Amazon sells just about everything, and with Prime shipping, you can get your order delivered in just two days or less. If you regularly shop on Amazon, you’ll want to use a credit card to maximize rewards on every dollar that you spend.
See our best credit card bonuses here.
We have created a series of guides for the best credit cards for points and miles by spending category. In this guide, we’ll cover the best credit cards for Amazon purchases.
When using a credit card, remember to pay your balance in full and on time each month, and only spend what you can afford to pay. See other tips here.
Best Credit Cards For Amazon Purchases
In our search for the best credit cards for Amazon purchases, we considered the card’s earning rate and return on Amazon spend, sign-up bonus and annual fee. So with those things in mind, here are the best credit cards for Amazon shopping.
Let’s go into more detail below:
With the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card, you’ll earn an impressive 5% cash back on Amazon purchases with bonuses on plenty of other spending categories. To top it off, you’ll get a $100 gift card upon approval, with no spending requirement.
Although the card doesn’t charge an annual fee, you are required to be an Amazon Prime member to qualify. That fee is $119 a year.
AMAZON PRIME REWARDS VISA SIGNATURE CARD
The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card offers no welcome bonus but charges no annual fee. If you’re a subscriber to Amazon Prime membership, this card earns you 5% cash back at Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market. If you’re not a Prime member, you will still get 3% on purchases at Amazon.com and Whole Foods.
Additionally, this card earns 2% on restaurant, gas, grocery & drugstore purchases. For everything else, you get 1% cash back.
The card also offers the following benefits:
- Travel protections
- Purchase protections
- Visa Signature benefits
- No foreign transaction fees
This card is for the Amazon or Whole Foods loyalist. There is no annual fee but an Amazon Prime membership is a must have to get maximum value from the card. For cash rewards, you might get better mileage from the Citi® Double Cash Card.
For those who aren’t Prime members, you’ll want to charge your Amazon purchases to the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. It gives 1.5% cash back on all purchases (except Lyft rides) which doubles in value when you transfer your rewards to a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card. Doing so will turn your “cash back” into transferable Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, worth $0.02 each based on our latest valuations.
CHASE FREEDOM UNLIMITED®
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® credit card has an offer for $200 bonus cash after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
This card also earns 5% on travel purchased through Chase, 3% on dining at restaurants (including takeout and eligible delivery services) and drugstores, and 1.5% on all other purchases.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® earns Ultimate Rewards points. Points can be pooled with those from other eligible Chase cards, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card. More on this here.
You’ll also get 5% cash back with the Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card, but the bonus is on rotating categories. Online shopping is a category you can activate for October 2020 to December 2020. Keep in mind, your 5% bonus is capped at $1,500 in purchases every quarter.
As a sign-up bonus, Discover will match all the cash back you earned at the end of your first membership year.
DISCOVER IT® CASH BACK CREDIT CARD
The Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card doesn’t offer a typical sign-up bonus, but rather a high 5% cash back rate in rotating categories on up to $1,500 in purchases (see the quarterly categories here). Examples of recent categories include grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, and online shopping.
Discover currently offers a lucrative welcome bonus for new cardholders – they will match all of the cash back you’ve earned at the end of the first year. The high cash back rate and doubling of your cash back in the 1st year make the card the best for cash rewards.
Yes, the American Express EveryDay Preferred only offers 1x points on Amazon purchases, but hear us out. First off, you’ll earn American Express Membership Rewards® points which has a return of 2%, based on our most recent valuations.
Secondly, Amex Offers runs double-point promotions for Amazon purchases regularly. That means you’ll get a 4% return via Amex Offers.
And lastly, you’ll earn 50% more points every billing period when you charge at least 30 purchases to your card. If you make one purchase with this Amex card everyday, then you’ll end up with 1.5x points on Amazon spend.
Stack these offers together, and you’ll end up with a solid return of 6% for Amazon purchases.
AMERICAN EXPRESS EVERYDAY PREFERRED
Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
The American Express EveryDay Preferred offers a 15,000 Membership Rewards bonus points when you spend $1,000 within the first 3 months.
This card allows you to earn higher rewards at supermarkets and gas stations. You get 3x Amex Membership Rewards points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 a year, then 1x points. Plus, a 50% points bonus each statement period that you make 30+ transactions. That’s a total of up to 4.5x points, with a points value of $0.02 each.
The annual fee for this card is $95. See Rates & Fees, Terms Apply.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of all four cards:
| CREDIT CARD | AMAZON RATE | SIGN-UP BONUS |
| Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card ($0 annual fee) | 5% cash back | $100 |
| Chase Freedom Unlimited® ($0 annual fee) | 1.5% cash back | $200 |
| Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card ($0 annual fee) | 5% cash back* | Double the cash back your first year |
| American Express EveryDay Preferred ($0 annual fee) | 1x points | 15,000 points ($300 value) |
*From October 2020 to December 2020.
Additional Guides
While we focused on credit cards for Amazon purchases in this post, you may want to consider other cards with additional earning potential that matches your spending behavior. Click here for our guide on the best credit cards in other categories or check out these other posts:
| OFFER LINK | OFFER | OUR REVIEW |
| Chase Business Complete Banking℠ | $300 Cash | Review |
| Chase Total Checking® | $225 Cash | Review |
| Bank Of America Advantage Banking | $100 Bonus Offer | Review |
| TD Bank Beyond Checking | $300 Cash | Review |
| Huntington Bank | $500 Cash | Review |
| HSBC Premier Checking | $450 Cash | Review |
| Axos Business Checking | $100 Cash | Review |
| Aspiration Checking | $150/$200 Cash | Review |
| Ally Invest | Up To $3,000 | Review |
| Betterment | Up To 1 Year Free | Review |
| BlockFi | Up To $250 BTC | Review |
| Voyager (code BH5F1A) | $25 In BTC | Review |
| TradeStation | $100 Bonus | Review |
| Motley Fool | Stock Advisor Discount | Review |
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Disclaimer: These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post. It is not the bank advertiser's or any other entity's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.