Amazon Gift Card APIs: Direct Amazon vs. a Multi-Brand API

Updated September 2026

Amazon has an official gift card API, called the Amazon Incentives API. It lets approved partners integrate directly with Amazon to create and distribute bulk Amazon gift cards as part of their rewards and incentives programs. 

But a direct Amazon integration isn't the only way to send Amazon gift cards through an API. Nor is Amazon the only brand some companies might want to access for their rewards programs. 

For example, Giftbit provides its own multi-brand gift card API. Depending on the country, currency, reward value, and current catalog availability, businesses can use Giftbit to send Amazon gift cards alongside other popular digital rewards.

Whether you’re managing customer loyalty, employee engagement, sales incentives, or something else, integrating Amazon gift card distribution into your existing app or software can dramatically simplify the process of delivering rewards and disbursements.

Of course, Giftbit is not Amazon, and the Giftbit API is not the Amazon Incentives API. And choosing between them often comes down to whether you need a direct, Amazon-only integration or a broader rewards platform with more catalog access, delivery tools, reporting, and program support. 

In this article, we'll cover how these two approaches compare and how to find the best option for your program. 

Amazon gift card API options at a glance:

👉 Amazon Incentives API: a direct Amazon integration for Amazon-issued rewards
👉 Giftbit API: one single integration for eligible Amazon gift cards and 1500+ other reward brands
👉 The key decision: whether you need an Amazon-only connection or a broader gift card catalog with more delivery options and program-management tools

What is the Amazon Incentives API?

The Amazon Incentives API is Amazon’s official system for businesses that want to integrate Amazon incentives directly into their own applications or workflows.

Depending on the program and region, Amazon’s APIs can support digital gift card claim codes, balance-loading products, and physical gift card activation. Access is subject to Amazon’s onboarding and program requirements, and development involves Amazon credentials, signed requests, testing, funding, and production approval.

A direct Amazon integration can be a good fit if Amazon is the only reward you plan to offer and your team is prepared to build and manage the surrounding delivery and program workflows.

For current technical requirements and product availability, use Amazon’s official Incentives API documentation.

When a multi-brand gift card API makes more sense

Yes, a direct Amazon integration can be a great tool when Amazon is the only reward your program needs. But many gift card incentive programs eventually require more choice.

That's what happened for MustardHub, an all-in-one employee engagement and cultural intelligence platform that gives organizations access to meaningful employee gifts and rewards (among other features). They expanded to a reliable multi-brand gift card API when employees starting asking for more. 

"People wanted more choice," says Co-Founder and CEO Curtis Forbes, which is why they eventually switched to the Giftbit API.

👀 See the full story here.  

You might find you need different types of gift cards for different countries, for example, or the ability to let recipients choose what they receive.

Maybe, like Curtis, you'll find your recipients just want lots and lots of brands to choose from.

Or perhaps Amazon cards work great for times when you want to offer more familiar, broadly useful rewards, but sometimes you want to treat your team to coffee or splurge on a night out. 

And if you want to offer more choice, you've got a few more options. Some services, like Uber, provide APIs for their own credits or vouchers. But supporting multiple brands usually means managing separate programs, integrations, funding requirements, and regional rules.

And building and maintaining a separate integration with every brand can quickly create a complicated backend.

That's why finding a reliable multi-brand gift card API is usually the way to go. 

For example, Giftbit's one API integration provides access to eligible Amazon gift cards, along with 1500+ more brands and products, including Visa® and Mastercard® prepaid cards, charity options, Instant Pay, and crypto options. Your team can use  it to order rewards, manage delivery, monitor order activity, and support recipients.

In short, a multi-brand approach is particularly useful when you need:

• Amazon gift cards alongside other reward brands
• Reward options for recipients in different countries
• A choice-based reward experience
• Centralized delivery and reporting
• The ability to identify and resend unclaimed rewards
• Human support for programs of different sizes
• A test environment for building and debugging your integration

👉 Whether you need Mastercard prepaid cards for a global rewards program, gas gift cards, gift cards in very low denominations, or other types of open or closed loop gift cards, the Giftbit API is free and easy to use and designed to make life simple.

Amazon Incentives API or a multi-brand gift card API?

