Automatic Payments Policy
This policy applies to Sellers that are using our Automatic Payments feature.
What is the Automatic Payments feature?
Automatic Payments is a feature offered by Amazon Payments. It allows a buyer to authorize an Amazon Payments Seller Account holder to automatically charge a payment method that is stored in that buyer’s Amazon Payments Account. Some examples include:
- A recurring payment for a subscription
- A recurring payment of a usage based bill (for example, your mobile phone bill)
- Payments for purchases a buyer may make in the future (for example, purchases of mp3 songs or games)
What is a recurring payment?
A recurring payment is a payment that occurs at regular or predetermined intervals over a specified time period. It is one type of Automatic Payment.
What responsibilities does a seller have when it charges a buyer for a recurring payment?
Before a buyer agrees to a recurring payment arrangement, you must inform the buyer of the amount of each recurring transaction, the frequency of the charge and the duration of the arrangement. This information must also be included in an email you provide to the buyer after they authorize the recurring payment arrangement.
If the amount of the payment will vary in amount (for example, if the recurring payment is for a usage based bill), you must provide buyers with an option to receive notice of the amount and the date of the charge at least 10 days in advance of the charge. You may also provide buyers with an option to only receive notice if the amount of the charge will fall outside a specified range.
What about Automatic Payments that are not recurring payments?
If you wish to use Automatic Payments to automatically charge a buyer’s Amazon Payments Account for a future purchase without the buyer signing in to their Amazon Payments Account, you must obtain prior approval from Account Management prior to implementing Automatic Payments for these types of transactions. For example, without prior approval, you must present the “Pay with Amazon”, “Login with Amazon” or other Amazon button as appropriate to allow an Amazon Payments Account holder to authenticate themselves to Amazon each time a buyer is making a purchase on your site.
If you wish to use Automatic Payments to allow a buyer to make a purchase with a single action independent of a checkout flow or directly from a product detail page, you must obtain prior approval from Account Management prior to implementing Amazon Payments for these types of transactions. Our standard rates apply and this feature may only be used in connection with Amazon Payments. For example, without prior approval, you must present an Amazon Payments Account holder with a payment widget each time that they make a purchase on your site.
If you wish to use Automatic Payments to obtain authorization to charge a buyer’s Amazon Payments Account before the amount of a charge is known, and the payment is not a recurring payment, you must obtain prior approval from Account Management prior to implementing Automatic Payments for these types of transactions. For example, without prior approval, a transit merchant may not request an authorization prior to the amount of the charge being known.
You may not use our Service for installment payments.
Are there any limits on the amount I can charge the user?
Amazon Payments limits the total amount of recurring payments that you can collect from each customer per calendar month, based on the nature of your business. In most cases the monthly limit is $500. Contact your account manager if you have questions about your limit, or to request approval for a higher limit.
