Amazon Business Prime American Express Card Review
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- Date Established
- 1850
- Location
- New York City, New York
*As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
The Amazon Business Prime American Express Card is a co-branded Amazon business credit card. This offering from Amazon and Amex is a solid credit card option for small business owners who also happen to be Amazon Prime members.
As with many cards, the Amazon Business Prime Card has its own specific niche. Unsurprisingly, it’s aimed at businesses that frequently buy items on Amazon.com or make other purchases under the Amazon banner, such as on Amazon Web Services or at Whole Foods Market. With a very generous reward rate for purchases in featured categories, this card could be an excellent option for businesses that make regular online purchases or require cloud services.
Is the Amazon Business Prime American Express Card a good fit for your business? Keep reading our review to find out.
Table of Contents
Eligibility
While Amazon hasn’t revealed the specific credit requirements for this card, you usually need to have good credit or better when applying for American Express cards. That means you’ll probably want to carry a credit score of 640 or above before applying for the Amazon Business Prime Card.
Don’t know your credit score? Find out for free by visiting one of our favorite credit score sites.
Also, note that having an Amazon Prime membership is required for this card. If you don’t have an Amazon Prime membership and have no desire to get one, you can instead apply for the Amazon Business American Express card (note the lack of “Prime” in the name), which is a similar card, albeit one with less generous benefits.
Amazon Business Prime American Express Card At A Glance
Amazon Business Prime American Express Card |
Annual Fee: $0
Purchase APR: 14.24% - 22.24% (variable) |
|---|---|
Rewards For Spending
Let’s go through the rewards on offer with the Amazon Business Prime Amex card. But first, a reminder. To qualify to receive these rewards, you must have an eligible Amazon Prime membership. According to Amex, “Eligible Prime memberships means a current Prime membership or Business Prime membership.” Without an eligible Prime membership, Amex will direct you to sign up for the Amazon Business Amex card instead — a card with similar but smaller rewards.
Signup Bonuses Worth $225
The card’s signup bonus includes both an immediate bonus and a reward for your first three months’ worth of spending. The first part of the welcome offer is pretty straightforward: Once you’re approved, you’ll get a $125 gift card for Amazon.com. The second component of the signup bonus is as follows: You’ll earn an additional $100 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in the 2% and 1% cash back categories within the first three months of opening your account.
This bifurcated bonus offer isn’t the most straightforward business card welcome bonus available, but it’s certainly nothing to sneeze at — especially if you frequent Amazon for business purchases.
5% Cash Back OR 90 Days Of Interest-Free Payment Terms On Amazon-Related Purchases
Unlike many credit cards, the Amazon Business Prime Card lets you customize your rewards to your liking. You’ll be able to choose one of the following two rewards options:
- Receive 5% cash back when you purchase from Amazon.com, Amazon Business, Amazon Web Services, or Whole Foods Market
- Get 90 days to pay interest-free on all Amazon.com, Amazon Business, Amazon Web Services, or Whole Foods Market purchases
The extra 90-day term is especially nifty if you need additional time paying off a specific purchase. After selecting the payment terms option at checkout, you’ll get 90 days to pay off the purchase without interest. Additionally, note that there is no limit to the amount of cash back you can earn on purchases within the Amazon extended universe.
Unlimited 2% Cash Back On Common Business Expenses
Here’s a handy reward for business owners that isn’t specific to Amazon purchases. You’ll be earning an unlimited 2% back on common business expenses, including:
- US restaurants
- US gas stations
- Wireless telephone services purchased directly from US service providers
Because these are common business expenses, the Amazon Business Prime card might be more useful for your business.
Unlimited 1% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
As you might expect, for all other purchases, expect to get 1% cash back.
Redeeming Rewards
Now that you know how to earn cash back with the Amazon Business Prime card, let’s delve into how that cash back is redeemed.
Multiple Redemption Options
Technically, your “cash back” comes in the form of points — Amazon Reward Points, to be precise. Each point you earn is worth one cent. These points can then be used in two different ways:
- You can apply your points during checkout at Amazon.com and Amazon Business (US) when you use your Amazon Business Prime Card. You can apply any or all of your points to the purchase, and the remaining balance will be charged to your card.
- You can apply your points towards a purchase (any purchase, not just Amazon-related purchases) on your card statement.
These are both solid redemption options, though you won’t be able to do anything creative with your Amazon Reward Points, such as transfer them to an airline rewards program.
