Marketing
When it comes to marketing, Amazon leads in terms of honesty and transparency. It is a household name that delivers on its promises and services, giving it an overall positive reputation. It leverages its consumer base of Amazon.com to market its services in the digital space. Its honest and transparent approach is focused on giving merchants chances to give their customers a trusted way to pay for purchases.
It promotes itself as cutting edge and user-friendly. Its site is easy to navigate, and also uses social media to engage with customers about services and updates.
Honesty
Amazon Pay’s policies and fee structures are upfront, clear, and simple to understand. From chargebacks to reserves, Amazon Pay puts all of its information out there. Additionally, there are no complaints floating around about a failure to disclose fees or aggressive sales tactics. We found nothing deceptive on its site, including policy language.
Sales
Amazon Pay wants businesses to succeed and it follows through on its promises. It does not hire independent sales representatives, and it fully discloses its pricing, including chargeback fees. It uses a straightforward approach and operates without using any misleading or high-pressure sales tactics. We find the information comprehensive, clear, easy to understand, and a very valuable option.
Support
Getting a representative on the phone was not easy and in no way the best way to get information. However, the staff who replied to emails were confident, professional, and eager to help. Also, we found the employees were able to direct us to valuable information easily accessible on the site.
Staff Responsiveness
Hands down, the best way to reach Amazon Pay is via is email inquiry form. In fact, Amazon Pay encourages people to contact them this way. Emails were answered within two business days and the messages were helpful and thoughtful.
Fortunately, Amazon Pay offers many service details, how-to pieces, and a solid section of answers to the most frequently asked questions. Most general questions can be easily answered by browsing Amazon Pay’s site.
Availability
Merchant account support is available via phone, email, and chat support. A separate email and form is available for those trying to reach sales. Users who are logged into their Amazon accounts can get support by calling (866) 216-1072.
Pricing
Processing fees are based on merchants’ monthly payment volume. As volumes increase, merchants can take advantage of discounts.
Its processing fees are as follows:
- Monthly payment volume of less than £1,500 has a processing fee of 3.4% and an authorization fee of £0.20
- Monthly payment volumes of between £1,500 and £6,000 has a processing fee of 2.9% and an authorization fee of £0.20
- Monthly payment volumes of between £6,000 and £15,000 has a processing fee of 2.4% and an authorization fee of £0.20
- Monthly payment volumes of between £15,000 and £55,000 has a processing fee of 1.9% and an authorization fee of £0.20
- Monthly payment volumes of more than £55,000 has a processing fee of 1.4% and an authorization fee of £0.20
A merchant’s monthly payment volume is based on the total average transaction payment volume processed by Amazon Pay for the three months prior to the application date. Amazon Pay notes that other conditions may apply.
Additionally, Amazon Pay charges cross border fees, which are relatively low compared to competitors.
Fees are as follows:
- Fees for Aland Islands, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden is 0.4%
- Austria, Belgium, Canada, Channel Islands, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Portugal, Montenegro, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, United States, and Vatican City State is 0.5%
- Andorra, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine is 1.0%
- Everywhere else the fee is 1.5%
The complete list of pricing can be found here.
Termination Fees
Since Amazon Pay does not require a contract, there is no penalty if you stop using its services.
Hardware Costs
Amazon Pay doesn’t offer any hardware, such as mobile card readers or point-of-sale terminals.
Complaints
For such a large business, there are very few complaints online and there are no complaints regarding hidden costs or fees. Overall, most of the complaints have to do with consumers upset about delivery and other issues that are really merchants’ problems not any fault of Amazon Pay. Nevertheless, there have been some complaints from customers about Amazon Pay holding on to merchants’ funds for long periods of time, being required to submit a credit card, and the required reserve. All new business and seller accounts must have a reserve. The rate is calculated by multiplying the merchant’s order defect rate, which is the number of orders with a defect divided by the number of orders in the time period under review, multiplied by its last 30 days of sales or the total amount of unresolved disputes. Whichever number is higher is what Amazon Pay will accept as the reserve. In order to use its services, Amazon Pay must have a credit card on file in case there is ever not enough money in the account.
Additionally, it is important to note that Amazon Pay want to keep all of its customes satisfied. In fact, it wants to hear from customers about complaints so it can improve services. It requests that customers send emails to amazon-payments-complaints@amazon.lu. It promises to carefully consider and respond to all complaitns within 10 business days. It further promises to resolve complaints within one month of the date of its receipt.
Customers that are not satisfied with Amazon Pay’s response, it encouraged to send complaints directly to its senior management at ape-management@amazon.lu.
