$30 off $60 at Amazon for $0.01 in points

As has been reported by Doctor of Credit and others, Amazon is offering $30 off of $60 when you pay at least $0.01 toward your order in Membership Rewards points.

The Deal

• Get $30 off of $60 or more at Amazon by paying at least $0.01 of your order with Membership Rewards points and using promotion code AMEX17PRIME
• Direct link to offer

Key Details

• Only valid on items shipped and sold by Amazon
• Must use your Membership Rewards-earning card to pay the balance
• Does not apply to the purchase of digital content
• Offer is not available to American Express Membership Rewards eligible cards whose points have been previously used for purchases at Amazon.com in the past twenty four months (despite this term, it is working for some people)
• Promotional codes (including those placed directly in accounts) may not be redeemed for Amazon Gift Cards (but many 3rd party gift cards work)

Quick Thoughts

This offer came out a few days ago, but I was having trouble getting it to work on my end. This will not work for everyone who has previously done the $25 off of $50 promotion, but some people have been able to do both. Here’s how — first, click this link and it will take you to the promotion as pictured below.

Enroll a Membership Rewards-earning card if you haven’t already. Next, choose at least $60 in items shipped and sold by Amazon (can not be sold by a 3rd party and fulfilled by Amazon — only items sold & shipped by Amazon).

Next, when choosing your payment method, you will need to pay at least $0.01 with Membership Rewards points. In order to be able to choose Membership Rewards points as a payment source, you must select a Membership Rewards-earning credit card. This step tripped me up initially because I have two cards that end in the same few digits (and one does not earn Membership Rewards points). Make sure you choose a Membership Rewards-earning credit card as your payment method and then it will allow you to choose to pay a portion in points. As Amazon only gives you a penny per point in value, I recommend only paying $0.01 in points in order to trigger this promotion — 1 cent per point is a pretty poor value for Membership Rewards points.

Finally, at checkout, apply code AMEX17PRIME.

What are some good uses?

Obviously, the best value is saving $30 on stuff you need, and Amazon stocks a range of daily necessity items. However, if you don’t have an immediate need to buy from Amazon, many third party gift cards work with this promotion. Amazon gift cards will not work, but other electronically delivered gift cards should allow you to enter an amount in the box, meaning that you should be able to buy a $60 gift card for half off at these and many other merchants (these are our affiliate links):

AirBnB $60 Gift Card (enter the amount)

Hotels.com $60 gift card

Netflix $60 Gift Card

Lowe’s $60 Gift Card

Whole Foods $60 Gift Card

Bottom Line

This is a great promotion if you can make it work. It may not work for those who have taken advantage of the previous similar deals, but it is working for some who have used the code before. This time around, the code should only work once per person. Let us know if you find any other great uses for $30 off of $60 at Amazon.

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