PayPal is accepted as a payment method in almost every online shop - only at Amazon are you desperately looking for a way to link your Amazon account with the payment service. On the other hand, the top dog in online shopping offers a variety of payment options: credit card, payment via direct debit or monthly statement. In this article, we explain why PayPal of all things is not offered as a means of payment.
Why doesn't Amazon offer PayPal as a method of payment?
As already mentioned in the introduction, Amazon unfortunately does not offer payment via the PayPal service. The obvious reason for this is that Amazon launched its own payment service in 2007: Amazon Pay. This is in direct competition with PayPal. Perhaps you have already been offered Amazon Pay as a payment method in some online shops after purchasing. In addition to the well-known candidates such as prepayment, direct debit, invoice and credit card, Amazon Pay can now also be used as a payment method in many shops.
Paying via Amazon is therefore also an advantage for the user: If you already have an Amazon account, you don't need to create another account with PayPal. Bank account or credit card are already on file with Amazon.
The PayPal payment service is unfortunately not supported. The competition with its own Amazon Pay service is probably the most significant reason for this. (Image: Nopparat Khokthong / Shutterstock.com) Another reason is the parallel to its big competitor eBay. PayPal was founded in 1998, but was bought by the auction house in 2002. Up to and including 2015, PayPal was part of eBay - Amazon's biggest competitor. Although the companies are now legally separated from each other again, the business relationship still exists. One can therefore speculate that Amazon does not want to strengthen its competitors by offering PayPal..
What types of payment does Amazon offer?
If you want to pay for an order on Amazon, PayPal is unfortunately not one of the possible payment methods. Alternatively, you can use the following payment methods:
- Credit Cards: MasterCard, American Express, Visa Card, Amazon.de VISA Card and prepaid versions of these cards are accepted at Amazon.
Payment by credit card at Amazon. - Direct debit: possible with a German or Austrian bank account in euros.
Payment by direct debit at Amazon. - Monthly billing: Your order can also be conveniently paid for by monthly billing. To do this, you have to pay the money by bank transfer by the middle of the next month.
Payment by monthly invoice at Amazon. - Amazon gift cards / Amazon vouchers: You can read how to redeem an Amazon voucher in this tipps + tricks article.
Payment by voucher at Amazon.