Blending infinite deals, a staggering selection of products, and perhaps most important of all, convenience, Amazon has made an irreversible impact on the retail space. Whether you love Amazon, hate Amazon or love to hate Amazon, you can’t deny that the e-commerce juggernaut shines for sheer selection and enticingly low prices.
But why settle for paying Amazon prices, low as they may be? You can bring down your order total even further with these tips for saving at Amazon:
1. Join Amazon Prime
If you take only one tip from this blog, let it be this one. Joining Amazon Prime is the very best way to save on the online marketplace, and it’s basically essential if you shop at Amazon regularly. Or to be more specific, signing up for Prime is worth it if you make only 15 orders or more a year — we did the math.
Here’s what you need to know about Amazon Prime:
What Is Amazon Prime?
Amazon Prime is the e-commerce giant’s subscription service. You can subscribe to Prime on a monthly or annual basis to unlock an array of benefits — from free, same-day shipping to unlimited streaming on TV and movies. Check out the full list of Amazon Prime benefits.
How Much Does Amazon Prime Cost?
An annual subscription to Amazon Prime costs $139 per year; a monthly subscription costs $14.99 per month (an uptick in price that Amazon rolled out in 2022). Students can get Amazon Prime for $6.49 per month or $59 per year. Customers with a valid EBT or Medicaid card pay $5.99 a month.
If you’ve never had a Prime account before, you can try it out for free — which brings us to our next tip…
2. Try Amazon Prime for Free
Not sure you’re ready to take the plunge into a monthly or annual Amazon Prime membership? To see if Amazon Prime is right for you, you can test drive the subscription service for free for 30 days. During the 30-day free trial, you’ll have access to all the perks of Amazon Prime.
Heads up: If at the end of your 30-day trial, you decide Prime isn’t right for you, cancel your subscription to avoid being automatically charged for the next month. However, if you forget to cancel before your free trial converts to a paid membership, you still have three business days to cancel and get a refund on the membership fee.
3. Share Prime Benefits With Your Family for Free
Save on Amazon Prime membership fees by sharing your account with household members for free. Amazon Household lets you share your Prime benefits with one other adult who’s 18 and older, plus up to four teens between the ages of 13 and 17. Every member gets their own login information, and parents can manage the settings and content access of their teen’s account.
4. Get Amazon Free Shipping Without a Prime Membership
Let’s talk a little more about Amazon’s free shipping. Amazon offers super-fast, free shipping to all shoppers, even if you’re not a member of Prime. Here are the different Amazon free shipping options for members and non-members:
Amazon Free Shipping for Non-Prime Members
Non-Prime members get free shipping on eligible orders of $25 or more. They labeled items eligible for free shipping as “FREE Shipping” on their product description page. Free shipping deliveries for non-Prime members typically arrive within five to eight business days.
Amazon Free Shipping for Prime Members
As we touched on above, Prime members have options with free shipping. Here is a complete list of free shipping options for Prime members:
- One-day shipping: Order a qualifying product any time during the day to receive it by 10 p.m. the following day.
- Same-day shipping: Place an eligible order of $35 or more in the morning (usually the cutoff is around noon) to receive your items by 10 p.m. the same day.
- Amazon Day shipping: This could be any day of the week, and includes no order minimum.
- No-rush shipping: With no-rush shipping, you get a digital reward or discount for agreeing to have your items delivered a little later.
- Release-date shipping: Preorder eligible products and get them the day they are available.
- Free prescription delivery: Get free, two-day shipping on your prescription medications.
- Key in-car delivery: Key in-car delivery is available to Prime members in select U.S. cities and on certain makes and models. With this new service, you can have an order delivered securely to your car by an authorized Amazon driver, who’s given temporary, one time access via the Key app.
- In-garage delivery: Similar to Key in-car delivery, in-garage delivery is available in certain areas. With this service, you can receive Amazon orders in your garage, delivered by an authorized delivery driver who’s granted temporary, one time access via the Key app.
5. Set Up Amazon ‘Subscribe & Save’ for Frequent Purchases
Amazon Subscribe & Save is one of the few savings opportunities available to Prime members and non-Prime members alike. It basically lets you set up regularly scheduled deliveries of everyday items like food, home goods, hygiene products, skin care, makeup, and pet essentials. When you set up auto-delivery through Amazon Subscribe & Save, you can save up to 15% on five or more items shipped to the same address, and get automatic free shipping.
6. Get Bigger ‘Subscribe & Save’ Discounts With Amazon Family
As a Prime member, you can get even more discounts on family-centric purchases like diapers and baby food via Amazon Family. If you set up five Amazon Family deliveries per month, you can get up to 20% off. Plus, if you set up a baby registry on Amazon, you’ll get a free Welcome Box packed with goodies, as well as a 15% discount upon completion.
7. Stream Free Movies, TV Shows + Documentaries
One of our favorite parts of being a Prime member is automatic access to Amazon Prime Video, which includes unlimited streaming of movies, TV shows and documentaries. If you’re not a Prime member, Amazon quietly did away with its Prime Video-only membership that was $12.99 a month. Now, you can buy or rent movies and TV shows without a Prime membership, otherwise, you’ll need a full membership if you’re only interested in streaming movies, etc.
8. Stream Free Music on Amazon
Amazon offers two music streaming services:
- Prime Music: Prime Music is free for all Prime members. It features over two million songs, curated playlists and radio stations.
- Amazon Music Unlimited: Amazon Music Unlimited includes ad-free streaming and downloads for over 75 million songs. If you are a Prime member, Amazon Music Unlimited costs $8.99 per month. If you are not a Prime member, the service costs $9.99 per month. Whether or not you’re a Prime member, you can try this service out for free with a 30-day trial (Amazon bumps this up to four months for free from time to time).
