Amazon now lets you pay with Amex Membership Rewards points

Amazon and American Express have launched ‘pay with points’ in the UK, a feature which has been available in the USA for some time.

It is a very simple arrangement:

You link your American Express account to your Amazon UK account via this page

When you come to pay for any future purchase on Amazon, Amazon will give you the option of using Membership Rewards points for payment

You will receive £4.50 for every 1,000 points redeemed

The good news is that it couldn’t be easier.

That said, some products are excluded –  digital goods (i.e.: MP3s), digital gift certificates (via email and print-at-home), Kindle eBooks and downloads, Subscribe and Save items.

The bad news is that you are not getting the best value for your points.

Let’s compare this with a few other options from the UK Membership Rewards catalogue:

Gift cards for Harrods, M&S, Starbucks etc – 0.5p per point

Gift cards for East Coast Trains – 0.6p per point

Avios or other airline miles – 0.75p – 1p if you use them well

Hotel points – 0.6p – 1p on my valuations depending on scheme (I rate Carlson points the highest)

The 0.45p value you get from Amazon is the same value you get from Tripflex, which is when you use your points to pay off travel charges on your statement.  It is still a better deal than using your points for general Amex statement credit which only gets you 0.4p.

So, overall, this is not a blockbuster deal.  It is a quick and simple way to use your points, though, and that may be enough for some people.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – January 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.