Amazon Wants to Give You Money Back for Everything You Buy
We all have routines. You might gravitate towards a particular shampoo because you like the pump top, or stop at the same grocery store due to its proximity on your route home from work. Convenience matters a lot when it comes to what we buy and where we buy it.
Me? I’m sort of a recluse. I work from home and, if it weren’t for my dog, I might actually go days without leaving the house if I had a fridge full of groceries and a particularly busy schedule. And, frankly, Amazon doesn’t help. I buy everything online: toiletries, groceries, on-the-fly household gear (like the set of chip clips I desperately needed last week). I can be guaranteed to spend around $50 to $100 a month on Amazon — which is sort of why I’ve been shocked I didn’t know about the Amazon Reload program sooner.
What are Amazon Reload Rewards?
If you’re an avid Amazon shopper (and Prime member) like me, Amazon Reload is basically like an up-front payment plan. You can load your account with a lump sum balance from your checking account, then use that balance to buy stuff across Amazon — books, toilet paper, hand soap, dog food — just like you normally would. It’s convenient, yes, but the real benefit is the 2 percent rewards; if you’re a Prime member, when you reload your balance with a checking account, Amazon will add an extra 2 percent to your balance. Free money!
Ok, it’s not a ton of money. Hardly any, actually. I just checked my Amazon account: In the past 30 days, I’ve spent around $230 total, but $180 if you subtract a $50 birthday gift card for my niece. So if I’d reloaded with $200 at the top of the month, I’d have gotten $4 as a reward — enough to cover these pan scrapers I bought (they’re clutch, by the way… I love them), but not much else.
Still, if you’re almost guaranteed to spend a certain amount on Amazon each month, it’s money you’re leaving on the table, so to speak, and combined with other programs like Subscribe & Save and Amazon Trade-In, it could make a real difference in your budget.
Have you heard of CamelCamelCamel? Don’t Shop Amazon Without Doing This First