PayPal is most often associated with eBay, but the online payment platform has long outgrown its former owner. Now, PayPal is a massive payment transfer platform operating in more than 200 countries around the world. With all that expansion, you’d think that it would be easy to use PayPal on Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce platform.
In reality, the situation is more complicated. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about Amazon’s PayPal support.
Can you use PayPal on Amazon?
Yes, you can technically use your PayPal account to buy things on Amazon, but you will need to jump through some hoops in order to do it. This may discourage you from trying, but there are several methods to try if you have a large PayPal balance to spend.
Does Amazon accept PayPal natively? No, it does not. There is currently no way to link your PayPal account directly to Amazon, despite thousands of other online retailers allowing customers to use PayPal without the hassle.
Before we get into the workarounds, you might want to ask yourself whether or not you really need to use Amazon for your purchase. Many other retailers carry the same items and feature price matching options. Amazon made its name as the convenient everything store, but with PayPal, this simply isn’t the case.
The other thing to consider is why PayPal isn’t officially accepted on Amazon. One reason is its historical association with eBay, one of Amazon’s main competitors. Another is that PayPal itself competes with Amazon’s own payment service, called Amazon Pay. This could lead both companies to shy away from integrating their services more natively.
With that out of the way, there are two main ways to use your PayPal balance to buy products on Amazon. One involves applying for PayPal’s (free) Cash card, and the other uses gift cards to get around the lack of integration entirely.
How to use a PayPal Cash card on Amazon
One of the most useful accessories to a PayPal account is the PayPal Cash card, which is effectively a Mastercard tied to your PayPal balance.