Do Amazon purchases count for Rakuten? No. Not one dollar of them.
No. Rakuten’s referral terms exclude Amazon.com purchases from qualifying, even though Rakuten pays cash back on them. Spend the $50 within 90 days at any other store and the bonus is still live.
Part of the Rakuten series: the full referral guide has the payout table and the quarterly payment schedule.
The exclusion is written twice: once as a clause bolted to the end of the Qualifying Purchase definition, once as a plain sentence on Rakuten's own Amazon store page.
Rakuten referral bonus$50 for you · Worth it Read the full Rakuten guide → Does it count toward your $50?
| Amazon.com purchases | No, written exclusion |
|---|---|
| music.amazon.com | Not excluded; $4 Cash Back on a first subscription payment only |
| Gift cards, vouchers, store credit | No, earns no cash back |
| Digital purchases and subscriptions | No, cash back not offered |
| Bought without clicking through Rakuten first | No, earns nothing |
| Order later canceled, returned or exchanged | No, un-qualifies retroactively |
| $50 total at any other store, in 90 days | Yes |
The exclusion, in Rakuten's own words
Section 2 of the Refer-A-Friend Program Terms defines a Qualifying Purchase. The Amazon carve-out is bolted onto the end, after a semicolon:
Quoted from Rakuten
“Make purchase(s) that earn Cash Back through www.rakuten.com, the Rakuten App or the Rakuten browser extension (each a ‘Qualifying Purchase’) within ninety (90) days from sign-up according to the applicable bonus terms made available to you on the Referral Site or otherwise; provided, however, that purchases made on Amazon.com, other than those made on https://music.amazon.com/, shall not be considered Qualifying Purchases”
Rakuten says the same thing in plain English on its Amazon store page:
Quoted from Rakuten
“Amazon orders do not count toward purchases for any other bonus offers, promotions, or incentives, including without limitation, Welcome and Referral Bonuses.”
Why Rakuten pays you cash back on the very orders that don't count
Rakuten runs an Amazon offer aimed at new members, on the same store page:
Quoted from Rakuten
“Earn $5 Cash Back on each of your first 3 eligible Amazon orders through the Rakuten browser extension or the Rakuten App. Purchases must be made within 60 days of signing up.”
So the day you join, Rakuten offers you up to $15 for shopping at Amazon, inside the first 60 of the ninety days you have to spend $50 elsewhere. Two $30 Amazon orders and your cash back balance shows $10, earned and real. Your referral progress is still zero. The exclusion quoted above is the footnote to that very offer, and the same footnote says Amazon is not part of the deal at all:
Quoted from Rakuten
“Rakuten is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Amazon. Amazon is not a partner of Rakuten and any Cash Back offers are provided by Rakuten only.”
- Cash back you earn on two $30 Amazon orders$10
- Progress those orders make toward the $50 thresholdZero
One store page offers the cash back and, in its own footnote, takes those orders out of the bonus.
Three things Rakuten won't say
| Is the $50 measured before or after tax and shipping? | Not stated |
|---|---|
| Does in-store or dining cash back count toward it? | Not stated |
| How much of an Amazon Music payment counts toward it? | Not stated |
On the first: Rakuten's Terms and Conditions define cash back generally as earned on the NET PURCHASE AMOUNT, WHICH EXCLUDES TAXES, FEES, SHIPPING, GIFT-WRAPPING, DISCOUNTS OR CREDITS, RETURNS OR CANCELLATIONS, AND EXTENDED WARRANTIES
, in Rakuten's own capitals, from its Terms and Conditions. Whether the referral threshold uses that net figure isn't stated. The safe move: aim comfortably past $50 on item prices alone. On the third: Rakuten’s Amazon Music page pays cash back only on the first payment of a subscription plan, so don't build a $50 plan around music.amazon.com.
The payout clock, once you qualify
Download not working? Copy the event instead
Download not working? Copy the event instead
Download not working? Copy the event instead
From Rakuten's When Will I Get Paid page, read October 2, 2026. A purchase made in early October realistically lands on the following February 15 payment.
Already spent your first $50 on Amazon? Nothing is broken.
Nothing in the terms punishes you for shopping at Amazon. Those orders just don't advance the counter.
- Find your sign-up date and count ninety days from it. That's your real deadline.
- Keep the Amazon cash back you already earned. It's still paid on the normal schedule, it just doesn't count toward the bonus.
- Spend $50 through Rakuten at any other store inside the window. Two or three ordinary orders will do it.
- Don't return it. A canceled, returned or exchanged order stops being a qualifying purchase, and the bonus goes with it.
Ninety days already up? That bonus is gone, and no ticket revives it. A second account to try again is exactly what Sections 7 and 8 exist to catch.
the 50 United States, District of Columbia, or Canada. The offer terms on the referral page itself say
the 50 United States or District of Columbia, no Canada. Both read October 2, 2026. We can't resolve it, and the narrower wording is the one attached to the money, so Canadian readers should confirm with Rakuten before counting on this offer.
Quick answers
Does Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh or an Amazon gift card count?
No. Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods orders placed through Amazon.com are Amazon.com purchases, which the terms exclude. Rakuten has no Whole Foods Market store of its own: its store page for it returned “The page you're looking for does not exist” on October 2, 2026, so a Whole Foods purchase made anywhere else earns no Rakuten cash back and fails the test that way. Gift cards fail on their own too: Rakuten’s Amazon page lists “Any gift card, voucher, or store credit purchase” among the purchases that earn no cash back.
Is there any way to appeal it?
No. This is the written definition of the thing you were trying to qualify for, stated in two places, and Section 9 reserves all interpretation to Rakuten.
Other definitions that decide whether you qualify
Every one of these is read from the company’s own document and dated. See all 66 questions we have answered.