Tech Made Simple

Hot Topics: How to Fix Bluetooth Pairing Problems | Complete Guide to Facebook Privacy | How to Block Spam Calls | Snapchat Symbol Meaning

We may earn commissions when you buy from links on our site. Why you can trust us.

author photo

How to Use a Mastercard, Visa or Amex Gift Card on Amazon

by Josh Kirschner on December 23, 2022

Updated on 9/25/2023 with information from American Express regarding usage issues for Amex gift cards

Trying to use a Mastercard, Visa, or Amex Gift Card on Amazon can cause several headaches. First, simply registering the card as a payment method can be tricky. Amazon requires a name and billing address to register a credit card as a means of payment. Since many gift cards aren’t personalized to you, there is no name or zip code to enter, and Amazon won’t be able to validate the card.

Even if you get through that first hurdle, Mastercard, Visa or Amex gift cards aren’t well-suited to online purchasing. Since Amazon doesn’t allow you to split a purchase among multiple cards, if your gift card is worth $50 and your order is $70, there’s no way to make up the difference, and your transaction will simply be declined. On the flip side, if your order is $47, you’ll be left with a $3 balance on your gift card, which isn’t useful for anything.

However, there are a couple of tricks that will make using a gift card on Amazon a breeze. In fact, there’s probably no better place to use one of these cards than Amazon. Here’s what you need to know.

[EDITOR'S NOTE 9/25/2023: Back in June I received confirmation from American Express that Amex gift cards are "temporarily unavailable" for use on Amazon due to "technical upgrades". Unfortunately, Amex gift cards still can not be used to transfer balances to Amazon. I reached out again to Amex and a spokesperson was not able to provide an ETA on when their gift cards will be usable again.]

1. Register your Mastercard, Visa, or Amex gift card with the issuing bank

If your card doesn’t already have your name and zip code associated with it, you’ll need to do that through the financial institution that issued the card. Sometimes there will be a registration URL on the back of the card. If not, look for the name of the institution on the card and then Google “[institution name] gift card registration”. That should get you to the right site. If it's an Amex gift card, use this link. Once there, you’ll be asked to verify the card info, and then you’ll have the option of registering the card with your name and address. This is also a good time to confirm the available balance.

2. Add your gift card as a payment method on Amazon

Next, go to Amazon.com and click on the Account & Lists drop-down (in the drop-down select Account) to go to Your Account

Amazon Site screenshot with Amazon Prime logo in the top left and search box, below is the location and one row of menu buttons. In the window, you see Your Account  with options for Your Orders, Login & Security, Prime, Your addresses, Payment options (pointed out) and Gift cards.

Click on the "Your payments" box and then "Add a payment method" to add your gift card as a new payment source.

Amazon website showing a popup with the option to add a credit or debit card.

3. Swap your Mastercard, Visa, or Amex gift card for an Amazon gift card

At this point, you could start using your Mastercard, Visa, or Amex for purchases on Amazon. The problem is, though, that Amazon doesn’t let you divide purchases among multiple cards. So if you have a $30 gift card, you can’t make purchases for more than $30. And if you make a purchase for less, you’ll be stuck with a small remaining balance that is even more difficult to use.

The trick to get around this is to use your Mastercard, Visa, or Amex gift card to buy an Amazon gift card. With Amazon gift cards, the full amount can be credited to your purchase, and any additional funds required can be paid with your regular credit card.

Click on the Gift cards box in Your Account, then click the Reload Your Balance Button.

Amazon site screenshot showing Amazon Prime in the top left with the location and two rows of menu items. In the main window, you see Your Gift Card Balance and a yellow button entitled Reload Your Balance (circled) and a white button entitled Redeem a Gift Card.

On the next screen, enter the balance on your Mastercard, Visa, or Amex gift card in the "Other" box and click the "Buy Now" button. (If you don’t know it, you can get the remaining balance from the issuing institution – see Step #1 above.) Select the gift card you added in Step #2 as the Payment method.

