stolen and pending replacement.
Summing up: David Jones American Express Card
If you have an ‘average’ household spend, i.e. limited ability to pump masses of work or business expenses through cards and a decent amount spend at supermarkets and on fuel, the bonuses in these areas are a very handy option.
The David Jones American Express is not the go-to card for all purchases – just mainly for supermarkets and fuel purchases, specifically for earning Qantas Points or Marriott Bonvoy points.
So whether the David Jones American Express Card makes sense to you will depend on your spending habits – if you use David Jones a lot, either online or in-store, then the $295-a-year David Jones American Express Platinum Card may make sense, but for most this regular version gives a great earn rate at supermarkets and on fuel for a very reasonable $99 annual fee.
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-au/customer-service/david-jones/
Have 45,000 points which is $300 to spend at David Jones or potentially use it to travel with various airlines.
I have David Jones reward points. Already have enough Qantas and Virgin points for travel so don’t know if it’s worth aiming for a redemption with another airline as a one-off or buy something at David Jones. Intend on keeping the card for the max 12 months but my spending wouldn’t be crazy (just put everything I can onto Amex though).
Ideas or suggestions?
Going to be a long while trying to churn a regular Amex and this one if each wait is 18 months and Westpac no longer offer Amex either 🙁
Was a pleasant surprise when recently reviewing points earned.
I stupidly threw out the documentation that came with the card and can find no reference to it whatsoever.
Help!!
I can’t seem to find any documentation showing this offer either, unfortunately, however, if this offer was live at the time you signed up for the card, then American Express will have the offer code attached to your account. I would give them a call to see if this offer does apply for your account, and what the exact terms are in order to utlilise the offer.
In the meantime, I do have another problem.
We clicked the link (twice – once for each of us) for the promo rate of 40K membership rewards points for sign up before the promotion expired, and we’ve both just reached the $750 spend, and they’ve only put 15K membership rewards into our accounts.
Can you please let me know how we might follow this up?
Regards.
Good to hear the $10 vouchers were received.
IN regards to the shortfall in bonus points, I would first get in touch with American Express and let them know that you applied through the promotional link. If they are unable to assist, please let us know and we can then follow-up on your behalf.
Spend at supermarkets and fuel earns 3 Membership Rewards points, with each membership reward point equating to 0.5 Qantas points. Therefore, the effective Qantas points earn rate is 1.5 points per dollar spent.
You will need to call Amex to get this done.
3 Membership Rewards = 2 Marriott Points so the 15,000 sign up bonus would be 10,000 SPG no?
Thanks