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Amazon Business American Express Card Review

Written by Dayana Yochim
Edited by Carolyn Kimball
Fact-checked by Andrea Coombes

March 12, 2024

Why trust us? Investor.com has no financial relationship with any of the credit card providers whose products we analyze and review. Our opinions are based solely on data and our own extensive independent research — that means unbiased guidance for consumers. Rewards cards in our cashback credit card calculator are listed in descending order according to how much money they pay out annually based on the inputs.

Time or money? You decide between a 3% rewards rate on Amazon-related spending or taking 60 extra interest-free days to pay it off. It’s not quite as dramatic as “Sophie’s Choice” (available for rent on Amazon Prime). But we’ll take any opportunity to invoke this 1982 classic starring Meryl Streep in a credit card review.

How much is it worth to have 60 interest-free days to pay off some of your business expenses? Based on the Amazon Business Card, the answer is 3% of the purchase price. That’s the setup with this American Express business card: You can earn 3% cash back on purchases from Amazon-owned properties — including Amazon.com, Amazon Business, Whole Foods and companies that operate as Amazon Web Services (AWS) — or opt instead to pay no interest on those purchases for 60 days. Also on the table: a 2% rewards rate on restaurant, gas and wireless phone purchases and 1% on everything else.

If you’re a heavy Amazon services user, the Amazon Business Prime Amex card offers a higher 5% rewards rate and a 90-day interest-free float, although a Business Prime membership (starting at $69 a year) is required.

The basics: 3% back or 60-day terms on U.S. purchases at Amazon. Terms and cap applies. 2% back at U.S. restaurants, gas stations, and wireless telephone services purchased directly from service providers. 1% back on all other eligible purchases. Get a $100 Amazon.com gift card upon approval.

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dining Dining

local_gas_station Gas

monetization_on Other

card_travel Travel

phone_iphone Cell Phones

print Office Supplies

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Amazon Business American Express Card

Cashback Per Year

$...

Annual Fee

Welcome Bonus

an $100 Amazon Gift Card

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Want to compare more cards? Use our full calculator.

Amazon Business American Express Card pros and cons

thumb_up_off_alt Pros

Choice of cash back (3%) or more time to pay on Amazon-y purchases
2% on dining, gas and gab (cell services)
$100 gift card upon approval, no spending requirement
$0 annual fee
Amazon Prime membership not required
No foreign transaction fee
Potential referral bonus
Includes Amex perks

thumb_down_off_alt Cons

3% rewards/60-day no-interest apply only to Amazon purchases
Choose the 60-day financing and you forgo cashback rewards
Default cashback rate is just 1%
$120,000 annual cap on 3% eligible spending
Redemption minimums revealed upon approval. Weird.
Balance transfers not allowed

Amazon Business American Express Card cashback rewards spending categories

The following table shows the cashback rewards rate per $1 spent in the six most common spending categories. The “Bonus Rate” refers to the amount you can earn in excess of the card’s standard rewards rate.

Some cashback cards limit the spending amount eligible for the bonus rate (aka the “Spend Cap”). Once you hit that cap (e.g., $1,500 spending in a particular category during a defined time period), the rewards rate on future purchases in that category reverts to the lower “Default Rate.”

Category	Default Rate	Bonus Rate	Bonus Spend Cap	Bonus Spend Period (Months)
Cell Phone	2.00%	-	-	-
Dining	2.00%	-	-	-
Gas	2.00%	-	-	-
Travel	1.00%	-	-	-
Office Supplies	1.00%	-	-	-
Other Purchases	1.00%	-	-	-

Note: The Amazon Business American Express offers 3% cashback on U.S. purchases from Amazon and its businesses (such as Amazon Web Services, Whole Foods and Amazon Business) on up to $120,000 in purchases per year. You forgo the cashback if you opt for the 60-day interest-free period on those purchases.

