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
Nov 6, 2012, 6:25 am
#916
Join Date: May 2011
Programs: Spg Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 1,578
Prosecutors to Defense Attornys IMHO
Nov 6, 2012, 7:15 am
#917
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Nov 6, 2012, 7:36 am
#918
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: PDX|AKL|AMS|GVA|AGP|CPT - or somewhere in between
Programs: DL DM; 2MM
Posts: 2,418
On the first post of the Wells Fargo prepaid thread, OP mentions:
"Citibank - CASH ADVANCE
BofA - Sale
Chase - Sale"
Can someone confirm if certain card issuers do not process AP as a sale? PM is fine if this has already been discussed, but I'm in the process of scouring the thread as I post this, and haven't seen the answer.
Thanks
"Citibank - CASH ADVANCE
BofA - Sale
Chase - Sale"
Can someone confirm if certain card issuers do not process AP as a sale? PM is fine if this has already been discussed, but I'm in the process of scouring the thread as I post this, and haven't seen the answer.
Thanks
Nov 6, 2012, 6:36 pm
#920
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Nov 11, 2012, 3:05 pm
#922
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 72
How does amazon payments make money? I think I need to mix in some activities that ships them some money just to balance things out.
Nov 11, 2012, 9:30 pm
#923
Join Date: May 2008
Location: PHL (kinda, no airport is really close)
Programs: AA Exp, but not sure for how long. Enterprise Platinum woo-hoo!
Posts: 4,550
I don't pretend to know Amazon's view of this particular product, but I will observe that Amazon's business model involves making huge investments to become everything to every consumer. Remember how one time they were just a purveyor of mail-order books? Then books and movies? Now, everything, to the point where they have big-box stores shaking in their boots.
There are plenty of market segments where Amazon is investing big-time in becoming the market leader, even at the expense of short-run profits. I don't know what synergies they see between the payments business and the retailing business, but I know this, Jeff Bezos is a hell of a lot richer than I am, and he didn't get that way (at least so far) except by having more products work out well than badly.
There are plenty of market segments where Amazon is investing big-time in becoming the market leader, even at the expense of short-run profits. I don't know what synergies they see between the payments business and the retailing business, but I know this, Jeff Bezos is a hell of a lot richer than I am, and he didn't get that way (at least so far) except by having more products work out well than badly.
Nov 12, 2012, 11:49 am
#924
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: AMEX Plat, AAdvantage Gold, UA, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold
Posts: 963
Funny AP shows up when it hits my Citi account:
Amazon Payments- XXX
then the following advertising:
Need to simplify your finances? A Balance Transfer can help.
Amazon Payments- XXX
then the following advertising:
Need to simplify your finances? A Balance Transfer can help.
Nov 12, 2012, 2:13 pm
#925
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 289
I think Amazon's plan is to get Amazon Payments up and running.
People will try it out and like what they find. When they get a good market share, I would not be surprised if they start charging fees.
People will try it out and like what they find. When they get a good market share, I would not be surprised if they start charging fees.
I don't pretend to know Amazon's view of this particular product, but I will observe that Amazon's business model involves making huge investments to become everything to every consumer. Remember how one time they were just a purveyor of mail-order books? Then books and movies? Now, everything, to the point where they have big-box stores shaking in their boots.
There are plenty of market segments where Amazon is investing big-time in becoming the market leader, even at the expense of short-run profits. I don't know what synergies they see between the payments business and the retailing business, but I know this, Jeff Bezos is a hell of a lot richer than I am, and he didn't get that way (at least so far) except by having more products work out well than badly.
There are plenty of market segments where Amazon is investing big-time in becoming the market leader, even at the expense of short-run profits. I don't know what synergies they see between the payments business and the retailing business, but I know this, Jeff Bezos is a hell of a lot richer than I am, and he didn't get that way (at least so far) except by having more products work out well than badly.
Nov 12, 2012, 9:42 pm
#926
Join Date: May 2010
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 138
They're not making much traction with this one, though. AP isn't anywhere close to PayPal yet, and they seem to be falling behind as PayPal expands into offline payments and other market segments. Just about the only thing I know people use AP for regularly is to generate spend on their CCs for cashback and bonuses.
Nov 12, 2012, 10:29 pm
#927
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Tokyo
Posts: 586
Nov 15, 2012, 6:43 am
#930
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: 5280/8150
Programs: Flying and sleeping
Posts: 341