Amazon Reload is a new program launching today for Prime members that will earn you a 2% bonus for reloading your Amazon Gift Card Balance using a bank account, instead of a credit card. Essentially, if you use your bank account to pay for purchases, instead of a credit card, Amazon doesn’t have to pay credit card transaction fees, so they’re passing some of those savings onto you. Once you setup your bank account information, you’ll instantly get 2% added to your gift card balance when you reload gift card funds. Those funds and the 2% bonus will be available to use on Amazon within a few minutes. This cannot be combined with the 5% rewards that Prime members get with the Amazon Visa or the Amazon Store Card, which is obviously a better deal, but for those who don’t want to open or use those cards, this is a nice alternative to save a little more money.
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Sounds like a trick to get people to give financial information. I’m not too keen on giving them my main bank account number.
You give your bank account number to everyone you write a check to. There’s nothing confidential about a bank account number. What you probably meant is you’re not too keen on giving them the privilege to pull funds directly from your bank account, which is perfectly understandable.
I don’t write checks. I buy things online with prepay cards. I meant what I said.
I use virtual account numbers. A new number is generated by my cc company for every transaction. 10 plus years as an Amazon customer, they have never had access to my real account info…same with all online companies, I only wish the same could be used for brick and mortar!
Better to use a rewards credit card of some kind then to forfeit all the buyer protections using a credit card gives you.
So we have to pre-load up an account with them where they get to hold our money and give us 2% back on purchases for the privilege. Sounds like they are trying to build up some cash in their accounts and with the amount they will have they can get much better than 2% return on it. Brilliant on their part, but not sure I am ready to buy into it. I’ll keep the money in my own account and use a rewards credit card that gives me back a better return.
Assuming their claim of funds being usable within 5 minutes is accurate, the smart user would transfer only the exact amount they need to make a purchase, just before making the purchase.
What I dont understand is why they dont just offer this to people already using a debit card to make their purchases?
I would also think the “smart user” would use a rewards card with a greater cash back return.
There are merchant fees for using debit cards too. They’re lower than the fees for credit cards, but likely higher than the fees for bank drafts. They’re trying to lower their fees as far as possible, but still keeping it user friendly. If the bank draft would take too long for their comfort, they can just charge the debit. Also, if the debit card draws from the same bank account, they can do a test hold to make sure the money is there before doing the draft. And they do encourage you to use a debit card linked to the same bank account.
But they let you use debit card for this.
I’d like to see them do what Target does with the Red Card and set up an option that works like a debit card for those who don’t want to open another credit card. Target gives a 5% discount on Target purchases for both options.