If you aren't using Amazon Payments, you aren't living

Amazon Payments is a payment service that lets you pay merchants or any other person who has an e-mail address, just like PayPal.  The big difference between PayPal and Amazon Payments is that there are no fees associated with credit card payments.  Yes, major light bulb.  Neither sender nor recipient pays fees for payments using a credit card.  That means:

1. Free rewards - Send money to someone who won't abscond with it to Panama.
2. Excellent way to hit minimum spend on new credit cards - Need to hit that outrageous sounding $10,000 in spending get a mega credit card bonus?  No problem.

Well, there are limitations.  Each Amazon account can send and receive $1,000 of payments per month via credit cards.  That's $20 per month for those of you with a decent 2% back credit card.  Some people have multiple Amazon accounts and have successfully charged thousands per month, though I would not recommend this.  To open an account, you do have to enter your social security number, I assume as part of the Patriot act or some other anti money laundering regulation.

The best deals tend to be deals where there is a deep pocketed sponsor who is trying to buy market share, just like Microsoft tried to buy search share by sponsoring Bing cashback, which is an extreme example.  My guess is that Amazon doesn't mind you taking advantage of fee-free Amazon Payments for a while because they are trying to buy payments market share, which will in turn give them more competitive rates with banks, give them more credibility with retailers, and broaden customer adoption so that they can be a viable PayPal competitor.

Get $20 for signing up for American Express' Paypal-like service called Serve

(expires January 5)

American Express has a Paypal-like service called Serve that lets you send money by e-mail.  Until January 5th, you get a $10 bonus in your account for signing up.  Then, after you sign up, you can play a simple trivia gave to get another $10 deposited in your account (after a business day or so).  You can also fund your account with a credit card without fees (for now), up to $250 to pick up some token miles or cash back.  You can also refer your friends to get $5 for each referral.  You'll need to enter some identifying details like the last 4 of your social security number.

Newegg 10% off with Paypal

(expired)

Pay with PayPal at Newegg, and you will get 10% of your purchase over $200 rebated to your PayPal account in a few weeks.  Offer is good while funds last, which probably won't be long given Newegg's popularity.  Some good deals:

• Nikon D40 SLR: $435 - 10% = $391.50
• Canon S90: $399 - $20 after code EMCMNMS36 - 10% = $341
• Patriot 32GB SDHC card (Class 10 -- fastest available): $105 - 10% = $94.50

Best Buy $20 off with Paypal

(expires November 16)

BestBuy gives you $20 off $100 when you pay with PayPal.  Just choose PayPal as your payment method (you can pay from your credit card to earn miles/points, but you lose some purchase protections).  You will receive $20 in your PayPal account a few weeks after your purchase.  You can save on shipping by picking up from a nearby store.  Gift cards are excluded.

Newegg $20 off $100 using Paypal

(expires August 10)

Newgg.com sells technology products at some of the lowest prices on the Internet.  For a limited time, Newegg is offering new customers $20 off orders of $100 or more if you use Paypal as your checkout method.