Amazon is looking to prove its credentials as a philanthropic organization through AmazonSmile, a new scheme which means it will make a fresh donation to charity every time one of its customers submits an eligible order.
When you visit the AmazonSmile website, you’ll be asked to select your favored charity from almost a million eligible organizations. Subsequently, Amazon will donate 0.5 percent of the purchase price from what it deems to be “eligible purchases”. There is currently no limit on the total amount that Amazon can be forced to donate; so the higher the total at the checkout, the more the company will give to your charitable cause.
Once you’ve chosen a charity, you’ll be sent to a tweaked version of the immediately identifiable Amazon homepage. The branding in the top left-hand corner of the screen will now show the AmazonSmile logo, as well as your chosen charity along the top of the window.
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Eligible products will be marked with the wording ‘Eligible for AmazonSmile donation’ in their product detail page. Amazon says “tens of millions of products” are eligible for donation, so hopefully the majority of orders will be supported by the scheme.
At the moment, AmazonSmile only appears to be linked with Amazon.com. If you’re a customer outside the United States, it looks like you’re ineligible to use the service for the forseeable future.
Image Credit: David McNew/Getty Images
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