Buy with Prime is an Amazon service that lets a merchant sell on its own website with Prime benefits attached. Eligible products carry the Prime badge and a delivery date, Prime members pay with the card and address stored in their Amazon accounts, and Amazon ships and takes back the goods from its own warehouses. The merchant keeps the storefront and the customer's contact details; Amazon keeps the logistics, the payment layer and a fee on every order. It exists because Amazon wanted Prime, and the warehouses behind it, to earn money on websites it does not own, and merchants wanted the conversion the badge is said to bring. As of September 2026 it is open only to merchants with a US-based entity shipping to US addresses, according to Amazon.

How it works

Three things must be in place first: stock in Amazon fulfilment centres, an Amazon Pay account and a catalogue mapping the merchant's stock-keeping units (SKUs) to Amazon's, according to Amazon's requirements page. Inventory usually sits in the pool used for Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), and off-Amazon orders ship through Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF), Amazon's third-party logistics service. Products need not be sold on Amazon.com; a brand selling only on its own site opens an Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) account instead, according to Amazon.

The 2022 version was button code pasted into a product page template, according to Marketplace Pulse. Shopify merchants use the MCF and Buy with Prime app, which runs inside Shopify's checkout; BigCommerce and Salesforce Commerce Cloud have their own connectors. Larger merchants call the Buy with Prime application programming interface (API), built on GraphQL. A deliveryPreview query returns the delivery window shown on a product page, a createOrder mutation places the order, and event notifications keep refunds and returns in step with the merchant's systems. Amazon's Selling Partner API (SP-API) cannot create these orders, according to the documentation.

At checkout, a Prime member selects Buy with Prime, signs in to Amazon and confirms the stored card and address. On Shopify, Shopify Payments processes the charge from the Amazon wallet; elsewhere Amazon Pay does. Amazon ships through MCF and handles returns and after-sales service. The merchant receives the shopper's name, email, shipping address and phone number and may use them under its own privacy policy, but may not tell third parties which customers are Prime members, according to Amazon's information-handling rules. Klaviyo built an integration that synced Buy with Prime order and transaction records.

Pricing is a stack: a Prime service fee of 3% of order value excluding tax, a per-unit fulfilment fee set by size, weight and units per order, monthly storage and payment processing, according to Amazon's pricing page. Amazon.com referral fees do not apply, and Shopify merchants pay Shopify's processing charges instead of Amazon Pay's. Storage is billed whether or not goods sell, rises from October to January and carries a surcharge beyond 180 days. The minimum service fee shapes small baskets. Until January 15, 2026 it was $1.00, so any order below $33.33 paid more than 3%; a $10 order paid 10%. At the new $0.30 minimum, the 3% rate applies from $10 upwards.

Origin and evolution

Amazon announced Buy with Prime on April 21, 2022, by invitation to FBA merchants, promising to extend it during the year to merchants outside its marketplace and FBA. At its Accelerate seller conference on September 14, 2022, it began piloting Sponsored Brands ads leading to a Buy with Prime page inside a brand's store, plus Amazon-funded Facebook and Instagram ads. "Direct-to-consumer online sellers struggle with two key pain-points: driving traffic and converting shoppers," said Peter Larsen, then vice president of Buy with Prime, according to the announcement.

Shopify objected. By September 2022, merchants saving the button code saw a warning about an "Unsupported external checkout script" that "could steal customer data and may cause customers to be charged the wrong amount", according to Marketplace Pulse. Shopify's terms required sales to pass through its checkout; Amazon said it protected shopper data to its own standards, according to CNBC.

On January 10, 2023, Amazon said the programme would open to eligible US merchants by January 31, reported an average 25% conversion lift and launched Reviews from Amazon, which shows Amazon reviews on the merchant's site, according to its press release. The truce came on August 30, 2023, with a jointly built app that kept orders inside Shopify's checkout, according to Amazon. Amazon expected all eligible US Shopify merchants to have it by the end of September; Marketplace Pulse reported general availability in mid-November.

Accelerate on September 18, 2024 brought Amazon DSP for Buy with Prime, PayPal at checkout for API merchants and a single Shopify cart mixing Prime and non-Prime items. API version 2024-11-01 let merchants offer Amazon delivery to non-Prime shoppers as well.

Why it matters for marketers

Buy with Prime turns a logistics contract into an advertising input. Amazon DSP for Buy with Prime builds audiences from Amazon product-page visits and purchases, combined with the merchant's own site signals, and sends them to product pages on the merchant's domain. Under Amazon DSP policy, a brand outside the programme can use only category-level Amazon audiences to drive traffic to its own site, according to Amazon.

Delivery promises also travel into rival ad units. Google announced a Merchant Center integration with MCF in October 2024, and MCF fast badges reached Google Shopping and TikTok ads on June 19, 2025. TikTok ads then added Buy with Prime checkout, with conditions: catalogue video formats are unsupported and the first catalogue synchronisation takes 24 to 48 hours. The route serves campaigns, not TikTok Shop storefronts.

Click, landing page and order sit on the merchant's domain, and the customer's email reaches the merchant's customer relationship management (CRM) system, while Amazon reports conversions from its DSP. For brands already holding FBA inventory, one stock pool serves the marketplace, the website and paid social.

Limitations and disputes

Evidence comes almost entirely from Amazon. The 25% conversion figure is drawn from 37 merchants with monthly traffic between 5,000 and 3 million visits, and the 16% rise in revenue per shopper from A/B tests with 167 merchants between July 2023 and June 2024. Growth is reported as percentages, such as 45% more orders and 25% more merchants in 2024, never as absolute counts.

