Amazon rewards points mystery

[IronWing]

I can use CC rewards points to shop on Amazon. There is something weird going on though. Say I buy a Monster Cable and the cost is $50.00 including shipping and taxes and say that I have $60 in rewards points available. So I apply $50 in rewards points to the purchase and continue checkout. Life is good until I see the confirmation email. "We have applied $49.47 in rewards points to your purchase and have billed your CC for $0.53." The first time this happened I shrugged and thought that maybe the total was bit over the points available and went on with life. This last time the points available were so much higher than the total that I knew that Amazon is doing something weird. Any ideas on why Amazon would do this?

 

[slayer202]

Strange. Could the value of the points be varying? So they quote you that it'll cost 100 points, then realize that doesn't cover the entire cost and instead put the balance on your cc? Doesn't really make sense though

 

[CPA]

I wonder if there is a tax that they can't use points to cover

 

[IronWing]

I wonder if there is a tax that they can't use points to cover

I was wondering that as well. It's happened three times now and the amount charged to the CC was never over a buck. The purchases were in the $50-$100 range.

 

[nakedfrog]

Hm, I never noticed this. But it's also been a good long while since I actually used the rewards points at Amazon (having realized that I get 3x points on Amazon purchases, and can use the reward points to get a statement credit or cash back instead, it just makes more sense to do one of those and just pay for the items).

 

[drebo]

I wonder if there is a tax that they can't use points to cover

That's what it sounds like. Even if you give something away, at least in California, you still have to charge sales tax on the retail value.

It's possible that's what Amazon is doing.

 

[IronWing]

I think I figured it out. I went back and looked at the last order and then the confirmation email. When the order was placed Amazon estimated the sales tax to be $1.45 and deducted that amount from the available points. The final tax amount ended up being $1.98 so Amazon charged the additional $0.53 to the CC. I guess Amazon needs explicit instruction to apply points to a purchase and so defaulted to the CC.

 

[purbeast0]

ive never had that happen to me. i just bought something last week with points. i had $21.50 or so in there in points, bought something for $15, and got charged $0.00 for it.

Item Subtotal: $14.99
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
Total Before Tax: $14.99
Shipment Total: $14.99
Paid by Rewards Points: $14.99

no tax here in MD either (yet)

 

[Schfifty Five]

I think I figured it out. I went back and looked at the last order and then the confirmation email. When the order was placed Amazon estimated the sales tax to be $1.45 and deducted that amount from the available points. The final tax amount ended up being $1.98 so Amazon charged the additional $0.53 to the CC. I guess Amazon needs explicit instruction to apply points to a purchase and so defaulted to the CC.

Interesting. How can sales tax be miscalculated if it knows your shipping address? Shouldn't it just see which state you are in and apply the appropriate sales tax?

 

[CPA]

Interesting. How can sales tax be miscalculated if it knows your shipping address? Shouldn't it just see which state you are in and apply the appropriate sales tax?

Many states have local, county and/or other sales tax that may not be known immediately at checkout.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Many states have local, county and/or other sales tax that may not be known immediately at checkout.

Ah, good point.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Many states have local, county and/or other sales tax that may not be known immediately at checkout.

I hate this. I wish it was like Europe where the tax/gratuity is already included in the listed price. Makes life so much easier.