Amazon Frequently Asked Questions

So that you can make University authorized Amazon purchases that are also directly charged to University Funds. There are many benefits to using our Iowa State University Business Account. Iowa State University’s tax exemption certificate is preloaded in our Amazon Business Prime Account, which saves your department or unit both time and money.

It provides you with:

• Free 2-Day shipping on prime eligible items.
• Access to millions of additional products that are only available to Amazon Business customers.
• Business-specific pricing (including quantity discounts on eligible items).
• Access to a specialized Amazon Business Customer Service Team (1-888-281-3847).

By completing the cyBUY Amazon Business Registration course, after which the cyBUY team will provide access to the Amazon Business Catalog through cyBUY.

You can view the dates and times for upcoming instructor-led sessions or complete the self-directed course through Workday Learning.

FSD Procurement and Expense Specialists (PES) have access to the Amazon Business catalog in cyBUY and can place orders on your behalf.  Email your request to finance_delivery@iastate.edu.

Amazon Business provides a dynamic marketplace of products, with changing prices and quantities. Controls have been put in place by Amazon to account for these fluctuations. Once you check out from Amazon and your cart is brought back into Workday the items in your cart will be held at that price point by that supplier for seven days. If the cart you created is not completed and sent to Amazon as a purchase order within the seven day time frame the items from your cart will be released and the order will be cancelled by Amazon.

Amazon Restricted Items:

An item that is restricted by Amazon cannot be ordered through cyBUY. If you add an Amazon restricted item to your cart, the entire order will fail.

Unsupported purchases include:

• Digital downloads, including: audio books, movies, videos, music, software and games. (This does not include hard copies or eBooks which can be purchased on cyBUY)
• Credit Cards
• Alcoholic Beverages
• Wireless Devices and Services
• Subscriptions, including Subscribe & Save
• Amazon services not found on Amazon.com, such as Amazon Web Services, Fresh, Mechanical Turk, and their additional subsidiaries.

Debarred Sellers restriction:

This item may be restricted by ISU for federal purchases.  Please contact Procurement Services at cybuy@iastate.edu for assistance.

This message will appear in a similar format as the other restricted messages when the supplier is disqualified from receiving any federal government contracts. If you receive this message, procurement will review the Worktag to be used on the purchase to determine if it is a federal grant or contract and from that determine if the order can be completed or not. 

Iowa State University Restricted Items:

An item and/or category is flagged as restricted because Iowa State University has other contracts that should be used to purchase that item, for example, office supplies and furniture.

• Please check to see if the item you are requesting is available from another cyBUY supplier or University Internal Stores (the Bookstore, Central Stores, Chemistry Stores, Printing Services, and Transportation Services) before moving forward with your order.
• You can still place the order with the ISU restriction.  However, all Amazon orders through cyBUY will go through an additional review by Procurement Services before being sent to the supplier.

Items that should be purchased through contracted suppliers on cyBUY include:

• Office supplies through ODP Business Solutions (Formerly Office Depot)
• Scientific supplies through Fisher Scientific or VWR (or one of the specialty scientific suppliers)
• Computers, computer supplies, and audio/video supplies through CDW, Dell, or B&H Photo Video
• Books through Complete Books
• Classroom supplies & hospitality through Blick Art Materials or School Specialty
• Electronics through Newark
• For more contracted suppliers, please see the Supplier Information Page.

Choose a Group:

This error occurs when you are trying to access Amazon.com directly.  You must be logged in to Workday and access Iowa State University’s Amazon Business account through cyBUY.

• To access cyBUY through Workday, please see the How to use cyBUY page.

Other Error Messages:

Should you experience any other Amazon errors, please visit the Amazon Business FAQ Library for additional information.

If you have a specific product and supplier chosen, please contact the supplier directly. Contact information for each of the cyBUY suppliers can be found in the General Information box located at the top right corner of the cyBUY Marketplace main page.

If you aren’t sure which supplier to use, email our cyBUY team for assistance.

Email a member of our cyBUY team for assistance locating an item in the cyBUY Marketplace.

You can also contact the Procurement Agent who specializes in purchases made in that area. The Agent’s commodity areas can be found on the Procurement Services staff page.

To prevent deliveries from being left outside after hours, avoid selecting rush shipping options. Rush shipping is available through Amazon Business Prime as well as through 3rd-party sellers on Amazon Business. When rush shipping is selected, the system automatically prioritizes speed of delivery over custom delivery instructions. This means that standard instructions (including business hours and specific delivery locations) are bypassed to ensure the fastest possible delivery.

To ensure future deliveries are not left outside after hours, use standard shipping options instead of rush shipping. Two-day shipping is not considered rush. Rush options are typically listed as same-day or one-day shipping options.

No, cyBUY should only be used for purchasing items with an identifiable University Business Purpose and charged to University Funds.