FAQs and Guide to Amazon Gift Cards

Once I started posting answers in the Amazon category on Quora, I noticed most of the questions were related to Gift Cards. So this is my “ultimate” guide to Amazon gift cards with the most frequently asked questions (and answers!)

Best Stuff You Can Buy with a $50 Gift Card

The most common gift card amount everyone receives is $50. There’s a lot of stuff you can buy with a $50 gift card. Below are some of my personal favorites and recommendations. Everyone can use them. I won’t go into specific niche recommendations that only some would find useful, but rather some items everyone can use.

• Anker 20100mAh Power Bank – If you don’t already know what a Power Bank is, it’s basically a “box” you can take everywhere and use it to charge your phone. A portable phone (or any other device) charger. The Anker Power Bank is below $50, so you’ll have some extra left.
• Fire 7 Tablet with Alexa – Everyone can use an (additional) tablet. You can use this one to watch random YouTube videos, read books, play games…basically everything.
• 38″ Black Acoustic Guitar Starter Package – It’s never too late to start learning guitar. An acoustic guitar is a perfect start. You have thousands of video tutorials on YouTube, thousands of courses online. Even tutorials for how to play a specific song on an acoustic guitar. Learning and playing guitar is a great hobby and a past-time activity. Don’t expect the highest quality from a guitar below $50, however, for beginners, this starter pack is perfect.
• Browse through the $25-50 electronic category on Amazon. Navigate to the Electronic category on Amazon and filter the results so you only get items that cost $25 to $50. You can do this for any category, but the Electronics one has the most options in the $250-50 price range.

Can I buy an Amazon Gift Card with PayPal?

No. Not from Amazon anyway. There are 3-rd party sites that sell Amazon Gift Cards and accept PayPal, but most of them are scams and I would advise anyone to stay away from them. Use a 3-rd party site only if you are sure that they are legit.

Another (a bit illegal) alternative is to get a friend to buy you a gift card with a credit card and then just send your friend money via PayPal.

You can get a PayPal MasterCard (for free) and use it to buy a gift card directly from Amazon too.

How to check the balance of a gift card?

Pretty simple. Follow these steps:

1. Log in to Amazon.
2. Access your Account Homepage (by clicking the “Hello” item of the main menu)
3. Click on Gift Cards from the account homepage menu:
4. Now you’ll get a few options, including a “Redeem” option. Click on that and you’ll be able to check your gift card’s balance there. You can also use our link, it will take you directly to the Redeem page.
5. Once on the Redeem page, you’ll be able to check the value of the gift card and your current balance.

Where can I buy discounted Amazon gift cards?

Again, there are 3-rd party sites that sell discounted Amazon gift card, but I’d definitely avoid them. They’re likely scammers and will steal or sell your personal data.

You should only buy a gift card officially from Amazon.

They may even have a discount if you buy a larger gift card. Check to make sure.

Can I buy an Amazon Gift Card at Target or any other physical store?

At Target – no, at least not currently. You can check the official Amazon page where they list participating stores.

Here’s a quote/list:

Amazon.com Gift Cards in $15, $25, $50, and $100 denominations are sold by grocery, drug, and convenience stores throughout the United States and have no purchase fees. Get one for yourself, or give one as a gift. Designs and denominations vary by retailer

Participating Retailers Include:

• 7 Eleven
• A & P
• Afs
• Ahold
• Albertsons Llc
• Alex Lee
• Associated Food Stores Inc
• Basha’s
• Bi Lo
• Big Y
• Brookshire Brothers
• C and K Markets
• Coremark
• Country Fair
• Cox Foodarama
• Crest Discount Foods
• CTW Prepaid
• Cumberland Farms
• CVS Pharmacy
• Discount Drug Mart
• Dollar General
• Duane Reade
• EPS
• Family Express
• Fasmart
• Fiesta Mart
• Flash Foods
• Food Circus Supermarket
• Food Lion
• Future-Com Inc
• Gelsons
• Giant Eagle
• Hannaford
• Harris Teeter
• HEB
• Holiday Franchise
• Holiday Station Stores
• Home Depot Fuel Stores
• Hucks
• Hy-Vee
• IGA Foodliner
• Ingles Markets
• King Kullen
• Kinney Drug
• Krause Gentle
• Kroger
• KVAT
• Kwik Fill
• Laurel Grocery
• Lowes
• Lowes Food Stores
• Lowes Pay and Save Inc
• Mapco Express
• marcs
• Martin’S
• Master Brokers
• MFA
• Mountain Empire Oil
• Murphy USA
• Nebraska Furniture Mart
• Office Max
• Pamida
• Par Mar Oil Company
• Pathmark
• Payless Foods
• Pay-o-Matic
• Price Chopper
• Puertorico
• Quiktrip
• Raleys
• Rite Aid
• Roundys
• Rutters Farm Stores
• Safeway
• Save Mart
• Schnucks
• Scolaris
• Sheetz Inc
• Shipley Stores
• Shopko
• Spartan Stores
• Speedway
• Staples
• Stater Bros
• Super Value
• Sweetbay
• The Pantry
• Thortons
• Tops Supermarkets
• United
• United Dairy Farmers
• Valero
• Velasquez
• Village Pantry
• Wakefern
• Walgreens
• Wawa
• Wegmans
• Weigels
• Weis Market
• Winn Dixie
• Worsley

Can you pay for Prime with a Gift Card?

Depends on what kind of a gift card it is. There are special gift cards for gifting Amazon Prime, that you can, of course, use it to pay for Amazon Prime. You can get an Amazon Prime Gift Card by going to their Give The Gift of Prime page.

However, if it’s a “normal” gift card, there’s a workaround:

1. Redeem your “normal” gift card, and the amount will be applied to your balance.
2. Buy an Amazon Prime gift card for yourself and pay with your balance.

Can you top-up your Amazon Store Card with a Gift Card?

No, you can’t.

Is there an Amazon Gift Card API?

Yes, there is. It’s quite extensive and they have detailed documentation for the API. Check their Amazon Gift Card API page for more information.

Disclaimer:

All links to Amazon on this page are affiliate links and we get a compensation for every purchase you make at Amazon if you use our links. See more information on our Affiliate Disclosure page.