Businesses can buy Amazon gift cards in bulk, but mainly to give away, not to resell. Amazon’s consumer terms say gift cards cannot be resold or transferred for value, and its corporate terms allow distribution only through channels Amazon authorises in writing. Its business gift card policy limits bulk purchases to incentive, loyalty, rewards, recognition and gifting programmes. A rewards platform has a clear path; a storefront that wants to sell Amazon codes to the public at a spread does not, unless it holds that written authorisation.
This makes Amazon different from most brands in a trade catalogue. The rest of this article sets out what the published terms say, quoted from Amazon’s own pages as checked on 2026-10-06, and what that means for each kind of business buyer.
What the consumer terms say
Amazon.com’s gift card terms (the page at amazon.com/gc-legal) are the baseline every card carries. The limitations section states that gift cards cannot be “reloaded; resold; used for payment outside of www.amazon.com or its affiliated properties”, nor “transferred for value”, “redeemed for cash” or used for “unauthorized advertising, marketing, sweepstakes, promotional or commercial purposes”. The same terms say gift cards “must be obtained from Amazon or an authorized third party”.
Three more points in those terms matter to a business:
- Scope. Amazon.com balance cannot be used at Amazon properties outside the United States. Amazon runs separate gift card programmes per marketplace, so a card is tied to the marketplace that issued it.
- What balance cannot buy. Balance cannot be used to buy other gift cards, open-loop prepaid cards or certain third-party gift cards.
- Enforcement. Amazon reserves the right to close accounts, cancel orders and void balances where it suspects a card was obtained or used fraudulently or in breach of the terms.
The terms also state that no fees apply to gift cards and that balance from cards issued after 2005-10-01 does not expire. That is the consumer side. The business side has its own documents.
What the business programmes say
Amazon runs a corporate gift card programme for companies buying in bulk, with its own purchase and distribution terms, and a separate gift card policy for purchases made through an Amazon Business account.
The corporate purchase and distribution terms say the buyer may “only offer, sell, distribute, and/or facilitate the distribution of Gift Cards and Claim Codes within the Distribution Channel(s) and use cases specifically authorized by us in writing”, that any other sale or distribution is prohibited, and that the buyer may not resell a card or claim code to a recipient for more than its redemption value. They also reserve Amazon’s right to void codes suspected of being obtained through fraud, data breach or account compromise.
The Amazon Business gift card policy for the United States (last updated 2025-04-30, per the page) is narrower still. Cards bought through a Business Account may be distributed only “as part of your employee or customer incentive, loyalty, rewards, recognition, or gifting program in the U.S.”. The policy also states:
- you may not resell or transfer cards for value, or charge fees for a card;
- you may not buy cards for internal use, such as redeeming them for the business’s own purchases;
- depending on the card type, purchases may be limited to $10,000 per day through a Business Account, with larger programmes directed to Amazon’s incentives team;
- you must follow Amazon’s brand use requirements when presenting the card.
Can and can’t, by buyer type
| Business | Fits Amazon’s published terms? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Employee recognition or sales incentives | Yes | The use case the business policy names first |
| Customer loyalty or rewards programme | Yes | Cards given as rewards, not sold |
| Research and survey participant payments | Possibly, through Amazon’s incentives channel | Confirm the use case with Amazon Incentives |
| Fintech or bank offering cashback in cards | Possibly | Usually a rewards use case; confirm with Amazon in writing |
| Storefront selling codes to the public | Not without written authorisation | Resale is prohibited outside authorised channels |
| Buying cards to pay the company’s own Amazon orders | No | The business policy bans internal use |
The dividing line is whether the recipient pays for the card. Giving value away as a reward fits the programme. Selling a code for money, and especially selling it above face value, needs a channel Amazon has approved. The difference between authorised and unauthorised supply is set out in authorised vs grey-market gift cards.
