Nov 10, 2013, 11:26 am
Last edit by: mcdullhk88
Dead as of 10/13/14
FAQ's
Is Amazon Payments treated as a cash advance? No CC issuer has been reported as treating an AP transaction as a cash advance unless the sender selected "Payment is for Cash Advance" on the Send Money screen.
What does it mean when your payment is "pending"? Your payment will be reviewed. We are unsure whether this review is done by a human or computer. It should take less than 24 hours but is usually within minutes.
How should you describe your payment? "Goods or services" will allow you to charge with a CC and it will not be treated as a cash advance. Note: If you choose cash advance, it may be treated as such by your CC issuer; always choose Goods/Services. There is no reason to put anything in the optional description field - leave it blank.
What is the monthly limit for sending CC payments? $1,000 per calendar month per AP account
What is the monthly limit for receiving CC payments? $1,000 per calendar month per AP account
What if it is not allowing me to send/receive more than $500 or any at all? You probably have not verified your bank and/or added a CC. In order to get the full $1,000 allowance for sending and receiving you must have a bank verified AND a CC added to your account as a payment method.
Does AP qualify for special spending categories? Specifically it qualifies for Discover's (usually 4th quarter) category of online purchases but so far, not Chase's "5% CB on Amazon.com purchases." Refer to thread for other options.
Can you get shutdown? Yes.
How do you get shutdown? No one knows. Anecdotes are found throughout the thread. Some suspicious behavior that MIGHT get your AP account(s) shut down is listed below.
Which transaction is most advisable? A -> B -> C -> A (see here)
Are any fees charged during this process? No, not by Amazon Payments. If your transaction is treated as a cash advance by your card issuer--fees are possible. Beware and always double check that goods/services is selected!
Can you liquidate Amazon GC via AP? NO!
Can you liquidate other gift cards via AP? Yes. Note that you cannot liquidate the full value of a GC because amazon places a $1 hold while it verifies the validity of the GC. You can sometimes (not always) avoid the hold by entering an incorrect expiration date for the GC when adding it to your AP account, and after you have added it, go to "Edit my account settings," then to "Add edit or delete my credit cards" and edit the expiration date there.
When does the month end? It appears as if Amazon is on pacific time, so midnight PDT/PST is when the month resets.
It bears repeating that no one knows the methodology amazon uses to police AP transactions, determines which transactions violate its T&Cs, or identifies violators. However, various people in this thread and elsewhere have confirmed that their AP account(s) were shut down for the following reasons:
Additionally, we have updated the terms and conditions of our User Agreement (https://payments.amazon.com/help/Personal-Accounts/User-Agreement-Policies/User-Agreement) that apply to your use of the products and services provided by Amazon Payments. Our updated User Agreement revises certain terms (including, among other things, the elimination of person-to-person payments). Our new User Agreement will become effective on October 13, 2014, which is more than 30 days from when we first posted our updated User Agreement. By continuing to use our services after October 13, 2014, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of our new User Agreement.
Is Amazon Payments treated as a cash advance? No CC issuer has been reported as treating an AP transaction as a cash advance unless the sender selected "Payment is for Cash Advance" on the Send Money screen.
What does it mean when your payment is "pending"? Your payment will be reviewed. We are unsure whether this review is done by a human or computer. It should take less than 24 hours but is usually within minutes.
How should you describe your payment? "Goods or services" will allow you to charge with a CC and it will not be treated as a cash advance. Note: If you choose cash advance, it may be treated as such by your CC issuer; always choose Goods/Services. There is no reason to put anything in the optional description field - leave it blank.
What is the monthly limit for sending CC payments? $1,000 per calendar month per AP account
What is the monthly limit for receiving CC payments? $1,000 per calendar month per AP account
What if it is not allowing me to send/receive more than $500 or any at all? You probably have not verified your bank and/or added a CC. In order to get the full $1,000 allowance for sending and receiving you must have a bank verified AND a CC added to your account as a payment method.
Does AP qualify for special spending categories? Specifically it qualifies for Discover's (usually 4th quarter) category of online purchases but so far, not Chase's "5% CB on Amazon.com purchases." Refer to thread for other options.
Can you get shutdown? Yes.
How do you get shutdown? No one knows. Anecdotes are found throughout the thread. Some suspicious behavior that MIGHT get your AP account(s) shut down is listed below.
Which transaction is most advisable? A -> B -> C -> A (see here)
Are any fees charged during this process? No, not by Amazon Payments. If your transaction is treated as a cash advance by your card issuer--fees are possible. Beware and always double check that goods/services is selected!
Can you liquidate Amazon GC via AP? NO!
Can you liquidate other gift cards via AP? Yes. Note that you cannot liquidate the full value of a GC because amazon places a $1 hold while it verifies the validity of the GC. You can sometimes (not always) avoid the hold by entering an incorrect expiration date for the GC when adding it to your AP account, and after you have added it, go to "Edit my account settings," then to "Add edit or delete my credit cards" and edit the expiration date there.
When does the month end? It appears as if Amazon is on pacific time, so midnight PDT/PST is when the month resets.
It bears repeating that no one knows the methodology amazon uses to police AP transactions, determines which transactions violate its T&Cs, or identifies violators. However, various people in this thread and elsewhere have confirmed that their AP account(s) were shut down for the following reasons:
- Associating one credit card number with more than one AP account (Be Careful if authorized user card has the same number as the primary card holder - in some instances the CC numbers are completely different)
- Associating one bank account with more than one AP account
Amazon Payments
Feb 11, 2013, 2:41 pm
#1681
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 204
Feb 11, 2013, 3:29 pm
#1682
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,689
quoted from OP: I previously had 2 accounts for 2 different people. My cousin that lives at different address and myself. I created another account for myself while applying logic received in PMs and just sent funds from A -> B -> C -> A while A and C are myself.
