# Amazon gift card



## jlee745 (Jul 27, 2010)

Hope I posted this in the right place. I am having a brain fart this morning. I applied a $5 gift card to my Amazon acct this morning and then went to purchase a 2.99 book. It charged to my credit card. How do you get it to come off the gift card balance?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

jlee745 said:


> Hope I posted this in the right place. I am having a brain fart this morning. I applied a $5 gift card to my Amazon acct this morning and then went to purchase a 2.99 book. It charged to my credit card. How do you get it to come off the gift card balance?


It seems to me that it should automatically come off your gift card first. Did you check to see if the balance shows the $5?

Betsy


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## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

Is it a general gift card? Once in a while I've gotten and email that I earned credit for something specific, such as the future purchase of MP3s. Do you still see the gift card credit when you go to "view gift card balance" under "your account" on Amazon?


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## jlee745 (Jul 27, 2010)

During processing it showed Mcard but know it has been taken of my gift card. Thanks.
Can you buy any kindle book and it come off gift cards? I thought I read something a while back that you couldn't use gift cards on kindle books not sold by Amazon(by other publishers)?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

No, you can use the gift card on any book listed on Amazon if you purchase it through Amazon.  I've never had one that a general gift card didn't apply to.

Glad it got straightened out!

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

One other thing to note -- though I see you've got it sorted -- For those who have items on pre-order, be aware that any GC balance that existed when you ordered it, may have been applied automatically.  To avoid that, you'd have to put it in a cart rather than one-click.  AND GC's that are added to your account after the fact may bet applied to that pre-order if you go in to look at it for any reason, or change shipping speed or something.  So you might think you have credit, but then it applies to your new Fire or kindle or cover or something.


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## PhilReads (Oct 13, 2013)

But in the end you pay less, that's what counts!


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## Tia K (Sep 28, 2013)

may i ask where did u get the $5 Gift card from ?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

You can get gift cards all sorts of places.  Buy 'em direct from Amazon. Buy 'em at grocery stores.  Sometimes they're the prize in contests. When you sell something back to Amazon that's how they pay you.  Heck, I've been known to have someone pay me for something completely different via amazon GC -- if they're not in my immediate area, it's much easier for both of us than sending a check!  I even buy them for myself as I like to keep a GC credit on my account -- easier to reconcile than a CC statement with a bunch of small charges for books or whatever.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

there aqre websites where can earn points aqnd use them to buy gift cards and other things...


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## Tia K (Sep 28, 2013)

Thanks Ann . 
can u still buy stuff from amazon with gift cards if your account is $0?  please explain alittle more.
or are these gift cards tracable? like how do you know if the gift card you get are not fake? 
thank you


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Tia K said:


> Thanks Ann .
> can u still buy stuff from amazon with gift cards if your account is $0? please explain alittle more.
> or are these gift cards tracable? like how do you know if the gift card you get are not fake?
> thank you


I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, but here's what I can tell you about how Amaozn GC's work.

You can buy them directly from Amazon and get a physical card which you can then use or give to someone else.

To use it, you enter the code from the card into the 'apply gift certificate' field when you buy something. OR, under 'your account' there's a section that shows how much GC credit you have and lets you apply additional cards.

You can also buy physical cards at grocery stores etc.

If you buy from AMAZON, you can elect an 'eCertificate' which basically comes by email to the person you specify. It's even quicker to apply those since there's a link in the email that you just click to go to your Amazon account and log in and it will be applied.

You can also get an eCertificate by dumping coins into a "Coin Star" machine and selecting it as an option for how they're to pay you. If you're cashing in coins, this is a way to get your full amount. If you just ask for bills, the coin star machine charges you for the counting. But if you're getting an Amazon eCertificate, it's Amazon that pays the fee.

When you've applied GC's to your amazon account, anything you purchase via 'one click' will be paid for first from any GC credit and will only be charged to the CC you have on file if there's not enough to cover it. If you want to purchase something and NOT use up your GC credit, you need to use the 'add to cart' option and change the payment method before submitting the order. If your GC account goes to zero, you can still buy stuff, but it will be charged to the CC you have on file.

I suppose there could be a market for fake cards. But if you get them from a reputable source you probably don't have to worry about that much. I've bought them from my local Safeway -- they don't activate them until the checkout person scans them. And I've gotten them direct from Amazon.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Just to remind people that you can buy Amazon Gift Cards through our affiliate link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/gc/?tag=kbpst-20

Now, back to your regular programming.


Betsy


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