On Amazon.com, .ca, .uk, or any other extension, you’ll likely find that you receive great customer service and budget prices on millions of items. Certain luxury and upscale items, however, can still come with a price tag big enough to shock the average shopper – even with Amazon’s generally lower prices.
If you’re like me, you’ll do everything in your power to score a good deal and pay even $2 less for your favorite Amazon items. Luckily, finding a good deal on Amazon isn’t as hard as you might think thanks to the various discounts and hacks that you can implement at the checkout.
How to Save Money on Amazon (18 Hacks That Will Save You $100+)
1. Turn old gift cards into Amazon gift cards.
Chances are, you probably have one or two prepaid gift cards lying around. You know the prepaid Visa or American Express ones that you’re given at Christmas or for your birthday, or from your boss as a gift?
If you have any and they have a small balance (a few cents, $2 etc) you can cash them in to get Amazon gift cards for the remaining amounts, which is a great way to make the most of small balances that might otherwise go unused.
To get started, you’ll need to know the exact balance on your gift card. Next, log in to your Amazon account and navigate to the email of eGift Card portion of the site. Enter the amount of your Visa into the box that says “Enter amount” and use the information on your Visa to purchase an Amazon gift card.
2. Purchase Add-On items without spending $25.
One of the most interesting hacks on this list is this one by far. with the help of this trick you can get away with purchasing add-on only items without spending the minimum amount of $25 on other qualifying items.
“Add-On” items are small items that Amazon would lose money if they shipped them alone due to the fact that they are so inexpensive. Items like this require the buyer to have a cart total of $25 before checkout so that shipping the item is worth it for the company.
There is a way around this, though, if you’re looking to be a little sneaky.
You can preorder an item. This works because Amazon doesn’t charge you for preorder items until the item ships. So, to make use of this hack, all you have to do is add a preorder item to your cart alongside your add-on item and go to checkout.
You’ll be charged for the add-on item but not the pre-order, so once your add-on item ships, you can go ahead and cancel the pre-order item (unless, of course, you decide to keep it!).
3. Avoid sales tax by purchasing from third-party sellers.
If you’re in the US and happen to live in one of many states that charge sales tax on items, you might be happy to know that there is a way to avoid paying that annoying tax.
To put it simply, all you have to do is ensure that the product you’re buying comes from a state that doesn’t charge sales tax. This way, you won’t have to pay it when you make an order on Amazon.
The states that charge sales tax are:
- Illinois
- Delaware
- Arizona
- California
- Indiana
- Florida
- Kansas
- Maryland
- Kentucky
- Nevada
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Washington
4. Opt for “No-Rush Shipping” and still get your item within 2 days.
If you’ve purchased on Amazon before, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the various shipping options at checkout. Below Free Two Day Shipping is something called “Free No-Rush Shipping”, which gives you a $1 credit that can be used to buy music, software, Kindle eBooks and more.
This is great – except that the package in question will often take up to 5 business days to arrive. There is an easy way to get your package in 2 days while still using this shipping method, though.
If you have two or more items in your cart, buy them by placing separate orders. Purchase all of the items except the final one, using the Free No-Rush Shipping option. For the last item, select the Free Two Day Shipping option.
More often than not, Amazon will group your items together so that they only send you one package instead of multiple. They’ll likely honor your Free Two Day Shipping selection.
5. Use late packages to get a free month of Prime.
If your Prime package doesn’t arrive within the promised two days, make sure you contact Amazon’s customer service team. Usually, they’ll give you a free month of Prime service. The great thing? This tends to work the same way for any lost packages, too.
6. Utilize Subscribe & Save
You can get some great discounts by subscribing to items on Amazon. Using Subscribe & Save, you can get out of the beaten path that is going to the store for items like toothpaste. All you have to do is set up a recurring order using the Subscribe & Save feature. Not only will this save you time, but it also earns you a substantial discount.
The Subscribe & Save feature is an Amazon service that sends you your most commonly purchased household items on a set schedule. By signing up for this service, you get discounts on over 100,000 items.
7. Make use of the Price Drop Policy.
When you use Amazon.com to buy a product sold by Amazon LLC, you can rest assured that, should the price drop within 7 days of your purchase, you’ll get some of your hard spent cash back in your pocket. If you notice a price drop, get in touch with Amazon customer service (have your order number on hand) and submit a request. If customer service finds your request to be valid, they’ll send you a credit for the difference between the two prices.
