Bitcoin is a complicated open source software project, currency, distributed peer-to-peer computational network and open distributed ledger. It sounds really complicated, but for our purposes, it is just a payment platform. Instead of using Visa and paying Amazon directly, you will transfer the money, through the Bitcoin network, to an Amazon giftcard reseller platform. This is a 3-part process, but will save you 16% off every purchase. In addition, there's a $15 sign-up incentive redeemable after a $100 (pre-discount) purchase1. If it were five steps, it would still be worth it. Plus, you'll get items shipped at "Prime" speed without Amazon Prime (yeah, you can save $99/year and cancel your Prime membership). The process shouldn't take very long (less than 15 minutes), but you may have to wait to get verified with Coinbase. Go ahead and install 'Google Authenticator' app now. You'll need it to secure both the accounts.
Coinbase is a reputable company that has received more VC money than any other Bitcoin company ($217MM total). It is the most trusted, well-financed company in the Wild West of cryptocurrency and can be safely considered the PayPal of Bitcoin. Coinbase allows you to purchase Bitcoin with your bank account or debit card. Linking a bank account gets you the lowest fee for purchase (1.5%). I recommend logging into your bank, changing your password and providing Coinbase that password to verify your ownership of the account. Once verified, change your banking password again (even though Coinbase is trustworthy). You can also keep your password secret and verify your account using micro deposits. Once verified, purchase $100 of Bitcoin. You will pay a $1.50 fee for this purchase, but will receive $10 if you signed up using the above links to Coinbase. You are now the proud owner of $110 of bitcoin. If you haven't already setup two-factor authentication using Google Authenticator, do it now. Once that's complete, get setup on the Bitcoin/Amazon service Purse.io.
Purse.io was started in San Francisco in 2014 to allow the easy exchange of Amazon gift card credit for bitcoin. They have done well and the platform is popular within the Bitcoin community. When I met them, they said they were doing millions of dollars of transactions monthly and growing. Follow sign up instructions (signing in using Coinbase is safe, enable two-factor authentication).
Create a wishlist in your Amazon account specifically for this service. You will need to edit your wishlist settings, which is surprisingly difficult. Follow these instructions. Once your wishlist is setup correctly (did you add your shipping address and unselect 'spoil surprises' box?), you will need to find $122.95 (or more) worth of items that all ship Amazon Prime. All items you add to the list must ship with Amazon Prime. Add-on items or items sold by third party retailers without Amazon prime check mark can significantly delay your order, or perhaps get it cancelled which is annoying. Only select items that ship Amazon prime (look for checkmark). Once you are done, copy and paste the URL of the wishlist into the Purse platform. You can copy from the address bar in your browser or by clicking the 'share' button while viewing the list.