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
Oct 5, 2013, 9:22 pm
#2641
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 50
The only similar question I see in the past few pages is someone asking about a variant on a loop transaction, although there very likely is a similar question in a 177 page thread. In the amount of time it took you to write your response, you could have said no, or just quoted the relevant post.
Oct 5, 2013, 10:37 pm
#2643
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 69
What are beans? I seen that term in the forum but have no idea after what it means after looking in the forum for it.
Folks, I think their should be a PSA about using the Citi AA card. Been using AP for months between me and the wife, but adding and using the AA card triggered the account closure (luckily, was reinstated today). I'm sticking to beans or GC for MS on this one, and I'd caution fellow FT's to do the same (seeing as others here have issues as well).
Oct 5, 2013, 11:29 pm
#2644
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Shanghai
Programs: BAEC (Gold), PC (Plat), HH (Gold), MR (Gold)
Posts: 2,729
The only similar question I see in the past few pages is someone asking about a variant on a loop transaction, although there very likely is a similar question in a 177 page thread. In the amount of time it took you to write your response, you could have said no, or just quoted the relevant post.
People - this really isn't rocket surgery.
Oct 6, 2013, 12:23 am
#2645
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Brooklyn, NY, United States
Programs: AA, BA, UA, Spirit, Delta, PC Plat, SPG Gold, HHonors Diamond, Club Carlson Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,735
Folks, I think their should be a PSA about using the Citi AA card. Been using AP for months between me and the wife, but adding and using the AA card triggered the account closure (luckily, was reinstated today). I'm sticking to beans or GC for MS on this one, and I'd caution fellow FT's to do the same (seeing as others here have issues as well).
Oct 7, 2013, 5:08 am
#2648
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 633
Is something wrong with amazon, I used my credit card to send 1k to my friend and after the transaction, it doesn't show anything. When I do it again, it states I have exceeded my limit however my friend didn't receive anything and my credit card does not show any transaction, will it show up soon? If not will the exceed limit disappear and will I be able to do it again or must I wait until next month to try again? Thanks again for the input
More recently this happened to me due to failed transactions. (Discover had put a hold on the account after first Amazon payment.) I cleared the hold but it still would tell me at Amazon that I exceeded the monthly amount. I went back and tried it a couple of days later and it worked, so they had cleared the exceed message.
Oct 7, 2013, 7:36 am
#2649
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Indeed, because there is always uncertainty with Amazon because of historical inconsistency in their application of internal controls, advice on how to deal with Amazon is more witchcraft than rocket surgery. Sometimes the rainforest gods smile on us, sometimes they do not. 
Oct 7, 2013, 8:49 am
#2650
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 128
Quote:
Originally Posted by oracles4444 View Post
Is something wrong with amazon, I used my credit card to send 1k to my friend and after the transaction, it doesn't show anything. When I do it again, it states I have exceeded my limit however my friend didn't receive anything and my credit card does not show any transaction, will it show up soon? If not will the exceed limit disappear and will I be able to do it again or must I wait until next month to try again? Thanks again for the input
I called up customer service Friday and they saw that the transaction did not go through.They sent it to another department for them to readjust the sending limit. I received an email from them Saturday saying basically the transaction (which is from September) has been done and I should see it. This had nothing to do with what i called up for and the limit still has not been adjusted. Also it is definitely not a hold on my credit card because i called the credit card and they said they do not see any transaction on their end.
Originally Posted by oracles4444 View Post
Is something wrong with amazon, I used my credit card to send 1k to my friend and after the transaction, it doesn't show anything. When I do it again, it states I have exceeded my limit however my friend didn't receive anything and my credit card does not show any transaction, will it show up soon? If not will the exceed limit disappear and will I be able to do it again or must I wait until next month to try again? Thanks again for the input
This happened to me once before. I don't know if the exceed went away after a while in that case.
More recently this happened to me due to failed transactions. (Discover had put a hold on the account after first Amazon payment.) I cleared the hold but it still would tell me at Amazon that I exceeded the monthly amount. I went back and tried it a couple of days later and it worked, so they had cleared the exceed message.
More recently this happened to me due to failed transactions. (Discover had put a hold on the account after first Amazon payment.) I cleared the hold but it still would tell me at Amazon that I exceeded the monthly amount. I went back and tried it a couple of days later and it worked, so they had cleared the exceed message.
Oct 7, 2013, 12:58 pm
#2652
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,207
Ive done 10+ transactions with 10+ different cards and not had issues yet, I imagine 10+ with the same card would be safer than with all different cards.
Oct 7, 2013, 2:59 pm
#2653
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 756
No problems with # of transactions as long as you do not exceed the monthly limits if you are referring to payments. Using one card is not a problem but I am really not sure about having too many cards attach to Amz. as my experience is only with about 3 cards max link to Amz at one time.
Oct 7, 2013, 3:32 pm
#2654
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 209
I did NOTHING except AP for 2 AA cards over 3 months time (just finished up in Sept on both cards) and had zero problems. Points already credited to my AA account.