The important thing here, though, is that the product HAS to be sold by Amazon LLC; third party companies aren’t valid for this deal.
8. Are you a student? Get a Prime discount.
If you’re a college student and have been issued a valid .edu email address, you’re eligible to get Prime Student for six months – free! After the six months is up, you will be offered a discounted price for up to four years or until the date of graduation – whichever comes first.
Prime Student doesn’t offer full Prime benefits, but it does -thankfully- include the most popular features like free 2-day shipping, photo storage, and Prime Video access.
9. Receive cashback by shopping on Amazon through portals.
Online shopping portals are dedicated websites that receive a commission when you use their website’s link to connect to another retailer and make a purchase. When you purchase using a portal, the commission earned is given back to you as cashback.
Portals are 100% free to use and, on average, offer 6-10% of the total price in cashback. Shopping portals can be used to shop on many retailers, but almost all of them include Amazon. This being said, sometimes cashback only applies to certain categories so it’s important to double-check before you bank on receiving cash back for every purchase.
10. Shop on Amazon Outlet.
You may not have heard of Amazon Outlet, but after today? It’s an area of Amazon that you may want to check out. Outlet sells pre-owned products, overstocked items, discontinued items, and items that are out of season. Here, you’ll find deals of up to 80% off.
11. Use Amazon Family to save on diapers.
Amazon Family, originally called Amazon Mom, provides shoppers with family-oriented discounts. These discounts can include 20% savings on certain diaper brands, as well as a discount of 25% when you complete your baby registry. You also get 90-day returns and a host of other benefits.
12. Watch out for Amazon Prime Day.
Every July, following the spirit of Black Friday, Amazon hosts “Amazon Prime Day”. On this special day, products all across the site are sold at a discount price. Although the discounts aren’t as monumental as many hope, it is still a great time to spend some extra cash on those items that you’ve been eyeing, but don’t want to splurge a ton of cash on, as they’re likely to be at least a few dollars cheaper.
In 2015, Alexa Echo’s were selling for roughly 28% cheaper than usual; $129 instead of $179. Since this event is only once every year, it may or may not be worth the wait, depending on your needs. Regardless, though, it’s still an easy way to save a few bucks – and deal change every year, so if you’re in the market for some new stuff, make sure you check back every year.
13. Sign up for giveaways.
The companies selling on Amazon frequently partner with the site to provide potential customers with free giveaways. These giveaways help sellers get more reviews and more business. There are two types of giveaways: random selection giveaways and those that are structured around a “every X amount of sign-ups is the winner.”
To enter some giveaways, you may be required to watch a video or follow the company on Twitter, if not something similar.
14. Price match Amazon Tvs.
Amazon has something called a “TV Low Price Guarantee” that automatically applies to all TVs – old and new- that are both shipped and sold by Amazon. So, if you find the TV that you want to buy from Amazon cheaper from a different retailer, Amazon will refund you the difference in the form of a gift card. This can be done before checkout or within 30 days after purchase.
15. Pay attention to the coupon page
Amazon products often go on sale just the same as they would if they were sold in a store. Thanks to this, they’re also eligible for coupons, which Amazon doles out on occasion. Amazon coupons are often suggested to you once an eligible item is added to your cart and adding the coupon is as simple as pressing the “Clip coupon” button.
Coupons will give you a certain percentage off of your item’s cost.
16. Sign up for the Amazon Prime Store Card.
One super simple way to save on Amazon is by signing up for the Amazon Store Card. Using this card, you save on products instantly – no special codes, clipping, or other actions required. The credit card gives users 5% off their Amazon purchases and has no annual fee.
In order to make use of the 5% savings, you must be a Prime member.
17. Stock up on gift cards.
If you use survey portals or games that reward you for your time and offer Amazon gift cards, why not redeem your prize for a gift card and apply it to your Amazon cart? Doing this is a quick and easy way to rack up your gift card balance and, essentially, get Amazon products for free. There is no limit on how much you can store on your account.
18. Use Amazon Filler Item Finder to qualify for free shipping without Prime.
It would be nice to get free shipping all the time, right? Of course! However, if you don’t have Prime, you have to make a purchase of at least $35 in order to qualify and, unfortunately, not all items cost that much.
Luckily, there’s a service that can help you find products that cost just enough to get you to the $35 threshold. Amazon Filler Item Finder is the service I’m talking about here, and it’s super easy to use. In addition, it’s proven to be helpful many times.
So, which of these handy hacks will you use to get discounts and sweet deals on Amazon?
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