Screenshot of Amazon with Reload your balance, Current balance and Amount with $50, $100, $200 and $500 with the Box $ Enter an amount circled.

Assuming you properly registered your card and entered the correct balance amount, the transaction should go through, and you will see the full amount reflected in your Amazon Gift Card Balance. Now, you're all set, and when you make a purchase, your gift card balance will be applied automatically until it’s gone. Try it for yourself.

[Image credit: Josh Kirschner/Techlicious, American Express, Mastercard, Visa]

Josh Kirschner is the co-founder of Techlicious and has been covering consumer tech for more than a decade. Before founding Techlicious, he was the Chief Marketing Officer for Inform Technologies, a start-up provider of semantic technology to media companies. Prior to Inform, Josh was a SVP and Managing Director in the financial services industry. Josh started his first company while still in college, a consumer electronics retailer focused on students.


Topics

Tips & How-Tos, Shopping, Money Savers, Time Savers


Discussion loading

gravatar

From Mary Taddeo on July 12, 2019 :: 6:06 pm


Just wanted to say a huge Thanks to Josh for his clear and accurate instructions for doing the above.
I had tried it before using my own resources, without success.  I am thrilled that it worked with your instructions, since I want to buy a special gift on Amazon, and adding the Mastercard gift card balances will REALLY HELP.
Thanks again for the wonderful service you are providing.
Gratefully,
Mary Taddeo

Reply

gravatar

From Josh Kirschner on July 13, 2019 :: 10:17 am


I had my own frustrations using gift cards on Amazon, so thought providing a detailed solution would be helpful to others, as well.

Reply

gravatar

From Dana on December 31, 2022 :: 7:16 pm


Thank you - your instructions worked perfectly and made this process so much simpler. The procedure was somewhat unclear on Amazon.

Reply

gravatar

From Ben A. on July 30, 2019 :: 8:01 pm


So frustrating… it’s like $ going to waste since I cannot use these gift cards anywhere unless I use less than the amount.  I even tried reloading $1 less than the balance since most companies put this amount on hold initially.

Reply

gravatar

From Todd Hackett on August 07, 2019 :: 11:55 pm


I followed the steps to register three MasterCard gift cards with my name and address, add them as Amazon payment methods, and load their full value into my Amazon gift card balance. The transactions failed, telling me that the payment method needed to be revised. I eventually contacted Amazon through online chat, and was told that the charges were denied by the bank and to contact them. I called the number on the back of the and after almost five minutes of automated messages and selections finally talked to a person. She checked and said that Amazon applied a $1 hold to verify that the card was valid, then applied a charge for the whole amount. Since the balance was now $1 less (due to Amazon’s $1 hold), the charge exceeded the available balance and was denied. I had deleted the cards from Amazon, so I put them back, tried again but each time used an amount $2 less than the balance (because the $1 hold was still there, plus I anticipated another $1 hold), and it worked. I tried one first and it took a few hours but finally went through. The others are still processing, but I expect them to work. I should have most of the funds available for Amazon purchases soon, but also have three gift cards left over with only $2 on each.

Reply

gravatar

From Josh Kirschner on August 12, 2019 :: 10:24 am


It’s annoying that happened for you, but it’s not that unusual for companies to place those temporary holds on new credit cards. The holds usually drop off after a couple of days, so one option is to add the card and, if you’re having an issue wait the hold amount, wait a couple of days then create the Amazon gift card. For cards that have a $1 or $2 balance, you should be able to go back in and apply those amounts to your Amazon gift card account - Amazon won’t (shouldn’t) place another hold on the account once it has already been verified.

Reply

gravatar

From JD on October 21, 2019 :: 11:27 pm


It’s probably more common than you might think and a real PITA when you run into it since many of these cards will steal $1-3$ per month if there is any remaining balance. So a 7-8 day delay can compound your headaches.

