Amazon is the destination for online shopping these days. No matter what you need, you can usually find it on Amazon, and in many cases, you can find it cheaper than a brick and mortar store. In fact, I often compare prices to items I am considering buying in a store on Amazon to see if I can get them cheaper online.
Did you know that although Amazon is often cheaper, you can save even more if you know how to?
Here are some tips on how to save money on Amazon to use the next time you go to click that mouse and start shopping online!
How to Save Money on Amazon – Amazon Tricks and Hacks
Get Amazon Prime free
This is your biggest key to saving money on Amazon. Often times Amazon will run specials where you can get Amazon Prime for free! I’ve seen them do this for mom’s and for college students as well for a full year before, so keep your eyes peeled for those deals.
Currently, Amazon Prime is free for 6 months for college students with an .edu email and Amazon Prime is free for 30 days for moms!
You will get free two-day shipping on thousands of items fulfilled by Amazon and this can add up to hundreds of dollars in savings over the year if you shop often. You will also get access to free Kindle books and music, too.
You can also share your Amazon Prime free shipping with up to four members of your family who live in the same household. So, if you are purchasing the Prime, you can share the costs with others and split the fee.
Earn money while you shop
Since you are going to be making a purchase on Amazon anyway, why not earn 4% cash back?!?! Let me explain how I do it.
Every time I purchase on Amazon, I go through a company called Ebates. Now, Ebates gives you an automatic $10 gift card to a retailer of your choice when you join their company. Boo-yah! Not only that, but as you shop online, if you simply go to their site first, THEN go to Amazon.com through Ebates’ website, Ebates will give you 3% cash back on your purchases.
Ebates has a GAZILLION sites to choose from and is my secret weapon for how I save massive amounts of money online. Don’t believe me? Here’s a screenshot of my account that I’ve had a couple years now.
Do you see that? $851.81 in cash back in a couple years time. I mean, that’s awesome! It definitely adds up! Click here to join Ebates and get your FREE $10 gift card just for joining! No strings attached!!
Okay, so I know what you’re thinking, “Sarah, you said 4% cash back, but Ebates only gives 3%.” That’s right. The other 1% comes from my Paypal debit card. Each month I try to use my Paypal debit card as much as humanly possible, knowing that I get 1% cash back on all my purchases.
Plus, I never have to worry about balancing my checkbook with Paypal, because I have a positive dollar amount in there and it just comes out automatically. If there were ever a situation where I didn’t have the funds in my Paypal account, they would just pull the money out of my bank account. No biggie.
If your rent is over $1k like mine is every month, try to see if there’s a way you can pay it from that debit card. That’s $10 right there. It really does add up.
Let’s say you spend $600 in groceries a month and another $400 on misc. things, that’s $20 right there that you were already going to spend. I’m sorry, but I have a good sized savings account, better than you’d believe if I told you, and last month, I made 30¢ dividends on it. Am I going to get rich keeping my money in a savings account…uhm, no! I’m not saying you’ll get rich doing this either, but it sure helps a lot more!
Hint at Amazon to give you a deal
If you are not in a super big hurry to buy some items, go onto Amazon and shop, signed into your account. Don’t check out, but have some items in your cart you will buy. Sometimes, you will get lucky and Amazon will send you a reminder email to check out and they will sometimes send you an incentive to do so, such as a small percentage off or free shipping! Don’t count on this to work as it won’t work every time and it depends on what you have in your cart, but it does happen.
Shop their open box warehouse deals
You can save massive money by shopping in their open box Amazon warehouse deals. You can get to that secret section of Amazon by clicking here. For example, this Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker (which is a top reader favorite on SarahTitus.com) is $18.44 used here and $24.00 new here. Definitely compare prices and see if it’s worth it to you, but if you don’t mind used, you can save a lot of money over time.
