PSA: Sharing Amazon Prime from Personal to Business account

[Ebenezer]

Just discovered you could do this, I had been buying "business" stuff from a separate Amazon account without Prime - as I don't buy all that much, but having converted that account to a "business" account, it turns out I can now share my personal Prime with that account. I believe this only works if the business account only has one user associated.

Might be of use to some.

[PerfectStorm]

I just use the same account and switch payment details/address as needed?

[tarbera]

indeed

I just use the same account and switch payment details/address as needed?

If HMRC ask why you watched 7 sessions of the "IT Crowd" paid for by your business account - just say it was training

[l35kee]

So you effectively have 2 sub accounts within your main amazon account? What benefit does it have to use a business amazon account over a personal one?

[Lance]

Just discovered you could do this, I had been buying "business" stuff from a separate Amazon account without Prime - as I don't buy all that much, but having converted that account to a "business" account, it turns out I can now share my personal Prime with that account. I believe this only works if the business account only has one user associated.

Might be of use to some.

why not just have the invoice address for your personal account to include your Company Name?

[vwdan]

why not just have the invoice address for your personal account to include your Company Name?

So, I've never actually looked into this so I expect a sound flaming shortly - but I've always been concerned that I'm going to lose some consumer rights by doing things like that. B2B purchases don't have nearly as many rules and regs as consumer purchases and I think they'd have a very good argument that if your invoice is to a Ltd Co then it's B2B.

Probably not an issue with someone like Amazon, but it's something that's in the back of mind.

[Ebenezer]

Well, I guess the reason I've been using a separate account - with a separate email address - rather than doing any of these other things is paranoia about getting the payment methods mixed up. I'm pretty strict about not mixing business and personal spending in general, and the separate account is also the one I use to pay AWS bills, some of which get re-charged to clients.

The only other benefit I can see is "Option to Pay By Invoice", though whether Joe Contractor would qualify for this is anyone's guess. I've only just "upgraded" this account to a business account and I'm still "pending verification", so I guess all will become clear in due course.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

I set this up recently too. I find it handy. As well as sharing he prime benefits and having all prices shown ex VAT, it means I can simply set the company billing address and card as the default and not need to worry about remembering to choose the right one when I check out. It also means I maintain a distinct order history for just company purchases which makes admin a bit easier.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

So, I've never actually looked into this so I expect a sound flaming shortly - but I've always been concerned that I'm going to lose some consumer rights by doing things like that. B2B purchases don't have nearly as many rules and regs as consumer purchases and I think they'd have a very good argument that if your invoice is to a Ltd Co then it's B2B.

Probably not an issue with someone like Amazon, but it's something that's in the back of mind.

Yes, technically B2B sales are not covered by consumer rights law.

Not been an issue with Amazon to date, their returns process works in the same way. Just remember to choose the right reason when returning something so you don’t get charged for return costs! (They’ve started doing this on all of their orders recently). “Not suitable or compatible” usually results in free return postage.

With other retailers YMMV. I recently bought a small coffee machine for the office from Currys as it wasn’t in stock on amazon. The tulips insisted I had to set up a business account and buy it under their business terms just so I could get a VAT receipt. I’m sure this is probably bollocks but I couldn’t be bothered to argue.