What we like

If Amazon.com and its related businesses — including Amazon Business, Whole Foods and Amazon Web Services (AWS) — are your go-tos, this card is like a 3% off coupon on those expenses. Or…

The option to get a cash flow breather sets this card apart from some other rewards cards. If you’re willing to forgo the 3% cashback, you can opt for the 60-day, no-interest repayment period on those purchases. (The interest-free clock starts at the time of purchase.)

Who couldn’t use 2% cash back on wireless phone service? That, and 2% back at restaurants and gas stations, comes standard. Plus, there are no caps on the 1% and 2% categories. (More on the 3% spending cap in a moment.)

The $100 Amazon gift card welcome bonus is all yours once you’re approved for the card. Unlike other business rewards cards, no spending minimums or other actions are required.

The Amazon Business American Express card includes some of Amex’s purchase and travel extras, like access to the premium Global Assist Hotline, car rental loss/damage coverage, baggage insurance, purchase protection and extended warranties. Of course, terms apply.

The Amex Business App is designed to work with QuickBooks (account enrollment required) to help business owners manage expenses and receipts.

The Amazon Business card also comes with six months’ free enrollment in Vendor Pay by Bill.com to manage invoices. Note: Enrollment is free, but transactions within the service may not be.

The $0 annual fee extends to additional employee cards you request, which you can do for up to 99 of your minions. Like most business cards, you can set up spending limits and alerts on employee cards.

No foreign transaction fees saves you the 3% some cards charge on international transactions.

Worth mentioning: An Amazon Prime membership is not required for the Amazon Business credit card, making it a truly no-annual-fee business credit card.

FYI: Interested in what the people have to say? Based on more than 2,000 ratings on Amazon.com, the card rates 4 out of 5 stars.

What we don't like

The highest rewards tier — 3% — applies only to Amazon-related purchases, which makes the Amazon Business American Express Credit card less valuable if the mother ship company isn’t one of your key vendors.

Heavy Amazon service users may get more value from the other Amazon card — the Amazon Business Prime Card from American Express. It offers a higher 5% rewards rate and longer interest-free option (90 days vs. 60).

3% cashback earnings are capped at $120,000 each calendar year. After that you’ll rake in just 1% until the ball drops in Times Square..

You can choose either 3% rewards or a 60-day interest-free repayment period, not both. Choose the latter and the purchases do not earn rewards points. On the plus side, financed purchases do not count toward the $120,000 annual rewards spending cap.

Redemption options are pretty basic: Either apply rewards toward an Amazon.com or Amazon Business purchase or request the money as a statement credit. Here’s the kicker: “minimum and maximum amounts may apply,” according to the rewards operating instructions. For example, to use points for eligible charges you’re required to have at least 1,000 available points on your card account.

The 2% cashback categories are limited to U.S.-based businesses only. On the plus side, the Amazon Business card charges no foreign transaction fees.

Balance transfers aren’t allowed. So just put those thoughts right out of your head.

The bottom line

Is the Amazon Business American Express Card the best rewards card for your wallet? The answer depends entirely on your spending patterns. Let the numbers speak for themselves: Use the investor.com Cashback Credit Card Calculator to see which credit card pays back the highest rewards based on how much you spend each month.

Amazon Business American Express Card fine print

The Amazon Business American Express Card rewards program explained in eight pithy pages, plus all the rates, fees, terms and conditions to know before signing up.

Does the Amazon Business American Express Card charge an annual fee?

No, there is no annual fee for the Amazon Business American Express Card.

tips_and_updates Trivia time!

Roughly 11% of the business cashback cards we track in our database charge an annual fee. The average annual fee is $200.

Does the Amazon Business American Express Card offer a welcome bonus?

Yes, the Amazon Business American Express Card has a welcome bonus of an $100 Amazon Gift Card.

tips_and_updates Fun fact

Of the business credit cards in our database, 83% offer a welcome bonus. Currently, the average sign-up bonus on a new business cashback card is $421.79, with the median being $300.