The direct route: Amazon’s incentives products
For rewards and incentives at scale, Amazon offers its own channel. Amazon’s developer pages describe the Amazon Incentives API, which lets an approved business create gift card claim codes on demand, activate physical cards and load value to a customer’s account from the business’s own app or site. That is the technical shape a rewards platform needs: codes generated at the moment of reward rather than held in inventory.
The trade-off is that the direct channel covers Amazon and nothing else. A programme that rewards people with a choice of brands still needs the rest of its catalogue from somewhere, which is the argument made in choice vs single-brand rewards.
The distributor route
Distributors serve rewards and incentive programmes with Amazon cards where they hold an authorised channel for that use. If you buy through one, the questions to ask are about the paperwork, not the price. Amazon’s corporate terms also require Amazon’s prior written approval for each client a buyer distributes to, and say cards given away through an incentives programme may not be sold unless Amazon permits it in writing.
- Is the distributor authorised to supply Amazon cards for your use case, and will it confirm that in the contract?
- Which marketplaces’ cards does it carry, and in which currencies?
- Does the use case you described match what its authorisation covers?
- What happens if Amazon voids codes from a batch?
- Are there invoices and statements for every order and top-up?
A supplier that offers Amazon codes for open resale, with no questions about your use case, is telling you something about where the codes come from. The wider routine is in how to vet a gift card supplier.
Giftoro works only with businesses, verifies each buyer through KYB and delivers codes through an API and bulk files. Availability of any specific brand is confirmed per account and use case rather than promised up front; the gift card API page covers the integration.
Multi-country programmes
Because each Amazon marketplace issues its own cards, an international rewards programme has to buy per country and route each recipient to the matching card. A recipient in one country who receives another marketplace’s code cannot spend it on their local Amazon marketplace. The same discipline applies to every closed-loop brand and is covered in international gift card rewards pitfalls. Check each marketplace’s own gift card terms as well: the rules quoted above are Amazon.com’s, and other marketplaces publish their own.
Risk: voided codes and scams
The enforcement clauses are the commercial risk. A batch of codes obtained outside an authorised channel can be voided after it has been paid for and delivered, and the recipient’s balance with it. For a rewards programme that means angry employees or customers and a refund you may not recover from the supplier.
Amazon cards are also a common scam instrument; Amazon’s terms note the variety of scams that ask for payment by gift card. Programmes that distribute codes should warn recipients that no legitimate party asks to be paid in gift card codes. The seller-side controls are in gift card fraud prevention.
Frequently asked questions
Can I buy Amazon gift cards in bulk for my business?
Yes, for incentive, loyalty, rewards, recognition and gifting programmes. Amazon runs a corporate gift card programme and an incentives channel for this, and its business gift card policy for the United States names those uses explicitly. The same policy bans buying cards for the business’s own Amazon purchases and limits some purchases to $10,000 per day through a Business Account.
Can I resell Amazon gift cards?
Not without Amazon’s authorisation. Amazon.com’s gift card terms state that cards cannot be resold or transferred for value, and its corporate terms allow distribution only through channels and use cases Amazon has authorised in writing, with resale above redemption value prohibited. A storefront planning to sell Amazon codes to the public should treat that as a hard requirement.
Are Amazon gift cards bought from unauthorised sellers valid?
They are at risk. Amazon’s terms say cards must be obtained from Amazon or an authorised third party, and Amazon reserves the right to void cards it suspects were obtained improperly and to close the accounts involved. A code may redeem today and be voided later, so the cheapest source is often the most expensive one for a rewards programme.
Can an Amazon.com gift card be used in other countries?
Not at other Amazon marketplaces. Amazon.com’s terms state that balance cannot be used at Amazon properties outside the United States. Each marketplace runs its own gift card programme, so an international rewards scheme must buy cards per marketplace and send each recipient the card for their own country.
Do Amazon gift cards expire or carry fees?
Amazon.com’s terms state that no fees apply to gift cards and that balance from cards issued after 2005-10-01 does not expire. Other Amazon marketplaces publish their own terms, which can differ, so a multi-country programme should check the terms for each marketplace it buys from rather than quoting one rule for all of them.