
Amazon Cash - charlieirish
https://www.amazon.com/b?node=14583169011
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CobrastanJorji
Isn't this just Amazon gift cards?

Although, I wonder, if they're calling it "Amazon Cash" and you "deposit"
money into an account for yourself, would it be sufficiently like a bank
account that it would count as, y'know, a bank account?

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grok2
Feels more like a grass-roots mechanism to give interest free loans to Amazon
:-)...you park money with Amazon until you buy something from them. Gift cards
too seem to do the same thing, but I guess there is more cost to Amazon with
Gift cards.

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metaphorm
I had to check that this wasn't posted on April 1.

this is a form of scrip[0] as far as I can tell. I can't imagine anyone who
isn't an indentured servant finding this to be something they want in their
life.

[0] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrip)

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sailfast
There is a EDIT: significant portion [0] of the population of the united
states that is unbanked or underbanked and not able or willing to obtain
credit cards. This goes a long way into opening up a new market segment and/or
allowing for cash to be used to pay for goods generally as local retailers may
not carry the same diversity of products.

[0][https://www.fdic.gov/householdsurvey/](https://www.fdic.gov/householdsurvey/)

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metaphorm
prepaid cash/debit cards already exist though. Amazon wants to be in that
market too?

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Nexxxeh
Do they not have fees attached in the US?

In the UK, pre-paid cards are relatively expensive. £25 card usually costs
£27+ and then there are potentially extra fees on top.

I could definitely see people using this.

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metaphorm
I'm not an expert on this market by any means, but I just checked what my own
retail bank (Bank of America) offers [0]. It looks like there is no fee for
putting money on the card and no fee for normal point of sale transactions
(presumably including internet transaction). There are ways to get hit with
fees while using this card, but it is also possible to use this to buy things
on Amazon with no additional fees at all.

[0] -
[https://prepaid.bankofamerica.com/CashPay/Home/Index?m=1](https://prepaid.bankofamerica.com/CashPay/Home/Index?m=1)

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Nexxxeh
Oh, I meant the prepaid cash-like Visa or Mastercard cards that you can pick
up in supermarkets. Not a debit card from a bank.

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RoboTeddy
What's an example situation where this is useful? (I don't doubt there is
one-- just not sure what it is!)

edit: OK, so you can maintain a cash balance on Amazon... is this the early
stages of a plan to allow p2p payments a la Venmo?

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stvswn
Many people don't use banking services at all. It's pretty common to cash a
paycheck and then manage a weekly or monthly budget by dividing up the cash
into "accounts" \-- put this much aside for rent, this goes away into my rainy
day stash, this is what I'll use for groceries, etc. People do it for many
reasons, but usually it's a combination of bad credit, distrust of banks, or
distrust of themselves if they take advantage of credit. It could also be that
it's unreported income, of course. So, with this product, Amazon gives cash-
first or cash-only people a way to buy things online.

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stvswn
Just occurred to me after seeing the other comments that this use case was
already supported by gift cards.

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grumblestumble
this is supposedly no-fee, at least for now. gift cards are quite the scam, i
think the standard is a $4.99 fee for cards under $100.

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stronglikedan
I think you may be thinking of Amex and Visa gift cards. AFAIK, those are the
only ones that charge any sort of fee. Amazon, and other retailers, eTailers,
restaurants, etc., generally don't have a fee to buy or maintain, and funds
never expire.

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kevin_b_er
This is to make it easy to 'buy' things on amazon with cash, by having these
brick & mortar stores take up the risk of handling cash.

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ryandvm
This seems like the exact kind of partnership Coinbase et al ought to be doing
to make it easier to buy Bitcoin. That step of hooking up your checking
account is surely a huge filter on their new user signups.

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stouset
Except for the fact that nobody in their right mind should be buying Bitcoin
with the intent of using it to buy goods and services (with the possible sole
exemption of goods and services you hope to attain over the internet
anonymously).

Not only is there no real advantage to buying anything else with Bitcoin
versus a credit card, but the downsides are astronomical: forgetting a
password, getting a virus, or keeping your currency on an exchange gets hacked
can result in irrevocably losing every Bitcoin you own.

As someone who is bullish on cryptocurrencies, I don't understand how anyone
can think that their properties are suitable for use as a form of money by the
general public.

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Jenya_
I would agree if you said "Bitcoin vs a debit card", but a credit card has a
serious disadvantage: 2% fee on merchants.

Percentage based fees are so lucrative that banks are offering all sorts of
bonuses to credit card users: discounts, cashbacks, line of credit, etc.

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jumpkickhit
Interesting. Are they seeing a market for drug dealers? Or maybe high school
students. Paired with their Amazon lockers at 7-11 thing, suddenly condoms and
pregnancy tests could be covertly ordered.

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losteverything
I assume you still cant use a credit card to load... But if you can this is a
fraud concern.

Amazon doesn't have a brick and mortar like Walmart, et al where you can keep
loading $$ on a card you purchase once.

My experience with bankless adults is that they are not Amazon proficient.
Perhaps this will help.

