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Amazon has become the go-to online shopping site for many households. If that includes you, some of your virtual checkouts could be free by redeeming credit card points, perhaps from a card you already carry.
Below are credit card reward programs whose points can be used at Amazon to pay — or partially pay — for your next order, including tax and shipping.
Note that shopping this way at Amazon, which it calls “Shop with Points,” is free to use but usually offers poor value compared with other ways you could spend your credit card points.
Here’s a summary of point values with each program.
| Credit card reward program | Point value, in cents |
|---|---|
| Amazon cards | 1 |
| American Express Reward Dollars (available on eligible cash-back cards) | 1 |
| Capital One cash back | 1 |
| Discover | 1 |
| U.S. Bank | 1 |
| Capital One miles | 0.8 |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards® | 0.8 |
| Citi ThankYou Rewards | 0.8 |
| American Express Membership Rewards | 0.7 |
| Bilt Rewards Points | 0.7 |
| Hilton Honors | 0.2 |
1. Amazon-branded cards
Among the best rewards to use at Amazon are from its co-branded cards, some of which earn as much as 5% back on Amazon purchases. These cards, which are already integrated into Amazon checkout, come in three types:
- Visa cards for consumers from Chase, such as the Prime Visa.
- American Express business credit cards, such as the Amazon Business Prime American Express Card.
- Amazon store cards from Synchrony. (You must have Amazon Prime service to redeem.)
For all these cards, the redemption rate is 100 points equals $1 toward Amazon purchases.
🤓 Nerdy Tip
If you're an avid Amazon shopper and have one of the co-branded cards that offers 5% back on Amazon purchases, it can make sense to designate that as your default payment card at Amazon.com and use rewards as they accrue for more Amazon purchases. 2. Discover cash back or miles
Use rewards from Discover — both cash back and miles — at a 1:1 value, meaning $1 in cash back or 100 miles in rewards gets you $1 toward Amazon purchases.
Among the eligible cards:
- Discover More.
- Discover Open Road.
- Discover Motiva.
While the exchange rate for Discover card redemptions is 1:1, you still have to ask yourself why you’d bother using them at Amazon if you get the same value as cash back or travel reimbursement.
3. Capital One
For Capital One cash-back cards, $1 in cash rewards are worth $1 in Amazon redemption value. For Capital One travel cards, which earn miles instead of cash back, rewards can be redeemed via Amazon at a rate of 125 miles per $1 — a value of 0.8 cent per mile.
Rewards earned on these Capital One cards are eligible to be redeemed on Amazon:
- Journey Student Rewards from Capital One (As of May 2023, this card is no longer on the market).
4. U.S. Bank
$1 in U.S. Bank Rewards is equal to $1 when redeemed at Amazon.com.
Several U.S. Bank cards earn U.S. Bank Rewards that can be used to shop at Amazon. Here are a few:
Note that when you add an eligible U.S. Bank credit card as a payment method, Amazon automatically enrolls it into the Shop with Points program. If you don’t want to use U.S. Bank Rewards in that way, you will have to manually opt-out.
5. Chase Ultimate Rewards®
Chase Ultimate Rewards® points have a value of 0.8 cents per point. The following Chase cards allow you to pay with points at Amazon:
- Chase Freedom®.
- Chase Sapphire® Card.
- Ink Plus® Business Credit Card.
- Chase Corporate Flex.
- J.P. Morgan Reserve.
You can typically redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards® points for cash at a value of 1 cent per point. And depending on which card you carry, you can use Chase Ultimate Rewards® points to book travel through Chase and get even more value per point. So redeeming points at Amazon for less is a relatively poor value — 20% worse than cash, for example. Chase debit cards don’t qualify.
6. Citi ThankYou Points
Use your qualifying CitiCard to pay for your Amazon order with ThankYou points. Credit cards that participate in the ThankYou rewards program are eligible. This includes cash back that has been converted to ThankYou points on the popular Citi Double Cash® Card. However, that’s likely a bad idea because ThankYou points are worth only about 0.8 cents each when used at Amazon. That’s less than half of the 2% in cash back — 1% when your purchase and 1% when you pay it off — that you get from the Citi Double Cash® Card.
Other examples of cards that earn ThankYou points include:
- Citi Prestige® Card
- Citi Chairman American Express Card
- Citi PremierPass/Expedia Card
- AT&T cards
7. American Express (Membership Rewards and Reward Dollars)
You can use American Express Membership Rewards points from American Express cards that earn them. Here’s a list of cards that do. Membership points can be redeemed for around 0.7 cents each when you shop on Amazon. Again, that’s a low-value way to use your points.
Examples of some of NerdWallet’s favorite cards that earn Membership Rewards points:
American Express also offers cash-back credit cards (aka, those that earn Reward Dollars, instead of Membership Rewards). And if you have an eligible AmEx cash back card, you can redeem those Reward Dollars on Amazon at a 1:1 rate. That is, 1 Reward Dollar = $1 at Amazon.com.
Examples of eligible AmEx cash-back cards:
8. Bilt Rewards points
Bilt Rewards points can also be used to pay for Amazon purchases. To use Bilt points for Amazon purchases, you'll need to link your Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card in the "Shop with Points" section of your Amazon account. Keep in mind 100 Bilt Points is equal to 0.7 cents, which isn't a great use of points.
» Learn more: Bilt Rewards: what you need to know
9. Hilton Honors
Hotel points are typically on a different scale than many rewards points — they aren’t worth as much. In this case, you need 500 Hilton Honors points to equal $1 on Amazon. That makes points worth only 0.2 cent each. That’s about half of what they’re worth for booking hotel stays.
Examples of cards that earn Hilton Honors points:
How to use points to pay at Amazon.com
Typically, you must link your participating credit card with your Amazon account to use its points for shopping, although that’s automatic with some issuers, such as Citi, if you’ve ever used your credit card to pay for something at Amazon. Once linked, you should see the points as a payment option at Amazon checkout.
If you partially pay for your order with credit card points, the remaining balance may be charged to that same card, not your default payment method at Amazon. You can’t combine rewards points from different credit card programs to pay for the same order, but you can combine them with Amazon gift cards.
Shopping with points comes with restrictions that vary slightly by credit card issuer. For example, you might not be able to buy digital goods, Kindle downloads, Subscribe and Save items or things from AmazonFresh. You also can’t use one-click ordering if you want to pay with points or use points when ordering on the phone. You can use credit card points to pay for Amazon Prime membership with some programs but not others.
Bottom line: You can use points from a variety of credit card rewards programs to pay for things you buy at Amazon.com, but it might not be a valuable use of those rewards.
All information about the American Express® Green Card has been collected independently by NerdWallet. The American Express® Green Card is no longer available through NerdWallet. To view rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, see this page. To view rates and fees of the American Express Platinum Card®, see this page.
To view rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, see this page. To view rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, see this page.
To view rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, see this page.
To view rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, see this page.
*Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout.
To view rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Card, see this page. To view rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card, see this page. All information about the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by NerdWallet. The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card is no longer available through NerdWallet. To view rates and fees of The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, see this page.
All information about the American Express® Green Card has been collected independently by NerdWallet. The American Express® Green Card is no longer available through NerdWallet.
All information about the Amazon Business Prime American Express Card has been collected independently by NerdWallet. Amazon Business Prime American Express Card is no longer available through NerdWallet.
The information related to the Journey Student Rewards from Capital One, Capital One Spark Cash, Capital One® Spark® Miles Select for Business and Capital One® Spark® Classic for Business credit card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product or service.
