How to Pay With Bitcoin at Amazon

Amazon is the undisputed largest online marketplace, and it continues to grow. Likewise, the payment options available to Amazon customers are expanding to accommodate new ways of purchasing the millions of products they make available.

With the increasing adoption of crypto-currency in recent years, a growing number of people are wondering if they can use Bitcoin — as well as Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and others — to buy merchandise from Amazon.com.

Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't (yet) accept Bitcoin directly. But, there are still a number of ways to spend your BTC with the world's largest retailer.

Buy an Amazon Gift Card With Bitcoin

There are many vendors that allow you to purchase Amazon.com gift cards. And fortunately, using Spendabit, you can easily survey your options.

It's pretty straightforward: Just visit Spendabit.co and type in Amazon gift card. You'll instantly be presented with gift-card options in a variety of denominations ($25, $100, etc.) from all over the world — including Europe, the US, Canada, and more.

And as Spendabit is constantly refreshing products and expanding merchants, it'll help you keep track of the ever-changing set of options for buying an Amazon gift card using crypto-currency.

Use a Bitcoin Debit Card

There's no shortage of options for spending your bitcoin (and other crypto-currencies) using a debit card. Many companies issue such cards, including large and well-known players like Coinbase and BitPay.

Earlier this year, Visa announced a partnership with Coinbase that allows the company to issue Visa debit cards for spending bitcoin in real time. BitPay, on the other hand, is powered by Mastercard, for equal convenience.

In most cases, it's as simple as downloading an app or visiting a website, creating an account and ordering your new card. Load your card in advance and use it on Amazon just like any other debit or credit card.

“Middle Men” — Amazon Proxies

If you've spent much time researching how to pay with Bitcoin on Amazon, you've probably come across Purse.io and the Moon browser extension.

Through Purse's website, you can search Amazon for whatever you're shopping for and proceed to checkout with Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and a number of other crypto-coins. You can even choose to purchase at a discount to the price listed at Amazon — though you may have to be patient with this feature (it requires your order to be matched with a counter-party willing to accept a discount).

Essentially, when you buy via Purse, you are exchanging your crypto for Amazon gift cards from other users behind the scenes. You can also import an Amazon wishlist directly into Purse or install a browser extension for adding items to your Purse cart when shopping on Amazon.

Moon, on the other hand, is a browser extension that uses the Bitcoin Lightning Network to speed up the Bitcoin payment process, and potentially save you money on fees. Simply launch the extension while browsing Amazon, scan the QR code, and pay with your favorite lightning wallet. (Note: At the time of publication, it appears as though development on Moon may have halted, and so it may no longer be a viable option.)

Will Amazon Accept Bitcoin?

If crypto-currency adoption continues to grow at the pace it has the past ten years, it's hard to imagine large retailers like Amazon won't be “forced” to adopt as well, at some point. However until then, keep a bookmark at Spendabit where we're doing our best to aggregate all the gift cards — and everything else — that you can buy with Bitcoin.