How to save money at Amazon using your credit card points

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There are lots of ways to redeem your credit card points — cash back, gift cards, even buying stuff. But booking travel is usually the best way to get the most value for them. That's what we here at Points Path typically recommend.

However, once in a while, there's an exception to that rule. And right now for a limited time, you can find one of those exceptions at Amazon.

The online retailer currently has targeted discount offers for people who use credit card points to pay for some or all of their Amazon purchases. It's a program called “Shop with Points,” and if you're eligible, you can save a bunch of money the next time you check out at Amazon.

Here are the offers we're seeing on Amazon using credit card points right now:

• American Express — Get up to 50% off eligible products when paying with Membership Rewards, up to a $75 maximum discount
• Discover — Get up to 40% off eligible purchases when paying with Discover rewards, up to a $30 maximum discount
• U.S. Bank — Get up to 40% off when paying with U.S. Bank Rewards, up to a $50 maximum discount

Now, if you clicked on those offers and got a message saying you weren't eligible, don't panic. It can be a little tricky to get targeted for one of these discounts. But we'll show you how to improve your chances, plus the best way to use your offer if you have one.

First, in order to be targeted for a discount offer, you'll need to have a credit card that's eligible. This can be an American Express card that earns Membership Rewards points (but not ones that earn Delta miles or Hilton points) or a card that earns US Bank rewards or Discover cash back.

If you've got one of those cards, the next step is to register it for Amazon's Shop with Points. You'll find Amazon's page of Shop with Points programs here – make sure you choose the right program for your credit card, and then click the yellow “Link your account” button to enter your card info with Amazon.

If you have multiple credit cards that earn points in different types of programs, register each of them so you have a greater chance of getting an offer.

Once you've done that, it typically takes 24 hours for Amazon to mark newly-registered customers as eligible. So bookmark this story and check back in a day or two to click on the above offer links again to see if you've been targeted.

If you still haven't had any luck after a few days, you can try again in a few days. And even if you end up not being targeted for these particular offers, Amazon runs discounts like these on a regular basis. We'll keep this page updated with all the latest offers, so check back regularly to see if any new offers have popped up.

Now, if you're in luck and see an offer like the one above when you click on any of the offer links at the top of this story, congrats! You've got a nice discount that you can use the next time you shop at Amazon.

Click the yellow “Activate promotion” button, then shop at Amazon by the offer's end date. You'll need to choose items that are sold directly by Amazon (not a third-party) and select the option to pay with points on the Amazon checkout page when placing your order.

But hang on! Before you use your discount, there's an important quirk of these offers to keep in mind.

As I mentioned earlier, using your credit card points on Amazon usually isn't the best way to get a good deal for them. That's because Amazon typically only gives you about half as much value for your points as you'll get when using them for travel instead.

Of course, getting a discount on what you're buying at Amazon makes this tradeoff worth it. But you can do even better, because these offers typically don't require that you pay for your entire purchase with points. You can instead mix points and cash together and still get the discount.

So to get the most value for your points and still get the discount, you should only use as many points as you have to in order to qualify. While Amazon sometimes requires you use at least $5 worth of points to get the discount, in other cases, this can be as little as just 1 point!

Let's take an example. As of this writing, Amazon is running a sale on Apple AirTags. While this is a great price to begin with, if you've got one of the discount offers like the American Express 50% off deal, you can do even better. Choose American Express as your payment method, then apply just $0.01 of Discover cashback to your order.

Thanks to the 50% discount, the price on the AirTags drops significantly, and you're only using 1 cent of your cashback, while charging the rest to your Amex card. You can check out the current sale price at Amazon here.

So if you're shopping for a summer necessity or even back to school supplies, make sure you check for one of these discount offers at Amazon. And if you have one, use it wisely to get the most for your travel points!

All prices are accurate as of Friday July 12, 2024 at 9:00am EST.

Don't have an eligible credit card? Check out the current limited-time offer on one of our favorite travel cards.