$10 Free From Amazon With Amazon Cash

a white airplane in a hangar

Free money is never a bad thing, right?  Right now, Amazon is offering you $10 free when you sign-up for Amazon Cash and deposit $40.  What’s Amazon Cash?  Well, if you’ve been living under the same rock I have, you’re in luck.  I just signed up, so I know the process now.  Amazon Cash is essentially a way to load your Amazon account without buying gift cards or swiping a credit card online.

a close-up of a sign

The sign-up process is quick and easy.  I clicked on the banner that appeared in my account but you can click here to see if you’re eligible.  In theory, all first-time customers are, though one of my Amazon accounts did not show the offer.  It’s a one-click sign-up, then you choose to either print a barcode or use your phone number.  Based on my experience loading my account, I’d suggest the barcode.

a screenshot of a web page

Once I texted myself a barcode I headed out to load my account.  There’s a pretty decent list of brick and mortar stores where you can do so:

a screenshot of a computer

 

In theory, if you’re trying to maximize the Amazon Cash sign-up, you’d use a credit card that earned bonus points in one of these categories (side note: I had no idea Radio Shack stores still existed).  There are a handful that earn bonus points at grocery stores, like the new American Express Gold Card.  Side note #2: I applied for the card recently which means I have referral links to the 50,000 point sign-up offer if anyone needs one.  Shameless plug to inflate my mileage balance.  😉

Between 7-Eleven and CVS, I would imagine pretty much everyone has a store within easy driving distance to load this sign-up offer.  I chose CVS since the grocery stores near me only allow deposit through Coinstar machines, which ruled out a credit card.  I picked up a couple of odds and ends and headed to the cashier.  After he rang up my other items, I asked him if he knew how to process an Amazon Cash transaction.  I got a pretty blank stare back.  I pulled up the barcode on my phone and asked him to scan it.  He did, but couldn’t figure out what to do next.  He called his supervisor, who quickly pointed out what to do next.

I confirmed I wanted to load $40 and a moment later the customer screen correctly reflected it:

a screen with a display

Shortly after I paid the $40 was in my account, along with my bonus cash.

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The Final Two Pennies

Amazon Cash was easy for me to use.  Depositing money was as simple as scanning a barcode at a store I already had plans to visit.  While I’m happy to have the $10 free, I’ll continue to use my Chase Ink cards to earn 5X points on Amazon gift cards at Office Depot.  I’m guessing Amazon is targeting “unbanked” folks who don’t have credit cards.  It would be easy for someone to top up their Amazon account while buying groceries.  But, for those of us with rewards cards, this is likely just a one-time $10 bonus.  Still, that’s a free movie ticket, so I’ll take it!

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