Many people know that Amazon frequently offers a credit for Prime members who choose no rush shipping for deliveries.  The offers tend to vary: The promotional credit might be for Amazon video, MP3 music or Kindle books. Video, as well as software and games credits are occasionally offered. Sometimes, the credit is for $1 or $2; other times, a $5.99 Prime Pantry shipping benefit is offered instead. When an eligible order is placed, Amazon sends an email noting the credit and the expiration date for getting the promotional discount.

But did you know that there is a way to check the amount of unused credits you have remaining on your account? Buried in the digital music section, Amazon has a page where you can go to check the unused credits on your account. When you click to check your balance, a pop-up opens with a  breakdown of the balances for eligible products: Amazon gift cards, MP3s, Kindle books, Amazon Video, software and games:

(Click photos to enlarge)

What the page does not list are the expiration dates of the credits themselves. The site advises that you check the original promotion emails for the expiration dates. This page shows all of your available credits except for Appstore credits.

Interestingly, when I had previously looked in the past, I had not been able to find this information. But according to the page itself, it says I should be able to check the account credit balance on any Digital Music detail page by clicking the “Redeem a gift card or promotional code and View Balance” button. To check, I went to the detail page for Mozart For Your Mind – Boost Your Brain Power.  As you can see in the picture below, on my current version of Amazon, I don’t have a link or a button with that label. Instead, on the right side of the item detail page, there is a box under the buy button that says more options. Without being told, I would have no idea to look there to check my balance.

Clicking on the more options button reveals further choices, including  “Add a gift or promotion code” instead of the  “Redeem a gift card or promotional code” link I was looking for.  The check balance part of the label is missing entirely. Once again, I would have no idea to look there if I wanted to check my balance without being told.

If you click on the “Add a gift or promotion code” link, the following pop-up screen appears:

I was then offered a choice of using my gift card balance or my MP3 credit. No other balances are shown to me.

Checking for video credits was a completely different process. I tested it on the detail page for an episode of The Walking Dead. Underneath the buy buttons, this page did have a link that was worded “Redeem a gift card or promotional code.” Clicking on the link revealed a different pop-up which included the addition of Apps for Android credits, as seen in the picture below:

Strangely, the video page is the only one that shows all your various available credits in one place.

Checking the ebook and software item pages revealed no way of checking credit balances. (I don’t know if it made a difference that I had no existing credits in those categories.) The ebooks detail page had a “Enter a promotion or gift code” link buried under the “Add to Wishlist ” button and the choices available were only either to enter a promotion Code or an Amazon Gift Card.  None of the software detail pages had a button or link to add or redeem a code of any kind nor a way to check a credit balance.

The App store detail page was again different from the previous pages. (I don’t think that it is technically a part of the No Rush shipping credit program – or at least I have never seen it. All my past app credits have been tied to other Appstore purchases.) Clicking the “Redeem a gift card or promotional code” link on this page only yielded two choices, a gift card balance or an Appstore credit.

So, it seems that while there are several ways of reviewing your credits, the easiest, most straightforward way of checking the credits is the page designated for checking the account.

As a Prime member, I am a huge fan of the No Rush shipping credits. I can get extras for things that I am already buying. But, personally, I have had unused credits expire on more than one occasion because I forgot I had them. I was delighted to figure out to check my credits. 🙂