Very few people would argue with you that Amazon hasn’t made shopping online easier. Not only can you get everything you ever wanted (I mean, pretty much), but there are endless other perks like super speedy shipping, online video/tv streaming, and more. It’s sometimes crazy to think that it wasn’t that long ago that we’d order something online and wait a few weeks for it to arrive and now we can order something from our phone while sitting at dinner and it could be at our house as early as the next morning.
What’s even crazier is that Amazon started as just books and the owner, Jeff Bezos, was selling them out of his garage! I guess it’s a true testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of America.
Either way, as easy as Amazon has made shopping, there are still some ways you can shop smarter on Amazon and today I’m going to share those with you.
Get Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is more than just free 2-day shipping nowadays, it’s a lot more than that! Some of my favorite benefits you get for FREE as an Amazon Prime member are:
- Prime Photos -Free unlimited photo storage for you and five others.
- Twitch subscription – for the gamers
- Prime Video – Stream thousands of movies and TV shows just like Netflix!
- Prime Delivery -FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items
- Early Access to Deals
- Audible Channels – Unlimited listening to original audio series and playlists
- Prime Reading – thousand books, magazines, comics, articles, Kindle singles
- Prime Music – stream over two million songs and hundreds of playlists
Amazon Prime is only $99/year and when you consider all these features it’s worth it 100x over.
Use Amazon Coupons
That’s right! Amazon has coupons. Sometimes you’d think it doesn’t since prices are already low, but they exist! And, you can actually find them all really easily by just going to amazon.com/coupons
Use Amazon Gift Cards
If you have an Amazon gift card, go ahead and reload it for perks. The first time you reload it you can get between $5-$10 extra just for reloading $100. Can’t go wrong with extra cash in your pocket! Everytime you reload after that it’ll offer other perks like 2% cash back if you pay via your checking account, etc.
Use the Earny App
Earny is a neat app that saves you from worrying about “what if this price drops lower?” Earny connects to your email account (and easily connects to your Amazon account) and the checks your inboxes for receipts. If it sees that an item you bought dropped in price, it’ll claim the difference for you if you bought from a retailer that offers money-back if a price drops, or if you have a credit card that offers the price guarantee. Once you connect your email and Amazon account you’ll see your recent purchases show up within a few hours. Earny then does all the work! If a price drops, he’ll claim the difference and get you the cash difference! Earny has found over $40 of cash back savings on my Amazon account in less than a month! Get Earny Here
Try Leaving Items in Your Shopping Cart
This one works at a lot of online retailers so try it around. Leaving an item in your virtual shopping cart is called “shopping cart abandonment,” and stores hate it. They don’t like seeing an item you wanted to buy but didn’t follow through on. In order to try to get you complete the purchase, they’ll sometimes send you a small discount OR email you if the price goes lower. They hope this small incentive is enough to get you to complete your transaction and buy.
Get discounted/free Prime memberships
There are a few ways you can get a free Prime membership or get it discounted.
- Be a student: Students get their first 6 months of prime completely free! Then, after that, they only pay $49/year instead of $99/year.
- Check credit cards: Many credit cards will offer Prime as a perk
- Follow up on a late package: If you’re a Prime member currently and one of your items was supposed to be free 2-day shipping but came late, you can chat with a customer service rep. Politely explain the problem and depending on the situation they may knock some money off your membership, credit your account, or in some extreme cases give you an entire year of Prime free!
Use Amazon Smile
Amazon Smile won’t save you any money, but instead it’ll donate 0.5% of all eligible purchases to a charity of your choice. Simple go to smile.amazon.com, choose your charity and start shopping.
Watch the Amazon Money Hacks Video
I hope these Amazon Hacks and Tips help you shop smarter next time you are on Amazon.com!
*Some links in this post may contain affiliate links.