9. Get Free E-books + Audiobooks
Prime Reading hooks Prime members up with unlimited access to a rotating library of free e-books and audiobooks, as well as selections of magazines and comic books. In addition, Prime members get one free Kindle book per month from First Reads, which is a curated collection of picks’ from Amazon editors.
10. Check Out ‘Today’s Deals’
Navigate over to the Today’s Deals section of Amazon.com to find an ever-updating array of offers — including Deal of the Day offers, Lightning Deals and limited-time sales — across all categories. Here, you can browse currently available deals and view upcoming ones. If a future deal catches your eye, you can make a “watch list” to monitor it — once your deal goes live, you’re notified via the Amazon app.
You also can stay updated on Today’s Deals by signing up for the Daily Deals email list. If you have an Alexa-enabled device, you can also ask “Alexa, where are my deals?” on your Echo or mobile device to find out Today’s Deals.
11. Clip Digital Amazon Coupons
In addition to Today’s Deals, Amazon offers savings as Amazon coupons. Coupons are good for a certain percentage or dollar amount off and are primarily available on personal care, beauty items and groceries.
To use an Amazon coupon, you can clip it and add the product to your cart. When you check out, your discount is applied automatically.
12. Join Woot!
Woot! is an Amazon company that offers even more deals on Amazon products. As a member of Woot, you get access to exclusive daily and monthly offers.
Shipping works a little differently with Woot! purchases — Amazon Prime members get free standard shipping on most orders, as well as free express shipping on Shirt.Woot orders. Non-Prime members pay $6 for standard shipping, $12 for two-day shipping and $24 for one-day shipping.
13. Shop the Amazon Warehouse
The Amazon Warehouse is a treasure trove of deals on pre-owned, used and open-box products. The Warehouse features products across a wide range of categories, including electronics, home and kitchen, apparel and sports gear. Amazon warehouse products are discounted by up to 50% and backed by Amazon’s return policy. All Warehouse items undergo a rigorous quality check to assess their functional and physical condition. The condition of the Warehouse purchase is marked with the following labels:
- Used — Like New
- Used — Very Good
- Used — Good
- Used — Acceptable
14. Trade Your Used Electronics for a Free Gift Card
With the Amazon Trade-In Program, you can swap out used electronics for Amazon gift cards. Certain trade-ins also come with discounts on new Amazon devices.
You get free shipping and — in certain areas — free drop-off on Amazon Trade-Ins. Once Amazon receives your trade-in, technicians will restore the item to be resold. If your item isn’t in reselling condition, Amazon will recycle it for you in a certified facility.
15. Share E-books, Audiobooks, Apps + Games
When you purchase e-books, audiobooks, apps and games on Amazon, you can share them for free with up to one adult. You can also share digital content with teens and children, and parents can choose what content their kids can see.
16. Get Back Shipping Fees for Late Orders
Amazon backs certain products and delivery services with a Delivery Guarantee. If a guaranteed delivery arrives late, Amazon will refund you any shipping fees you paid. To see if you are eligible for a refund, contact Amazon via chat or phone to speak with a customer service rep.
17. Sign Up for an Amazon Credit Card
There are several Amazon credit card options to accommodate different spending habits, lifestyles and financial situations. Here are the current Amazon credit card options and their benefits:
Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card
- $100 Amazon gift card upon approval
- 5% back at Amazon and Whole Foods with Prime membership
- 2% back at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores
- 1% back on utilities, ride-share and all other purchases
- 10% back on certain offers with Prime membership
- $60 Amazon gift card upon approval
- 5% back at Amazon with Prime membership
- 5% to 15% back on select, rotating items throughout the year
They designed this card for people with no or poor credit. After providing a security deposit, you’ll get 2% back at Amazon with a Prime membership. After 12 months of responsible use, you may be eligible to get your deposit back and convert it to one of the above cards.
18. Install the Amazon Assistant Browser Extension
The retailer’s browser extension, Amazon Assistant, allows you to compare different products — not only by price but also by rating and reviews. The assistant also lets you get notifications about deals and special offers, as well as alerts about your Amazon transactions.
19. Shop Amazon Sales
Throughout the year, Amazon hosts sale events featuring deep discounts on items across all categories. Here are some of the best annual Amazon sales to mark on your calendar:
Amazon Prime Day
A Prime membership gets you access to Amazon Prime Day, the retailer’s massive, sitewide annual savings holiday. Amazon Prime Day typically occurs during the summer and runs for multiple days. During Prime Day, you can get some of the year’s best prices on tech, apparel and more. During the days leading up to Prime Day, Amazon often offers freebies, like free Prime Day credit or several free months of Amazon Music Unlimited.
Amazon Black Friday Sale
Beginning Nov. 1, Amazon runs a “Countdown to Black Friday” with deals every day leading up to Black Friday. During the week of Black Friday, Amazon offers new deals every hour.
Amazon Cyber Monday Sale
Following Black Friday, Amazon’s Cyber Monday sales traditionally feature excellent deals on Amazon products, such as Echo smart home devices and Kindles.
20. Get Free Delivery From Grubhub
Just for being a Prime member, you’ll receive a free one-year Grubhub+ membership (usually $9.99 per month). Announced July 6, this newest Amazon perk includes unlimited, $0 food delivery fees on orders over $12 and other exclusives like free food and order discounts. If you’re already a Prime member, just activate your membership to get your grub on.
Plus, you can opt into Grubhub’s Donate the Change program that’s raised more than $25 million in 2021 and helped over 20 charitable organizations across the country.
The post 20 Ways To Save at Amazon Every Time You Shop appeared first on The Real Deal by RetailMeNot.
