Earning 5X on Amazon Purchases Just Got Harder!
It has been rumored for a few weeks now but it is now official. Amazon gift cards can no longer be purchased from online sellers. No more e-gift cards. No more easy 5X earning on your Ink Plus or Cash card if there was something that popped up on Amazon that you needed to buy quickly. That Amazon Fire Tablet sale from yesterday…forget about 5X earning on that purchase unless you have some gift cards lying around.
Now that I have gotten that off my chest (yes I do feel a little better) we can look at the best ways to still earn 5X at Amazon.
Details on the Change
Amazon decided that they no longer wanted their gift cards sold at online retailers. I am assuming this is from large amounts of fraud but I have nothing to really back up those thoughts. I don’t see why else they would do it besides seeking more control over their gift card sales.
Swych sent me an email alerting me that they no longer carried them. So I checked Gyft and PayPal Digital Gifts just to see if they still had them around by chance. Zilch on both accounts. So everything has been pulled off of the electronic shelf so to speak.
This is a big blow since these gift cards were delivered instantly and it was possible to earn 5X Ultimate Rewards points on the purchases. And since they were delivered instantly there was no need to hoard Amazon gift cards. This allowed you to jump on deals at will and still rack up the maximum amount of points possible.
Options Going Forward
Going forward it will be necessary to go out into the world and face human interaction to get your Amazon gift card fix with 5X earning. Not a favorite option of many in our hobby :). It also means that you may need to speculatively purchase Amazon gift cards in order to fully take advantage of lightning deals etc. If you need to run to the store to make your purchase the deal may be dead by the time you buy the gift card.
The best options to load up on Amazon gift cards going forward are:
- Grocery stores with a card that offers a grocery bonus like the American Express Blue Cash Preferred.
- Office stores with your Ink Cash or Plus cards, or American Express Simply Cash card.
The other option would be to get the Amazon credit card which earns 5% back on Amazon purchases. If you make a lot of purchases on Amazon this may be an easy option for you, although not as good as 5X Ultimate Rewards points.
You could also use cards that have minimum spend that needs to be completed. Another option is to just stock up on physical gift cards with Amex Offers, like the latest Lowe’s offer.
Conclusion
All is not lost, things just got harder is all. What else is new these days?
What is your plan for Amazon purchases going forward? Are you going to focus on physical gift cards or go a different route?
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Got both the Amazon store card and the Chase Amazon card so I always have those easy choices for 5% off. Amazon is also frequently a quarterly category on Freedom/Discover, though usually later in the year.
If you are worried about missing a deal while you are out buying physical Amazon cards, can’t you pay for the item and change the payment method later?
That could be an option Dave – I have never tried it. I don’t really expect someone to drive to the store just to buy an Amazon gift card though in reality. Probably not worth the hassle most of the time.
That is how I took it if you sent it as a gift and the person receiving it could change it. Not always practical but an option.
Yep. I would just set up an account on my wife’s phone and buy some random card for myself, receive it and then swap it for the Amazon card. Something occurred to me though.. Can I swych a card that was on sale by them?
I bet they would only allow you to change for amount paid – but it is worth a try
I got the same notification from Swytch but it seems like you can buy some other card from them and then SWYTCH to the Amazon GC?
Do you still get 6% using Amex cards for buying gift cards? There have been recent rumors that Amex knows when you purchase a gift card and you don’t get the 65 for that.
I think 3rd party are still working for now but it is definitely up in the air with Amex
Noooo not human interaction! Ack… lol
Haha exactly!
fwiw, if you still have a MasterCard Ink, you can still earn 5x with gift card mart until the end of the month when the mastercards get converted to visas. They’ve been selling them for 1% off for a couple months I think.
Tho their initial verification is a bit of a hurdl since you have to call after your first order, after you finish it you don’t have to ever do it again.
Never had an issue with any cards I’ve ever bought from them either so they’re my go to until the end of the month
Great tip – thanks Justin. I am not one of the lucky few 🙁
Ugh of course stuff like this and 5x points from paypal digital gift cards go away as soon as I get my ink cash card.
That sucks…still a lot of 5X earning left out there but it is shrinking for sure
Ugh. Brutal. Thanks for the heads up.
Yeah it is….sorry it wasn’t better news