Your points won’t expire so long as your account remains open.
Card Benefits
This card comes with the gamut of standard credit card benefits, plus a little extra from Amex.
Free Employee Cards
With the Amazon Business Prime card, you’ll be able to get up to 99 free cards for your employees. All but the largest businesses should be able to supply their employees with free cards to use.
Business Expense Management Tools
This card gives you access to a host of expense management and tracking tools, such as a mobile app that allows you to save receipt photos and oversee employee spending. You can also send your transactions over to your QuickBooks account, should you have one. Furthermore, you can use your card to pay bills with Vendor Pay by Bill.com, though you’ll have to enroll in the program, and there may be monthly fees involved if there’s more than one user.
Amex Offers
Since this is an Amex card, you’ll get access to special deals through the Amex Offers program on top of these basic benefits. This program enables you to receive offers for brands, restaurants, shopping, travel, and more. When making a purchase through Amex Offers, you’ll receive rewards in the form of a statement credit or reward points.
Other Benefits
Here’s what else you’ll get with the Amazon Business Prime American Express card:
- Car rental loss and damage insurance
- Baggage insurance
- Dispute resolution
- 24/7 Relationship Care service
- Global Assist hotline
Rates & Fees
The Amazon Business Prime card sports a reasonable APR — though there is no 0% introductory APR period — along with no foreign transaction fee and no annual fee — though you must have a paid Prime membership to get the card.
A Reasonable APR
For APR, you’ll have to pay between 14.24% - 22.24% (variable), based on your creditworthiness when you open your account. This rate is variable and can change depending on how the prime rate fluctuates.
There is also a penalty APR of 29.99% if you make a payment that is returned, make two late payments in 12 months, or fail to post the minimum payment during the period it is due.
If you must do a cash advance, expect an APR of 26.49%. This rate is also variable.
No Annual Fee — With A Catch
There are no annual fees for the Amazon Business Prime Card. However, to qualify to receive the card, you’ll need an eligible Amazon Prime membership. Specifically, you’ll need a personal Prime account ($119 per year) or a Business Prime membership (starts at $179 per year for three users).
Because a Prime membership gets you 5% cash back on purchases under the Amazon banner, if you have a personal Prime account, you’ll need to spend around $2,380 on Amazon purchases annually to recoup the cost of Prime with your card alone. Of course, Prime comes with an array of benefits, including two-day free shipping, access to Prime Video and Music, exclusive deals, and more. It’s also worth mentioning that the $125 welcome Amazon.com gift card covers one year of a personal Prime membership. This means that Amazon’s premium membership may be well worth it even if you won’t be breaking that $2,380 mark on Amazon purchases.
Foreign Transaction Fees
There are no foreign transaction fees associated with using this card internationally, which is nice for international business travelers. However, the card’s rewards scheme doesn’t particularly reward travel, and Amex cards don’t have the level of international acceptance as do Visa and Mastercard, so it’s not the best card to get if you’re looking for a business travel card.
Other Fees To Keep In Mind
There are a few additional standard credit card fees to keep in mind:
- Cash Advance Fee: Either $5 or 3% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater
- Late Payment Fee: Up to $39
- Returned Payment Fee: $39
You cannot transfer a balance to the Amazon Business Prime card.
Is The Amazon Business Prime American Express Card Right For You?
This card won’t be for every business owner — particularly those who don’t use Amazon or make purchases at Whole Foods — Amazon’s credit card offering is an excellent choice for a specific niche of small businesses. Even for businesses outside that frequent-Amazon-buying niche, it could still be worth a second look. If you’re looking for a secondary credit card, this could be a solid option that you whip out whenever you buy something on Amazon.com.
Is the Amazon Business Prime Amex Card right for your business? You might want to apply for this card if:
- You shop on Amazon.com frequently or use other services that fall under the Amazon banner, such as Amazon Business, Amazon Web Services, or Whole Foods Market
- You occasionally need extra time to pay off a balance for purchases
- You’re looking for a second card with great rewards to buy items on Amazon.com
On the other hand, you might want to pass if:
- You rarely shop on Amazon.com, Amazon Business, Amazon Web Services, or at Whole Foods Market
- You plan on making a large purchase soon and need an intro APR period
Jared Beilby
Jared is a writer hailing from the Pacific Northwest. Besides writing for Merchant Maverick, he has experience writing about sports and video games. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from George Fox University.
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