How much cashback can I earn with the Amazon Business American Express Card?

The average business that spends $2580 per month will earn $464.40 in cash back per year using the Amazon Business American Express Card. For comparison, the average annual rewards payout from the business credit cards in the investor.com database is $483.97, and $464.40 is the median.

These calculations are based on average consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the reward payout rates from the providers we track. Of course, you’re so much more than an average data point (aka “consumer unit,” in BLS parlance). The amount you can earn in cashback rewards using the Amazon Business American Express Card depends entirely on your unique spending habits.

Find out exactly how much you’ll rake in with the Amazon Business American Express Card by tailoring the spending inputs in the calculator above.

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Methodology

The results of the investor.com Credit Card Rewards Calculator are based on the monthly spending amounts you enter and the annual dollar value of the rewards each credit card program pays per $1 spent. Credit card companies often express this payout amount as a percentage (e.g., 1.5% of every dollar spent) or on a points basis (e.g. ,1.5 points for every dollar spent). We converted all of them to a dollar amount (“Cash Back Per Year”) to make comparing offers easier.

To calculate the amount of cash back you could earn per year, we factored in:

Spend category inputs: The default dollar values for each “Spend Category” in the Best Cashback Credit Cards tool — gas, groceries, travel, restaurant, entertainment, pharmacy, other — are based on average American spending data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We also include additional spend categories (such as streaming services, online shopping, utilities, transit, Amazon and more) to help you see which rewards cards are most closely aligned with your actual spending patterns. We encourage you to customize the monthly spend inputs for the most accurate results.
Tiered rewards rates: If a rewards credit card pays higher cashback rates on certain spending categories (also called “Bonus Rewards”), that difference is reflected in the total “Cash Back Per Year” tally.
Rewards spending caps: Some cards impose category- or time-based limits (monthly, quarterly, annually) that affect the amount of rewards you can earn. For example, a card may pay 3% cash back on groceries on up to $1,000 of spending each quarter, then revert to the base/default rewards rate until the following quarter. We accounted for bonus spending caps and timeframe in the calculations.
Default rewards rates: Purchases that exceed a spending cap are usually subject to a lower default rewards rate (e.g., 1% or 1.5%). We mathed that out too.
Annual fees: If a rewards card charges an annual fee, we deducted that amount from the “Cash Back Per Year” total to provide a true accounting of a card’s annual rewards payout.

What’s not included in the “Cash Back Per Year” total is the cash value of any sign-up/introductory bonus. We highlight any Welcome Bonus separately. While sign-up bonuses can be the most lucrative part of getting a new cashback rewards credit card, not everyone will want or be able to do what it takes to earn the extra cash. (It usually requires spending a certain amount in a specified time period after the card is activated.)

About the Editorial Team

Dayana Yochim

Dayana Yochim has been writing (articles, books, podcasts, stirring speeches) about personal finance and investing for more than two decades, focusing on bringing clarity and the occasional comedic aside to what is often a murky, humorless topic. She’s written for NerdWallet, The Motley Fool, HerMoney.com, Woman’s Day, Forbes, Newsweek and others, and been a guest expert on "Today," "Good Morning America," CNN, NPR and wherever they’ll hand her a mic.

Carolyn Kimball

Carolyn Kimball is Managing Editor for Reink Media Group and the lead editor for content on investor.com. Carolyn has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience at major media outlets including NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. She specializes in coverage of personal financial products and services, wielding her editing skills to clarify complex (some might say befuddling) topics to help consumers make informed decisions about their money.

Andrea Coombes

Andrea Coombes has 20+ years of experience helping people reach their financial goals. Her personal finance articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, MarketWatch, Forbes, and other publications, and she's shared her expertise on CBS, NPR, "Marketplace," and more. She's been a financial coach and certified consumer credit counselor, and is working on becoming a Certified Financial Planner. She knows that owning pets isn't necessarily the best financial decision; her dog and two cats would argue this point.