How To Activate an Amazon Gift Card [Explained]

March 28, 2022

How Do You Activate an Amazon Gift Card?

Everybody loves gift cards—they are great if you want to buy something that’s over your budget without breaking the bank. It is especially convenient if you earn a free gift card or get one as a present.

Virtually every company allows people to redeem gift cards as a way to bring in new customers or keep the present ones around. Amazon is no different.

Amazon gift cards enable you to buy items on the Amazon store and many other third-party websites. In this article, we’ll show you how to activate an Amazon gift card and use it to buy items for a lesser price. We’ll also introduce the Mode Earn App, a platform that allows you to earn points that you can later redeem for different awards, including an Amazon gift card.

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How To Activate an Amazon Gift Card

When you get an Amazon gift card, you don’t need to activate it—it’s already available for redemption. All you need to do is redeem the card while signed in to your Amazon account. You can use five different types of gift cards:

Type of Amazon Gift Card	How It Works	Custom Message
Physical card	It’s a plastic card that gets packaged and shipped to your address	Yes
Electronic card	A digital gift card (or an e-card) that you can buy for yourself or someone else. Amazon will send the card to the recipient via email, text, or a messaging app, and it will arrive within five minutes	Yes
Specialty gift card	The Amazon store sells gift cards for various other companies and retailers, such as Uber, Apple, Steam, Whole Foods, Starbucks, etc.	No
Print at home	You’ll receive a PDF file that you can print out and fold so that it looks like a greeting card. You can customize the card by choosing a design or uploading a custom photo	Yes
Amazon Reload	Although not a gift card in the traditional sense, Amazon Reload allows you to add credit (i.e., money) to an existing gift card issued by Amazon. You can use the Auto-Reload option to add money automatically	No

While there are different gift card types to choose from, the redemption process is the same for each of them. Every gift card comes with a code that you need to type in or copy on the Amazon website or app, and the funds will be made available to you.

You can redeem an Amazon gift card via:

Mobile phone
Desktop

Amazon App—Gift Card Redemption Process on Mobile

Source: James Yarema

You can redeem a gift card on both iOS and Android devices. All you need to do is:

Open the app
Log in and tap on Hello to navigate through the menu
Select the Payments option and then click on Your Payments
Tap on Amazon Gift Card
Choose the Redeem a Gift Card option
Enter your gift card number and PIN code
Tap on Apply to Your Balance

Amazon Gift Card Redemption Process on PC

If you’re using your PC or Mac to redeem a gift card, the process doesn’t change a whole lot. You need to take the following steps:

Go to the Amazon website and sign in
Choose the Account option right under Hello and select Account from the drop-down menu
Select the Your Payments option (you can skip the first three steps by using the Redeem a Gift Card link)
Choose Amazon Gift Card
Click on Redeem a Gift Card and enter your gift card information
Press Apply to Your Balance

Where To Find the Amazon Gift Card ID on a Physical Card

Print-at-home and electronic cards will come with detailed information about your gift card number and the PIN code you need to use to redeem the card. If you receive (or opt to buy) a physical gift card, you’ll be able to find the same information on the back of the card.

Cards usually have the information visible immediately, although some have a special covering you need to scratch off to see the code.

Amazon Gift Card Code Format

An Amazon gift card code consists of 14 symbols, both letters and numbers. The format varies depending on the type of gift card:

eGift card—Has 14 characters with hyphens (e.g., MS93-KD32L-DYZ84)
Physical card—Comes with the same number of characters but no hyphens (e.g., MS93KD32LDYZ84)

Make sure not to mistake a gift card code with a Gift Card Reference ID, which contains 16 characters made up of numbers only.

Turn Your Phone Into a Money-Making Machine—Install the Mode Earn App

Source: Mode Mobile

You can start making money from the moment you install the Mode Earn App from the Google Play Store for free. With the app, you can make $600 and more a year by not doing anything other than what you already do.

Aside from getting an Amazon gift card, you can use reward points to exchange them for other items as well, such as cash, cryptocurrency, stocks, physical goods, and other gift cards (for instance, for Fortnite and Roblox).

How To Use an Amazon Gift Card

Source: Anete Lusina

When you complete the redemption process, the funds will be added to your account’s gift card balance. From that point on, you can use your gift card online. When you want to make a purchase, you’ll be able to choose whether you want to use your actual balance or gift card balance at the checkout.

