How to redeem your points and miles for Amazon purchases

Although redeeming your points and miles for high-end international flights and luxurious hotels may seem like the most advantageous option, not everyone is interested in luxury travel. For those who prefer to save money, redeeming points and miles to cover everyday expenses can be more appealing.

If you’re planning to take advantage of Prime Day deals, consider using your points and miles for Amazon purchases. If you’re unsure how to do this — or whether you should — we’ll cover all your options below.

Related: Who knew? Amazon has a travel deals page for Prime Day, and there are some exciting options

Redeeming credit card rewards for Amazon purchases

Before we dive in, you should realize that redeeming points for Amazon purchases typically won’t yield a high redemption value. The tricky part is that most programs offer a less favorable rate when you directly redeem your points for Amazon purchases than when you redeem them for Amazon gift cards.

Let’s look at the options provided by the most popular programs.

Chase Ultimate Rewards: 0.8 to 1.5 cents per point

Chase Ultimate Rewards allows you to link your Chase and Amazon accounts by logging in to your Ultimate Rewards account and clicking “Pay with points at checkout” under “Shopping & Experiences.” Once linked, you’ll see an option to pay with points when you check out with Amazon.

However, you’ll only get a paltry value of 0.8 cents per point when you redeem Ultimate Rewards points for Amazon purchases. This redemption rate is well below TPG’s July 2024 valuation of Ultimate Rewards points at 2.05 cents each.

Chase also allows you to redeem your points for Amazon gift cards directly on the Chase site. In your Ultimate Rewards account, click “Redeem for gift cards” under “Shopping & Experiences,” then search for Amazon.

If you purchased a gift card with points on Amazon, your points would still be worth 0.8 cents each. Purchasing via Chase gives you a marginally better rate of 1 cent per point.

Perhaps the best option is to charge Amazon purchases to your Chase card and redeem Ultimate Rewards points for a statement credit. Not only will you get a value of 1 cent per point, but you’ll earn more points on the purchase and get the benefit of purchase protection and an extended warranty if your card offers those perks.

Alternatively, you could use points to cover an Amazon gift card using Chase’s Pay Yourself Back feature. Not all purchases are eligible, and most will give you a rate of 1 cent per point — but sometimes Chase runs promotions where you’ll get 25% or 50% more value on select merchant categories. If your card was offering a 50% bonus at grocery stores, for example, you could buy an Amazon gift card at the grocery store and use Pay Yourself Back to offset the purchase at a rate of 1.5 cents per point.

Related: The best credit cards for Amazon purchases

Amex Membership Rewards: 0.7 to 1 cent per point

If you have a card that earns American Express Membership Rewards points, like The Platinum Card® from American Express or the American Express® Gold Card, you can link your Amazon account and redeem points at checkout. But the redemption rate is even worse at 0.7 cents per point (compared to TPG’s July 2024 estimate of 2 cents each for Membership Rewards points).

Or, if you have a cash-back Amex card like the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express or the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, you’ll get a value of 1 cent per point for Amazon purchases, the same value you’d get if you redeemed your points for a statement credit to cover an Amazon gift card.

Occasionally, American Express runs targeted promotions that allow you to save on Amazon purchases by redeeming just 1 Membership Rewards point.

Citi ThankYou Rewards: 0.8 cents per point

Citi ThankYou Rewards follows a similar script, allowing you to link your Amazon account and redeem points at checkout at a rate of 0.8 cents per point.

Capital One: 0.8 to 1 cent per mile

Capital One also offers the ability to shop with rewards at Amazon. However, with miles-earning cards like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, you’ll only get a value of 0.8 cents per mile.

On cash-back Capital One cards like the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, your miles are worth 1 cent apiece, the same value you’d get from statement credits.

Related: Ways to save money on Amazon orders

Redeeming hotel points for Amazon purchases

Some hotel rewards programs allow you to use your points toward Amazon purchases, but the redemption rates are even more dismal.

Hilton Honors: 0.2 cents per point

Hilton Honors lets you link your account to Amazon to shop with points at just 0.2 cents each. This makes it one of the worst offers out there, even after accounting for the relatively low valuation of Hilton points (0.6 cents each, according to TPG’s July 2024 valuations).

For instance, 60,000 Hilton Honors points would cover just $120 in Amazon purchases — or you could use them for a night at the Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay in Hawaii, worth at least $500.

IHG One Rewards: 0.2 cents per point

IHG One Rewards allows you to redeem 49,000 points for a $100 Amazon gift card through the IHG One Rewards online catalog, providing a value of roughly 0.2 cents per point. As of July 2024, TPG considers IHG points worth 0.5 cents each, and you can generally get much better value when you redeem IHG points for hotel stays.

Marriott Bonvoy: 0.25 to 0.33 cents per point

Lastly, you can log in to your Marriott Bonvoy account to redeem points for Amazon gift cards at a rate of 0.25 to 0.33 cents per point.

That’s well below TPG’s July 2024 valuation of 0.85 cents each, so you’re usually better off redeeming Bonvoy points for hotel stays. For example, instead of a $100 Amazon gift card, you could redeem 30,000 Bonvoy points for a night at the AC Hotel New York Downtown, where cash rates range from $200 to $600 a night.

Other ways to save

If you decide to pay for Amazon purchases with cash rather than points, there are a few strategies to help maximize your rewards. One is buying Amazon gift cards from stores that offer category bonuses and then using them to make your Amazon purchases.

For instance, the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card allows you to earn 5% cash back at office supply stores, while the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® earn 3% cash back at drugstores. Another option is the American Express Gold Card, which rewards you with 4 Membership Rewards points for every dollar spent at U.S. supermarkets, on up to a maximum of $25,000 per calendar year (1 point thereafter).

It’s important to note that using an Amazon gift card may have some trade-offs. Using a gift card might mean giving up certain benefits that your credit card offers, like an extended warranty and purchase protection.

Some card issuers offer additional opportunities to earn bonus points or save money. American Express regularly runs Amex Offers, which provide bonus points for select cardmembers. For example, we’ve seen offers for 2 bonus Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on Amazon, with a maximum of 1,000 bonus points.

Amazon frequently offers targeted discounts for redeeming points on your order, too. For instance, some Chase cardholders have saved $60 on their Amazon purchase by redeeming just 1 Ultimate Rewards point.

To make sure you receive any available targeted offers, it’s advisable to link all your cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards points to your Amazon account. You can find instructions on how to link each type of card on the respective websites.

Related: The secret to getting more (and sometimes better) Amex Offers on your card

Bottom line

At TPG, our primary focus is on travel rewards because they tend to provide the most value. However, there are many other options for redeeming your rewards, including for Amazon purchases. If you’re planning to redeem points at Amazon this Prime Day, be sure to consider the pros and cons of each option before making an informed decision.