You can use American Express Membership Rewards points to pay for purchases on Amazon by linking your Amex card to your Amazon account and selecting points as a payment method at checkout. The process takes just a few minutes to set up, but the real question is whether you should use your points this way, since Amazon redemptions give you significantly less value than other options.
How to Link Your Amex Card to Amazon
Before you can spend points on Amazon, you need to connect your Membership Rewards-eligible card to your Amazon account. Go to Amazon’s payment settings, add your Amex card as a payment method, and then visit the “Shop with Points” page on Amazon to activate the connection. Amazon will verify that your card is enrolled in the Membership Rewards program, and once confirmed, you’ll see the option to apply points at checkout.
If your Amex card isn’t enrolled in Membership Rewards (some cards earn cash back instead of points), this option won’t appear. Cards like the Amex Gold, Amex Platinum, and Amex Green are eligible. The Blue Cash cards and other cash-back cards are not.
Paying with Points at Checkout
Once your accounts are linked, the option to use Membership Rewards points will appear during checkout on eligible purchases. You can choose to pay entirely with points, use a partial amount of points and charge the rest to your card, or type in a specific dollar amount you want to cover with points. Amazon shows you how many points you have available and how much they’re worth toward your purchase.
You don’t have to use points for the full order. If you’re taking advantage of a promotional offer (more on that below), you can apply as little as one point, worth less than a penny, and pay the remainder with your card.
What Your Points Are Actually Worth on Amazon
This is the critical detail most people miss. When you redeem Membership Rewards points on Amazon, you get 0.7 cents per point. That means 10,000 points are worth just $70 at Amazon checkout. By comparison, those same 10,000 points are worth $100 when you book travel through Amex’s Fine Hotels & Resorts program or use them to find flights through the Amex travel portal. Even transferring points to airline partners often yields 1.5 to 2 cents per point or more, depending on the booking.
Put another way, spending 50,000 points on a $350 Amazon order means you’re leaving roughly $150 in value on the table compared to using those points for travel. If you have no interest in travel redemptions, statement credits give you 0.6 cents per point, which is lower than Amazon but not dramatically so. Amazon sits in a middle tier: better than statement credits, far worse than travel.
Promotional Offers That Change the Math
Amazon and Amex periodically run targeted promotions that make spending points on Amazon a genuinely good deal. These offers typically give you a percentage discount on your purchase, sometimes up to 40% or 50% off, just for using a small number of points at checkout. In many cases, you only need to redeem a single point (worth less than a penny) to unlock the full discount.
These promotions are targeted, meaning not every Amazon account or Amex cardholder will see the same offer. The discounts have included up to 50% off (capped at $80), up to 40% off (capped at $60), and up to 15% off (capped at $15). The larger discounts usually require just one point, while smaller-percentage offers may require around 714 points (roughly $5 worth). The offers only apply to products shipped and sold by Amazon.com, not third-party sellers or digital content.
To check if you’re targeted, look for promotional links on deal sites or in your Amex offers. You’ll need your card already linked to your Amazon account. At checkout, type in the minimum point amount needed to qualify (often just $0.01 worth), and the discount should appear as a line item before you confirm your order. If you see one of these promotions, it’s almost always worth using, since you’re essentially trading a fraction of a cent in point value for a meaningful dollar discount.
When It Makes Sense to Use Points on Amazon
For everyday Amazon purchases without a promotional offer, redeeming Membership Rewards points is one of the least efficient uses of your points balance. You’re getting 30% less value than travel redemptions. If you have a large points balance and no travel plans, it’s a convenient option, but “convenient” and “optimal” are different things.
The sweet spot is using points strategically during targeted promotional offers, where one point unlocks a significant percentage discount. Outside of those promotions, you’ll get more value by using points for flights, hotels, or even transferring them to airline and hotel loyalty programs where they can stretch further. If you do redeem on Amazon, consider using only a small number of points and paying the rest with your card to preserve the bulk of your balance for higher-value redemptions later.