Rant warning: I honestly think it’s intentional to make these cards hard to use so that they always get a little unused balance….$1-3$ x 100,000 cards is a pretty good scam.
FTC needs to crack down harder on this practice especially for refund cards like the one I got from ATT.

After going through Amazon tech support hell and the talking to issuing bank to figure out exactly what happened. I think I will just go to my local diner, get something for a few bucks less than the card and leave balance as tip.

In any case Amazon could have avoided this by simply subtracting the $1 before submitting an order if they still have $1 authorization pending OR wait for the $1 authorization to complete before submitting the amount for the order. Instead they submitted both at the same time resulting in a DECLINED and hung order.

My sincere apologies for ranting on your page. This is a really good article provided you take the $1 precaution (maybe worth an article update because Amazon doesn’t warn you until after the badness happens)

Reply

gravatar

From Dave on November 21, 2019 :: 3:15 pm


I tried the above method only to find out AMEX no longer lets you register a name once you enter the card on the site, only view balance, and the phone number they provide is only automated (and calling other amex numbers just gets you routed back to the automated line eventually) Just a heads up that this may no longer work for Amex prepaid cards.

Reply

gravatar

From Kirk Fretwell on January 28, 2020 :: 9:41 pm


You don’t need to provide a name (if the login form forces you to, then maybe use “gift” - “card”. You don’t need to provide an address (again, if required, just enter your own address).

I talked to an AmEx rep on the phone by calling the back of the card.  She just confirmed this.

Reply

gravatar

From Josh Ridenour on December 01, 2019 :: 1:39 am


Just got this to work but there’s a few things that I’ve learned through this process:
1. You have to activate the card online using the amexrewardcard.com.
2. The name on the card is then the email address you used when activating. You’ll need this for when you add the card to your account to use for a purchase.
3. Amazon holds $1 so when you use the card to either reload your Amazon gift card or make a purchase, easiest to remove the dollar from the purchase so it will go through (i.e. with a $100 card, only use $99 when purchasing anything on Amazon.

Reply

gravatar

From Don Post on December 08, 2019 :: 4:47 pm


I received a 100 dollar amex gift card and when i called the number on the back to register it the CSR said its already activated and they dont add names and addresses to gift cards. I tried the amexrewardcard.com website as well and same issue.  if the card is already activated (mine is as a gift from company xmas party) it appears you are out of luck registering it and using it for amazon purchases.

Reply

gravatar

From Steven on December 26, 2019 :: 1:54 pm


Ran through the process. initial round it failed. i put the full amount. checked the amexrewardcard.com that Josh said above and amazon did a $0.10 hold. this time i tried to do the reload gift balance with xxx.80 and it loaded just fine. for name I put “gift”

Reply

gravatar

From Scott on December 27, 2019 :: 4:12 am


Initially failed for me on an already activated amex gift card with no name on it. I had used my name and address on Amazon. Checked the amex site after reading here. There is no place to register the card.

Followed Steven’s post above and tried again less 20 cents. It worked! I put “gift” for the name this time, but I don’t think Amazon cares - the issue was the 10 cent hold.

Reply

gravatar

From Kirk on January 28, 2020 :: 9:38 pm


I had the same problem Scott had: I tried to reload an amazon gift card from my Amex card, and saw immediately on balance.amexgiftcard.com/account a ten cent charge from amazon, which then caused the $100 charge to fail.

If you’re like me, and didn’t read the comments first! then you might be stuck in the same predicament.  This worked for me.

The point: IF TRYING TO USE AN AMEX GIFT CARD BY RECHARGING AN AMAZON ONLINE GIFT CARD FROM IT, SUBTRACT TEN CENTS.  (if you made the mistake we did here, subtract twenty.  grin

Reply

gravatar

From Ken on January 20, 2021 :: 7:43 am


I had to use 20 cents less to get mine to work.  Thanks.