Both API approaches can support an automated Amazon gift card program, but they solve different problems.

👉 Remember, neither option is automatically better.  A direct integration offers a closer connection to Amazon, while a multi-brand API can reduce the number of reward providers and workflows your team has to manage.

What exactly is an API to send Amazon gift cards?

Let's back up a little, in case we lost you at 'API.' 😉

A gift card API is a tool that businesses use to automate the process of sending Amazon digital gift cards and other gift cards and prepaid cards through programmatic requests.

Or in layman's terms a gift card API lets you integrate Amazon gift card distribution into your existing software. This means deliver Amazon digital gift cards (and other digital products) in real-time through your own app or portal.

This kind of real-time automation is crucial for businesses that rely on timely rewards to motivate actions. By ensuring that bulk digital gift cards are delivered right away, you can reinforce your desired behavior while engagement is still high.

Gift card APIs: the technical details

In simple terms, an API, or Application Programming Interface, is a software intermediary that lets two computer programs communicate with each other.

Using a tool like Giftbit's RESTful API will connect your company’s app or platform with Giftbit’s complete digital rewards platform and global catalog (which includes gift cards for Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.it, Amazon.com.mx, and Amazon.es, along with hundreds of other popular brands).

Learn more about sending Amazon brand gift cards internationally here. 

This means you (or your web developer) can use the Giftbit API to integrate Amazon gift cards, along with global prepaid cards, Starbucks gift cards . . . and all the available products in our diverse catalog, directly into your own company’s software. 🙌

The Giftbit API is easy to understand and specifically designed to make integration as simple as possible.  Its purpose is to do one thing: take an order and send the reward.

Translation: you (or your developer) can have a seamless reward and payout workflow up and running in no time.

For example, according to Greg Augustine, Project Manager at Prime46, his company’s developer was able to integrate the Giftbit API with their processes in just two days.

“It wasn’t difficult for our developer to implement at all,” Greg remembers. “I basically told him, ‘Here's the information I have, let me know if you need anything more.’ And I haven’t heard anything since."

To sum up, if your company wants to integrate a gift card program directly into your existing workflow and/or platform, you’ll need an internal or external developer to connect it via API (or via Zapier, a simpler route which we’ll cover further below).

When choosing a new API, your developer will look for one with high uptime that is also reliable, secure, and cost-effective, with a fair and transparent pricing model.

But if you're a business owner or program manager, you don’t need to worry about the technical details—just know that using an API (or a Zapier gift card integration, which we'll cover below) can dramatically help automate and scale an Amazon gift card program, depending on your workflow and technical requirements.

Why use an API to automate Amazon gift card delivery? 4 key benefits

Using a gift card API for Amazon gift card distribution is a smart choice for a wide variety of use cases, ranging from referral programs to employee engagement efforts designed to improve culture and retention.

One of the most significant benefits of this approach is the ability to deliver rewards instantly.

For example, if you’re running a sales contest, the ability to send an Amazon.com gift card immediately after a goal is achieved will reinforce the positive behavior you want to encourage.

This immediate reinforcement is crucial because it keeps participants engaged and motivated.

Reducing operational overhead is another key benefit. 

For businesses that send out bulk gift cards, manually processing these orders is time-consuming and prone to errors.

But by integrating an API, you can automate the entire process. This means no more logging in to place orders or worrying about inaccuracies. Instead, once connected, the API can create reward orders from your existing workflow, reducing repeated manual order entry and the risk of errors.

In fact, this is how Greg at Prime46 now saves 10+ hours a week on incentive fulfillment of Amazon.com gift cards specifically.

Finally, scalability is another major advantage of solid API integrations. If your program involves multiple rewards per hour or operates 24/7, a manual system would require a dedicated team or manager (like Greg!) to manage orders constantly.

But with a gift card API, you can scale effortlessly, handling large volumes of rewards with minimal effort. 

How to access the gift card API

Accessing Giftbit’s API is straightforward. There are no API usage fees, minimum order requirements, or exclusivity contracts.

To get started, you’ll just need to create a free testbed account with Giftbit. Once your testbed account is set up, you can easily connect to the API, and your developer can start testing in the sandbox environment.

