Amazon has today announced the launch of another nifty service, called Amazon Cash, that’ll enable users to add cash to their wallets without the need for credit/debit cards or netbanking. Instead, this option will enable users to add hard cash to their Amazon account by showing a barcode to the cashier at participating physical — convenience, grocery, and drug — stores. The user can choose between $15 to $500 to deposit into their digital wallets in a single visit.
This new offline-to-online (O2O) digital payments service is aimed at users who participate in online shopping less often and rely on cash to conduct their transactions. This will also be extremely helpful for those being handed out their wages in cash or do not have a bank account or credit/debit card on them. It simplifies the process for such individuals by adding money to the account balance for free — without any sort of fee charged from users.
To access the Amazon Cash service, firstly the user will need to have the official Amazon app installed on their smartphone. They will then have to generate an Amazon Cash barcode linked to their Amazon account – which can be used repeatedly to add cash at partner stores. They can either send this barcode as a text message or print the same to make it easier for the cashier to scan and add funds to their wallet. It is also possible to add the same to the Wallet app on iOS and as a homescreen shortcut on Android.
But, one of the highlights of this service is that the user is not required to own a smartphone to generate their Amazon Cash barcode. It can easily be done on a desktop browser, where they can print the barcode and carry it to the store to add money to their account.
Once the user hands over the Amazon Cash barcode and the cash to the cashier at any one of the partners, they’ll scan the barcode and deposit the required funds to your account. The other advantage of this feature is that the hard cash is immediately transferred to your digital wallet on Amazon.com. The moment the cashier completes the transfer and hands you the receipt, the funds you deposited are available for online shopping.
The Amazon Cash service is currently being rolled out only in the United States. The e-commerce giant has partnered with brick-and-mortar establishments such as CVS Pharmacy, Speedway, Sheetz, Kum & Go, D&W Fresh Market, Family Fare Supermarkets, as well as VG’s Grocery. It is now looking to grow its offline network by signing up thousands of stores across the country.
