Starting holiday shopping early? Use Amazon's Buy with Prime to score benefits.

Amazon is extending its Prime benefits for users interested in shopping on a retailer's website but getting Prime benefits through an expanded program.

Amazon’s Buy with Prime launched earlier this year in anticipation of the holiday season, Peter Larsen, Amazon’s vice president of Buy with Prime and multichannel fulfillment told USA TODAY. 

What is Amazon Buy with Prime?

Amazon’s Buy with Prime is partnering with an unknown number of online retailers to allow purchases using customer’s existing Amazon Prime credentials. Prime members also get the benefits and safeguards of their purchase, like free returns and free one to two day shipping. A customer’s Amazon shipping address and payment method are already linked, too, said Larsen. 

The company declined to share the number of participating retailers, but Larsen described the numbers as growing daily.

Customers can shop Buy with Prime retailers by going to www.amazon.com/buywithprime or via a Buy with Prime link directly on the third-party's website.  

“For me when I go out (to another site), this is really nice because I don’t really have to do quite as much work to make a new account with this site and do some research to make sure I kind of know what they’re doing,” he said. 

After a Buy with Prime purchase, Amazon customers can see their order status on their Amazon account and have access to Amazon’s customer service if there any issues, Larsen said.

Free returns are handled the same way as Amazon Prime products, with a choice of drop off option at UPS stores, Whole Foods or Amazon locations or lockers, he said. 

How does Buy with Prime benefit consumers, merchants?

Buy with Prime brings merchants new customers, said Larsen. Amazon also shares shopper information with the merchant to build a direct relationship with the customer, Larsen said. 

Having a retail giant like Amazon partner with other e-commerce sites makes sense, but it will remain to be seen whether this helps consumers with overall pricing or competition, said Douglas Bowman, a marketing professor at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Georgia told USA TODAY. Bowman researches consumer behavior and brand and product management.

For merchants, the upside is the businesses get access to more customers via Amazon, said Bowman. However, a potential downside could be Amazon having more data on its third-party partners and whether Amazon would develop a similar product, he said. 

“Consumers, I think in the short term, naively think it's a win, but in the long term, it's difficult to see how it plays out if there's going to be less competition,” said Bowman. 

Amazon said it collects merchant account information and order-related data to operate Buy with Prime, but that data is not used in its own store.

In the mood for holiday shopping?Beware, this year more stores are closed on Thanksgiving

Having the Buy with Prime partnership, however, does provide a customer with that “trust” issue and a “seal of approval” to buy from unfamiliar retailers, Bowman said. 

For merchants, competing against Amazon is becoming harder and “it is becoming increasingly harder not to be a part of Amazon,” he said. 

Merchants pay fees to Amazon, such as a service fee, payment processing fee, fulfillment and storage fees, Amazon said. 

Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher.