What earns 5% back on the Prime Visa?

Chase lists Amazon.com, Audible.com, Whole Foods Market and Chase Travel, with an eligible Prime membership. Everything else on the card earns at the lower published rates.

Do gift cards bought at Amazon earn 5%?

Chase's eligible-purchase wording includes Amazon.com Gift Cards, so a gift card bought at Amazon.com is an eligible Amazon purchase under the published terms. Terms change, so confirm on Chase's card page before relying on it.

Does buying a holiday gift from a third-party seller on Amazon still earn 5%?

Purchases made at Amazon.com are the category. What Chase excludes is purchases from merchants using Amazon Pay outside Amazon and purchases at international Amazon retail sites, so a marketplace order placed through the Amazon.com checkout is not in the exclusion list.

What happens to the 5% if your Prime membership lapses in December?

The rate at Amazon drops to the no-membership level, which Chase publishes as 3% back at Amazon.com, Whole Foods Market and participating Amazon stores and sites. The 5% is conditional on an eligible membership, not on the card.

Black Friday

What actually earns 5% during holiday shopping

The 5% is a list, not a season. Holiday spending that misses it usually misses it for one of four published reasons.

The short answer

What earns 5% on the Prime Visa?

A named list, not a season. Chase pays 5% back (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-11) at Amazon.com, Audible.com, Whole Foods Market and Chase Travel, with an eligible Prime membership. Holiday shopping that misses the 5% usually misses it because it happened somewhere other than those four places — not because of anything to do with the date.

The list

The four places the 5% applies

The published Prime Visa rate structure, and what typically lands in each row during the holidays.
Rate	Where it applies	Typical holiday spending in this row
5% back	Amazon.com, Audible.com, Whole Foods Market and Chase Travel, with an eligible Prime membership	Gifts on Amazon.com, holiday groceries at Whole Foods, audiobooks, travel booked through Chase Travel
2% back	gas stations, restaurants, and local transit and commuting (including rideshare)	Driving to family, restaurant meals, rideshare to holiday events
1% back	Everything else	Department stores, toy shops, the tree, the turkey from a supermarket that is not Whole Foods

Source: Chase — Prime Visa · verified 2026-08-11

The third row is where most December spending actually lives for most households. That is not a flaw in the card — it is a store card wearing a Visa network, and it is honest about that. It just means the 5% headline describes a slice of your holiday budget rather than the whole of it.

The condition

The 5% is rented from your Prime membership

The category line contains a condition people read past: the 5% applies with an eligible Prime membership. Without one, 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).

This matters more in Q4 than at any other time of year, because annual memberships lapse on their own schedule and a lapse in the middle of your heaviest Amazon month is the worst possible timing. If your renewal date lands in November or December, that is worth checking now rather than reconciling later.

The sibling card is the fallback worth knowing about: the Amazon Visa pays 3% back (Chase — Amazon Visa, verified 2026-08-11) with no membership requirement at all. We compare the two on Prime Visa vs Amazon Visa.

Sources: Chase — Prime Visa · Chase — Amazon Visa · verified 2026-08-12

The exclusions

Four ways a holiday purchase falls out of the 5%

Chase publishes the exclusions plainly. Points are 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). Unpacked, that is four distinct traps in a holiday shopping season:

The published exclusions, translated into things people actually do in November and December.
The exclusion	How it happens at holiday time
Merchants using Amazon Pay	You buy from a small retailer's own website and pay with the Amazon Pay button because it is faster. That is a purchase from that merchant, not a purchase at Amazon.com.
International Amazon retail sites	You order a gift from a relative's wish list on amazon.co.uk or amazon.ca. Different site, outside the category.
Direct bookings with travel suppliers	Holiday flights or a hotel booked on the airline's or hotel's own site. Chase names airlines, hotels, car rentals and cruises. Booked through Chase Travel it is in the 5%; booked direct it is not.
Anything that is not a purchase	Cash advances and cash-like transactions are not purchases at all — see cash advances on the Prime Visa.

Source: Chase — Prime Visa · verified 2026-08-12

The Amazon Pay one is the expensive one, because it is invisible. Nothing at that checkout tells you the rate changed. If a holiday purchase matters to your earning, place it at Amazon.com rather than through someone else’s Amazon Pay button.

Two details worth knowing

Gift cards, and who is holding the card

Gift cards are named as eligible. Chase’s eligible-purchase definition covers eligible purchases at Amazon.com including digital downloads and Amazon.com Gift Cards (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-12). Which means a gift card you were buying as a present anyway earns like any other Amazon purchase. It does not mean gift cards are a rewards strategy, and the difference between gift card balance and rewards balance is worth understanding before you go anywhere near that idea.

Authorized users earn too. Chase states that purchases made by you or an authorized user of the card account earn points (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-12). For a household splitting the holiday shopping across two people, that is the difference between one earning card and two. The liability side of that arrangement is on the authorized users page, and it is worth reading before adding anyone.

Returns reverse the earning. Chase is explicit that points are earned on purchases of products and services, minus returns or refunds (Chase — Prime Visa, verified 2026-08-12). Return season follows gift season, so expect the points from a returned gift to come back out. That is normal, not an error, and it is covered on returns, refunds and your points.

Source: Chase — Prime Visa · verified 2026-08-12

See the current Prime Visa offer The mistakes this list causes

#ad New cardmembers only, subject to approval. The 5% rate requires an eligible Prime membership and Chase's category list and exclusions can change, so read the current terms on Chase's page. We earn a flat fee if you sign up through this link, at no cost to you. How we’re paid.

Common questions

What earns 5% back on the Prime Visa?: Chase lists Amazon.com, Audible.com, Whole Foods Market and Chase Travel, with an eligible Prime membership. Everything else on the card earns at the lower published rates.
Do gift cards bought at Amazon earn 5%?: Chase's eligible-purchase wording includes Amazon.com Gift Cards, so a gift card bought at Amazon.com is an eligible Amazon purchase under the published terms. Terms change, so confirm on Chase's card page before relying on it.
Does buying a holiday gift from a third-party seller on Amazon still earn 5%?: Purchases made at Amazon.com are the category. What Chase excludes is purchases from merchants using Amazon Pay outside Amazon and purchases at international Amazon retail sites, so a marketplace order placed through the Amazon.com checkout is not in the exclusion list.
Do flights and hotels booked for the holidays earn 5%?: Only through Chase Travel. Chase excludes purchases made directly with travel suppliers including airlines, hotels, car rentals and cruises from the 5% category.
What happens to the 5% if your Prime membership lapses in December?: The rate at Amazon drops to the no-membership level, which Chase publishes as 3% back at Amazon.com, Whole Foods Market and participating Amazon stores and sites. The 5% is conditional on an eligible membership, not on the card.

Prime Visa benefits, in full — the whole published benefit set, not just the holiday-relevant part
Stacking cash back on a Black Friday order — what to do with the 5% once you know where it applies
Purchases that earn no points at all — the harder exclusion list, beyond the category question
The Prime Visa without a Prime membership — what the rate becomes if the membership lapses mid-season

Written by Stephen V. — An enthusiast who's genuinely into this. I read the terms, compile the published rates, and do the math. No lab coat, no credentials, no test lab.

About this site · How we research · How we’re paid

Last verified: 2026-09-06