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NEW: get a £100 gift card and ‘no fee for a year’ with the Amazon Business American Express card

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If you had been thinking about getting the Amazon Business American Express card for your company / sole trader activities, Amazon has just upped the ante.

For a couple of months now, the Amazon Business American Express Card has been waiving its annual fee for the first year. This saves you £50.

For a limited period, in addition to the first year free, you will also receive a £100 Amazon Gift Card upon approval. This is, by far, the biggest incentive that Amazon has offered on this card to date.

You qualify for the £100 Amazon Gift Card irrespective of what other American Express cards you have.

On top of that, you can choose between earning:

  • 1.5% back in Amazon Rewards on UK purchases at Amazon.co.uk, Amazon Business and Whole Foods Market, or
  • deferred payment for 60 days on UK purchases at Amazon Business, Amazon.co.uk and Whole Foods Market

Other spending earns you 0.5% back in Amazon Rewards.

The card is worth considering if your business or SME makes regular Amazon purchases. It’s worth noting that there isn’t a minimum spend required to trigger the £100 Amazon Gift Card.

Whilst the card does not provide travel rewards, it does give you the opportunity to decide what works best for your business, either in Amazon Rewards or deferred payment.

As we have said many times on HfP, miles and points earned from credit card spending are NOT free. You are always giving up the chance to earn cashback or pseudo-cashback from competing cards. And unlike travel rewards, you don’t have to deal with flight or hotel availability restrictions, so you may be better off with Amazon Rewards.

Amazon Business Prime silver card

What is the Amazon Business American Express Card?

Last September, Amazon Business and American Express launched two new products aimed at the small business market.

The Amazon Business American Express Card is the ‘entry level’ card of the two on offer.

Despite the card name, you do NOT need an Amazon Business account to apply.

That said, as Amazon Business is free, it may be helpful for your company since it adds business functionalities like VAT invoices and reporting.

What is the annual fee and interest rate?

The first year fee is waived for the Amazon Business American Express Card. This saves you £50.

The APR on purchases is 21.9% per annum variable. The representative APR, which blends in the annual fee payable from Year 2, is 32.6% APR variable.

What is the sign-up bonus and how can I use it?

New cardholders receive a £100 Amazon Gift Card once approved.

You receive the gift card irrespective of what other American Express cards you hold and there is no minimum spend required to trigger the gift card.

What benefits do you get?

You can choose between two benefits on your Amazon spending:

  • 1.5% in Amazon Rewards on UK purchases at Amazon.co.uk, Amazon Business and Whole Foods Market, or
  • 60 additional days to pay on each purchase at Amazon.co.uk, Amazon Business UK and Whole Foods Market UK

On all of your other spending, you will receive:

  • 0.5% back in Amazon Rewards

For most people, taking Amazon Rewards will be the better choice on your Amazon spending. Taking the extra 60 days to pay is effectively costing you 1.5%, since you lose out on earning Amazon Rewards, although the cash flow benefits may be important to you.

You can choose, on a transaction by transaction basis, whether you want to earn the 1.5% or take the extra 60 days to pay.

Note that the 1.5% in Amazon Rewards credit is capped at £120,000 of Amazon purchases per calendar (not card) year. Beyond this, you will earn 1% in Amazon Rewards on your Amazon purchases.

How do I spend Amazon Rewards?

As you’d expect, you can use your Amazon Rewards to offset your purchases on the Amazon.co.uk website.

Interestingly, you can ALSO use them to pay off your American Express statement. This means that, even if your business does not spend much at Amazon, the Card may still work for you. You can treat it as a straight 0.5% rewards card, using the credit to pay off your bill.

Conclusion

There are currently two good reasons to give the Amazon Business American Express card a try:

  • no annual fee for your first year and
  • a £100 Amazon Gift Card upon approval of the card (no minimum spend required, no blocks based on holding other American Express cards)

It is especially valuable for businesses which are already spending a lot of money with Amazon due to the generous 1.5% rebate on your Amazon spend.

The Amazon Business American Express Card application page is here.

Category

General

Comments (35)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • KBuffett says:
    9 Jun9 June 07:33

    Is it possible to use your Amazon Gift Card balance to pay off the balance on this card?

    Also, does this card have AmEx card offers like shop small or other targetted offers?

