The short answer? No, Amazon gift cards don’t work in all countries regardless of where you buy them. Despite Amazon's global presence, its gift cards come with geographic restrictions that can catch people (and businesses) off guard.
If you’re planning to send an Amazon gift card to someone overseas, you’ll need to take some extra steps.
Key takeaways
Different countries use different Amazon websites that operate independently from each other. Even if you have an account on Amazon.com, you need to create a new account to buy gift cards on Amazon.co.uk to send gift cards in the UK.
Amazon gift cards work only in the country where they're purchased. A U.S. card won't work on international Amazon websites.
For businesses that send bulk rewards internationally, it’s essential to use a platform that offers Amazon gift cards for multiple countries.
Without a global payout platform, you’ll need region-specific Amazon codes for every country you send gift cards to. This makes tracking and tax compliance extremely difficult.
Why Amazon gift cards are country-locked
Amazon gift cards don’t work across different countries because each country uses a different Amazon website with its own currency.
A gift card bought in U.S. dollars can’t be added to an Amazon site that uses British pounds. Even if the currency could convert automatically, the total gift card amount would be different from what your recipient thought they’d receive, which might trigger complaints.
One mistake companies make when sending gift cards internationally is forgetting to add rewards for a specific country, which results in an error when the recipient tries to redeem.
Emily Russell
Director of Customer Support at Tremendous
Taxes create additional barriers to Amazon gift cards working across borders. VAT in Europe, GST in Australia, and state sales tax in the U.S. all require different handling. Businesses that give gift cards as incentives also have to comply with country-specific financial regulations.
Workarounds for international Amazon gift cards
You can still send Amazon gift cards to international recipients — you just need to use the right tools.
Use a global rewards and incentives platform
Global rewards platforms make it simpler and faster to send gift cards internationally. These tools source region-specific gift cards, manage currency conversions, and some even translate languages automatically.
With Tremendous, you can see which countries offer Amazon gift cards before sending so you can confirm upfront that recipients will have access to local rewards.
Buy individually on each local Amazon site
The non-platform option is to buy gift cards from each specific country’s Amazon website. Sending to Germany? Buy from Amazon.de. Japan? Use Amazon.co.jp.
This might sound simple, but it gets complicated quickly if you’re ordering for recipients in multiple countries. You'll need to set up individual accounts for each marketplace, navigate foreign language sites, and budget extra for foreign transaction fees.
How bulk Amazon gift cards work for businesses
Buying ad hoc gift cards becomes impossible at scale. Gift card APIs and bulk upload tools can automate ordering and make sending rewards anywhere easier. A participant in France receives an Amazon.fr code, someone in India gets Amazon.in, all from one campaign setup. No wrong regional codes, no failed redemptions.
The right technology can save hours of administrative work a month.
Tracking, reporting, and tax compliance considerations
International gift card distribution requires tracking:
Which codes went where
Exchange rates for budgets
Redemption status
Tax obligations by country
Reward platforms consolidate this information into a unified dashboard for all distributions, streamlining reporting and automating documentation.
Summary
Amazon gift cards don't generally work internationally. Each country's marketplace requires its own gift card purchased in the local currency.
Manual purchasing from individual Amazon sites works for occasional gifts but doesn't scale. For businesses that need to send lots of rewards globally, incentive platforms can handle country detection, currency conversion, language translation, and tracking automatically.
