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
Jan 3, 2014 | 9:04 am
#3196
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 267
They closed another of mine yesterday. I have 2 left with one being my original account. Does anybody know if they close all your AP accounts if that affects being able to use your Amazon.com account?
Also as above if anybody has info on how to regain accounts please PM.
Also as above if anybody has info on how to regain accounts please PM.
I have the same question about regaining access. I am in no hurry, but it would be nice to have AP again at some point.
Jan 3, 2014 | 10:22 am
#3198
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 829
As reports here show, Bezos headhunters do not like A>B B>A.
According to my experience, they also don't like the same CC from two different accounts. They shut down two of my receiving accounts. And sending accounts are fine
Jan 3, 2014 | 10:57 am
#3199
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: SAN
Posts: 1,396
Yea, I've been doing the same thing for several months. Only overlap for us is same address. I don't have multiple accounts with same SS#, either. Also, I don't do a full $1k (usually 970-999 in each direction). To me, an extra ~2k in spend per month is great. Playing the long game, I suppose.
Jan 3, 2014 | 10:58 am
#3200
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Sacramento, CA
Posts: 422
Jan 3, 2014 | 1:31 pm
#3201
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: A few
Posts: 5,506
ok so it looks like this is not possible because Discover virtual account numbers are only good for single domain use, and it looks like the pre-authorization uses a different name to the actual charge and thus declines the transactions. I tried the fake expiration date to trip the first authorization trick but did not work. I can't think of one but anybody know any work around? Need to put $2k per month on Discover and would rather not resort to Vanillas where I'm getting 5x
Jan 3, 2014 | 5:28 pm
#3202
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: UA 1K, AA EP, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Platinum, M life Noir
Posts: 1,279
I'm real late to the AP game but plan to start up this month with just A>B B<A. Different names, SSNs, bank accounts, and credit cards. Should I also mix the payment amounts/times up or is $1k x 2 on the 1st of each month safe?
Jan 3, 2014 | 5:55 pm
#3203
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 260
Based on what most long timer who has used Amz say, try to avoid the A>B>A as this May get you shut down if they look for this pattern. Always safer to throw in another person so no direct back and forth sending.
Jan 4, 2014 | 7:17 pm
#3204
Used to be ' simz '
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Kolkata, India
Programs: Does it matter..??? It doesn't matter to them
Posts: 1,142
So in order to keep it safe, I have ensured that it's different bank accounts, Credit cards and SSN's.. but most importantly, I don't do 1k on 1st of the month.. it's random amounts at random times of the month.. when they are looking for pattern, I know this won't be the biggest deal breaker, but everything helps, to keep it below the radar..
Jan 4, 2014 | 7:34 pm
#3205
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: LAX
Posts: 547
I keep getting the following error on two out of the four accounts that I manage.
The target account cannot receive money.
Any idea what's going on? I have never tried sending money to these two accounts, so I don't know if this is a new development. Available limits under both of these account shows $1K remaining for both receiving and sending.
The target account cannot receive money.
Any idea what's going on? I have never tried sending money to these two accounts, so I don't know if this is a new development. Available limits under both of these account shows $1K remaining for both receiving and sending.
Jan 4, 2014 | 7:38 pm
#3206
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: WAS
Programs: SPG Plat. Marriott Plat. Hilton Diamond. Hyatt Diamond. IHG Plat.
Posts: 2,580
I keep getting the following error on two out of the four accounts that I manage.
The target account cannot receive money.
Any idea what's going on? I have never tried sending money to these two accounts, so I don't know if this is a new development. Available limits under both of these account shows $1K remaining for both receiving and sending.
The target account cannot receive money.
Any idea what's going on? I have never tried sending money to these two accounts, so I don't know if this is a new development. Available limits under both of these account shows $1K remaining for both receiving and sending.
What about restrictions?
Jan 5, 2014 | 1:12 pm
#3208
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 39
AP Plan
Lots of useful info. I used info from this post:
http://travelsort.com/blog/amazon-pa...-to-avoid-them
And set this up to avoid shut down:
A=Me - (AP linked to major bank in my name)
B=Wife - (AP linked to Discover Savings bank account in her name...free BTW)
C=relative (AP linked to another major bank)
A > C
B > C
C then logs into AP account to deposit the money into a linked Chase bank account. Once funds arrive, C then logs into Chase account and utilizes money transfer to A or B via quick pay feature.
A,B,C each access Amazon Payment and initial setup from different IP addresses. If you have only one computer, you can subscribe to a VPN service that gives you access to more IP addresses to use.
All three individuals have different physical addresses according to AP, and any online activity is done from a unique computer IP address. It helps to map everything out on paper to keep track.
At the end of the day, all of this online activity is done by one person - me. It generates $2K MS for no cost.
Has anyone found a better or more efficient way?
http://travelsort.com/blog/amazon-pa...-to-avoid-them
And set this up to avoid shut down:
A=Me - (AP linked to major bank in my name)
B=Wife - (AP linked to Discover Savings bank account in her name...free BTW)
C=relative (AP linked to another major bank)
A > C
B > C
C then logs into AP account to deposit the money into a linked Chase bank account. Once funds arrive, C then logs into Chase account and utilizes money transfer to A or B via quick pay feature.
A,B,C each access Amazon Payment and initial setup from different IP addresses. If you have only one computer, you can subscribe to a VPN service that gives you access to more IP addresses to use.
All three individuals have different physical addresses according to AP, and any online activity is done from a unique computer IP address. It helps to map everything out on paper to keep track.
At the end of the day, all of this online activity is done by one person - me. It generates $2K MS for no cost.
Has anyone found a better or more efficient way?
Jan 5, 2014 | 3:16 pm
#3209
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 203
My son is in college, my daughter just graduated. My wife and I each send them $. They withdraw it to their own bank accounts. I have online access to all the bank accounts so I just transfer the $ to mine after they withdraw it from Amazon. We use different credit cards to send the money.
Jan 5, 2014 | 6:47 pm
#3210
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 7
I thought there was a $1000 per month limit on both sending and receiving with AP. How were you able to make it so C could receive $2000 in a month?