If you’re anything like me, you probably spend an unhealthy amount of money buying stuff from Amazon. I thought it was time to have a dedicated post on what the best credit card to use is for Amazon purchases. One thing that is worth considering is that most of the time Amazon.com is coded as a bookstore, so it’s possible to get a category bonus there.
Contents
- 1 Personal Cards
- 1.1 Citi AT&T Access More – 3x ThankYou Points, No Limits, $95 Annual Fee
- 1.2 VantageWest Credit Union Connect Rewards Credit Card – 5x, No Annual Fee ($15 Joining Fee), $1,500 Limit Per Quarter
- 1.3 Chase Amazon.com Rewards – 3-5% Cash Back, No Annual Fee Or Limits
- 1.4 Amazon Prime Store Card – 5% Cash Back, No Limits, Prime Required ($99 year)
- 1.5 Affinity Federal Credit Union, 5% Cash Back No Annual Fee
- 2 Honorable Mentions
- 3 Another Option To Get 5x+
- 4 Final Thoughts
Personal Cards
Citi AT&T Access More – 3x ThankYou Points, No Limits, $95 Annual Fee
This card earns 3x ThankYou points on all online retail websites. It should work on Amazon too.
There is a $95 annual fee, but you’ll also earn a bonus 10,000 points if you spend more than $10,000 within a card member year.
VantageWest Credit Union Connect Rewards Credit Card – 5x, No Annual Fee ($15 Joining Fee), $1,500 Limit Per Quarter
Card lets you choose one category to earn 5x points in. Unfortunately there is a limit of $1,500 per quarter.
Chase Amazon.com Rewards – 3-5% Cash Back, No Annual Fee Or Limits
This card earns a flat 3% cash back on all Amazon.com purchases and is issued by Chase. There are no annual fees or limits.
If you have Prime ($99 per year), the card now earns a flat 5% back on Amazon purchases.
Amazon Prime Store Card – 5% Cash Back, No Limits, Prime Required ($99 year)
Amazon recently upgraded their Amazon prime store card and this now earns 5% cash back on all Amazon purchases. The only downside is that you must have Amazon prime which will cost you $99 per year.
Affinity Federal Credit Union, 5% Cash Back No Annual Fee
This card earns 5% back on bookstores and that includes Amazon. It also has rotating 5% categories now as well.
Honorable Mentions
Chase Freedom – 5x Chase UR Points, No Annual Fee, One Quarter Annually ($1,500 Limit)
This card earns 5x Chase UR points in rotating categories that change quarterly. You can spend a maximum of $1,500 in these categories per quarter. In 2013 and 2014, it was possible to earn 5x points in the fourth quarter of the year. In 2015, you’ll also be able to earn 5x points on Amazon purchases.
Discover It – 5% Cash Back, No Annual Fee, One Quarter Annually ($1,500 Limit)
Very similar to the Chase Freedom, this card earns 5% cash back in rotating categories and there is a $1,500 spending limit per quarter. 2013 and 2014 have both included online shopping/holiday shopping and Amazon coded correctly as 5% cash back in the fourth quarter. This trend will continue in 2015 with Q4 also being holiday shopping.
Another Option To Get 5x+
One of the good things about Amazon, is that Amazon gift cards are sold almost everywhere. Because these gift cards do not come with any fees, it’s possible to use a card that earns a category bonus at that specific merchant and get up to 5%.
For example, you could use the Chase Ink Plus to get 5x Chase UR points by purchasing Amazon gift cards at an office supply store. If you’re planning on going this route, you’ll find these links helpful:
- Credit cards that earn 5% or more cash back
- Best Credit Cards For Home Improvement Stores
- Best Credit Cards For Every Day Purchases
- Best Credit Card For Department Store Purchases
- Best Credit Card For Drugstore Purchases
- Best Credit Card For Charity Donations
- Best Credit Cards For Office Supply Purchases
- Best Credit Card For Grocery Store Purchases
- Best Credit Cards For Restaurant Spend
- Best Credit Cards For Bookstore Purchases
It’s also possible to earn 5x UR points purchasing Amazon gift cards online from Paypal Digital Gifts and from Gyft.
Final Thoughts
I’m sure I’ve missed some cards that earn at Amazon at good rates, if I have let me know what I missed in the comments. This is an update to the guest post I wrote for Saving Advice last year.
It’s always possible to get additional cash back by using a shopping portal, check Cash Back Monitor to see who currently has the best payout rates.
View Comments (43)
Anyone else having issues with their Affinity FCU card and 5% rewards not posting for all Amazon orders?
See screenshot of my rewards statement area from their site: https://imgur.com/a/PrfKkGT if you want to do the math yourself.
Purchases with the “Amazon Retail” (“Reta”) tag after the “Amazon” term only appear to earn 1% and those with the “Amazon marketplace” designation (“Mktpl”) earn the 4+1%. In other words, orders both shipped and sold by Amazon aren’t earning 5% but those shipped by Amazon and sold by a third party are. Which, if anything, is the opposite of what I’d expect. Regardless, this card has been a valuable part of my portfolio for some time now and I’d hate to have to pivot.
There’s this post on Reddit, as well (https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/comments/1fsh2p1/affinity_amazon_card_deceptive_rewards/), but the OP isn’t answering the comments I added. I made my own post and it was downvoted, which isn’t helpful. Help me out DoC community, you’re my only hope!
I securely messaged the Affinity folks and haven’t heard back in about a week but the ticket is “Being Processed.” That’s about as loud as I’d like to be about the matter, at least directly, so I don’t intend to call them if I don’t have to and be too direct about my spending habits.
If Affinity ever answers my message I’ll report back.
Ended up calling Affinity because I did not get an answer.
They confirmed that "were changes" to the rewards program and gave a sort of stock answer on pinning the blame on how merchants code the purchase categories. I reiterated my theory on the above and the rep said I "hit the nail on the head" and that it appears the changes would persist moving forward. Sadly, this means time to close the account for me.
Had hoped to use the Affinity FCU card for purchases on Amazon but is rather limited now. Don't use Prime so Amazon, AE card is out. Any other cards out there that give 5% unlimited for Amazon purchases?
3% cash back on the American Express Blue Cash Everyday Card at Amazon and most other major online retailers.
Bank of America's Custom Cash Rewards card will return 3% cash back on Amazon.com purchases if Online Shopping is your selected 3% category.
or up to 5.25% if you have Platinum Honors status.
Affinity Fed Credit Union’s Cash Rewards Visa gets 5% back at Amazon and Bookstores.
https://www.affinityfcu.com/Credit-Cards/Cashback-Rewards-Visa-Signature.aspx
You should add the Amex Amazon Business Prime card.
Can you add a comparison of the Extended Warranty and Purchase/Return Protection of these cards? If these become your mainstay Amazon cards, eventually you’ll need those features.
Citi dividend sometimes offer 5x also.
Refreshed BofA Cash Rewards gets 3-5.25% if you pick Online Shopping as your bonused spend category.
FYI: This post needs updating. The Citi Cash Forward is not only not available for new signups, Citi converted all existing Cash Forward cards to the Citi Thankyou Preferred card. The US Bank Cash+ card has dropped bookstores as a category (Amazon purchases generally code as from a bookstore).
Done :), thanks Vince!