Giftbit setup is designed to be accessible for businesses of all sizes, whether you’re just starting out or already running a large-scale program.

👉 At a glance: How to send Amazon gift cards through Giftbit’s API

Sending an Amazon gift card through Giftbit uses the Giftbit API rather than Amazon’s direct Incentives API.

1. Create and test your integration

Create a free Giftbit account and use the ungated testbed environment to build your workflow without sending or funding real rewards.

2. Check the current catalog

Retrieve the products available for the recipient’s country and confirm the required currency, reward value, and denomination rules.

Amazon gift cards are marketplace-specific, and product availability can change. Build your integration around current catalog data rather than assuming that every Amazon product will always be available.

3. Create the reward order

Once you’ve confirmed availability, your application can create an order for the appropriate Amazon gift card. Depending on your program, you can also offer a selection that includes Amazon and other eligible rewards.

4. Deliver and monitor the reward

Choose the appropriate delivery workflow, then use Giftbit’s program tools to monitor activity and follow up on rewards that haven’t been claimed.

This lets your team manage Amazon and other rewards through a consistent workflow instead of maintaining a separate system for every brand.

Do you need a gift card API?

If you’re not ready for direct API integration or you simply don't need it yet, you may want to explore other options for integration—namely Zapier integration.

Zapier acts as a platform middleman, connecting your existing apps with Giftbit’s gift card platform. Instead of using an API to ‘talk’ to your distributor, Zapier will do the talking instead, linking to workflows you already use (think HubSpot, Google Docs, Airtable, and a lot more).

For smaller programs or those just getting started, Zapier is a great way to automate and integrate reward sending, without needing deep technical expertise.

You can set up workflows that automatically send rewards when certain conditions are met, such as completing a survey or reaching a sales milestone—no developer needed. 

In fact, that’s how Curipod’s COO & Co-Founder Eirik Hernes Berre set up his app company’s own incentive program in just ten minutes.

"We needed universal gift cards and a system that was easy to automate," says Eirik. "I watched the Zapier video on Giftbit's website and set it up in 10 minutes using Giftbit, Zapier, and Hubspot." 
👀 See the full story here. 

👉Zapier can be a good fit when rewards are triggered by activity in supported tools and you don’t need a custom integration. For programs requiring custom logic, an in-app reward experience, or high-volume real-time fulfillment, direct API access may be the better fit.

Can you use an API to send Amazon gift cards internationally?

Finally, we should note that there isn’t one universal Amazon gift card that works in every country.

Amazon gift cards are generally associated with a particular Amazon marketplace. A gift card intended for Amazon.com, for example, may not be redeemable through another country’s Amazon website.

So before including an Amazon gift card in an international rewards program, you'll want to confirm:

• The recipient’s country
• The appropriate Amazon marketplace
• The required currency
• Available reward values and denominations
• Any product-specific redemption restrictions

Giftbit’s catalog can help you identify which Amazon gift cards and other rewards are currently available for a particular region. Because catalogs can change, check current availability rather than relying on a permanent country list.

Sending to recipients outside the US?  Use the Giftbit API to send to the following countries (available as of September 2026)

🇦🇺 Australia—Amazon.com.au
🇦🇹 Austria, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇱🇺 Luxembourg—Amazon.de
🇧🇪 Belgium—Amazon.com.be
🇨🇦 Canada—Amazon.ca
🇫🇷 France —Amazon.fr
🇬🇧 Great Britain —Amazon.co.uk
🇮🇳 India—Amazon.in
🇮🇹 Italy —Amazon.it
🇯🇵 Japan —Amazon.co.jp
🇲🇽 Mexico —Amazon.com.mx
🇳🇱 Netherlands—Amazon.nl
🇵🇱 Poland —Amazon.pl
🇸🇬 Singapore —Amazon.sg
🇿🇦 South Africa —Amazon.co.za
🇪🇸 Spain —Amazon.es
🇸🇪 Sweden —Amazon.se
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates —Amazon.ae
🇺🇸 United States - Amazon.com

If you'd like to use a flexible API to send gift cards from Amazon.com along with other brands and retailers, sign up for a free Giftbit testbed account now.

Or book time with Sales if you have any questions about the process.