Posted 1 September 2021
Amazon - can you stop it defaulting to gift card as the payment method?
In my Amazon payments setting I have one of my credit cards set as the default payment method but whenever I buy anything on Amazon it instead always defaults to using my gift voucher balance as the payment option, with credit card only kicking in if I'm buying something worth more than the gift card balance. If I want to pay be credit card only I have to manually change the payment option every time.
Is there any way to stop Amazon doing this, so it only attempts to take a gift card balance if I specifically select the option at the payment screen?
Is there any way to stop Amazon doing this, so it only attempts to take a gift card balance if I specifically select the option at the payment screen?
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23 Comments
sorted bySimilarly, I love it when people feel the need to comment on a thread that has had no activity for months, without actually contributing anything useful. What are you trying to achieve?
Like I said, first world problem.
Just a minor irritation really but wondered if anyone had found a way around it.
If you have the control/memory to do so; order a book etc. which isn't going to be released for another 6 months (multiple copies of if necessary); pay with the gift card to clear it. Don't buy anything else in the order.
Just remember to cancel the book order (a month or so) before it's released; then repeat with another book.
When you actually want to use the gift card, cancel the unreleased book order.
And if you are not ordering that often, you might find it easier to just cancel the unreleased book order as soon as you have made your real order. (and repeat the whole process when you have another order.) (edited)
I love it when people ask a question to a problem they have, and people havr to reply to tell them why they are wrong in what they want to achieve.
Sort of, my gift card balance is made up of a combination of birthday/christmas presents and cashback payouts. I like to save them up so I can buy something nice rather than just spend them on routine expenditure.
Yes the option to untick is there, it's annoying I have to do that each and every time I order though, the fact I can't use the 'buy now' option is one of the reasons it annoys me, the other is that if you make a digital purchase (eg - for music) that option isn't there, it's gift card or nothing.
What I want is for Amazon to only ever attempt to take a payment form my gift card balance if I specifically ask it to, not trying to take from there for each an every order.
And yes I know this is a perfect example of a First World Problem (edited)
It's best to treat Amazon gift card balances and all other sources of payment as being a single pot of non-fungible money in this context.
Why? Because you'd be better off just using your gift card balance on your next purchases (whatever they are!) and then only use a credit card when the gift card balance has run out, as your gift card balance won't accrue any interest while you're waiting to spend it.
Does it really matter if you use your gift card balance to buy, say, £50 of routine essentials now and then use your card to buy a £50 present months down the line? Of course it doesn't, you've still spent £50 on a present for yourself either way.
Gift card balances are also arguably at more risk than money that hasn't left your credit card yet.
The only time I'd favour a credit card over a gift card payment is if you are spending over £100 in total and want to have Section 75 protection. You can still get that if you use gift card balance to make a purchase and then use the credit card to make up the difference (however small) as long as the total is >100.
Or to put this all another way - if someone gives you a £20 note in a Christmas card, do you make sure you only buy yourself a present with that exact note or would it actually make no difference if you just put it in your wallet and use a different £20 note from it to buy that present
some people.
bye.