Reply

gravatar

From peggy on March 01, 2021 :: 12:46 pm


Yes this is exactly correct. I made the mistake of trying to do my full balance of 4.12 and it failed. I waited over a week for the 10 cent hold to return to my card and then did it again for 4.02 and it worked just fine.

Reply

gravatar

From homer delaney on January 24, 2020 :: 11:54 am


This article, along with the comments posted = Excellent.  But, in following all of the suggestions, I still couldn’t “pair” my Amex gift card over to Amazon.  As a last resort and after my search HASSLE, I found the Amazon ‘call me back’ web site. I spoke with the CSR - Very Proficient!!! - and the transfer was finalized in 6 minutes.  BRAVO!!!! &  TYVM….

Reply

gravatar

From Josh Kirschner on January 24, 2020 :: 2:01 pm


Thanks for the update about using the Amazon customer service to help you get your gift card active.  For others who want (or need) to contact amazon customer service, here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/contact-us?ref_=cu_csp_phone_button&from=gp&source=csp&_encoding=UTF8

Reply

gravatar

From Shawna on July 28, 2020 :: 7:21 pm


Thanks for posting this! I used it for a Vanilla prepaid mastercard and a Perfect Gift mastercard.

Reply

gravatar

From Julia on August 03, 2020 :: 12:17 am


I get the visa gift card for 25$ and now I been buying stuff on Amazon does they will reclaim the money back ?

Reply

gravatar

From Susan S on August 30, 2020 :: 8:56 pm


Thanks to all the comments here, I was able to reload my Amazon gift card with the remaining AMEX balance.  I just entered the card number with “gift” as the name, for .10 less than the balance.  Went right through, first try.

Reply

gravatar

From David Hoover on December 05, 2020 :: 4:53 am


Redeeme an Amazon gift card using code. Does anyone have any ideas for me

Reply

gravatar

From David Hoover on December 05, 2020 :: 4:54 am


Redeeme an Amazon gift card using code. Does anyone have any ideas for me

Reply

gravatar

From Denise on December 18, 2020 :: 10:12 am


Thank you for posting details on how to use the scraps left on gift cards! I tried it with a Visa gift card and it went right through. Not so with the Amex ones…after rechecking my balance on the Amex site, I noticed the amount had changed by 10 cents and showed an Amazon charge for that amount. I went back and retried with 10 cents less than the gift card value and it went right through. Apparently, Amazon isn’t making enough money, so they need to add a service charge. wink Happy Holidays Y’all!!

Reply

gravatar

From James Jewett on December 23, 2020 :: 12:06 pm


Once you verify the balance in their site they don’t give you the option to register the gift card with your name, address or any information.

Reply

gravatar

From Aaron on December 31, 2020 :: 4:47 pm


As the top Google search hit, you should update your page:  AMEX gift cards can no longer be used on Amazon. AMEX ended the whole ability to register a card, so there’s no way to actually use it to buy the Amazon gift cards. I confirmed this with a call to their customer service dept—the only way to use an AMEX gift card online now is at an online retailer that specifically accepts them, which are few and far between (I haven’t found any).

Reply

gravatar

From Josh Kirschner on January 04, 2021 :: 4:57 pm


The AMEX card activation page we link to in the article is still active: https://balance.amexgiftcard.com/. And AMEX gift cards can be used at any retailer that accepts AMEX cards (which is pretty much every online retailer in the US). See: https://www.amexgiftcard.com/

Reply

gravatar

From Tony on January 03, 2022 :: 6:52 pm


Maybe in a near or later future but as of today. it works (Canada here, same zone - NAM)

Reply

gravatar

From Nathan J Rahn on February 23, 2021 :: 1:47 pm


THANK YOU!  This worked for me with an Amex gift card. I don’t think you need to register the Amex card first to do this, as Amex did not seem to have the option to register on their site.  I was able to load a $200 Amex card onto Amazon as an e-gift card by requesting to load $199.80 and it went through.  This is awesome.  Thanks for sharing.

