Amazon.com gift certificate balances - can they be converted across currencies?

[Mangetout]

I’m wondering if anyone can advise me; I thought of contacting Amazon to ask this, but I suspect I’ll just get an automated response.

I did a little work on the Amazon Mechanical Turk site - basically, you perform a selection of menial tasks that humans do better than machines, and you get paid (literally) a few cents for each task. The options for withdrawing your balance consist of transfer to a US bank or transfer to an Amazon.com Gift Certificate balance; I live in the UK, so I chose the latter.

OK, so I now have a few dollars sitting in a gift certificate balance on Amazon.com; because Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk seem to share a common user authentication system, I rather naively presumed that I would be able to use the dollar gift certificate balance against a transaction on Amazon.co.uk (perhaps converting on the fly at a rate advantageous to Amazon). But it doesn’t work that way - logging in to Amazon.co.uk shows a balance of zero.

So… the only option I can see is to order something and have it shipped internationally, but that seems wasteful. I can’t use the gift certificate balance to buy actual gift certificates and send them to myself. Any suggestions?

[ZipperJJ]

No suggestion, but I too wanted to buy something from Amazon.co.uk using a gift cert purchased on Amazon.com (I happen to be an American - my item was not available on the American site) and I found something deep within their FAQ that said you can’t use Amazon.com gift certs on the UK site and vice versa. Of course I can’t find it now.

However, this is in the Mech Turk FAQ:

To transfer the money you have earned through Mechanical Turk from your Amazon.com account to your bank account or to your Amazon.com gift certificate balance, select the “Your Account” link from the top-right corner of the screen. Under “Your Earnings,” select “Transfer your earnings to your bank account or to your Amazon.com gift certificate balance.” Enter your password when prompted.

If this is the first time you have transferred money to a bank account, you will need to enter your bank account information. Follow the instructions to enter your bank routing and account numbers in the form provided.

You may request a transfer of your earnings to your bank account or to your Amazon.com gift certificate balance at any time.

Looks like the best option for you is to put the money in a bank account - not to use the Amazon.com gift cert.

Also, since this is a new service I would think they’re open to suggestion. Why not Contact Them to suggest the option of amazon.co.uk certificates? Sounds like a good idea to me.

[Mangetout]

They will only transfer to a US bank, which unfortunately is no use to me.

[ZipperJJ]

Damn, sorry, I didn’t see that in your OP.

Are you able to get a PayPal bank account? Transfer the $$ there then use the PayPal account however you can?

Definitely, definitely write to the MechTurk people about this. This isn’t very forward-thinking of them at all.

[iamthewalrus_3]

It is not possible to transfer an Amazon.com gift certificate to Amazon.co.uk. I tried to do it a while ago since I had .com credit and wanted to buy a book that’s only printed in the UK, but was unable. If you read the really long fine print about gift certificates, it is listed.

Assuming it’s a small amount, you’re probably better off finding some Yank who wants to use it and will paypal you some money you can use.

[Mangetout]

[QUOTE=iamthewalrus(:3=]
Assuming it’s a small amount, you’re probably better off finding some Yank who wants to use it and will paypal you some money you can use.
[/QUOTE]
If anyone is up for this (i.e. you have money languishing in your paypal account, but you want to purchase from Amazon.com), please drop me an email. I have a little over 50 dollars in my gift certificate balance now.