Dear colleagues,
Following up on my 11/24/2020 email, Procurement Services is excited to announce the deployment of Amazon Business for low value purchases. In addition to our standard UC agreement vendors, Amazon Business is now available to all procurement card (PCard) holders as a recommended UC supplier for university-related eligible goods. The benefits of this program include:
- Free 2-Day shipping on Prime-eligible items
- Access to millions of additional products, available only to Amazon Business customers
- Business-specific pricing, including quantity discounts on eligible items
- Access to a specialized Amazon Business Customer Service team
On 12/8/2020, all PCard holders will receive individual invites from Amazon to register under the UCR Business account. All other Amazon and Amazon Prime accounts used for university business and associated with a UCR email will need to be converted to the UCR Amazon Business account upon receipt of the email invite. The invite will contain specific instructions on the conversion process.
Actions for PCard Holders
- Review. PCard holders should review the attached Frequently Asked Questions document and the User Registration Guide.
- Register. On 12/8/2020, PCard holders will receive an email to activate their Amazon Business account (sent from “noreply@Amazon.com”). To register the PCard holder MUST use their firstname.lastname@ucr.edu email address (DO NOT use the NetID email address) and promptly follow the instructions to complete the registration process. The central account for all work-related Amazon purchases must be used, as there is now only one authorized UC Riverside Amazon Business account. Personal purchases are not allowed under this program. PCard holders can direct questions to Amazon Business On-line Customer Service team after logging into UCR’s central account (preferred method) or by calling 888.281.3847 if unable to login.
- User Training. PCard holders should plan on attending a general training on the Amazon Business account on December 11, 2020 at 10:00 am PST. Look for the Webex invite from Amazon Business. The session will be recorded and posted on Procurement’s website for future reference.
The goal of this new program is to simplify the department purchasing process by taking advantage of Amazon’s wide product selection and competitive prices while enhancing controls by providing warning messages on products that should be procured using another UC agreement, restricting certain items that are not traditionally business related, and enabling access to product and spend analytics to improve support to the campus. Please consider how this new functionality can enhance departmental procurement processes while ensuring all purchases through this program comply with UC policies and procedures and low value thresholds.
Please ensure all of your department PCard holders are aware of these upcoming changes and their Amazon invitation will be distributed tomorrow (12/8/2020).
Attachments: Amazon_Business_Frequently_Asked_Questions_Dec2020.PDF
Amazon_Business_User_Registration_Guide_Dec2020.PDF
Sincerely,
Bobbi McCracken
Associate Vice Chancellor and Controller
Business & Financial Services
From: Bobbi A McCracken
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2020 12:12 PM
To: msoadm@scotmail.ucr.edu; ebuytrans_users@lists.ucr.edu
Cc: purchasing@ucr.edu
Subject: Amazon Business Announcement
Dear colleagues,
Procurement Services is excited to announce the upcoming availability of Amazon Business for low value purchases. In addition to our standard UC agreement vendors, Amazon Business will be available to all procurement cardholders and is now a recommended UC supplier for university-related eligible goods. The benefits of this program include:
- Free 2-Day shipping on Prime-eligible items
- Access to millions of additional products, available only to Amazon Business customers
- Business-specific pricing, including quantity discounts on eligible items
- Access to a specialized Amazon Business Customer Service team
Around December 8th, all Pcard holders will receive individual invites from Amazon to register under the UCR Business account. All other Amazon and Amazon Prime accounts used for university business and associated with a UCR email will need to be converted to the UCR Amazon Business account upon receipt of the email invite that will contain specific instructions on the conversion process.
The goal of this new program is to simplify the department purchasing process by taking advantage of Amazon’s wide product selection and competitive prices while enhancing controls by providing warning messages on products that should be procured using another UC agreement, restricting certain items that are not traditionally business related, and enabling access to product and spend analytics to improve support to the campus.
All purchases through this program must comply with UC policies and procedures. Additional program details will be distributed over the next few weeks, however, it was important to share some basic information about these upcoming changes to provide units time to consider how this new functionality can enhance departmental procurement processes.
Sincerely,
Bobbi McCracken
Associate Vice Chancellor and Controller
Business & Financial Services
