Credit Card News
Amazon Increasing Credit Card Offers for Prime Big Deal Days
With Amazon’s next big sale event on the horizon, the online megaretailer is offering increased welcome bonuses for its rewards credit cards.
About the offers and the Prime cards:
Starting October 8th, Amazon will celebrate Prime Big Deal Days (not to be confused with Prime Day). As part of this promotion, the site has also revealed special limited-time offers for new Amazon credit card customers.
From now until October 31st, Prime members who apply for a Prime Visa card can earn a $150 Amazon gift card upon approval. Meanwhile, Prime members who opt for the Prime Store Card instead can earn an $80 Amazon gift card upon approval — although this offer expires on October 9th.
It should be noted that, while the Prime Store Card welcome bonus matches the one Amazon offered for Prime Day in July, the Prime Visa offer is a bit lower. For Prime Day, Amazon offered members who opened a new Prime Visa account a $200 gift card bonus.
Beyond the welcome bonus, the Prime Visa and Prime Store Card offer perks for Amazon shoppers. With either card, Prime customers can earn 5% back on Amazon purchases as well as at Whole Foods. Plus, with the Prime Visa, cardholders can also earn 5% back on Chase Travel purchases (Chase issues the card), 2% back at gas stations, 2% at restaurants, and 2% on local transit.
Another potential option:
For those who might not be interested in either Prime card or who aren’t Prime members, another card can currently still earn them 5% back on Amazon for a limited time: the Discover It card. From October 1st through December 31st, Discover It customers can earn 5% back on Amazon purchases as well as Target purchases. This bonus is capped at $1,500 in combined category spending during the quarter (meaning a total of $75 cashback can be earned from this offer).
More Prime Big Deal Days:
Ahead of the sale event, Amazon has teased some of its featured deals. This includes up to 55% off select Amazon devices including eero mesh wifi systems, Fire TVs, and more. Other deals include up to 40% off select Dyson vacuums, up to 40% off select Levi’s apparel, up to 40% off select luggage, and much more.
My thoughts:
For those who shop Amazon often and have Prime accounts, the Prime Visa may be good option. In turn, applying for the card during this enhanced welcome offer period might make sense. At the same time, it’s disappointing that this current bonus is $50 lower than the Prime Day one. Does this mean that prospective cardholders should hold out until next year’s Prime Day instead? That depends on how much you’ll benefit from earning 5% back on Amazon purchases in the meantime.
As for me, while there aren’t any specific sales I’m looking forward to with Prime Big Deal Days, I will take a look at what’s available — especially since my Discover It card will earn me 5% back at Amazon this quarter. While that doesn’t make it a complete replacement for a Prime Visa, it’s definitely good enough for me,