Subscribe and save are great ways to save money on Amazon
Not only can you save money compared to store prices, but subscribe and save can also save you money during special promotions as well. There are also coupons (here’s their coupon section) available for items like toilet paper and soap too, that you can apply to your subscriptions from time to time. Doing subscribe and save can save you up to 20%, especially if you have Amazon Prime and do it with 5 or more items.
Here’s one of my favorite coupons Amazon has right now: $10 off SHANY Pro Signature Brush Set. The set is $39.95, making it $29.95! I personally LOVE my Shany pro brush set. It’s super high quality and works better than many brush sets I’ve purchased over the years.
Don’t want to commit? No problem. After you receive the item, go back into your subscribe and save section in your account and delete the next order! Easy peasy!
Another program that is similar to Amazon’s Subscribe & Save that saves me a bundle of cash each month is ePantry. You get $10 for every friend you refer to them, so I literally never pay for anything they ship! If you don’t already know about it, you should definitely check it out and see if it’s a good fit for you.
Get free Amazon gift cards by trading in your stuff
If you’re not a reseller and don’t have time to sell on eBay or Craigslist, you can trade in your items directly to Amazon and get a gift card. Shipping is free and you can trade in things you purchased from Amazon or things you haven’t purchased from them.
Step 1: Simply search for the item you’d like to trade in.
Step 2: Chose the condition of the item (Like new, Good, or Acceptable).
Step 3: Select FREE UPS Drop-Off and print your free pre-paid shipping label. Drop off the item and you’re good to go!
You will be paid within 10 days of them receiving your package.
Get free Amazon gift cards to use on the site
Swagbucks is a great company that allows you to earn free stuff like Amazon gift cards by just doing internet searches and by taking surveys. You can also earn free Amazon gift cards by trading used stuff into Amazon’s Trade-In program. They take iPads, cell phones, and college text books, movies, video games and even laptops. You just search to see if the item you want to sell is currently being sought after and if it is, you can print a free shipping label and send it in to get store credit!
Amazon Kindle
Reading Kindle books is my favorite way to read. It seems like I can digest books much faster by swiping and skimming them rather than a paperback. Plus, I can lay in bed at night as I’m falling asleep reading, helping to put me to sleep. If I was reading a paperback in bed, I’d need the lights on, thus keeping me up.
Did you know that you don’t actually need a kindle to take advantage of free Amazon Kindle books? I downloaded a Kindle app on my iPhone, but you can even use a regular computer or laptop.
Here’s the link to download Kindle to your desktop and click here to see Amazons Best Sellers for Kindle (that are FREE!)
Know what to buy and what not to
You can save money buying on Amazon when you know what things to buy and what not to. Things like diapers and baby wipes seem to have really great deals on Amazon. But other things like coconut oil have horrible pricing. You want to make sure you are saving money, so be sure to always do comparative shopping. It’s so important to have a list of prices of the things you regularly buy. Here’s a list I made up of all the good prices of certain items. Feel free to add to it to meet your specifications.
If you’re like most people, you go to buy that item you’ve been pricing for ages and the second you do, you see the price drop! You’re left feeling frustrated, wanting to throw your hands up in the air.
But wait, there’s a silver lining to the cloud….
If an item you purchased on Amazon drops its price within 7 days, you can contact customer support and get a refund for the difference. Isn’t that awesome?!?! No need to feel hesitant to order. Amazon has your back.
Use Add-On purchases to your advantage
If you are not a Prime member (I’m not personally either), and you want to hit that $35 threshold for free shipping, save up your add-on items in your cart. From what I’ve seen, most of the add-on items are actually cheaper than what you can find in the store, so it’s better to buy from Amazon, save your money, and hit your $35 free shipping threshold all at the same time.
Know about Amazon’s secret stores and use them first
Did you know that Amazon has Warehouse Deals and an Amazon Outlet? These can be found if you just go to the “browse all categories” section. You will find items that are in like-new condition, but can’t be sold as such because they were returns or the packaging may be a little damaged.
