Since the miles "come out" of the 2-3% transaction fee, it has to get paid somewhere along the line

So if I were to send an amazon payment to a friend using a cc to achieve spend, who pays the mile fee then?

I don't know anything about Amazon payments, but if the friend receives the full amount, then I guess Amazon is eating the fee. Paypal used to do this for personal payments--but I believe they no longer do (now they charge either sender or receiver). And they've always charged those fees to business accounts

So amazon "eats the fee" on a transaction to fund a shell co that puts miles in the individuals pocket. Still no idea if that is legal.

I don't see anything illegal about it. It's basically like telling a friend "hey, I'll send you $1000 on Amazon payments. Tomorrow, you send it back to me on Amazon payments and we'll both keep the miles."

There are always tax issues when you create a company. Any profits that the company returns to owners/shareholders may be subject to corporate tax and income tax. This sounds like a lot of hassle to get some miles.

+1 cant see any difference

Also fees to set up the LLC, franchise tax, fees to dissolve it, etc. It's not gonna be worth it.

Are you aware of the limits with Amazon payments?

This scheme is unnecessarily complicated. You can easily max out Amazon spend without setting a shell company.

And if you are truly concerned about legality, FT is not the best source for legal advice.

Is this legal?
 

Why not just get Square and use that? You will pay the fees but save on all the other stuff.

Amazon is only free for the first $1000 a month.

Moderator action
 

philosopherking's idea has been merged into the existing Amazon Payments thread.

deleted

Another company ad today in Bloomberg for Alliedwallet. No mention on the site about limits, no CC fees, just $2 fee to withdraw to bank account. Tried to write them, capture thingy was unreadable on safari.

JudyJFLA

Actually you can only send $1000 a month period. No option to send more even with a fee.

Does the following raise a red flag?

Two accounts A and B under my and my friend's name & SSN.
A linked to MY checking account 1.
B linked to MY checking account 2.
A sends money to B with Citi/Chase CCs.

The part that I am worried about is both checking accounts are under mine. Is it safe? Or should I use someone else's checking?

It'd be safer to ask your friend to transfer via paypal or just give you a check