Iqaluit man uses free Amazon shipping to fuel food charity
cbc.ca
cbc.ca
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1...
Same applies in Canada https://www.amazon.ca/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2...
This is no different from "man steals from big company to fuel food charity". If you wouldn't support that, what's the difference?
(I doubt his account is going to last too long if he's buying $7000 worth of food, but maybe Amazon will like the PR or something and let it go.)
If a store offers a discount with specific terms, claiming the discount outside of those terms is theft.
Paying less than obligated to is theft.
Just like using fake coupons is theft, etc.
> Prime members are not permitted to purchase products for the purpose of resale, rental or to ship to their customers or potential customers using Prime benefits.
Which seems to not apply here. I've never heard of a non-profit disallowing its members from using prime to benefit the charity, even if they're otherwise careful.
I don't think there's an exception if you're not making a profit from the reselling.
"Using prime to benefit the charity" is different if nobody's giving them money to do so, because they aren't selling anything then. But buying something on your account when someone pays you is reselling.
That's a really weird definition of "selling". I find it hard to believe that giving away stuff bought with donations is legally considered "selling" in most jurisdictions, including Canada.
This seems clearly structured as a sale from Amazon to him, and a sale from him to the donator, with instructions to give it to charity.
If it was his own money the case would be a bit murkier, perhaps.
Unless the donors are choosing the specific items to be purchased and the specific recipients, I don't see how it can be considered that they have bought anything.
I feel like having an actual charity changes this somewhat, in that it's expected that a charity might not spend all its donations right away, there's overhead, etc. As far as I can tell he's doing this all personally.
The terms do not make an exception for resale if it's sold at cost.
There are two relevant prohibitions in the US amazon terms:
> Prime members are not permitted to purchase products for the purpose of resale, rental, or to ship to their customers or potential customers using Prime benefits.
He's not reselling or renting the food, so this isn't an issue.
> You may not transfer or assign your Prime membership or any Prime benefits, including promotion codes for Prime memberships or benefits, except as allowed in these terms.
I don't know what his tax structure is, but this is potentially relevant. The simplest possibility is that he receives money in his personal capacity as a sole proprietorship, spends it on food, and deducts the whole amount as a charitable donation. (I have no knowledge whatever of the Canadian tax system, and really only a little of the US tax system.) Assuming that works, he's fine. If that doesn't work, he'll either need to incorporate the charity he's running or pay taxes on the donations he receives. Letting other people directly pay for his orders, such that the money doesn't flow through him, would violate the non-assignability of Prime benefits. If he incorporates as a charity, the charity will need its own Amazon account; it can't use his.
Amazon does offer business accounts with two-day Prime shipping, but their pricing appears to be purposefully unadvertised.
Buying using other people's money would make him a purchasing agent, and would violate the prohibition on assigning Prime benefits. But he's not doing that either, he's buying with his own money.