18 Big Ways to Save Money at Amazon

This article contains 18 great ways to save money at Amazon. Tips include warehouse deals, price tools, hidden deals and other tips and tricks. Let’s get right to it.

1. Save Money With Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime can save big money in shipping costs for online shoppers.

Amazon Prime costs $99 a year. The free two day shipping alone is worth the cost. Free shipping applies to all Amazon orders, with no minimum order size. It doesn’t apply to those orders sold by Amazon but fulfilled by a third party, like dog food bought on Amazon but shipped by PetFoodStation.com.

Amazon Prime users also get access to Prime Instant Video, unlimited music streaming and the Kindle Lending Library. Prime Instant Video offers a decent selection of movie and TV titles similar to the Netflix Streaming selection. You won’t find every movie and show your heart desires there, but there are selected greats and a lot of hidden gems.

save money amazon prime

Amazon Prime saves money by giving free two day shipping on all Amazon fulfilled orders.

Likewise, Amazon Unlimited Music Streaming doesn’t have every song and album in existence, but it does have over a million titles, all commercial free. The Kindle Lending Library doesn’t have every book title either, but it does have over 800,000 books, including all the Harry Potter books and over 100 former bestsellers.

Amazon Prime members in selected zip code areas can even take advantage of Amazon Fresh to get same day and morning deliveries of anything from groceries to electronics or products from local shops and restaurants.

save money amazon prime kindle library

The Amazon Kindle Library has over 800,000 titles, free to Amazon Prime members.

To sign up for Amazon Prime, click here.

Amazon Prime Money Saving Trick

Up to four family members living in the same household can share a single Amazon Prime membership. Splitting the cost this way can cut a Prime membership to less than $25 a person per year.

2. Save Money With Amazon Warehouse Deals

Ever wonder what happens to all those Amazon items that get returned and can’t be resold as new? Here’s what: they get sold at deep discounts as Amazon Warehouse open box items.

save money amazon warehouse deals ipad

Open box iPads in the Amazon Warehouse.

 

Every item is hand checked and graded, carries a 30 day return policy and is available for Amazon Prime and free shipping.

Shoppers can save money on anything from camera equipment to iPhones to Kindles, home audio and sports equipment to vacuum cleaners in the Amazon Warehouse.

To access the Amazon Warehouse, click here.

3. Save Money With Savings.com’s Amazon Price Jump Tool

If you’ve ever had that haunting feeling that somewhere on Earth, someone is offering a lower price than Amazon on the product you’re about to buy, then Price Jump is for you.

save money amazon price jump

Just copy and paste the URL from an Amazon product page, then click “Go” to see if there’s a cheaper price somewhere. The website also has a handy app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Don’t want to have to bother going to their website to check for a better price on everything you buy? Download the Price Jump browser extension and let it show you better prices automatically.

To access the Price Jump tool, click here.

4. Save Money by Tracking Amazon Price Changes With the CamelCamelCamel Tool

CamelCamelCamel.com is a weirdly named website that tracks price changes on just about every product Amazon sells.

save money amazon camelcamelcamel

One way Amazon shoppers can save money with the tool is by checking to see if the price has temporarily gone up during a heavy shopping time like just before Valentine’s Day or Christmas. Another way is by setting up automatic email and Twitter alerts to let you know if the price drops suddenly.

save money amazon camelcamelcamel price historyTheir downloadable browser extension makes checking historical price data on any Amazon product as simple as clicking a single button.

Read: 8 Easy Ways to Save Your Way to $1.7 Million

5. Save Money by Using Amazon’s  Reviews and Ratings

A good way to get the best deal on a product at Amazon is by learning to use their ratings and reviews in the right way. Here’s a proven system:

  1. Look for a product at Amazon, say a jogger stroller.save money amazon best seller
  2. Check out the #1 Best Seller.
  3. In the “Sort By” menu in the upper right, choose “Average Customer Review.” This will bring up the highest rated items first.
  4. Compare the highest rated item to the #1 best seller. In our jogger stroller example, the top rated item gets 4.5 stars and costs $368. The best seller gets a half star less but costs only $119. Is the extra half star of ratings worth a 310% price jump?
  5. Find out if the top rated product is worth the extra money by comparing written reviews by customers. What do the most negative reviews about the product say? In our stroller example, people didn’t like that the cheaper stroller was about ten pounds heavier. Apart from that they loved it. If you can handle an extra ten pounds, you’ve just saved $249.

6. Get Free Amazon Shipping For Purchases Over $35

save money amazon free shippingAmazon shoppers can save $99 on an Amazon Prime subscription by just going with standard free shipping. Free standard shipping takes three to five days instead of two for Prime shipping, but customers don’t have to sign up for Prime to get it.

Amazon offers free shipping on all orders over $35 that are fulfilled by Amazon. Anyone who wants free shipping only has to make sure each order is over $35. Most often shoppers can hit the $35 mark just by waiting until they’ve got a list of $35 worth of things they want to buy.

7. Buy Items Fulfilled by Amazon

save money amazon third party seller

Note that this item says it’s fulfilled by a shipper other than Amazon, so free shipping is not an option.

Shoppers can save money by buying only items fulfilled by Amazon. Amazon Prime members get free two day shipping, but not on orders bought at Amazon but fulfilled by third party sellers. Likewise, all Amazon shoppers get free standard shipping on orders over $35 as long as the products are shipped by Amazon.

