Division of Finance and Administration

Amazon Business Prime

We are excited to announce that UVM has enabled Business Prime on our Amazon Business account! Current registered UVM users now have access to a powerful suite of purchasing benefits — at no additional cost to your department.

Contact Us

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  • Holly LeBlanc, Team Lead, 656-1300
  • Melanie Broe, Card Programs Specialist, 656-1215
  • Michael Buechler, PurCard Specialist, 656-1198
  • Lori Laquerre, PurCard Specialist, 656-0885
  • Becky Maglaris, PurCard Specialist, 656-1214

purcard@uvm.edu
Phone: 802-656-4192

Disbursement Center
205 Waterman
Burlington, VT 05405

Buyer Beware

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Online orders general info: You may receive a bill from FedEx for duties and taxes on an international Amazon order if the seller did not include an "Import Charge" at checkout.

This is due to recent tariff changes that have ended the de minimis exemption for many packages, making the recipient responsible for these fees unless the seller chose to pay them upfront. You are also responsible for any brokerage fees FedEx charges for handling customs clearance. Be wary of scams, and verify any bills by checking the tracking number on the official FedEx website. 

What to do if you receive a bill

  • Verify the bill: Go to the official FedEx website and enter your tracking number to confirm the charges are legitimate.
  • Check the seller's policy: Review the item's description on Amazon to see if it was listed as "delivered duty paid" (DDP) or "delivered duty unpaid" (DDU).
  • Contact the seller: If the seller was supposed to cover the costs but didn't, contact them for a refund. They may have a policy to reimburse you for these unexpected charges.
  • Pay the bill: If you are responsible, you can pay FedEx through the link in their email or SMS, their online payment portal, or FedEx Billing Online. 

What to know about the charges

  • Tariffs are paid by the recipient: If the seller did not collect an import charge at checkout, the responsibility to pay customs duties and taxes falls on the buyer.
  • Brokerage fees apply: FedEx will add its own charges for the service of clearing the package through customs.
  • Recent tariff changes increased the likelihood of bills: The end of the de minimis exemption means many more packages are subject to import duties, leading to confusion and surprise bills for shoppers. 

How to protect yourself from scams 

  • Be skeptical of immediate payment requests: FedEx will generally notify you via email or SMS after the shipment has been delivered and cleared customs, not before.
  • Do not provide personal information: Do not reply to any emails or texts asking for personal information. Go directly to the official FedEx website to make payments.
  • Verify with the tracking number: The tracking number is the most reliable way to confirm the authenticity of a request

UVM’s partnership with Amazon Business Prime simplifies the purchasing process, increases visibility, and allows you to take advantage of the wide selection and competitive prices of the Amazon marketplace. This central account also ensures purchases are compliant with UVM's tax-exempt status.

Business Prime is available to registered UVM users at no extra cost to departments and will be linked to your @uvm.edu email account. Reminder: This is for University business purchases only

Enhanced Benefits of Amazon Business Prime
BenefitWhat this means for UVM
FREE Fast ShippingEnjoy FREE One-Day and Two-Day shipping on millions of eligible items — no minimum order required. Get what you need quickly without impacting your budget.
Exclusive Business PricingAccess business-only prices and quantity discounts not available to individual shoppers. The more you buy, the more you save.
Specialized Customer Service team Contact UVM’s Amazon Business Account Executive, Kelsey Bowen (kelsbow@amazon.com) (866) 486-2360
Features
What to look forWhere to find it
Prime BadgeLook for the Prime logo next to the item title or price. This confirms the item qualifies for fast, free shipping under Business Prime.
"FREE One-Day" or "FREE Two-Day" Delivery LabelOn the product listing page, eligible items will display FREE One-Day or FREE Two-Day delivery without requiring a minimum spend.
Filter by Prime EligibleOn any search results page, use the left-hand filter panel and select 'Prime Eligible' under Shipping options to show only qualifying items.
Prime Logo at CheckoutIn your cart and at checkout, Prime-eligible items will display the Prime logo confirming free shipping will be applied.

Please note that it is not allowable for individuals to use UVM's Amazon Business Prime 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 with the UVM Amazon Business Prime 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. Tax exemptions for third party vendors are now an automatic process (applying automatically to all transactions on the business account).

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

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

Can cardholders use their email accounts that end in med.uvm.edu for their UVM Amazon business accounts and keep their uvm.edu addresses for their personal Amazon accounts?

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Cardholders can only register their account using the email with which they are invited. The invite will be sent to your uvm.edu email address.

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

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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 Prime Account and keep their first name-last name UVM e-mail address for their personal account?

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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 non-UVM 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?

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

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

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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.
  • 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. 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 Prime account, can other UVM employees see my purchases?

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