I would def. say you have probably cooked your own goose by sending money to yourself.
Probably not a good sign at all.
I would def. say you have probably cooked your own goose by sending money to yourself.
Probably not a good sign at all.
Feb 13, 2013, 6:57 am
#1684
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Experience says the "pending" message situation will either result in success or failure. Cardinal Fang flips a coin and there is no way to tell how it will land.
Feb 13, 2013, 7:47 pm
#1685
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Boston
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Platinum, AA 1MM Lifetime Gold, JetBlue Mosaic (sometimes)
Posts: 138
Anyone else get this sales tax email from AP today? Last I recall the only two options are "purchase" and "cash". If I recall correctly, the cash option gets hit with cash advance fees and may not earn points. A purchase may trigger this sales tax issue. That is surprising since in Massachusetts, most services are not taxable. Is Amazon saying that AP is not for paying for services? There is also no sales tax on rent, for example, neither is rent a cash advance.
Dear Amazon Web Services Customer,
We wanted to let you know that starting with your April 2013 bill (sent out at the beginning of May), AWS will begin collecting Massachusetts state and local sales taxes for accounts with a billing address in Massachusetts. We are doing this in order to comply with applicable state laws, which require us to remit this tax to the State.
You are receiving this email because our records indicate that the billing address for your account is located in Massachusetts. Applicable state and local sales taxes will be added to your AWS bill each month. If you use AWS Consolidated Billing with multiple accounts, tax will be calculated separately for each of your individual AWS accounts.
If you are eligible for a sales tax exemption in Massachusetts, you can submit your exemption certificate after March 1st via your Manage Tax Exemptions page at [LINK REMOVED]
If you have any questions please contact us at http://aws.amazon.com/contact-us/.
Sincerely,
Amazon Web Services Team
We wanted to let you know that starting with your April 2013 bill (sent out at the beginning of May), AWS will begin collecting Massachusetts state and local sales taxes for accounts with a billing address in Massachusetts. We are doing this in order to comply with applicable state laws, which require us to remit this tax to the State.
You are receiving this email because our records indicate that the billing address for your account is located in Massachusetts. Applicable state and local sales taxes will be added to your AWS bill each month. If you use AWS Consolidated Billing with multiple accounts, tax will be calculated separately for each of your individual AWS accounts.
If you are eligible for a sales tax exemption in Massachusetts, you can submit your exemption certificate after March 1st via your Manage Tax Exemptions page at [LINK REMOVED]
If you have any questions please contact us at http://aws.amazon.com/contact-us/.
Sincerely,
Amazon Web Services Team
Feb 13, 2013, 7:53 pm
#1686
Join Date: Jul 2007
Programs: Marriott Platinum
Posts: 274
Anyone else get this sales tax email from AP today? Last I recall the only two options are "purchase" and "cash". If I recall correctly, the cash option gets hit with cash advance fees and may not earn points. A purchase may trigger this sales tax issue. That is surprising since in Massachusetts, most services are not taxable. Is Amazon saying that AP is not for paying for services? There is also no sales tax on rent, for example, neither is rent a cash advance.
Feb 14, 2013, 9:37 am
#1687
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 198
Anyone else get this sales tax email from AP today? Last I recall the only two options are "purchase" and "cash". If I recall correctly, the cash option gets hit with cash advance fees and may not earn points. A purchase may trigger this sales tax issue. That is surprising since in Massachusetts, most services are not taxable. Is Amazon saying that AP is not for paying for services? There is also no sales tax on rent, for example, neither is rent a cash advance.
Feb 14, 2013, 11:28 pm
#1690
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 385
What happened is I sent money to a friend who made 2 accounts, and after the payment to him posted Amazon sent him an email that his account if frozen. The account still shows the balance I sent but it is not allowing me to get it out. Only that account froze but my money is in it!!! I am going crazy!
Once that account if frozen the system doesn't allow you to withdraw money or do anything for that matter. Wondering what to do now....
Once that account if frozen the system doesn't allow you to withdraw money or do anything for that matter. Wondering what to do now....
Feb 14, 2013, 11:46 pm
#1691
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,689
What happened is I sent money to a friend who made 2 accounts, and after the payment to him posted Amazon sent him an email that his account if frozen. The account still shows the balance I sent but it is not allowing me to get it out. Only that account froze but my money is in it!!! I am going crazy!
Once that account if frozen the system doesn't allow you to withdraw money or do anything for that matter. Wondering what to do now....
Once that account if frozen the system doesn't allow you to withdraw money or do anything for that matter. Wondering what to do now....
Be prepared to have your money tied up for some time and go through the system.
You should probably read back through the thread to read about the different experiences.
It apparently takes quite sometime to get your money back. (good luck).
Unfortunately, you will just have to be patient.
Feb 14, 2013, 11:52 pm
#1692
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 385
Be prepared to have your money tied up for some time and go through the system.
You should probably read back through the thread to read about the different experiences.
It apparently takes quite sometime to get your money back. (good luck).
Unfortunately, you will just have to be patient.
You should probably read back through the thread to read about the different experiences.
It apparently takes quite sometime to get your money back. (good luck).
Unfortunately, you will just have to be patient.
Feb 15, 2013, 12:12 am
#1693
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 639
Feb 15, 2013, 12:18 am
#1694
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 385
I guess I will call them in the morning and just ask nicely for them to allow me to withdraw the money to my already linked account and then to just shut it down.
Feb 15, 2013, 2:55 am
#1695
Join Date: May 2010
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 138
As others have mentioned, AP will usually reverse the transaction eventually, so you'll probably get your money back in the end. But do be prepared to wait a bit--it took me more than 30 days to get back my funds after my accounts were suspended last year.