Read: 5 Ways to Save Now Even if You Don’t Make Much Money

8. Look at All Different Amazon Color Options

save money amazon colorsThis one may seem a little nutty, but Amazon shoppers can save money by making sure they check all available colors a product comes in. The stroller we looked at earlier sold for $132.84 in black and teal. In any other color the price was $119. Just two weeks earlier, the same stroller’s price was $129 in every color except black and grey, which cost $119.

save money amazon color shorts

Apparently neon orange is worth 50% less on Amazon than blue, below.

save money amazon color option

While not every product will have cheaper colors, many do. Checking for less expensive color options can often save shoppers 10% or more at Amazon.

9. Subscribe to Amazon’s Regular Purchases

save money amazon subscribeShoppers who buy an item regularly on Amazon can often save 15% or more by signing up for subscriptions to the product. Consumables like dog food, toilet paper, diapers and other everyday items can be set up for regular subscriptions to save money.

10. Don’t Forget to Look off Amazon

We mentioned earlier that comparing prices with the Price Jump tool can turn up unexpected savings. Price Jump doesn’t list every lower price there is. Google shopping is a growing price comparison option. Also, just googling the product can often turn up a lower price.

save money amazon chewy

This order at Chewy.com cost the same as the dog food alone on Amazon, without the two Kong dog toys.

For example, Chewy.com sells different dog foods for about the same price as Amazon. However, many dog foods sold on Amazon come from third party sellers, which means they’re not available for free shipping.

In one example, Chewy.com sells 33 lb bags of the popular Fromm brand dog food for $49. Amazon sells the same product for the same price with a $5.95 shipping cost. Chewy.com shoppers get free shipping on orders over $55. That means Chewy.com shoppers can buy a $49 bag of Fromm dog food plus $6 worth of dog treats and get free shipping on the order.

In another example of how shopping at places other than Amazon can save money, the popular Concept II rowing machine retails just about everywhere for $900 new. Bought at Amazon, the item comes with a $45 shipping cost. A little known company called Christian Fitness Factory charges the same retail price but ships the machine for free.

Read: How Much Does a Baby Cost in America?

11. Save Money With Amazon’s Outlet Section

Amazon’s Outlet department can save shoppers 50% or more on products like clothing, beauty products, electronics accessories, musical instruments, outdoor gear, TVs and smartphones.

save money amazon outlets

Bargain hunters can subscribe to Amazon’s outlet emails to get daily notices of what’s on sale.

To access Amazon’s outlet department, click here.

12. The Amazon Double Browser Trick

Some Amazon shoppers have reported saving money by using a “double browser” trick. The idea is that Amazon offers special prices to non-regular customers to lure them in. While these reports are unconfirmed, testing out the theory may save money.

To use the trick, find a product on Amazon and note the price. Then close the browser, clear the cache and cookies, and search for the product again. Shoppers can also use the ‘private browsing’ function of their browser to achieve the same effect. The price may be lower the second time around.

13. Check Amazon’s Used Options

Most items for sale on Amazon have used options available for lower prices. Amazon is a great place to sell used merchandise. To find a used item on Amazon, just do a search for it on their site. When the product page pops up, look for the “used and new” link underneath the item’s picture.

save money amazon used seller rating

Which Amazon used seller would you rather buy from?

Amazon’s used items come with handy ratings that describe the item’s condition and the seller rating. That way, shoppers can choose an item that’s “like new” or in good condition from a trusted seller. The lowest prices are shown first by default.

Read: Amazon vs Ebay: Where Should I Sell My Stuff?

14. Save Money With Amazon Deals

Amazon’s dales are fast and furious. The site has different deals every day.

  • Amazon’s Today’s Deals page has all their current daily deals.
  • The Gold Box Deals page collects Amazon’s best deals of the day, with money savings between 25% and 85% off retail prices.
  • Amazon Lightning Deals are available only for a few hours each. They’re posted on the Today’s Deals page, along with the time remaining before each deal expires.
save money amazon deals

Amazon deals.

15. Save Money by Being an Amazon Mom

The Amazon Mom program is basically Amazon Prime for moms. The program costs $99 a year. In addition to free two day shipping and all the other perks of Amazon Prime, it also offers 20% off on diaper subscriptions.

Read: 5 Ways to Save Big Money on a Baby

save money amazon moms

16. Become an Amazon Student

Amazon Student is just a way for students to sign up for Amazon Prime for 50% off. Like Prime, the program saves students money by giving them free two day shipping and access to streaming movies, TV, music and books. There are also added student offers and special promotions. Another nice money saving perk is that the free trial last six months instead of the usual 30 days. One drawback is that the movies, music and books aren’t available until after the six month trial has ended.

save money amazon student

17. Save Money With Amazon’s Price Guarantee

save money amazon price dropAmazon has an unspoken deal where, if an item’s price drops after purchase, shoppers can get a refund for the difference. The price guarantee only works if the customer reports the price change within seven days of the delivery date. It’s also limited to items shipped by Amazon, so items that ship from third party sellers aren’t eligible. Amazon doesn’t advertise this guarantee out loud, but they will generally honor it if a customer calls and shows a customer service rep where they found the lower price.

18. Use Amazon’s Coupon Page

Our final Amazon money saving tip involves their coupon page. The page contains coupons for just about anything they sell depending on when a shopper looks.

save money amazon coupons

There are two ways to use Amazon’s coupons. One way is to look for a coupon for a specific product. Amazon has started listing coupon info on their product pages, so when shopping it’s a good idea to check below the product’s listing to see if it says, “Coupon available.”

The second way to use Amazon coupons is to visit their coupon page and scroll through, clicking “click coupon” along the way. Amazon coupons are saved in the user’s Amazon account. The savings is automatically applied to the product’s purchase price at time of checkout.

To visit Amazon’s coupon page, click here.