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
Aug 2, 2012 | 7:57 am
#556
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Okinawa
Posts: 2,615
Aug 2, 2012 | 7:59 am
#557
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,686
You seriously still have a dial-up account? And a modem?
Aug 2, 2012 | 9:54 am
#558
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: many
Posts: 1,437
Aug 2, 2012 | 10:14 am
#559
Join Date: Oct 2007
Programs: Marriott, Radisson, AA, UA
Posts: 365
Aug 2, 2012 | 10:37 am
#560
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
All roads lead to Rome! Dialup and WiFi and 4G and even a portable hotspot over here. Sometimes the old ways are best, if long forgotten.
Oh, and four computers coming in through different IPs. And one cell phone to rule them all, or at least be used to recieve passcodes for the hundreds of accounts.
Oh, and four computers coming in through different IPs. And one cell phone to rule them all, or at least be used to recieve passcodes for the hundreds of accounts.
Aug 2, 2012 | 12:13 pm
#563
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,686
So you could have your router renew the DHCP lease, but likely you'll get the same address back.
Aug 2, 2012 | 1:26 pm
#565
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: SEA
Programs: HH Gold, SPG Gold, AA Gold
Posts: 354
No, but it's not that hard to grab the most common transfer partners for a given account, and see the IP address most commonly used to access said accounts. If they're the same, maybe they'll flag the accounts for a human to take a closer look.
Aug 2, 2012 | 2:33 pm
#567
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 90
I don't do anything fancy and am probably a prime target for shut down if it ever comes to it. I have 2 personal email addresses. I send money from one to the other every month, but almost never the other way. Both are under my name. So far, so good. I don't really make sure that I use different computers either. Sometimes I send it from work and retrieve it from home. Sometimes I don't. Once I even logged in, sent it, logged out, retrieved it and deposited.
Playing with fire? Probably. But I'm lazy and I'm ok with it
Playing with fire? Probably. But I'm lazy and I'm ok with it
Aug 2, 2012 | 2:41 pm
#568
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: A few
Posts: 5,506
All roads lead to Rome! Dialup and WiFi and 4G and even a portable hotspot over here. Sometimes the old ways are best, if long forgotten. Oh, and four computers coming in through different IPs. And one cell phone to rule them all, or at least be used to recieve passcodes for the hundreds of accounts.
Oh, and four computers coming in through different IPs. And one cell phone to rule them all, or at least be used to recieve passcodes for the hundreds of accounts.
Aug 2, 2012 | 3:19 pm
#569
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Okinawa
Posts: 2,615
So oddly my dad's account just working. It's not shut down, my wife's was in the past, but there is some server error. Of course I don't want to contact Amazon about it as they'll probably notice account activity and look into it further. Has this happened to anyone else? Account has legit ssn and dl#. No issues when you log in, but when one tries to send money to or from the account it gives a server error.
Aug 3, 2012 | 7:12 am
#570
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 17
I get server errors when trying to send from a restricted account and when trying to send a restricted account money. This is an older account and before the UI change it would say the account cannot send or receive funds. Now it just shows error screen.