Reply

gravatar

From Annie on February 23, 2021 :: 2:52 pm


In less than 1 minute, the full $10 was added to my Amazon gift card. Thank you for the clear and accurate instructions!

Reply

gravatar

From Annie on March 02, 2021 :: 12:45 pm


I just added another $50 visa gift card to Amazon. For “name”, I simply input “Gift Card Recipient” instead of my name, which is what the gift card shows. The amount was uploaded to my Amazon gift card balance within 10 minutes! Thanks again!!

Reply

gravatar

From Alexander Henry on May 30, 2021 :: 5:32 am


In fact, there’s probably no better place to use one of these cards than Amazon. Here’s what you need to know.The following restrictions apply to prepaid Visa, MasterCard, and American Express cards.

Reply

gravatar

From GJ on November 02, 2021 :: 1:52 pm


How long does the .10 “Pending Transaction” placed by Amazon stay with the AMEX gift card as showing on the card’s “Balance Summary” on AMEX’s balance.amexgiftcard.com ?

Reply

gravatar

From Tony on January 03, 2022 :: 6:46 pm


Got the same 0.10 hold. amazon told me to wait 48h. Is it for ever or they actually give it back. thank you

Reply

gravatar

From Yahia on November 08, 2021 :: 2:43 am


If I have prepaid card number only like (2462223354;4 11/24 ) from Amazon seller can I use it on the payment to buy gift card or any product or no ?
Note:)
It’s only number no name or any information about the number and no cvv number just the card number and month/year

Reply

gravatar

From Tony on January 03, 2022 :: 6:49 pm


Guess i have to put a thank you note as it is not obvious AMZN is holding those 1 or 0.1 dollars. put 1 dollar less and it worked. let see in few days if i can get back the rest (0.10 in Canada lol)

Reply

gravatar

From Tara flint on January 05, 2022 :: 11:04 pm


What people need to be told is how easy it is to loose your money and they do nothing about it.. I purchased a visa gift card with the amount of 400.00. intended on using it to order Christmas with. Before I even got the chance to swipe my card after purchasing it, all but like 46 cents was used for a purchase in London! Visa says this a common every day thing and gift cards are not Fraud protected… Only place the card was swiped was at time of purchase at a dollar general store.
You think if they can pin point where the money went ,they can do something about it…

Reply

gravatar

From Arvind on January 16, 2022 :: 4:10 am


VISA prepaid card issued to me does not work with the procedure shared. I am based out of India and tried applying this procedure for online purchase on Amazon website and it do not go beyond. Could you please suggest some alternative method. Will be really obliged.

Thanks !

Arvind

Reply

gravatar

From Godfadda on March 05, 2022 :: 3:08 am


Other than checking the balance on the Amex Gift Card balance website, I was not able to register on the site.

I followed the instructions to add the card and just typed in my name when asked.  After that I was able to add funds to the Amazon gift card balance and after about 5 minutes the funded were added and was able to are my purchase.

Thank you or the tip

Reply

gravatar

From Rob on March 09, 2022 :: 1:43 pm


yes there were some fees or something, dropped my $150 online gift card/paper to $148 and it worked on amazon, ha, no way to get the $2 I bet ....

Reply

gravatar

From Jaime Smith on March 17, 2022 :: 6:08 pm


Yay! Thank you, it worked perfectly for me!

Reply

gravatar

From Tony on August 12, 2022 :: 1:24 pm


I just used Josh’s instructions to register two gift cards, one AMEX and one VISA.  Amazon did not put any holds on either card, and both balances were transferred in full to my Amazon gift card in about 5 minutes. 

Like some people said, AMEX doesn’t really let you “register” a gift card so I just put my name and the card number into the Amazon fields when I added the new card.

I will pass this info along to all of my friends who aren’t sure what to do with these cards! 

Cheers to Josh and all who commented!

Reply

gravatar

From Darrin on October 04, 2022 :: 1:20 pm


Thanks Josh.  I had two Visa gift cards from a Mobil1 rebate and loaded them both onto my Amazon gift card balance as you suggested. 

