Division of Finance & Administration

Amazon Business

" " The University of Vermont has a partnership with Amazon Business in order to simplify the purchasing process, increase visibility, and allow you to take advantage of the wide selection and competitive prices of the Amazon marketplace. This central account will also ensure that your purchases are compliant with the University’s tax-exempt status.

Through this centralized Amazon Business account, you will have immediate access to:

Free 5-8-day shipping on orders over $25
Pricing and quantity discounts
Access to a specialized Customer Service team (866) 486-2360
Enhanced reporting features

As always, it is best to use UVM’s contracts and pricing agreements. Questions about UVM’s contracts and pricing agreements should be directed to purchasing@uvm.edu.
(Office supplies and scientific laboratory supplies are mandated through our Staples and Thermo Fisher contracts and are not allowable from Amazon.)

Please note that it is not allowable for individuals to use UVM's Amazon business account for personal purchases (using your own personal credit cards)

This type of activity puts UVM’s sales tax exemption with the State of Vermont at risk. Individuals must deactivate any personal credit cards associated to the UVM Amazon business account effective immediately. It is the individual's responsibility to calculate the state sales tax due to the State of Vermont when completing personal tax forms.

All Amazon accounts and purchases must be consolidated to the centralized University of Vermont Amazon Business account. If you are unsure of how to activate or deactivate your account, or use Amazon Business, please see the reference guide (PDF) or accompanying videos for further guidance. These resources include instructions on what to do if you are already using your @uvm.edu account on Amazon.com.

Tax Refund Process

Go to “Your Orders” on Amazon.com.
Locate the item that was charged tax and click the “Contact the Seller” button.
- If the button is not there, call the ATEP support line at 1-888-280-9552.
Enter the subject as “Tax Exemption Refund Request.”
Include the order number and the amount charged.
The seller is required to respond within 72 hours. The seller may ask for some additional information or they may simply issue the refund.

Please contact the PurCard team if you have further questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Account Benefits

Why should I register for UVM Amazon business account?

Through this centralized Amazon Business account, you will have immediate access to:

Tax exemption from the Vermont state sales tax
Free two-day shipping on orders over $49. All qualifying orders will indicate free shipping on the product detail page. This information is displayed next to the item’s price when adding to your cart.
Free standard shipping on eligible orders at $35
Pricing and quantity discounts
Access to a specialized Customer Service team (866) 486-2360
Enhanced reporting features

Can I use the UVM Amazon account for my personal purchases, since I use my firstname.lastname@uvm.edu account for my home shopping?

No, we cannot personally take advantage of the benefits of the UVM Amazon business account. For example, individuals are not given an exemption from Vermont state sales tax. Only purchases for the University are granted this exemption.

What happens if I do not register my purchasing card with the UVM Amazon business account?

If you do not register with Amazon and are charged VT state sales tax, you will be expected to reimburse the University.

Registration and Email

Can cardholders use their email accounts that end in med.uvm.edu or bsad.uvm.edu for their UVM Amazon business accounts and keep their uvm.edu addresses for their personal Amazon accounts? We have several individuals who have two email addresses (for example, firstname.lastname@med.uvm.edu and firstname.lastname@uvm.edu).

Cardholders can only register their account using the email with which they are invited. If a cardholder wishes to register a different uvm.edu email address, please email purcard@uvm.edu with this request. We will send this request to Amazon to initiate a new invitation.

Does a temporary password always go to your email account when setting up your Amazon Business Account?

There are no temporary passwords used during any part of the registration process. If the cardholder is prompted to enter a password (as opposed to creating a password during the registration process), it is because they already have an existing account set up with the email address they are trying to use. If they do not remember the password (some people don’t remember even making the account), they can use the forgot password link to reset their password. The cardholder will receive an Amazon email with a password assistance code.

Can cardholders use their UVM netID (first initial, last name) email address for their Amazon Business Account and keep their first name-last name UVM e-mail address for their personal account? For example, netID@uvm.edu for the Business Account and firstname.lastname@uvm.edu for their personal account. Some worry that their personal purchase history will be lost if they change their address to the Business Account.

Cardholders can only register their account using the email with which they are invited.

If you are added with firstname.lastname@uvm.edu and have already been using that email on an account for personal purchases, you can choose to split off your personal order history and assign it to a new email account (gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc.).
If you want to use netID@uvm.edu as the new email, that is fine. The Disbursement Center must work with Amazon to register this alternate email account.
If a cardholder wishes to register a different uvm.edu email address, please email purcard@uvm.edu with this request. We will send this request to Amazon to initiate a new invitation.

I didn’t register with Amazon within the 7 days, and the invitation has expired. What do I do?

Email AB-Services@amazon.com to request a new invitation.

I am a new UVM Purchasing Cardholder. I need access to the UVM Amazon business account. What do I do?

The UVM PurCard application has been modified to ask whether the cardholder anticipates purchasing at Amazon.com. Email AB-Services@amazon.com to request a new invitation.

Order History

After setting up an Amazon Business Account, past history of spend disappeared. Is this correct?

Whether or not the account includes past order history depends on how the account was registered.

If the cardholder has already been using an account with their uvm.edu email for university purchases, they should migrate the account over (Scenario 2 of the Amazon Reference Guide (PDF)).
If the user has used their uvm.edu email on an account to make personal purchases, they can choose to split off this old history and start fresh with a clean account (Scenario 3 of the Amazon Reference Guide). The old history will be attached to a personal email account such as gmail.com or yahoo.com. The business account will be the uvm.edu email account.

Since we are all under the umbrella UVM Amazon business account, can other UVM employees see my purchases?

No, order history is only viewable by the cardholder, with your Amazon login. No one else can see this order history.