Amazon Payments Overall Rating
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Amazon Payments Overview
Amazon Payments Logo
Amazon Payments (payments.amazon.com) is an electronic payment service that allows Amazon.com customers to pay for purchases on other websites by using their Amazon.com account. Customers simply store their credit card and shipping information in their Amazon Payments account and then can checkout without having to enter payment information on Amazon Payments participating websites. Amazon Payments is similar to PayPal and Google Checkout in that customers can either pay with the information stored in their accounts or enter payment information during the checkout processing.
This Amazon Payments review is only going to focus on the Amazon Payments business account used for accepting payments from customers. There are two different services called “Checkout by Amazon” and “Amazon Simple Pay” that serve varying needs.
Checkout by Amazon
Checkout by Amazon is a service specifically tailored for e-commerce retailers that sell tangible goods. An advantage that Checkout by Amazon offers over PayPal and Google Checkout is that the default checkout process takes place without the customer leaving the retailer’s website. Although a similar process can be accomplished with PayPal and Google Checkout, it takes advanced coding knowledge in order to implement it.
Checkout by Amazon makes it easier to keep customers on the retailer’s site with two different checkout options. The first and easiest, “Standard Checkout,” opens a co-branded pop-up window to Amazon Payments that allows the customer to complete the transaction. While this keeps the retailers site open, the pop-up runs the risk of being blocked by the customers web browser and could result in lost sales in some instances.
The second, “Inline Checkout,” keeps the entire checkout process on the retailer’s website, but requires more advanced programming knowledge to implement. Merchants that have a high volume of sales, but lack the programming knowledge, may find the expense of web development worth the cost since eliminating pop-up and redirects nearly always results in higher conversion.
Amazon Simple Pay
Amazon Simple Pay is for businesses that sell digital and virtual products (eBooks, stock photos, WordPress themes, etc), subscription services, or need to facilitate payments between buyers and sellers of an online marketplace. Additionally, Simple Pay can be used to collect online donations.
Nearly all of Amazon Simple Pay’s applications are simple to implement by copying and pasting code snippets into the merchant’s website. Amazon also included a backend dashboard that allows merchants to manage sales and recurring transactions.
Amazon Payments Sales Strategy & Tactics | A+
Amazon uses no misleading sales tactics or marketing of the Amazon Payments services.
Amazon Payments Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | B+
Like PayPal (standard setup) and Google Checkout, there are no setup or monthly fees to use Amazon Payments. Depending on the service being utilized by the merchant, the payment method being used by the customer, and the volume of sales, the transaction fees vary. Amazon Payments scored a “B+” in this section because, although there are no monthly fees, the rates are slightly on the high side. Below are Amazon Payments’ fees as of this review.
Checkout by Amazon and Amazon Simple Pay Fees
Sale amounts great than or equal to $10:
- 2.9% + $0.30 for all transactions
Sales amount less than $10
- 5.0% + $0.05 for all transactions
Monthly Volume Rate Discounts
- 2.5% + $.30 for all transactions for monthly payment volume from $3k-$10k
- 2.2% + $.30 for all transactions for monthly payment volume from $10k – $100k
- 1.9% + $.30 for all transactions for monthly payment volume over $100k
Other Payments Methods (excludes Checkout by Amazon and Amazon Simple Pay)
| Payment Method | Less than $0.05 | $0.05 to $9.99 | $10.00 and more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank Account | 2% of transaction+ $0.05 |
2% of transaction + $0.05 |
|
| U.S. Credit Card | 5% of transaction + $0.05 |
5% of transaction + $0.05 |
2.9% of transaction + $0.30 * |
| InternationalCredit Card | 6% of transaction + $0.05 |
6% of transaction + $0.05 |
3.9% of transaction + $0.30 * |
| Amazon PaymentsStored Funds | 20% of transaction value,minimum fee of $0.0025 |
1.5% of transaction + $0.01 |
1.5% of transaction + $0.01 |
* Credit card sales that qualify for volume rate discounts
Amazon Payments Business Accounts that have good standing and have a high volume over three months in a row can apply for the discounted rates below:
| Type of Card | $3K-10K | $10K-100K | $100K or more |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Credit Card |
2.5% of transaction + $0.30 |
2.2% of transaction + $0.30 |
1.9% of transaction + $0.30 |
| International Credit Card |
3.5% of transaction + $0.30 |
3.2% of transaction + $0.30 |
2.9% of transaction + $0.30 |
Account Transaction Limits
All Amazon Payments Business Accounts start with a $500 limit for receiving funds until the merchant adds a credit card to the account. Once a credit card has been added, merchants can receive up to $10,000 in payments. If a verified bank account is also added the limit can be raised significantly or removed altogether.
Amazon Payments Complaints, Service & Dispute Resolution | A
Amazon Payments has relatively few complaints filed online. The majority of complaints appear to be filed by customers using the service instead of merchants. Most of the customer complaints are directed towards the sites that use Amazon Payments with Amazon Payments getting blamed for problems that look to actually be caused by the websites themselves. Of the few merchant complaints, the majority are attributed to the holding of merchants’ funds by Amazon. Upon reading these complaints, most of them appear to be based on the merchant simply not understanding how Amazon Payments handles the payment process.
Amazon Payments handles most of its customer support through email and this reviewer had difficulty locating a dedication Amazon Payments phone number for customer support; however, this number is Amazon general support line: (866) 216-1072
If you know of a dedicated support line for Amazon Payments, please leave it in the comment section below.
Amazon Payments Better Business Bureau Report | N/A
Amazon Payments does not have a dedicated Better Business Bureau (BBB) profile.
Bottom Line
Overall, Amazon Payments scores well. Although there are no monthly fees, the transactions fees are slightly high. Since not every customer will have an Amazon.com account, Amazon Payments is best used as another payment alternative rather that the only payment option.
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