According to Amazon’s policy, you cannot use your Amazon gift card to buy another gift card. This is broader than you may think. Most people understand this to mean that you can’t buy another Amazon gift card, and that is true, but in addition to that, — you can’t buy any other gift card such as a Target gift card also.
The Consumerist had this interesting piece about a reader who wasn’t able to use his gift card on something that was discounted by being bundled with another gift card. For example, if Amazon was giving you a $50 gift card on buying a Kindle, — you couldn’t use your existing Amazon gift card to make this purchase.
So, two gift cards don’t go together. In summary, you can’t use it in the following ways:
- You can’t use an Amazon gift card to buy another Amazon gift card.
- You can’t use it to buy any other gift card.
- You can’t use your gift card to buy anything that is discounted by being bundled with a gift card.
At first I was a little surprised at how so many people are interested in swapping gift cards, but as I read more about this, — I realized there are many situations where it makes perfect sense to do this. The reason I found most interesting was to try and get around expiry dates. This of course, isn’t applicable to Amazon any more, since their cards don’t have an expiry date. I read a couple of forum threads where people were discussing about what to do with their cards that were about to expire soon. They were talking about the expiry date coming soon, and since they couldn’t think of buying anything, — they were wondering if they could get another gift card, and in turn — extend their expiry period. I thought this was really clever, but unfortunately it isn’t allowed by most retailers.
It is a good idea to be aware of how you can’t use your gift cards because a lot of times they remain unused, and that is just a waste. Using it to buy another gift card doesn’t work, so if that was something you were planning on, then you need to think of another way of using it.
Ratings:
Loading ...
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I learned this while Christmas shopping at Amazon. My cart included toys for my grandson and a gift card for his mother. If you include a gift card in your basket the option to apply gift card funds to the purchase is not available.
If I had your article last week it would have saved me a call to Amazon’s customer support.
I think they should relax this rule because it causes inconvenience to a lot of people, and doesn’t seem to serve any real purpose.
Can you buy one thing with two gift certificates?
I want to buy Sims 3. and I have one girft voucher £25 and a £15 one, and the game costs £26.50..
Can I do that?
Haven’t tried this myself, but this thread here speaks about the same thing and says that it can be done:
http://askville.amazon.com/gift-cards-order-Amazon/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=8703709
Add the gift card to your account, and then use the gift card option while payment, and you should be good.