Costs have mostly moved one way. After fulfilment fees rose by an average of $0.24 per unit in January, a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge reached US Buy with Prime fees on May 2, 2026. The offset is narrower: Amazon extended its Ships in Product Packaging programme to MCF and Buy with Prime orders in April, dropping default packing slips and offering discounts of up to $1.32 per unit for certified products.

Control is the older objection. Standalone Buy with Prime replaces the merchant's checkout, returns handling and customer service with Amazon's, which is what Shopify first resisted. Amazon also records how often shoppers view Buy with Prime products and start, complete or abandon checkout on merchant sites. It uses aggregated data to price and promote its services, but bars non-public Buy with Prime data from pricing and sourcing in its store, own brands included, according to its FAQ. No external audit of those limits has been published.

The badge is also tied to Amazon's warehouses. In its September 26, 2023 complaint, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged that Amazon conditions Prime eligibility in its store on sellers using its fulfilment service, according to the FTC. That case concerns the marketplace, Amazon disputes it, and a trial is scheduled for 2027. Buy with Prime applies the same coupling off Amazon: no Amazon fulfilment, no badge. European brands cannot use it at all, although MCF opened a German-language portal in March 2026.

Not the same as

Amazon Pay. A wallet for paying on other sites with Amazon credentials. It carries no Prime badge and no fulfilment; Buy with Prime uses it as its payment layer.

Multi-Channel Fulfillment. Amazon's logistics service for orders from other channels, used for Walmart orders from May 2025 and TikTok Shop orders through nine apps. Since September 24 it can offer Prime delivery without Buy with Prime.

Buy for Me and Shop Direct. The reverse flow: Shop Direct lists other websites' products inside Amazon, and Buy for Me has an Amazon AI agent complete the purchase on the merchant's site, with the merchant keeping fulfilment and returns. Third-party feeds opened on March 11, 2026, after a backlash over listings built from scraped brand sites.

Seller Fulfilled Prime. A route to the Prime badge on Amazon.com for merchants shipping from their own warehouses under performance thresholds. It does not extend to the merchant's website.

Recent developments

Amazon now sells Buy with Prime as part of a logistics business, Amazon Supply Chain Services, which opened to any business on May 4, 2026. On September 24, it added a lighter alternative: MCF merchants can offer Prime delivery as a shipping option at no additional cost while keeping checkout, payments, returns and customer service. Shoppers do not sign in; Amazon verifies membership after the order from the email and shipping address, and a shopper it cannot verify gets one free upgrade to Prime speed on a first order, according to Amazon. Merchants must pick one. Among 15 early adopters between November 2025 and May 2026, more than 40% of eligible orders shipped with Prime delivery, Amazon said. Larsen, now vice president of ASCS, described "fast, free Prime delivery on their own site at no added cost", according to the announcement.

Timeline

  • April 21, 2022: Amazon announces Buy with Prime, by invitation to merchants using Fulfillment by Amazon
  • June 2022: Shopify merchants begin testing the Buy with Prime button code
  • September 1, 2022: Marketplace Pulse reports Shopify warning merchants that the code breaches its terms of service
  • September 14, 2022: Amazon pilots Sponsored Brands ads and Amazon-funded social ads for Buy with Prime merchants
  • January 10, 2023: Amazon reports a 25% average conversion lift and launches Reviews from Amazon; BigCommerce announces an app
  • January 31, 2023: Buy with Prime opens to all eligible US merchants
  • August 30, 2023: Amazon announces the Buy with Prime app for Shopify
  • September 26, 2023: The FTC and 17 states sue Amazon, alleging Prime eligibility is conditioned on Amazon fulfilment
  • November 2023: The Shopify app is reported available to all merchants
  • September 18, 2024: Amazon DSP for Buy with Prime, PayPal checkout for API merchants and a unified Shopify checkout are announced
  • October 9, 2024: Google Merchant Center announces an integration with Amazon MCF
  • November 2024: API version 2024-11-01 extends Amazon delivery to shoppers without Prime
  • June 19, 2025: MCF fast badges reach Google Shopping ads and TikTok ads
  • August 2025: TikTok ads support Buy with Prime checkout
  • January 15, 2026: Fulfilment fees rise by an average of $0.24 per unit and the service fee minimum falls to $0.30
  • March 11, 2026: Amazon opens Shop Direct to third-party product feeds
  • April 2026: Ships in Product Packaging is extended to MCF and Buy with Prime orders
  • May 2, 2026: A 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge applies to US Buy with Prime fees
  • May 4, 2026: Amazon Supply Chain Services opens to any business
  • September 24, 2026: Amazon launches Prime delivery as an MCF shipping option on merchant websites
  • 2027: Trial scheduled in the FTC antitrust case against Amazon

Summary

Who. Amazon operates Buy with Prime through Amazon Supply Chain Services, with Amazon Pay and Multi-Channel Fulfillment underneath. US direct-to-consumer merchants use it, on Shopify, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud or through its API, and Prime members buy through it. Amazon DSP, Google Shopping and TikTok carry its badge in ads, while Shopify first resisted and the FTC contests the link between Prime and Amazon fulfilment on the marketplace.

What. A service that puts the Prime badge, delivery promise, Amazon checkout, fulfilment and returns on a merchant's own website, priced as a 3% service fee plus fulfilment, storage and payment charges.

When. Announced on April 21, 2022, opened to all eligible US merchants on January 31, 2023, integrated with Shopify from August 30, 2023, and joined on September 24, 2026 by a lighter Prime delivery option.

Where. On merchant websites in the United States, for orders shipped to US addresses, with its badge appearing in Google Shopping ads, TikTok ads and Amazon DSP campaigns.

Why. Amazon extends Prime and its warehouses beyond its own store, and merchants seek higher conversion while keeping customer contact details. Amazon-sourced performance data, rising fees, the loss of checkout control and the tie between the badge and Amazon fulfilment remain the points of dispute.