Eight Black Friday mistakes that cost rewards

1. Carrying the balance. The Prime Visa’s purchase APR is 18.74%–27.49% variable (Chase — Prime Visa Pricing & Terms, verified 2026-08-13). Set that against the 5% back it earns at Amazon and the arithmetic is not close: the interest rate is between three and five times the earning rate, and it compounds while the rewards do not. A $1,500 holiday balance carried into February costs more than every point it generated. The full working is on when holiday interest eats the 5%.

2. The Amazon Pay button. Chase excludes not earned on purchases from merchants using Amazon Pay, on purchases at international Amazon retail sites, or on purchases made directly with travel suppliers including airlines, hotels, car rentals and cruises (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-12). Read the first clause again: purchases from merchants using Amazon Pay. That is the small retailer’s own website with the familiar orange button, not Amazon.com. It is the fastest checkout on the internet and it is outside the 5% category. During a season of buying from unfamiliar small shops, this is the exclusion you will meet most often.

3. A lapsed membership. The 5% is conditional. Without an eligible Prime membership Chase publishes 3% back at Amazon.com, Whole Foods Market and the participating Amazon stores and sites without an eligible Prime membership (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-12). An annual membership that renews in late November and fails on a dead card is a two-point rate cut arriving in the worst week of the year for it. Check the renewal date and the card on file before the season, not during it.

4. Travel booked direct. Chase’s exclusion list names purchases made directly with travel suppliers including airlines, hotels, car rentals and cruises. Chase Travel is in the 5% category; the airline’s own site is not. If you are flying to family, that is a real decision with a real number attached.

5. The international site. Ordering a gift for a relative from a non-U.S. Amazon site puts the purchase outside the category. Gift card balances do not travel either: Amazon Gift Cards work only on the country site where purchased (e.g. Amazon.com US only), and balances can't be combined across countries (Amazon — Gift Card Reload, verified 2026-09-06). Both are covered on choosing a gift card format.

6. Returns reverse points. Chase states that points are earned on purchases of products and services, minus returns or refunds (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-12). Gift season is followed by return season, so a points balance that drops in January is usually working exactly as published. It is worth knowing in advance so you do not redeem points in December that a return is about to claw back. The mechanics are on returns, refunds and your points.

7. The wrong card outside Amazon. The Amazon Store Card is usable for Amazon purchases only — Amazon.com, Amazon Go, Amazon Fresh, Audible, AWS, Alexa Skills, and your Amazon Prime membership charge — which makes it the wrong card for the half of a holiday budget that is not spent at Amazon. This is a fit problem rather than a flaw; the comparison is on Prime Visa vs Amazon Store Card.

8. Cash-like transactions. Chase is explicit that balance transfers, cash advances and cash-like transactions including travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers and cryptocurrency do not count as purchases and earn no points (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-12). In a season where money feels tight, a cash advance is the most expensive way to bridge it: no rewards, a fee, and interest that starts immediately at a separate rate. The detail is on cash advances on the Prime Visa.

Items two through eight are each worth a few dollars to a few tens of dollars across a season. They are worth avoiding and they are easy to avoid, which is the only reason they are listed.

Item one is a different order of magnitude, and no amount of category optimization compensates for it. If a holiday plan depends on carrying a balance at 18.74%–27.49% variable, the rewards are not the part of the plan that needs attention. That is not advice about your finances — it is arithmetic on two published numbers, and you can re-run it yourself.