Amazon Allowance: an easy way to enable (and control) spending at Amazon
Amazon makes it easy to buy stuff.
Really, really easy. 🙂
We’ve bought several holiday deals just by asking our
Amazon Echo (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)
to order it for us.
That’s after we find them using a computer to see the deals at
http://www.amazon.com/alexadeals (at AmazonSmile*)
Sure, we could say, “Alexa, what are your deals?” but Alexa only tells us a couple of deals at a time, and it’s much easier to review it visually first.
However, there is still a good reason for us to say, “Alexa, what are your deals?” Amazon has a giveaway happening with a top prize of a $2,000 Amazon gift card! You need to first go to this site:
and enter (basically by putting in your e-mail address), and after you enter, say to your Echo device, “What are your deals?”
Let me know if you win!
So, with voice-ordering and 1-click, it’s very easy to spend more money than you intended without realizing it.
One way people do that is by buying
for themselves and not spending anything beyond that.
That means, though, needing to remember to reload them.
There’s an easier way!
Amazon now has
Amazon Allowance (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)
It works very much like a gift card, with the same sorts of limitations (you can’t use a gift-card for a subscription, for example)…but you can set it up to happen automatically weekly or monthly!
They explicitly say that you can use it to fund your own spending, but you can also set it up for someone else (who must be at least 13 years old…you are always supposed to be 13 years old to shop at the Amazon.com site).
All you need is the person’s e-mail address. If they don’t have an Amazon account (that’s required), Amazon will tell them how to start one.
They do say you can give a one-time allowance…but I’m not sure why you would do that rather than a gift card.
I think this is going to be a great option for many people, for Kindle Klubs, and for teenagers.
Of course, another way to control spending is through subsers (subscription services) like
Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)
but that’s a lot more limited. The Amazon Allowance can be used for e-books, physical books, other physical items…anything that can be purchased with gift cards.
What do you think? Feel free to tell me and my readers by commenting on this post.
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* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. 
 Shop ’til you help! Â
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.
I Love My Kindle 