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Amazon Cash

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Re: Amazon Cash

#51

Post by mabbo »

It's a clever business move for all involved.

Amazon skips the credit card fees. The businesses working with them probably don't have to pay Amazon the money for a few weeks, meaning they get to carry an interest-generating balance in the meantime.

If you don't spend all of the money you put on your account, then Amazon gets to hold that cash until you do, generating interest on the money held.

All the while, the customers who need this service get something they couldn't before- online shopping without a credit card, including the better selection and price competition that online shopping offers. (Yes, it's sometimes cheaper offline, but not always).

Re: Amazon Cash

#52

Post by ben1040 »

nlawalker wrote: post #14

You can also do this with Coinstar machines, which offer conversion of arbitrary amounts of cash (coinage or bills) to multiple kinds of gift cards, including Amazon, for no fee.

Maybe it's just my area, but I've found fewer Coinstar machines around as of late (vs grocery stores, etc that have begun to run their own machines instead and cut out Coinstar as the middleman).

The few that do exist seem to be in WalMart locations. WalMart doesn't want the competition, so those Coinstar machines had the Amazon gift card options disabled.

Re: Amazon Cash

#53

Post by protomyth »

11) What if I do not have a smartphone and want to use Amazon Cash?

It is not necessary to have a smartphone to use Amazon Cash. You can use our Print-at-Home option by visiting www.amazon.com/cash on a desktop browser and selecting “Get your barcode”. After logging into your account, you will be given an option to print out your Amazon Cash barcode which can be brought into the store for scanning.

Nice. This solves the internet at the library / school problem for a whole group of people. Still a lot of folks with the cheap LG phones for prepaid service. If they expanded to allow bill paying it would be an interesting challenge to Walmart.

[edit: also allows the "send me your code and I'll get you some money" like many use Paypal for like parents sending money to college students]

Re: Amazon Cash

#54

Post by rsucj »

mahyarm wrote: post #11

Why wouldnt you just buy a gift card with cash at these stores?

There's a ton of fraud with Amazon Gift Cards too. On sites like Paxful you can buy a $500 card for $250. Then people use the cards to buy other digital gift cards or items. It seems hard to stop.

Re: Amazon Cash

#55

Post by wyldfire »

redial wrote: post #34
mahyarm wrote: post #11

Why wouldnt you just buy a gift card with cash at these stores?

Bar codes are probably cheaper for Amazon, as they don't have to make a card, transport it, store it and sell it.

Retailers like Amazon sell those cards wholesale at less than the face value. There's some overhead too but I would wager that's covered by a gift card distributor in consideration for markup.

Re: Amazon Cash

#56

Post by samstave »

mabbo wrote: post #51

It's a clever business move for all involved. Amazon skips the credit card fees. The businesses working with them probably don't have to pay Amazon the money for a few weeks, meaning they get to carry an interest-generating balance in the meantime. If you don't spend all of the money you put on your account, then Amazon gets to hold that cash until you do, generating interest on the money held. All the while, the cus…

Yep, such an interesting 'innovation' in fintech.... I wonder who will come from the woodwork to oppose this?

Curious though; can you ELI5 who actually pays the interest?

---

I met a banker the other day and I asked him simply "how does one actually found a bank" his reply;

"Oh it's really simple, have $30,000,000 and you can create your own bank!"

Simple!

Re: Amazon Cash

#57

Post by StavrosK »

samstave wrote: post #56
mabbo wrote: post #51

It's a clever business move for all involved. Amazon skips the credit card fees. The businesses working with them probably don't have to pay Amazon the money for a few weeks, meaning they get to carry an interest-generating balance in the meantime. If you don't spend all of the money you put on your account, then Amazon gets to hold that cash until you do, generating interest on the money held. All the while, the cus…

Yep, such an interesting 'innovation' in fintech.... I wonder who will come from the woodwork to oppose this? Curious though; can you ELI5 who actually pays the interest? --- I met a banker the other day and I asked him simply "how does one actually found a bank" his reply; "Oh it's really simple, have $30,000,000 and you can create your own bank!" Simple!

> can you ELI5 who actually pays the interest?

The bank that Amazon holds its money in.

> Simple!

Well, it is simple, it's a very straightforward method. Simple doesn't mean easy.

Re: Amazon Cash

#58

Post by protomyth »

ryanSrich wrote: post #15
sokoloff wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The use case is that you have cash (literally folding money) in your hand and the store is the place to turn that physical cash into electronic credit in your Amazon Balance.

Maybe I'm being obtuse, but why would anyone want to do that? Could you not use a credit card, debit card, or gift card?

A fair number of folks still pay bills with money orders since they don't have credit cards, checks, or debit cards and can just pay cash for the money order.

Gift cards might be closer, but this has less waste.

Re: Amazon Cash

#59

Post by protomyth »

jccalhoun wrote: post #36
blastofpast wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting people to physically visit their B&M store, for whatever reason, is hugely valuable.

yep. foot traffic. go to CVS to do this amazon thing and pick up some candy or something while you are there.

I do wonder if Amazon Pay is a next step for these folks. I cannot believe Amazon will not have an answer Google and Apple.

Re: Amazon Cash

#60

Post by bahmboo »

Isn't this just same old gift card model but now with ability to manage balance online? Also riding the float is nothing new. There is no "interest" anymore. Opportunity cost, sure. This is a rational iteration on the status quo and looks to be step in right direction for consumer.
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