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
May 31, 2012, 8:18 am
#406
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Toledo, OH
Programs: Delta DM & MM, Hilton DM, Marriott gold, Hyatt Globalist, Alaska 75K, Wyndham Diamond,
Posts: 15,399
May 31, 2012, 11:39 pm
#408
Suspended
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Anywhere warm & sunny
Programs: UAdbaCO-Silver, DL-Kryptonium Med, AA-Silver
Posts: 33
Best that this thread fade away as to keep AP active for all to use. Too much abuse and further blogging of this will eventually lead to crackdowns and close this for all.
BTW: all that is needed to play the AP game is already written and repeated here over and over again. Suggest all just to read what is already posted and keep AP under the radar.
BTW: all that is needed to play the AP game is already written and repeated here over and over again. Suggest all just to read what is already posted and keep AP under the radar.
How do we get the moderator to close this down?
Jun 1, 2012, 5:35 am
#410
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 70
Load with A-GC?
I suppose this would be the holy grail for this process, but is there any way to load a balance into your account from a Amaz GC? The only options I see are to connect to your bank account.
Last edited by 96MustangGT; Jun 1, 2012 at 5:36 am Reason: Added question mark to title to add clarity to post.
Jun 1, 2012, 6:18 am
#411
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
)
Jun 1, 2012, 6:58 am
#412
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 198
Jun 1, 2012, 8:39 am
#413
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,758
)?
Jun 1, 2012, 5:38 pm
#417
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Marriott/SPG Platinum
Posts: 496
Today, I tried to send a payment to an account without SSN verified and received the following message: "Your transaction was declined and please contact customer service". I did the same thing the previous months without any problems. Then, I sent another payment from the same account to another account with SSN verified using the same credit card and it went through. So it means the account without SSN verified can't receive payments any more?
Jun 2, 2012, 2:59 am
#418
Suspended
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Anywhere warm & sunny
Programs: UAdbaCO-Silver, DL-Kryptonium Med, AA-Silver
Posts: 33
For those of you participating on this thread that are new to AP or wondering how far you can push the limits of the program without getting shutdown, please feel free to PM me. The only requirement I am imposing is that the information I give you doesn't make it back into this thread. I will show you how it works and scales, the rest is up to you. DO NOT BE GREEDY or we all suffer