Amazon ‘Prime Now’ Codes As Grocery On Credit Card

Recent reports indicate that Amazon Prime Now now codes as grocery on the Amex Gold card for 4x and on the Blue Cash Preferred for 6%. I’d guess the same would be for Visa and Mastercards, but we’ll need data points to verify that.

Previously, Prime Now coded as MISCELLANEOUS / SPECIALTY RETAIL STORES. Prime Now is Amazon’s grocery delivery arm. Not sure how popular they are, but supposedly grocery delivery is the wave of the future.

Hat tip to hyungjoh
    Chuck
  • On July 19, 2019, 15:33

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  • Hi all

    Spoke at length with Chase Freedom rep, escalated to supervisor, who gave me a call back, and they confirmed that Prime Now still codes as "misc stores". Therefore it does NOT give you 5x on chase freedom grocery category. I didn't realize this and have spent $1000+ so far. unfortunate, but figured i'd share with yall because I didn't see any other posts around this fact so far, esp. now with groceries at 5x on Chase Freedom.

    TLDR: Prime Now not Groceries for 5x on Chase Freedom

    PS. Did not offer me ANY courtesy points either.

  • It didn't seem to work for me. My $539 purchase on my gold card is giving me 539 points.

    When clicking on the transaction in my "Recent Transactions" area, it shows as "1x" "On Internet Purchase purchases". The transaction itself is no longer pending.

    If I go to my Rewards - Points Summary page, it also shows as a 1x category.

  • I ordered from Whole Foods (via Prime Now) over the weekend and the transaction was coded as 'MERCHANDISE - Internet Purchase'. Support will not tag as groceries. Has anyone else encountered this?

      • I checked back. Despite the coding, AMEX's new interface (which shows the rewards received for each purchase) does indeed show 6% back for the main Prime Now purchase, but not for the tip portion.

        The main transaction, "Amazon Prime Now," shows "6% On Internet Purchases purchases" (this is where it would normally say, "6% On Groceries purchases" for my local grocery store).

        The tip has always been a separate transaction called "Prime Now Tips." It shows "1% On Internet Purchase purchases."

  • gotta love it. Filter Prime Now items by software category and I get lettuce, peanut butter, granola bars, and strip steak. Granola bars aren't soft.

    • Like the user below mentioned, it's a similar deal to buying Amazon GC for 5x with Ink Cash, this just saves a visit to office supply store. But as I mentioned, tipping the driver (which you should be doing) eats into your margin.

  • Unless you are Scrooge McDuck you should also be tipping the delivery person which eats into MS margin.

  • Not sure if I understand why so many people think this is unsustainable/lucrative. You can already buy discounted Amazon GCs (at office supply stores, for example) and use those for Prime Now purchases. Certainly this is one less step, which is nice. But not game-changing.

  • Great for those who don't have an already Amazon 5x card. Business as usual for those who do.

  • In my area Amazon Fresh does not operate. PrimeNow offers nothing more than 1-2 hour delivery from local Whole Food stores!

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