Does Chase Amazon have a benefit i'm missing?

[PDXoriginal]

Do you have Prime?

Only Prime members receive the grey metal card, non prime members get the plastic blue card.

[Anonymous]

Yes I have had prime for many years. The plastic card I received was the grey prime rewards signature visa with the 5% at Amazon.

It was almost as if they realized they got caught? It was immediate apology and reissue of metal card.

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have the Amazon store card, so I get 5% back or promotional financing. I have the Barclay Uber card for daily spend which has higher % cash back categories.

Are the warranty and price protection worth getting this card for? It seems they were nix'd from my Discover Chrome card in early 2018 and I wasn't even aware(i'm sure I got the mail/email) but I didn't buy anything with a warranty anyways.

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Just a note that Discover still has Price Protection... it's Purchase Protection that they got rid of.

Unless I'm mistaken the Chase Amazon Visa has never had price protection (which with how often Amazon changes prices would be a fantastic benefit).

Edited to add:  Great minds think alike, @digitek!  

[joltdude]

Oddly enough I picked up on this shortly after i got the Chase Amazon Prime Visa... So yes, there are/were purchases that I put on my Freedom or Disco due to this fact alone....

-J

[Anonymous]

I actually applied for this card and was denied on initial and recon for it but I'm actually glad i ddin't get the card as I did further math on it and the 5% cash back required a lot of Amazon spend to break even to see positive value.

To qualify for the 5% you have to have Amazon prime which will eventually be $120 per year for everyone at some point. Which is $12 per month. This is basically an AF (with far more benefits then you would get on most AF cards). But when you do the math on the cash back to break even to begin to see posting value.

(Numbers are rounded up and don't take into account you'll probably get 5% back charging Prime and Prime Fresh to the same card. Difference would be small here)

Prime = $120/y Prime = $120/y (assuming you pay yearly as monthly is more expensive. You can break this number down to $10/m) 

Minimum Amazon Spend to Match AF=  $2400/y | $200/m

If you can match that Amazon and Whole Foods  spend above then its worth getting the card as you'll basically get Prime for free. The addition of Whole Foods makes it a lot easier if you spend a lot there monthly (Which isn't hard to do considering the prices) 

But lets say your thinking of adding Prime Fresh to the mix to push more spend. Prime fresh is around $15 per month and $180 per year. And you have to have Prime to even get Prime Fresh.

Prime = $120/y (assuming you pay yearly as monthly is more expensive. You can break this number down to $10/m) 

Prime Fresh = $180/y ($15 per month as there isn't a yearly option to pay)

Total Amazon Fees = $300/y

Minimum Amazon Spend to Match AF=  $6000/y | $500/m

I believe I have my math right (feel free to double check). The only way to gain from this card is to have that much Amazon spend required or use this as your main card and run everything through it. If doing that you should be able to hit the 2% bonus at times and the 1% on everything else and it should add up in volume to break event.

To me this seems like a card you either have as your daily driver for everything or you spend A LOT at Amazon and Whole Foods to see positive gains from it. But most may have other cards with better value in its rewards system to earn more. I think for most hat are in that boat the Store Card (which I have( is the better option as it has the promotional deferred interest financing options which could come in handy.

[digitek]

Your math is spot on, this card almost carries a hidden AF, but it is one that a lot a of people already pay because it comes with a lot of other perks.

It breaks out about even for me, and in my head the card pays for my Prime subscription.

There is one thing that is missing from your analysis and it is that 2 day shipping is free with Prime.  You save yourself a couple bucks straight up every time you order with Prime.  You can get free slow shipping if your total at checkout is high enough, but that can work against you in that you have to find stuff to buy to get you over the free shipping threshold and it can take forever to get to you.

Amazon Prime and the Chase Amazon Prime card aren't a huge money saver for me, but it is the best I can do when shopping at Amazon =D  I just checked and I've saved around $100 in shipping costs so far this year.

[Anonymous]

Since the closest Whole Foods is nearly an hour's drive away (in the kind of heavy traffic the metro Washington area is prone to), the biggest benefits of the card with Prime added on are 5% cash back on Amazon purchases, free shipping (which I've also saved a good deal of money on), and the availability of many movies and TV shows otherwise unobtainable on home video via Amazon Prime Video. So far, I do find those benefits well worth the Prime cost.

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@digitek wrote:

Your math is spot on, this card almost carries a hidden AF, but it is one that a lot a of people already pay because it comes with a lot of other perks.

It breaks out about even for me, and in my head the card pays for my Prime subscription.

There is one thing that is missing from your analysis and it is that 2 day shipping is free with Prime.  You save yourself a couple bucks straight up every time you order with Prime.  You can get free slow shipping if your total at checkout is high enough, but that can work against you in that you have to find stuff to buy to get you over the free shipping threshold and it can take forever to get to you.

