Having to wait a week or two to receive your goods from retailers can be a pain, especially when you’re really looking forward to your fancy new apparel or whatever it is you’ve purchased. Luckily, there is a way to get free two-day shipping with many different popular retailers with American Express. Not only that, but you can return your clothes with free shipping as well.
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In this article, I will tell you everything you need to know about Amex ShopRunner, including all the details about the different types of stores, fees, and benefits. I’ll also discuss how to enroll cover a lot of common FAQs.
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What are the Amex ShopRunner benefits?
The ShopRunner program offers the following benefits from select retailers:
- Free two-day shipping
- Free return shipping
- Specials deals and discounts
Amex ShopRunner is a special complimentary ShopRunner membership available to certain American Express cardholders. Although many people are still unaware of this perk, it’s been offered for several years now.
Typically, there is an annual fee of $79.00 to maintain ShopRunner. However, in addition to getting it for no cost with American Express, they also have partnerships for free memberships with MasterCard, Yahoo, and PayPal. Sometimes you can find free trial memberships of three months or even longer.
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How do I get Amex ShopRunner?
In order to receive Amex ShopRunner, you will need to have an eligible American Express card. ShopRunner states that the following are eligible:
An “eligible Card” means an American Express U.S. Consumer or Small Business credit or charge Card that is not cancelled and that is issued to you by a U.S. banking subsidiary of American Express.
This means that you can get this benefit with some of the best American Express cards like the Amex Platinum Card, Amex Gold Card, Blue Cash Preferred, Amex EveryDay Preferred, and many others.
But be aware that some Amex cards are not eligible for the benefit. ShopRunner notes that:
Prepaid cards and products, American Express Corporate Cards and American Express-branded cards or account numbers issued by other financial institutions are not eligible.
How to enroll in Amex ShopRunner
The enrollment process is free and you enroll at this link here. You’ll first need to enter in your email address and then you’ll need to provide some card details, such as your credit card number. Your card will not be charged so you don’t have to worry about any hidden fees or anything like that.
After you have input your details, ShopRunner will verify with American Express the eligibility of your credit or charge card account number for the ShopRunner benefits. Be sure to keep your Amex card as the default form of payment so that you avoid getting charged for the standard membership. Also, you want to make sure that your Amex cards stay active and in good standing to avoid forfeiting the benefit.
Amex ShopRunner stores
Once you’ve enrolled in the Amex ShopRunner program you then just need to make sure that you’re going to shop at an eligible store and that you’re shopping for eligible products. There are over 100 stores and you can find the list of eligible stores here but below are some of the ShopRunner stores.
- American Eagle
- Ann Taylor
- AutoZone
- Bailey 44
- Bally
- bareMinerals
- Bloomingdales
- Blue Sky
- Boston Proper
- Calvin Klein
- Chicos
- Contacts Direct
- Day Timer
- eBags
- Equipment
- Fantatics
- Fathead
- FiveStar
- Giorgio Armani
- Glasses
- Hugo Boss
- Jared
- Jimmy Choo
- Jockey
- Kate Spade
- Kenneth Cole
- Kay
- Lancome
- Lord +Taylor
- NFL Shop
- Neiman Marcus
- Peets Coffee
- Rebecca Taylor
- Soma
- Speedo
- Saks 5th Avenue
- Sunglass hut
- Under Armour
- Urban Decay
- Vince
- 1-800-Flowers
When you are ready to complete the check-out process at one of these online stores you should see a small button to select ShopRunner which will look like the image below. Once you click that image, you’ll be prompted to sign-in to ShopRunner to proceed with the transaction.
Amex ShopRunner FAQ
Shipping is only domestic and they cannot guarantee 2-day delivery to some locations including Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska, and some military bases.
Most carriers limit shipping to business days, so you might not get your package in two days if you order on weekends or holidays.
No, the store provides the shipping — Shoprunner just enables you to utilize the benefits of your membership. All of your order is processed by the store.
Most of the ShopRunner retailers will require a minimum order value of $25, on both ShopRunner and District to get the free 2-day shipping.
Yes, you can use the District App. “District is the new app from ShopRunner that puts all your favorite stores in one place with free 2-day shipping & returns.” If you are already a ShopRunner member, you can download the app and sign in with your current ShopRunner credentials. In the past, Amex sent out special offers allowing you to earn 1,000 Membership Rewards after downloading the app and making a purchase so be on the lookout for those.
Yes, you can track your orders with ShopRunner by following these steps:
Sign into your ShopRunner account.
Click “My Account” in the top right corner of the screen.
From the drop-down, click “Orders.”
Click “Track Order” next to the item you purchased.
There are two methods to return an item. The first is to use the label sent to you by the retailer. The second is to utilize ShopRunner by following these steps:
Sign into your ShopRunner account.
Click “My Account” in the top right corner of the screen.
From the drop-down, click “Orders.”
Click “Print Return Label” next to the order.
Select the reason for the return from the drop-down menu.
Click “Print Return Label.”
Yes, according to the terms and conditions, “American Express may receive and use your personal data from ShopRunner, which may include personally identifiable information and credit card information.”
If you already had a membership and paid for it ShopRunner will provide you with a pro rata refund for that portion that was unused — it should take about 2 to 4 weeks after enrollment to be processed.
Final word
The ShopRunner benefits are great with Amex because you get it for free and it only takes a few seconds to sign-up. Shopping at all of these online retailers is nice but being able to receive your items quickly and then return them for free makes shopping online much more convenient. So if you have a personal or business Amex card, I’d look into signing up for ShopRunner since you really don’t have anything to lose.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
I tried to order 1-800 Flowers for mother’s day. Having an Amex credit card I should receive 2 day free shipping but before I completed my purchase the purchase had a $12.99 shipping fee. There was no notice that shipping was free. The ordered did shop the Shop Runner logo which meant free shipping. Because I was being charged a shipping/delivery fee of $12.99 I removed my order and found free delivery for flowers from Walmart.
Mr. Gillaspia FYI DONT USE SHOPRUNNER!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am fairly certain that American Express is not going to want to be affiliated with Shoprunner for very long. There are dishonest people working for shoprunner and they dont even know it. (pretty certain their 2 major competitors would have figured it out already) I am appalled that AMEX or Saks would partner in any way with such CROOKS!!!!! I ordered a $345 LaMer cosmetic from Saks and guess who screwed up the order???? I received my package fromSaks/shoprunner/ FedEx (Im aware that FedEx acquired shoprunner) with ALL of the correct info only mistake was the contents. I have a butt-ugly 20 pound alpine ski sweater ( black and gray plaid with green rhinestones and red stripes around the waistband) that was probably thrown in the garbage bin at their fulfillment Center. My husband thinks it was an honest mistake. I believe its just ANOTHER SCAM. I’m super super disappointed in American Express