Amazon is the largest online retailer with some of the best deals you can find online. You can buy virtually anything on Amazon, and they will deliver it to your door—from food to furniture to fishing gear. Much of the time, it’s even cheaper than getting in your car and driving to a local store, especially with the cost of gas and transportation. Yet, despite the great deals, you can save even more money on Amazon with the tips presented in this post. Keep reading for all the details.
Become an Amazon Prime Member
The first tip is to join Amazon Prime. As a Prime member, you can get significantly better deals all around. It costs $14.99 a month or $139 a year to become an Amazon Prime member, which seems like a lot at first glance. However, your Prime membership will easily pay for itself if you regularly shop online.
Benefits of Prime include free two-day shipping on any “prime” labeled items (which is almost anything), unlimited streaming of Amazon Prime Video titles, and more! It is undoubtedly worth it to become an Amazon Prime member, especially considering the savings in shipping costs. For example, if you order just once a month, you’ll often pay $14.99 just for shipping.
Plus, your membership entitles you to insider deals that can save money on everyday purchases.
Get Credit by Selecting Later Shipping Days
Even though you already get free two-day shipping with Amazon Prime, Prime members also have the option to select a later shipping day in exchange for Amazon credit.
For example, while a Prime shipping option might get your items to you on Tuesday, Amazon will suggest Thursday instead. This is more convenient for them in terms of logistics. However, in exchange, they often offer $2 or $5 gift cards to use on your next purchase. So if you can deal with getting your items a couple of days later, this option can be a great way to save even more at checkout.
Clip Amazon Coupons
You may have noticed the site sometimes offers additional coupons underneath the item’s list price. To get extra savings on Amazon, sometimes all you need to do is some virtual coupon clipping! When looking at the listing, look below the price to see if it says, “Save an additional _ _ (percentage or dollar amount) on this item.” Next to that, you will see a checkbox that you can click to add the coupon at checkout. Finally, you will see the savings on the payment page. Many people overlook this very simple way to save money on Amazon.
Set Price Drop Alerts
Many different sites and browser extensions can do this for you, but perhaps the most popular is Honey. Honey is a browser extension that automatically checks for coupons on all the sites you shop at, manually applying each of them at checkout to give you the highest possible savings.
Honey also allows you to track individual items on your wishlist, alerting you when they drop in price to give you the best deal. When Amazon reduces the cost of an item, apps like Honey will tell you that it’s the best time to make a purchase.
Set Household Staples to Auto-Reorder
Every household has essentials they purchase regularly. These include toilet paper, cleaners, paper towels, skincare products, etc. But many people don’t know you can put these basics on an automatic reordering schedule. When you do this, you get automatic discounts on the individual item’s price.
While it might not be much (only ten or 15 percent), it all adds up. After all, you need to purchase these things regularly anyhow. Auto-reorder also helps you stay organized. You won’t need to remember them each month, and it also prevents you from running out of something and wasting time.
Wait For Prime Day
Prime Day is Amazon’s annual savings event exclusively for Prime members. During Prime Day, thousands of products will be on sale, many of them from large, big-name brands like Apple, Samsung, JBL, Breville, and more.
You can get huge savings on everything from household items to toys to electronics. While it probably isn’t practical to get everything you need for the year on Prime Day, you can find major deals on things you wouldn’t usually see sales on, like laptops or kitchen appliances.
Opt for Refurbished Items
For things like electronics or appliances, you can often get refurbished versions of the items on Amazon for a deeply discounted price. Refurbishing a piece of equipment involves taking a gently used item and sending it back to the manufacturer for an inspection and tune-up before reselling it.
Refurbished items have been used, but the manufacturer guarantees they are in working condition and have plenty of life left in them! So if you don’t mind buying a gently used item, buying refurbished items on Amazon is a great way to save money.
Look at the “Today’s Deals” Page
There is a page on Amazon specifically dedicated to deals of the day, called the “Today’s Deals” page. This page changes daily and allows you to find random deals at amazing discounts. Of course, these offers are limited-time only, which is part of what makes the prices so exclusive. If you see any of these daily deals on Amazon that appeal to you, you should snatch them up while you can, because they go fast.
Earn Amazon Gift Cards
Another way to save on Amazon is with Amazon gift cards. And you can actually get them for free! There are many ways you can earn free gift cards, both online and physically.
Gift cards will save you money since you can apply them at checkout to any order. Some popular ways are through coin exchanges, credit card rewards and points, or paid online surveys. Let’s talk about how you can score some for yourself.
Coinstar Kiosks
With Coinstar kiosks and similar coin exchange machines, you can exchange your spare change for gift cards, including Amazon gift cards. Most people have jars of change hanging around. So the next time yours is full, take it to a Coinstar kiosk. Just pour out your change jar, and the machine will count your coins for you. Once it’s done counting, you can choose your payout. Most people pick cash, but you are also given the option of a gift card instead.
Credit Card Rewards
Depending on your credit cards, all sorts of rewards and incentive options could be available to you. However, with most major credit cards, you earn some form of points or cash back on various types of purchases. For many credit card holders, there is a digital portal where you can decide what to do with that cash back or reward, with one option being to exchange it for a gift card. Often, you can exchange credit card rewards for Amazon gift cards. So, if you want to save more money on Amazon, this is a smart way to use up those rewards points!
Branded Surveys
Finally, websites like Branded Surveys let you earn free Amazon gift cards online by completing paid surveys. Branded Surveys connects its users with researchers and companies who will pay you for your opinions and reviews. Each paid online survey puts between $.50 and $2 or more in your pocket. Once you’ve accrued enough, you can opt to be paid in cash or select from a whole list of gift cards. And you guessed it—one of those options is Amazon!
Closing Thoughts
As you can see, there are many ways to save money on Amazon. Some are quite unusual! However, the big savings come from combining two or more of the methods above. By using these money-saving tips simultaneously, you can be a frugal Amazon shopper all year round.
