Amazon’s Shop with Points: Is It a Good Deal?

Online shopping has grown and grown in popularity over the years, and it’s now one of the main ways that we buy just about everything.

For many people, online merchants like Amazon offer a convenient way to get items delivered to your front door quickly and easily, while still earning points or cash back.

To help make your online purchases even more accessible, Amazon gives you a handful of different ways to pay, including a “Shop with Points” options that lets you use your TD Rewards points or your American Express Membership Rewards points to pay for your purchase.

In this article, we take a look at whether it makes sense to use points to pay for your Amazon purchases, breaking down whether the Shop with Points option is a good deal or not.

Amazon’s Shop with Points feature lets you use the points from your eligible American Express Membership Rewards (MR) and TD Rewards account to offset the cost of your Amazon.ca purchases.

To access this payment option, you need to link your accounts by following these steps:

1. Go to the Amazon.ca Shop with Points page
2. Select either American Express Membership Rewards or TD Rewards, and click “See Details”
3. Click “Link Rewards Account Now”
4. Sign in to your Amazon.ca account
5. Enter the details from your eligible credit card to link accounts
6. You should now be able to see the option to pay with points when you check out

You are also able to link more than one TD Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards credit card, making it easy to get connected and access all your points.

Now, in terms of determining whether it’s worth it to use your points to pay for your Amazon purchases, we’ll need to compare the other possible redemption options and their value versus the value that you can get using Amazon’s Shop with Points.

When you use your American Express Membership Rewards (MR) points to pay for an Amazon.ca purchase, 1,000 MR points is equal to $7.00. This means that the Shop with Points option on the Amazon.ca website gives you a value of 1 MR points = 0.7 cents.

We value MR points at around 1.7 cents each, so this redemption option falls well below the ideal rate.

However, to really get a clear picture of how using points for Amazon purchases ranks in terms of value, let’s look at the value available through other MR points redemption options.

One of the most valuable ways to use MR points is to transfer them to popular loyalty programs like Aeroplan at a rate of 1 MR point = 1 Aeroplan point, and Marriott Bonvoy at rate of 5 MR points = 6 Marriott Bonvoy points.

Since we value Aeroplan points at 2 cents each and Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.9 cents each, this redemption options offers a value ranging from 1.08–2 cents per MR point.

Not only that, but it’s also possible to get value well beyond this range by redeeming for the right award flight and hotel bookings.

Another redemption option for those looking to enjoy an adventure away is to use your MR points to cover travel booked through the Amex Travel portal.

With this option, you can book flights, hotels, and more using the fixed points travel program or the flexible points travel program.

Depending on what you book and which of the two programs you use, these redemption options generally offer a value ranging from 1 MR point = 0.7 cents all the way up to 1 MR point = 2 cents (and possibly a bit more).

You can also redeem your MR points for merchandise and gift cards through the American Express rewards portal, giving you an option to exchange your reward points for something more tangible than travel.

When using your MR points for gift cards, the most common redemption rate is 3,250 MR points = $25 gift card, giving you a value of 1 MR point =0.77 cents, which is nearly identical to the value you can get when you use your points for purchases on Amazon.ca.

Unfortunately, determining the redemption value for the merchandise option is not possible since items are only presented with prices in points and no cash value comparison.

The final, but perhaps most straightforward comparison we’ll look at is the value you get when you redeem your MR points for a statement credit.

In this case, 1,000 MR points = $10 statement credit, or 1 MR point = 1 cent, which is better than the Amazon Shop with Points rate of 1,000 MR points = $7, or 1 MR point = 0.7 cents.

This means that you’re better off making your Amazon.ca purchase with a credit card that earns MR points and then redeeming these points for an equivalent statement credit than you are using the Shop with Points feature directly.

If you were to use your TD Rewards points to pay for your Amazon.ca purchase through the Shop with Points feature, you would get the following value: $1 on Amazon.ca = 303 TD Rewards points or 1 TD Rewards points = 0.33 cents.

Since we value TD Rewards points at 0.5 cents each, the Shop with Points rate, once again, doesn’t quite meet the mark.

That said, let’s do a comparison of this value with the other redemption options to see how it truly stacks up.

For TD Rewards collectors who are looking to maximize the value of their points, this first redemption option is their best bet.

Travel purchases booked through Expedia for TD can be enjoy a redemption rate of 200 TD Rewards points = $1, or 1 TD Rewards point = 0.5 cents.

If you can’t find the booking you want through Expedia for TD, you can also redeem your TD Rewards points for eligible travel expenses made with your TD Rewards credit card through the Book Any Way redemption feature.

With this option, the redemption value is:

• 250 TD Rewards points = $1 for the first $1,200 of the redemption, and
• 200 TD Rewards points = $1 for any amount above that $1,200

This is equivalent to 1 TD Rewards point = 0.4–0.5 cents, making it a close second in terms of best value for your points. It’s also a notably better rate than the 0.33 cents per point offered with Amazon.ca’s Shop with Points option.

TD Rewards points can also be redeemed for gift cards and merchandise.

When redeeming your points for gift cards, you can expect to exchange 10,000 TD Rewards point for a $25 gift card, which is equivalent to 1 TD Reward point = 0.25 cents. This is the worst redemption value that we’ve seen in these comparisons and is lower than the 0.33 cents per point offered with Amazon.ca’s Shop with Points feature.

Also, similarly to what we found with the MR points merchandise redemptions, it’s not actually possible to determine a value since the cash value of the merchandise is unknown.

For our final comparison, let’s look at the value available when you redeem your TD Rewards points for a statement credit to lower your credit card bill.

When redeeming for a statement credit, you need to redeem a minimum of 10,000 points (for which you get a $25 value), and then you can redeem as many points as you’d like beyond that, with every 400-point chunk giving you another $1 in credit for your bill.

Based on this, 1 TD Reward point = 0.25 cents, tied for the worst redemption value.

The Amazon Shop with Points feature lets you use your TD Rewards points and MR points to cover some or all of the costs of your Amazon purchases; however, as we’ve noted above, this is typically not the best use of your points.

With American Express’ MR points being one of the most valuable and flexible loyalty currencies in Canada, there are so many ways to get considerably better value than the $0.7 cents per point that’s offered by the Amazon redemption.

Likewise, TD Rewards points are better spent on redemptions like travel since this option tends to give you a value of 0.4–0.5 cents per point compared to the 0.33 cents per point that you can get from Amazon.

Given this, choosing to pay for your Amazon purchases with points is not a “good deal” from a value perspective.

That said, if you’re looking for some advice on how to get the best deals when redeeming your TD Rewards points and MR points, we’ve included a number of helpful guides throughout this article that will help you get the most from your loyalty accounts.

Make sure to read our Amazon guides to optimize your online purchases:

• Amazon Prime Canada 2025: Price, Benefits, and Complete Guide
• Amazon Prime Day 2025 Canada: The Best Deals and Exclusive Offers