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 1, 2012, 7:59 pm
#287
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Scenic Great Plains USA
Programs: AGR Starwood Whoever I can get points with :D
Posts: 677
Thanks for the tip and very interesting find! Can you elaborate on "We Deserve to Make a Profit" debit cards and which grocery chain this is? I'd like to give it a try as I haven't found a decent way to liquidate Visa gift cards, or even find a store clueless enough to sell them to me on a credit card transaction.
Have you tried combining with another small purchase(s)? As in, here's my sinus pills, oh yeah and a $500 gc too? :lol: I've heard people having success at Walgreen's. My problem is with the $6 / transaction fee
May 1, 2012, 9:14 pm
#289
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 2,998
Thanks for the tip and very interesting find! Can you elaborate on "We Deserve to Make a Profit" debit cards and which grocery chain this is? I'd like to give it a try as I haven't found a decent way to liquidate Visa gift cards, or even find a store clueless enough to sell them to me on a credit card transaction.
May 1, 2012, 11:23 pm
#290
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
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Posts: 42,205
May 2, 2012, 7:18 am
#291
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
My old protege also had the same experience with "mixed bag" purchases of green dots refills. The controls in place not to allow CCs to purchase such things simply failed.
I'm surprised you can't buy them easily with a cc. I can buy them just about anywhere, my local Kroger's affiliate will even give me fuel points, and OfficeMax will give a 5% discount when I use my AmEx Open Biz (Gold) card.
Have you tried combining with another small purchase(s)? As in, here's my sinus pills, oh yeah and a $500 gc too? :lol: I've heard people having success at Walgreen's. My problem is with the $6 / transaction fee
Have you tried combining with another small purchase(s)? As in, here's my sinus pills, oh yeah and a $500 gc too? :lol: I've heard people having success at Walgreen's. My problem is with the $6 / transaction fee
May 2, 2012, 7:22 am
#292
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
May 8, 2012, 1:25 pm
#293
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX
Programs: AA PLT / 2MM
Posts: 2,113
The "reminder" email from AP to add my SSN/TIN just came -- looked at previous emails, and I seem to have received them monthly around the 6th-8th of the month for the past 3 months. Wonder how long this gig will go on for before they actually do require SSNs.
May 15, 2012, 8:45 am
#295
Join Date: Oct 2004
Programs: DL Gold
Posts: 880
What's the reason for not doing so?
May 15, 2012, 9:48 am
#296
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NJ, USA
Programs: SPG Gold, OnePass Gold, OneWorld
Posts: 168
May 15, 2012, 11:43 am
#297
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Programs: AA EP; WN CP;UA SILVER; MARRIOTT TITANIUM; HH DIAMOND; IHG PLAT; RADISSON PLAT; HYATT GLOBAL
Posts: 1,938
May 15, 2012, 11:52 am
#298
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 did have some issues when I opened my wife's account, as she had only had a SSN for a few days.
Maybe it's a system glitch.
However, I was able to send a small credit card payment. So maybe the accounts aren't shut down, just limited in some way.
May 15, 2012, 11:53 am
#299
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX
Programs: AA PLT / 2MM
Posts: 2,113
This is a different message; I haven't given my SSN. Have you folks provided your SSNs?
I've reached my $1K limit for the month; I'm curious if I can send money and what the 'restricted functionality' is.
May 15, 2012, 12:24 pm
#300
Join Date: May 2008
Programs: AA PLT 2MM
Posts: 2,026
Mine now says, "Your account has restricted functionality because you have not provided your tax identity information to Amazon payments. Please click here to provide your tax identity information now. " Is this a different "
This is a different message; I haven't given my SSN. Have you folks provided your SSNs?
I've reached my $1K limit for the month; I'm curious if I can send money and what the 'restricted functionality' is.
This is a different message; I haven't given my SSN. Have you folks provided your SSNs?
I've reached my $1K limit for the month; I'm curious if I can send money and what the 'restricted functionality' is.
Decided to try a payment out to see what 'restricted functionality' means. As of yet, I have no clue. Payment worked. Hopefully the restriction isn't on withdrawing to bank account...That I haven't tested.