Follow-Up: Loading $20+ Amazon Cash and Getting the $10 promo credit

Earlier in the week we mentioned the Amazon Cash $20+ / $10 promotion. As promised, I boldly went out to try out this promotion. This is the chronicle of said adventure 🙂

This is a long write-up, more after the break…

PROLOGUE: THERE’S ALWAYS A PROBLEM IN THE PROLOGUE
The Game Stop I went to did not have the ability to do this. Whether it was hardware, software or employee did not know, I do not know. The Amazon Cash Service pages do not list individual participating stores by zipcode or state.

CHAPTER #1: THE CVS RESCUE
My next stop was a CVS store. The cashier had not done this promotion before, but looked at her register and found the option, so we both boldly went and it was a success! You show them the Amazon barcode (app or browser or printed) that has a link to your Amazon account. They scan it on the register, you hand them cash or you can use a debit card. I handed them cold hard cash.

They take the cash, and the cash register prints a receipt confirming the transaction. A few seconds later, the Amazon app had a notification telling me that I loaded a new amount to my Amazon Cash balance. Shortly after, an email was sent to my Amazon account email informing me of the new load.

Also, logging on the Amazon website or using the app, looking under the Gift Card balance, this new amount appears there. I had a $0 balance before doing this, in order to make tracking things easier. This “Amazon Cash” is intermingled with your regular Amazon Gift Card balance. They are all on the same page/balance, and I’m assuming count the same as far as the Amazon website is concerned.

CHAPTER #2: the $10 BONUS ARRIVAL
Back to back with the reload email, Amazon also sent an email informing me of a $10 promo credit added to my account. The email seems to have HTML issues because my email shows a blank page, but when you look at the raw/unformatted email message, you see the intended message there. The important part of which is:

“As a thank you for adding $20 or more to your Amazon Balance with Amazon Cash, a $10 promo credit has been applied to your account. The $10 credit will be displayed at checkout to your next qualifying purchase of items shipped from and sold by Amazon.com. Your credit expires on August 31, 2017.”

You don’t need anything from the email. There is no promo code. The $10 promo credit is loaded automatically to your Amazon account and will be used automatically on your next eligible transactions.

There are different ways to verify that the $10 promo credit is in your account:

• add random things to your shopping cart (sold and shipped by Amazon), and proceed to the checkout page. It will show a -$10 for the promo credit. You don’t have to complete the transaction, simply remove the items from your shopping cart using a separate browser window
• go to any Amazon Instant Video product, eg The Expanse, then locate the tiny “More Purchase Options”, click on that, then locate the “Redeem a gift card or promotion code” tiny link, click on that, and it will show you both the Gift Card balance you just reloaded, and the $10 promo credit. Because this requires delicate mouse maneuvering, you may want to do this on a stable surface so you don’t accidentally 1-click buy videos

EPILOGUE
In this epilogue, Merrett Frey survives 😉 That’s it! The $10 promo credit is in your account and it will be automatically used when you make eligible purchases at Amazon. The promo credit will be the first thing used out of your account when you make future purchases, since the gift card balance does not expire.

Any part of the $10 promo credit that is not used by 8/31/17 will expire. The gift card balance never expires.