Capital One Amazon Offers & Discounts Guide [2021]

Amazon is such a behemoth that it is no surprise you can find different ways to utilize your credit card rewards with them. If you are a Capital One card holder, you will also have different opportunities to use your rewards on Amazon purchases.

But just because you can do something does not mean that you should doo it, especially when it comes to miles and points.

In this article, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about utilizing Capital One rewards with Amazon.

What are Capital One rewards at Amazon?

Capital One rewards at Amazon allows you to use your Capital One miles or cash back for Amazon purchases and at times take advantage of special discounts that can save you a good amount of cash.

Keep reading below for more details.

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Redeeming Capital One points at Amazon

If you want to use your Capital One points at Amazon the first step you need to take is to link your Capital One card with Amazon Shop with Points.

It’s very easy to do and all you need to do is add the name on the card, the card number, and the expiration date.

You can link eligible Capital One cards which include:

• Quicksilver
• QuicksilverOne
• Venture
• VentureOne
• Savor
• SavorOne
• Journey
• Spark Cash
• Spark Cash Select
• Spark Miles
• Spark Miles Select
• Spark Classic

To use your miles, simply proceed to checkout and under the payment method select Capital One rewards. You will then enter the amount of rewards that you want to apply to your purchase.

Keep in mind that you do not have to cover the entire cost of your purchase — you can only cover a portion if you want.

If you want to change the settings for your Shop with Points credit cards you can do that by going here.

On that page, you can also choose whether or not you would like to apply your points to purchases automatically.

Personally, I would choose to apply the default option to “off.” That way you can avoid accidentally using rewards.

You can also unenroll your card to Shop with Points if you would like.

Many times when you add your eligible payment method, Amazon will automatically enroll you with Shop with Points so you might need to unenroll if you don’t want to be tempted or accidentally use your points.

Capital One miles valuation on Amazon

If you choose to redeem your Capital One miles at Amazon, you will receive .8 cents in value for each mile. This means that it will require 125 miles for $1 of redemption value on Amazon.

If you were to utilize travel partners and transfer your miles over to those partners, you would have the potential to earn a lot more value for your miles.

It would not be unheard of for you to get double the value or even more with the right type of redemption. Read more about travel partner redemptions here.

Also, if you use your miles for travel you would be getting at least one cent per point to cover your travel expenses.

So if you are trying to maximize the value of your miles using them on Amazon is not the best route.

With that said, .8 cents is not the worst redemption value out there and at the end of the day you will be getting items for free so I am not totally against using Capital One miles on Amazon.

Just make sure you are aware of the alternatives.

Capital One cash back valuation on Amazon

Capital One cash back cards redeem at a one-to-one ratio so one dollar in cash back rewards is worth one dollar in Amazon redemption value.

This is not a bad ratio but a lot of people who want to maximize points don’t like to redeem their cash back points at Amazon.

The reason is that they lose out on points when they do so.

If you were to put the Amazon purchase on your Capital One card, you would earn cashback on that purchase so by redeeming points for the purchase you lose out on that opportunity.

But still, if you if your goal is to just avoid spending extra money then of course it makes sense to use your points for your Amazon purchases.

Restrictions

You can use your Capital One points to cover a lot of different purchases but there are some restrictions. You will not be able to use your points for the following types of purchases:

• Amazon Kindle downloads (except Kindle Unlimited subscriptions)
• Digital music
• Digital Downloads (e.g., Apple Care)
• Prime Video titles
• Amazon Appstore Apps
• Subscribe & Save items
• Items ordered through Buy Now or 1-Click
• Cell phones with service
• Amazon Fresh
• Prime Pantry
• Whole Foods Market
• Prime memberships (Hilton Honors & Capital One)
• Textbook rentals

Capital One Shop with Points on Amazon not working?

Some people run into errors when trying to use Capital One rewards to shop on Amazon.

In some cases, it’s possible that your Capital One credit card was not properly enrolled in Shop with Points. So you first want to make sure that your card is showing up.

To check if your card is properly enrolled simply follow the steps:

• Click on “Accounts & Lists” in the top right.
• Go to “Your Account” and then “Shop with Points” under “Shopping programs and rentals”
• You should see your card listed under “Your Enrolled Rewards Accounts”

You want to see a screen like below to verify that you are enrolled.

Sometimes you will see an error message with an exclamation triangle which means that you need to contact your bank.

Amazon will sometimes provide the phone number for you to use to resolve the situation.

Sometimes the solution is as easy as selecting a default option but other times there may be an issue with your account.

If you are still having issues then simply call the number on the back of your credit card and they should be able to help you.

Capital One Amazon promotions

One of the best opportunities for using your Capital One points at Amazon comes around when special promotions allow you to use your points to receive a heavy discount.

For example, you might be able to receive $10 off when you make a $40 or higher purchase or you might even get $20 off when you make a purchase of $80 or more.

These are typically targeted offers and you can check if you are eligible by checking this link. Be sure to select the activate button to enroll.

If you are not targeted you will probably receive a message like the following:

Thank you for your interest. Unfortunately, you are not eligible for this invitation-only offer available for select first-time Capital One Shop with Points customers.

The big thing to remember with these offers is that they usually only apply to products that are sold and shipped by Amazon.

Tip: If you just added your card to Shop with Points, sometimes it can take up to 24 hours for Amazon to update so be sure to check your eligibility after waiting 24 hours.

The most attractive aspect of these promotions is that sometimes you can only use one Capital One mile to trigger the discount.

So essentially one Capital One mile could save you $10 or $20 which is pretty incredible.

In some cases, you might even be able to use the discount when purchasing gift cards through Amazon which effectively gives you a hefty discount on those gift cards.

These promotions typically go out for a specific amount of time but often you will find that that timeframe will be extended, sometimes multiple times.

If you are not able to pull up a promotion like this, sometimes you might need to remove your Capital One credit card as a payment option and then try adding it back and you might see the offer show up.

Promotions like these are a great reason to always carry at least a few miles in your Capital One account.

Amazon gift cards

You can also redeem your Capital One miles for Amazon gift cards at the same rate of .8 cents per mile.

I would prefer to just redeem the miles will Shop with Points because you might be able to trigger a special promotions that way. It’s also worth mentioning that you can redeem your rewards for other gift cards out of one cent per mile ratio.

Amazon Capital One FAQs

Final word

Using your Capital One miles for Amazon might not be the way to get optimal value but it’s not a horrible redemption.

First, if you can take advantage of one of the special Capital One Amazon offers where you receive $20 or $10 off, it’s a phenomenal use of your miles when you just use 1 mile to trigger the discount.

Second, if you really don’t have use for your miles for travel redemptions, then using them for Amazon can make sense.