Amazon Business Prime American Express Card Review

Full Review of Amazon Business Prime American Express Card

Pros Explained

• Strong returns on your choice of Amazon rewards: Uniquely, the type of reward you receive with this card is up to you. Both options are comparatively generous. Cardmembers can choose to earn cash back or get 90 days with no interest for every purchase if they wish. This flexibility allows the leeway to switch back and forth between receiving rewards and paying no interest, depending on what works best for specific transactions or at particular times. The best rewards are earned not only on purchases at Amazon.com but also at other Amazon properties, including Whole Foods Market; Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s huge cloud-services provider; and Amazon Business, the company’s retail portal for business purchases.
• Decent rewards on dining, gas, and cell phone service: In addition to offering the potential for 5% cash back on Amazon purchases, Amazon Business Prime American Express offers 2% in cash back on purchases made at U.S. restaurants and U.S gas stations, as well as those made on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers. You could likely make more in those categories by cherry-picking cards that offered the best return on each. But Amazon Business Prime American Express offers a simple way to earn respectable rewards on them all with a single card. Note, however, that this rewards tier offers no option to be rewarded with an interest-free period; the same applies to the 1% cash back you earn on all other purchases.

Cons Explained

• An active Amazon Prime membership is required for full benefits: Strictly speaking, Amazon Business Prime American Express has no annual fee. However, the user must maintain an Amazon Prime membership for full benefits. As a result, the card essentially requires paying an annual fee of $139 ($69 for students) for a regular (consumer) Prime membership.

Who This Card Is Best For

The Amazon Business Prime American Express card debuted in 2018 to tap into the small business space while expanding the reach of Amazon Prime memberships. The card charges an annual fee ($139), but it does come with benefits that may justify its cost. Those perks include free two-day shipping from Amazon.com and exclusive discounts on select grocery items at Whole Foods Market. Also, members receive free programming through Amazon Prime Video, which might allow you to forego paying for competing services such as Netflix or Apple TV.

You must have either an Amazon Prime or Business Prime account to take advantage of the full benefits of this card, and the cost of Business Prime varies by the size of your business and the number of card users. The Amazon Business Prime American Express best suits business owners who make many Amazon-related purchases for which they want to receive generous and flexible rewards. 

The 5% cash back you can earn with Amazon Business Prime American Express represents a strong return, but the card's alternative option, to get up to three months free of interest on eligible purchases, is its actual distinction. 

This feature makes the card especially appealing to companies that sometimes juggle cash flow to pay off Amazon transactions along with others every month. Those purchases might be of miscellaneous business items from Amazon.com or Amazon Business—from office supplies to computers and accessories. But they could also be from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company's cloud-computing division. While monthly bills from AWS can be less than $100, they can also run into thousands of dollars for small businesses that require a lot of data storage and associated services. 

The card is also helpful for those who buy a lot for their business from Amazon and aren't Amazon Business members. That's because Amazon Business Prime American Express includes access to the Amazon Business Enhanced Data Views tools to organize Amazon purchases better. Like many other business cards, this one also comes with various expense management features, including the ability to designate an account manager for the card and integrate your business spending with Quickbooks. 

Finally, because it doesn't impose the foreign-exchange fees of some other cards, the Amazon Business Prime American Express is a helpful card to take along on a trip abroad or to use for purchases from foreign suppliers made in their local currency.

For those interested in earning Amex Membership Rewards points (2 points per dollar spent on all purchases up to $50,000 per year) without paying an annual fee, the Business Blue Plus credit card from American Express might be a good alternative.

Amazon Business Prime American Express Card One-Time Bonus

Upon approval of the Amazon Business Prime American Express card, cardholders receive a $125 Amazon.com Gift Card, which is a nice one-time offer that requires no spending to earn.

Rewards Earning Details

Earning is fairly straightforward with the Amazon Business Prime American Express card. Purchases made on Amazon (you must have an eligible Amazon Prime account) offer 5% cash back on the first $120,000 in purchases each year. This includes purchases made at Amazon.com, AWS, Amazon Business, and Whole Foods Market.

However, those who make Amazon purchases don't have to earn cash back, though. It's possible to instead decide to take 90 days to repay those purchases without interest. There are other ways to earn rewards as well. Spending on wireless phone services paid directly to U.S. providers earns 2% cash back, as does spending at U.S. gas stations and U.S. restaurants. All other purchases earn 1% cash back.

Rewards Redemption Details

The cash back from this card is actually translated into points, and each percentage point from cash back is a card point. The Amazon Business Prime American Express card offers two main ways to redeem rewards:

• Shop with Points: This card is part of Amazon’s Shop with Points. A connected card allows you to see how many points you have available to apply to payment at checkout.
• Statement credit: Use the points for a statement credit to offset a purchase.

Transferring Points

There aren’t point-transfer options with this card. While cardholders earn cash back in the form of points, they don’t earn those in the form of Membership Rewards points, as with some other American Express cards. As a result, the ability to redeem is less flexible and there aren’t transfer partners.

How to Maximize Your Rewards

Since this card is heavily geared to Amazon Prime customers, and offers the best rewards on Amazon purchases, you should naturally use it for all purchases from Amazon and its other divisions. You should also compare the 2% cash back you’ll earn on dining, cell phone service, and gas purchases to what you make on those purchases on other cards you might carry.

Finally, if you’re more than a solo enterprise, consider requesting extra cards for employees who make purchases for the business. Widening the number of cardholders will help ensure that as many expenses as possible earn rewards for the business.    

Amazon Business Prime American Express Outstanding Benefits

• Enhanced data view for business purchases analysis and reconciliation
• Purchase protection for stolen or damaged purchases of up to $1,000 per occurrence, although terms, conditions, and limitations apply.
• Vendor Pay by Bill.com
  

Standard Benefits

• Secondary rental car loss-and-damage waiver (eligibility varies by card)
• Baggage insurance (eligibility varies by card)
• 24/7 customer service
• Online statements

Cardholder Experience

American Express ranked first in J.D. Power's 2022 U.S. Small Business Credit Card Satisfaction Study. They received a strong, above-average score. Customers can get in touch with American Express 24/7 by calling 800-528-4800. You can also log into your account and live chat with a representative or send questions and comments to @AskAmex on Twitter.

Security Features

Most features offered by Amex are fairly standard. Chip technology is designed to increase security, and there is a dispute resolution process to help with fraudulent purchases.

Final Verdict

Amazon Business Prime American Express is a potentially solid choice for business owners who make many Amazon-related purchases and are already enrolled in Amazon Prime or Business Prime. Its standout feature is its option to take rewards on purchases through 90-day interest-free loans. However, businesses that spend no more than $300 a month on the card, and don’t expect to use its interest-free rewards option, are probably better off looking elsewhere.