While Amazon does not directly accept PayPal payments, there are workarounds that allow you to use your PayPal account to buy things from Amazon.
The process of using a PayPal balance to shop with Amazon is at least a two-step process and may require a few days of patience, so plan ahead.
Here’s how you can use PayPal through gift cards and cards by PayPal to shop from Amazon, despite the lack of a formal agreement between the payment services brand and the retailer.
Amazon’s business model is a success for three primary reasons.
First and foremost, the company has amazingly low prices on all sorts of products. Second, they ship their products so quickly that it is often more efficient to order an item online than to wait for a chunk of free time in which to go to a brick-and-mortar store. And third, they make the entire process, from shopping to checkout, very easy.
Objectively, it would make perfect sense for Amazon, the juggernaut online retailer, to partner with PayPal, one of the globe’s leading online payment processing companies. But Amazon does not accept PayPal payments – not directly, at least – for a couple of reasons.
Why doesn’t Amazon accept PayPal directly?
There are two major reasons that Amazon does not work with PayPal. First, historically PayPal was a part of eBay, one of Amazon’s direct competitors.
From 2002 into 2015, PayPal and eBay were linked together. PayPal has since split into an independent brand, but their partnership with eBay remains strong.
Second, PayPal is a direct competitor to Amazon’s own payment service, the rather bluntly named Amazon Pay.
Just as with PayPal, Amazon Pay is accepted by numerous third party retailers, letting you use Amazon payment methods beyond the immediate orbit of Amazon itself.
How can you use PayPal to pay for Amazon?
You can’t pay for Amazon purchases with PayPal directly, but there are two simple ways to work around the impasse. Both involve indirect use of PayPal but ultimately lead to your PayPal account covering Amazon sales
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Buy Amazon gift cards with PayPal
One of the easiest ways to use PayPal to buy from Amazon is to purchase Amazon gift cards with your PayPal account. You can buy an Amazon gift card from a site like eGifter.com using a PayPal balance and then use that gift card to shop normally on Amazon.
Just be sure you verify any site from which you are buying a gift card is safe and secure.
Use a PayPal Cash Card or Business Debit MasterCard
If you plan to regularly use your PayPal balance to shop from Amazon, then getting a PayPal Cash Card (or a PayPal Business Debit Mastercard, if you have a PayPal business account) will allow you to use the card in the regular checkout process as you buy things from Amazon.
Getting a PayPal card is a simple process and well worth the effort if you don’t want your cash to languish in your PayPal account while it could be used to buy just about anything.