This item to be sold at Amazon.com would consist of a gift certificate to be sent in and redeemed at 95% of its cash value. They would be sold in every value by the cent up to the "free shipping" rate at Amazon.com. Consumers would purchase whatever they wish, and then add one of these to their purchase to make up the missing value and get free shipping.
-- Voice, Jan 20 2017

Five cent increments would just as well. Don't tell Amazon. Shhhh!
-- popbottle, Jan 22 2017


Sounds like Greenshield Stamps all over again.
-- xenzag, Jan 22 2017


If I repeatedly buy vouchers to top up the cost and get free delivery; and if I use each voucher towards my next purchase, and so forth, then I am effectively getting free shipping on all my purchases. But I am paying somewhere between 0 and 5% (depending on the actual purchase price) as a surcharge.

So, overall, I don't know whether this would work out to Amazon's advantage or not. In the end, the real cost of the goods plus shipping is fixed, and it's just a question of what proportion of that cost is paid by the customer, and what proportion by Amazon. So it's close to being a zero sum game.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 22 2017



random, halfbakery