Why Amazon Does Not Accept PayPal (And What You Can Use Instead)

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As e-commerce has grown, payment options have multiplied beyond traditional credit card processors. Many merchants now offer a range of checkout methods that let customers use existing accounts — such as digital wallets or third-party services — for a faster, more seamless experience. This means even first-time shoppers can complete a purchase without entering their payment details manually, using tools like Google Pay and Amazon Pay. There are also newer players like Affirm and Klarna that quickly achieved widespread adoption by offering short-term, no-interest "microloans " to those who can't front the bill right away. 

If there's an internet payment service that's achieved near-ubiquity, though, it's PayPal, and there are a number of reasons for that. It works just as well for personal payments as it does for commercial applications, although it charges a fee for business transactions. Perhaps most importantly, when it launched, the small-scale options for internet payments were limited to nonexistent. Its launch was a huge plus for eBay sellers, who'd been stuck accepting checks and money orders, radically transforming the platform and leading to eBay buying PayPal. Also, early on, PayPal paid users for signing up and referring friends to the platform, making it extra attractive.

However, on the internet's biggest superstore, Amazon, PayPal is not available as a payment option, which can be limiting for some users. So let's take a look at why this is likely the case, as well as how to indirectly use PayPal on Amazon.

There doesn't appear to be any definitive word as to why Amazon doesn't accept PayPal, but it's not too difficult to make educated guesses. The most likely reason that Amazon doesn't accept PayPal seems to be simply that there are various areas where the two companies have been in competition. It never achieved the ubiquity of PayPal, but Amazon Pay, Amazon's commercial payment processor, still exists and serves as a competitor to PayPal in that space. Amazon wouldn't want to direct consumers to a rival payment processor, much less steer B2B customers there. 

Another potential reason, albeit less current, could be that for much of its existence, PayPal was owned by eBay, a massive competitor to Amazon in offering a marketplace for third-party sellers. PayPal was spun off into its own, publicly traded company in 2015, so this is no longer the case, but the two companies are still heavily integrated, thanks to PayPal being the primary payment solution for eBay transactions for many years.

There are a few reasons why someone might prefer to use PayPal at online merchants. Maybe they don't have credit cards, and it's among the safest ways for them to pay. Maybe they do significant sales on PayPal themselves, are always carrying a PayPal balance, and prefer to spend from that balance when possible without having to withdraw it to a bank account. Or maybe they have a PayPal Credit account, which includes the helpful benefit of 0% APR on purchases of $149 or more if they're paid off within six months.

The easiest way to indirectly use PayPal to pay at Amazon is to buy Amazon gift cards from reliable vendors that accept PayPal. However, it's worth noting that there are some items you can't buy with an Amazon gift card, such as prepaid cards or collectible coins. If you're looking for a trusted brand name, then Best Buy is probably the ideal choice. The electronics chain accepts PayPal and offers Amazon gift cards with digital delivery in denominations of $25, $50, $100, and $200. Alternatively, you could use one of many specialty gift card vendors online. Some of these sites offer gift cards with custom denominations and may offer a small discount over the face value of the gift card. For example, eGifter.com currently offers a 1% discount. The company has good online ratings, including 4.3 stars on Google Shopping and 4.1 stars on TrustPilot.