While Amazon gift cards aren’t expirable, they do come with some restrictions. You can’t:

Convert them into cash and withdraw it from your account balance
Transfer the money to another account once you redeem the card
Use the funds to buy another Amazon gift card (this restriction doesn’t apply to buying third-party gift cards on the Amazon store)

Aside from buying non-Amazon cards and goods on the retailer’s website, you can use your card money for other websites and services that are partnered with or owned by Amazon. Some of the available platforms include:

Twitch
Prime
Prime Video
Kindle
Amazon Basics

Additionally, a number of different retailers accept Amazon gift cards as payment, such as:

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How To Apply an Amazon Gift Card to an Existing Order

You can’t use an unredeemed gift card for a current order you’re placing. To use your card money, you need to redeem the card first and then place your order. The exception is if you have a pre-order already placed.

To apply an Amazon gift card to an existing order, you need to:

Find the order in Your Account
Tap on Change Your Payment Method (the link is active until the “shipping soon” status)
Select Apply Your Gift Cards
Select the type of credit card you want to use if the gift card value is below the price of the order
Click on Save Changes

Note that this works only with purchased gift cards and not with promotional codes.

Mode Mobile—Getting a Free Amazon Gift Card Effortlessly

Are you a frequent Amazon user but simultaneously want to remain budget-conscious? That doesn’t mean you have to give up on items that catch your attention. You can still get what you like without spending your hard-earned cash—thanks to Mode Mobile.

Mode Mobile’s Mode Earn App is a reward-based platform that enables you to earn supplemental income by completing certain activities. You can get rewarded with a free Amazon gift card for using your phone!

You don’t have to jump through hoops to get it—all you need to do is install the Mode Earn App (which is free, by the way), and it will monitor your device activity. Every time you complete an activity that brings a reward, the app will add reward points to your account automatically. Once you have enough points, you can convert them into an Amazon gift card.

The advantage of Mode Mobile is that it doesn't focus on a single or a couple of activities—our app rewards you for over a dozen activities, such as:

Surfing the internet
Checking the weather
Locking the phone
Playing video games
Watching videos
Installing partner apps
Taking deals
Completing surveys
Charging the phone
Listening to music
Reading the news

Aside from the sheer variety of activities (Mode Earn App is the first app that rewards you for streaming music), you can also rely on it to deliver the promised goods. It comes with impressive ratings—the app has over 30 million downloads worldwide and 4.4/5 stars after more than 2.6 million reviews on the Play Store!

Make the Most of Your Efforts—Get a Mode Earn Phone

Aside from the app, Mode Mobile also offers you a chance to get a smartphone—the Mode Earn Phone—dedicated to gaining you even more supplemental income. It allows you to use the pre-installed Mode Earn App and turn your Mode Earn Phone into a device that pays for itself. The more you use the phone, the more you get out of it, allowing you to cover your data plan and purchase costs in a few months.

With a Mode Earn Phone, you will double your earnings as the Mode Earn App will double its rewards, meaning that you can make over $1,200 during a year.

You can subscribe to or buy a Mode Earn Phone via:

Free trial—You only have to pay the shipping fee initially. After that, you have a monthly subscription fee of $9.99, billed quarterly
One-time payment of $109

Mode Phone Specs

The phone comes with a 12-month warranty for the device and a 6-month warranty for the battery. Thanks to the quality of design, you can completely replace your old device with the Mode Earn Phone.

The Mode Earn Phone 2022 comes with the following specs:

Octa-Core ARM Cortex
4,000-mAh battery with overvoltage protection
1.6Ghz chip
Android 11
6.52’’ HD screen
Fingerprint and Face ID unlock
Triple-lens camera—13MP + 2MP + 2MP
128GB storage
5MP selfie camera
Dual SIM slots
Loudspeaker
IEEE 802.11 b/g/n WIFI Hotspot and BT4.2 Bluetooth connectivity
3.5mm headphone jack
Various sensors, including gravity, light, and proximity sensor, gyroscope, and compass

Every year, Mode Mobile comes out with a new device that features the latest hardware and software updates, and you’ll get the new phone for free if you’re on the subscription list.