Amazon Prime and the Chase Amazon Prime card aren't a huge money saver for me, but it is the best I can do when shopping at Amazon =D  I just checked and I've saved around $100 in shipping costs so far this year.

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[CreditCuriosity]

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@digitek wrote:

Your math is spot on, this card almost carries a hidden AF, but it is one that a lot a of people already pay because it comes with a lot of other perks.

It breaks out about even for me, and in my head the card pays for my Prime subscription.

There is one thing that is missing from your analysis and it is that 2 day shipping is free with Prime.  You save yourself a couple bucks straight up every time you order with Prime.  You can get free slow shipping if your total at checkout is high enough, but that can work against you in that you have to find stuff to buy to get you over the free shipping threshold and it can take forever to get to you.

Amazon Prime and the Chase Amazon Prime card aren't a huge money saver for me, but it is the best I can do when shopping at Amazon =D  I just checked and I've saved around $100 in shipping costs so far this year.

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I pay the AF regardless as order amazon weekly if not more and 2 day shipping is priceless plus amazon prime video among other things so it isn't by any means an AF card IMO....   You of course can do the 3% card without Prime or an extra 2% with Prime.. Prime won't be going anywhere in my place or most amazon junky places regardless of the price hike as it makes up for itself for tons of us in convenience alone.  Time is money to me and hate shopping so why not just have amazon ship it with free shipping and usually two day shipping on that.. Lets take example I drive a sports car I ordered a 50 gallon trash can for my new house for outside trash pickup (city doesn't provide)..  Imagine for that item alone how much i would of paid for shipping?  The list continues.. Regardless amazon offers way more than just two day shipping as part of being a prime membership that is only one benefit.. Whether it is useful to a person being Amazon and Prime as Amazon doesn't always be any means have the best price is up to that person.  You would have to rip my amazon prime membership out of my dead body before I gave it up regardless of the CC

Edit:  Add the irony is I hate Amazon as a company for many reasons I can't discuss on this board, but still use them due to convenience.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I actually applied for this card and was denied on initial and recon for it but I'm actually glad i ddin't get the card as I did further math on it and the 5% cash back required a lot of Amazon spend to break even to see positive value.

To qualify for the 5% you have to have Amazon prime which will eventually be $120 per year for everyone at some point. Which is $12 per month. This is basically an AF (with far more benefits then you would get on most AF cards). But when you do the math on the cash back to break even to begin to see posting value.

(Numbers are rounded up and don't take into account you'll probably get 5% back charging Prime and Prime Fresh to the same card. Difference would be small here)

Prime = $120/y Prime = $120/y (assuming you pay yearly as monthly is more expensive. You can break this number down to $10/m) 

Minimum Amazon Spend to Match AF=  $2400/y | $200/m

If you can match that Amazon and Whole Foods  spend above then its worth getting the card as you'll basically get Prime for free. The addition of Whole Foods makes it a lot easier if you spend a lot there monthly (Which isn't hard to do considering the prices) 

But lets say your thinking of adding Prime Fresh to the mix to push more spend. Prime fresh is around $15 per month and $180 per year. And you have to have Prime to even get Prime Fresh.

Prime = $120/y (assuming you pay yearly as monthly is more expensive. You can break this number down to $10/m) 

Prime Fresh = $180/y ($15 per month as there isn't a yearly option to pay)

Total Amazon Fees = $300/y

Minimum Amazon Spend to Match AF=  $6000/y | $500/m

I believe I have my math right (feel free to double check). The only way to gain from this card is to have that much Amazon spend required or use this as your main card and run everything through it. If doing that you should be able to hit the 2% bonus at times and the 1% on everything else and it should add up in volume to break event.

To me this seems like a card you either have as your daily driver for everything or you spend A LOT at Amazon and Whole Foods to see positive gains from it. But most may have other cards with better value in its rewards system to earn more. I think for most hat are in that boat the Store Card (which I have( is the better option as it has the promotional deferred interest financing options which could come in handy.

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It really depends how you set things up.   Your analysis is more or less "Is it worth getting Amazon Prime so I can get 5% on this card?" whereas I think many of the interested people already have Amazon Prime, and then getting this is clearly worthwhile.

But even with your approach, I think the spend number is too small.   With Prime, the card gets an extra 2% over the non-prime version, so you would need an Amazon spend of $6000 a year to make up the AF (and $4000 per year if your alternative was a generic 2% card, in which case you get 3% more with prime)

[HeavenOhio]

I had Amazon Prime for years before I got the card. I got Prime for the shipping. As far as the card goes, I don't think of it as a fee at all.

The other thing is that if you drop Prime, you still have a card with OK rewards.