Thanks for your time loading up the instructions! 

Darrin

Reply

gravatar

From Gary on December 27, 2022 :: 10:55 pm


I was in a bind and this worked for me! grin

Reply

gravatar

From Marie on December 29, 2022 :: 6:34 pm


I got a $25 AMEX virtual gift card and wasn’t sure how to use it. This method worked for me, no fees were charged. Thanks.

Reply

gravatar

From Bruce on January 18, 2023 :: 4:04 pm


Amazon revised its layout a bit, of course, but it still all made sense and I was able to convert my $25 MC gift card and use it toward a $41 charger. Thanks, Josh, you saved me a lot of hack’n'slash through Amazon’s jungle of information!

Reply

gravatar

From Mike on February 05, 2023 :: 10:18 pm


Hey all - this worked for a $100 Mastercard gift card that I registered with the URL on the back of the card.  Easy to follow instructions, thank you!  BONUS - Amazon LIKED that I reloaded the gift card balance and gave me a $10 BALANCE RENEWAL REWARD for doing that!

Reply

gravatar

From Diana on March 05, 2023 :: 4:56 pm


These instructions still work as of March 2023 - I was able to successfully load the virtual rebate visa card I received from my contact lens retailer as another payment card on my Amazon account - I then set it as my default card.  I followed the next step to reload my Amazon gift card using this payment method.  Be patient as Amazon states it can take 5 minutes etc to process the order.  Voila payment accepted - I then went to the vendor site and it showed the full payment went to Amazon.  On my Amazon account - the full amount showed up on my Amazon gift card balance.

As a side note - I did not have to register my virtual visa card with the rebate company - they already had my name and billing attached to my card - which they got when I filled out the information when I applied online for my rebate.
It is also a good idea to create an account with the rebate company (if they provide this option) - so you can track the status of your rebate and receive email/text updates.

Reply

gravatar

From Diana on March 05, 2023 :: 4:58 pm


These instructions still work as of March 2023 - I was able to successfully load the virtual rebate visa card I received from my contact lens retailer as another payment card on my Amazon account - I then set it as my default card.  I followed the next step to reload my Amazon gift card using this payment method.  Be patient as Amazon states it can take 5 minutes etc to process the order.  Voila payment accepted - I then went to the vendor site and it showed the full payment went to Amazon.  On my Amazon account - the full amount showed up on my Amazon gift card balance.

As a side note - I did not have to register my virtual visa card with the rebate company - they already had my name and billing attached to my card - which they got when I filled out the information when I applied online for my rebate.
It is also a good idea to create an account with the rebate company (if they provide this option) - so you can track the status of your rebate and receive email/text updates.

Reply

gravatar

From Tim Berman on April 11, 2023 :: 8:09 am


I’ve been trying for the last two weeks to redeem an Amex gift card and Amazon keeps rejecting the payments.  I’ve tried various amounts, waited 3-4 days and tried again with no luck. Put my name, I’ve used “gift card” in the name.

I’ve done this multiple times in the past with amex and visa cards with no issues. 

Has something changed recently?

Reply

gravatar

From Claressa on April 11, 2023 :: 11:37 am


I’m having the same issues as Tim Berman. I used to be able to use the AMEX prepaid cards on Amazon and now I can’t.

Reply

Read More Comments: 1 2

Home | About | Meet the Team | Contact Us
Media Kit | Newsletter Sponsorships | Licensing & Permissions
Accessibility Statement
Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookie Policy

Techlicious participates in affiliate programs, including the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, which provide a small commission from some, but not all, of the "click-thru to buy" links contained in our articles. These click-thru links are determined after the article has been written, based on price and product availability — the commissions do not impact our choice of recommended product, nor the price you pay. When you use these links, you help support our ongoing editorial mission to provide you with the best product recommendations.

© Techlicious LLC.