Everything You Need to Know about AmazonSmile

Amazon has been active in helping support a variety of charitable organizations. They’ve developed an efficient way of allowing their shoppers to make contributions to their favorite charities with a new program that is called AmazonSmile. If you’re not yet familiar with it, here is everything that you need to know about AmazonSmile.

What is AmazonSmile?

Many people who shop online with Amazon lead busy lives and although there are charities that they strongly support in their hearts, they haven’t yet found the time, or don’t know how to go about making a donation to them. Amazon smile provides shoppers with an automatic method for donating to the charitable organizations of their choice. You simply choose to shop at smile.amazon.com which offers the same products at the same low prices, but when you use this site to shop, Amazone donates a portion of the purchase price for your order to the organization that you select. They maintain a list of more than a million different organizations for you to choose from to send the support.

How do I access AmazonSmile?

Accessing AmazonSmile is simple. You just go to the web browser on your mobile device or your computer and type in smile.amazon.com. If you plan to use it several times, it’s a good idea to add it to your web browser by bookmarking it so when you want to return it will be faster and even easier.

What kinds of products are eligible for donations?

Amazon has earmarked tens of millions of eligible products. You will know which ones qualify because they are all marked with an indicator that says “Eligible for AmazonSmile donation. You’ll find this on their product detail pages. Not all products that are purchased on Amazon are eligible, but quite an assortment of them are.

Can I access AmazonSmile from my current Amazon.com account?

Absolutely. You can use your existing account to log on and begin shopping with AmazonSmile. The way that you select the charitable organization that you want to support is to do so before you begin shopping. The Amazon system is set up to remember your selection and whenever you make an eligible purchase, that charity will receive proceeds from your purchases. After the selection is made the donations will be made automatically and you won’t be paying the cost, Amazon will.

Can I choose a different charity?

If you decide that you want to change your charity selection you can do so at any time. The new charity will begin receiving the credits immediately after the change has been made. Any previous purchases that you made while the previous charity was selected will go to the organization that was your active choice at the time that the purchase was made.

How do I know that the charities are reputable?

Amazon has included a group of more than a million charities to choose from. To qualify for inclusion in their list the charities have been confirmed as eligible in accordance with their completion of 501(c)(3) filing status. They are all registered and shown to be eligible to receive donations.

You can register a charity you represent

If you are currently active with a charitable organization that is not included in AmazonSmile, they offer useful information that will guide you in learning the rules and requirements for inclusion in their list. You can find the information by visiting org.amazon.com

The amount that Amazon donates

For every eligible purchase made through the AmazonSmile program, the AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the purchase price. The buyer is not eligible to use these donations on their income taxes because the payment is actually coming from the AmazonSmile Foundation. The total purchase price does not include taxes, gift wrapping or any additional shipping or handling fees.

AmazonSmile is one way that Amazon is making a difference in the world today. It gives shoppers a way to choose their favorite charities and help them out by designating the contributions that Amazon makes to their favorites. It’s fast and easy to make the selection and if every Amazon shopper would take a few moments to make a designation it could make a big difference in the world around us.