    • Freddy says:
      9 Jun9 June 07:47

      You can only pay off the card via normal means for an amex card. Mine has the shop small and the standard offers

    • Rob says:
      9 Jun9 June 08:52

      1. No
      2. No idea but in general business cards get few offers – my Bus Plat has 4 at present IIRC

      • BLT says:
        9 Jun9 June 12:00

        I’ve got 65 on my Amex Plat business, more than on my BAPP. I’ve got a feeling Amex’s system allocates you a primary card which gets all offers and then the other cards only get some. Can’t prove it but has definitely felt that way for a couple of years.

  • Badger says:
    9 Jun9 June 07:40

    Could you them cencel the card without ever using it?

    • Rob says:
      9 Jun9 June 08:51

      You may, or may not, need to activate the card and make a nominal £1 purchase to trigger the voucher. It’s not clear.

      • Holmes says:
        9 Jun9 June 09:14

        Just applied and recieved the voucher with no purchase

        • RT says:
          9 Jun9 June 12:18

          Yes the voucher appeared. It wasn’t instant, took about 30 minutes.
          I can also instantly use the AMEX in Amazon, albeit with a reduced credit limit, as they add it to your Amazon account immediately

          • Ryanfozzie says:
            9 Jun9 June 13:35

            I applied as a brand new sole trader ‘XXXX Consultancy’

            Brand new business established in June 2021 with a £1000 annual turnover.

            Seems to not really care about your business, just your personal credit file!!

            Accepted, no voucher yet though, but can see it takes 30 mins 🙂

  • Jimmy says:
    9 Jun9 June 09:01

    Wonder if my limited company (set up 6 months ago for a single BTL) would be sufficient for this card.
    Have not let the property yet so was surprised when Capital welcomed me with open arms!

    • Freddy says:
      9 Jun9 June 10:32

      I had a newly formed limited company and was accepted. They check the individual so don’t think they are fussed

  • Luke says:
    9 Jun9 June 09:12

    I was approved for the free Amazon card a few days ago. I can confirm that the £100 gift card is sent to your Amazon account upon approval for the card.

  • Magarathea says:
    9 Jun9 June 11:37

    I presume it will be ok to refer someone for this card. Anyone know?

    • sloth says:
      9 Jun9 June 13:27

      its not available via referral links unfortunately…

  • NickS says:
    9 Jun9 June 12:55

    Well that was a waste of my time. I have been refused by Amex despite having a Plat card for years and also my BA Amex premium for almost ever. They say it’s down to experian saying I’m not creditworthy! but my experian credit score is 999 so can’t see why refused? Amex not interested in discussing they told me to contact experian. Have you ever tried speaking to a person there! Impossible but they are very keen to sign you up to their £14.99 pcm credit expert service…..
    Anyway guess not really an issue but shame based on your comment that it didn’t matter if you already have other Amex cards.

    • VK says:
      9 Jun9 June 21:59

      you should look into your credit rating a little deeper. experian free rating is updated every 30 days. if you were 999 at your last update and now mid month you are suddenly being told experian says you are not credit worthy, I think you should just pay that £15 if you dont have the free sign up offer with experian to review your file and make sure your score is indeed still 999. cause if there is an issue then its best you deal with it asap rather than waiting. just a thought. also that 15/month can be cancelled straight away after payment and it will still give you access to premium for 1 month.

    • MCO says:
      9 Jun9 June 23:27

      Nick exact same thing happened to my wife. Her rating is 999 too.

      • fiona says:
        10 Jun10 June 15:01

        and me too !!

        • Gary_Dexter says:
          13 Jun13 June 14:43

          Lenders do not see consumer credit scores on sites like Experian and ClearScore. They use their own methods of matching people to financial products.

    • Alan says:
      17 Jun17 June 01:34

      If you have an existing Amex then just call them and ask they transfer some of your existing credit across.

  • Dannyrado says:
    9 Jun9 June 19:36

    OT. Are there any quirks I should be aware of for the 100k miles from the business platinum? I’ve spend way more than the threshold and it’s still not posted.

    • Rob says:
      9 Jun9 June 21:43

      Have you received nothing at all? In which case, you seem to be a victim of the ‘Amex computer not counting all your spend’ problem (which is proving fairly common). You need to call and explain.

      This assumes, of course, that you haven’t had a personal Gold / Plat / Green card in the last six months and so disqualified yourself.

  • Ian says:
    10 Jun10 June 12:47

    Does anyone know if you get the 1.5% on AWS spend when using this card?

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