NewsNational

Actions

Buying an Amazon tablet as a gift? Make sure you don't make this mistake

Tablets come pre-loaded with your credit card info
Posted at 10:08 AM, Dec 11, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-11 18:26:42-05

TAMPA, Fla. -- If you're buying a tablet as a gift, don't make this big mistake!

Some of Amazon's Tablets are for-sale at Black Friday prices on Monday! If you're buying one as a stocking stuffer, make sure Amazon knows you're buying it as a gift and not for yourself.

Otherwise, you might soon be seeing some surprising charges on your next credit card bill!

The reason you should be careful is because Amazon devices come pre-registered to your account. It's super convenient if you're buying the device for yourself. But bad news if you're buying the device as a gift, because it means purchases made on the device will be automatically completed through your Amazon or Amazon Prime account!

One Tampa Bay Area customer says they gifted an Amazon tablet to a friend's child, who then racked up hundreds of dollars buying TV show episodes before anyone realized the problem.

The mistake this customer made was they didn't hit the little check box saying the device was a gift. Hitting that little check box will ship the device unregistered. 

It's a little check-box with a big impact.

The box appears right below the "Add to Cart" button on your webpage.

That's not all, you should still make sure the Cart says "device will be sent unregistered" during the check-out process.

If you forgot to select "This is a gift" and the device hasn't shipped yet, you can update the gift settings of the order from "Your Account."

If you forgot to select "This is a gift" and the device has already shipped, de-register the device from your account by going to Manage Your Content and Devices, selecting the Your Devices tab, and then clicking the Actions button and de-register next to the device you purchased as a gift.